At first glance there are not even any causal threads between the scene itself and its choice to end there, unlike Inception where the cut in its hanging ending is an obvious choice to punctuate the question it poses. The hero is killed off-screen, the evil villain remains uncaught, and the film abruptly cuts to black and silence after a monologue describing a dream that offers no readily tangible explanation for the baffling narrative choices that came before. In 2007, the Coen brothers’ bleak neo-western film No Country for Old Men left viewers with a perplexing and counterintuitive ending that both refused to answer questions, and defied all genre expectations. So what about unsatisfying endings? They can be absolutely be great, but it will likely never make for a popular narrative choice. The surprise of the abrupt cut combined with the inevitability of the question it poses makes it a satisfying ending, despite leaving things open to interpretation. That’s why even a hanging ending like Inception (2010), which doesn’t necessarily satisfy all the viewers’ answers (are we in reality or a dream?), still works, because while the abrupt cut to black takes us by surprise, we realize that the question it’s posing was inevitable from the start due to the premise of the film. On the other hand, people also want their expectations satisfied in a way they don’t predict: the ending must reach a logical conclusion in a surprising way. A movie like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) is about as traditionally satisfying as an ending can get, because it devotes time to showing what all of its many protagonists will do beyond the scope of the trilogy’s central resolution. A complete story, in many people’s minds, is one that answers all their expectations and questions, leaving no loose ends for them to fret over. It’s sometimes not enough to know that the characters lived happily ever after, or walked off into the sunset, if the audience doesn’t have a mental picture of what comes next. Audiences want to know what happens to the characters of a story beyond the bounds of the film’s run time. Schaffner.īut what separates a “good” ending from a “bad” one? Typically, what I notice most people point to in an ending they like–more often by way of criticizing an ending they don’t– is that it’s “satisfying”. Would Planet of the Apes (1968) have been anywhere near as enduring had it not ended with the ruins of the Statue of Liberty? And, on the other side of the coin, would Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (2005) have been remembered more fondly as the thrilling adventure it is had it not gone out on such a flaccid note of unearned happiness? Or could Danny Boyle’s pensive sci-fi flick Sunshine (2007) have entered the annals of science fiction greatness if it hadn’t deteriorated into a head-scratching slasher film in the third act? Planet of the Apes. Dir. The Usual Suspects (1995), for example, is a mostly unremarkable crime film, but through the virtue of its indelible Keyser Söze twist ending it has stayed relevant in pop culture well beyond what its shelf-life might otherwise have been. While a bad ending won’t always sink a great movie, a great ending can often save a mediocre one, just as a terrible ending can be the demise of an otherwise solid one. The ending of a movie is the last thing the audience will see, and thus remains the freshest in their memory. If there are any problems, ask without hesitation.Endings, perhaps more so than any other structural element of a narrative, are the most important to get right. In the morning you will meet Beniya and she will reset your debts.įinally, go to sleep again and that’s it. After defeating him, go to the crying baby and go to sleep. You will fight life and death with the mysterious man. Then go to “escape” and the mysterious man. Solution How to Beat the Last Boss and Finish the Game?
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