[theme music]
Hello, I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it so you don't have to.
We've all come across that film that was either good or okay,
but then the ending ruins everything.
From "Into Darkness" to "War of the Worlds" to...
... yeah, every single "Iron Man" movie,
the ending can often have a talent for taking several hours of our lives that were enjoyable,
and suddenly making it feel like they were wasted.
But why?
If two thirds of the movie are good, sometimes even more than that,
why do we get so upset when a small percentage is bad?
If we have a meal that's mostly good, but might have a spice we don't like,
we don't get too angry.
If we look at a painting that moves us, but might have one stroke that's a little off
we don't dismiss the whole thing as garbage.
So why does the ending have such an impact on us?
Why can it ruin what was, for the most part, perfectly fine?
Without getting too much into spoiler territory,
we should probably talk about some of the films that have what many consider awful endings,
without actually giving the endings away.
Some of the more notable ones, as I mentioned before, are "Into Darkness" and "War of the Worlds",
but other ones a lot of people bring up recently are "I Am Legend", "Amazing Spider-Man 2",
"The Number 23", "Ninth Gate", and "Now You See Me".
All of them have audiences going on and on about how they would have liked the film
if it hadn't been for the last few minutes.
I'm actually a firm believer that "X-Men 3" wouldn't have been that bad a film
or at least on par with the others, if the ending actually went somewhere important.
Instead of just, you know, sucked.
A lot of characters are killed off, but if it led to somewhere meaningful,
people probably would have accepted it and acknowledged a lot more of the cooler scenes.
Arguably, some of the coolest out of the previous "X-Men" films.
A good example of doing that right actually comes from another "X-Men" film.
In a lot of ways, "Days of Future Past" actually does what "X-Men 3" did;
it kills off a lot of characters from the previous film, changes timelines from the comic,
and puts characters in roles very different from their original intention.
But it works in "Days of Future Past" because it amounted to something,
something important, something huge.
Because of this, people remember even more of the cool visuals and action sequences,
where "X-Men 3"'s are overlooked.
But not always forgotten.
Even this clean slate still had Kelsey Grammer back, arguably the best Beast,
so even a sequel trying to retcon this movie
had to acknowledge there were some things that were really good.
So even if a movie throws in a lot of cool stuff, oftentimes it just comes down to:
"What do you have to say?"
There's an alternate ending on the "Thank You for Smoking" DVD
that actually destroys everything the film had been building on.
This ending would have transformed it from one of the greatest comedies ever written
to meaning absolute dick.
Why? Because the film was about going all the way.
Finally picking an ethical side and sticking to it without tap dancing.
It's like watching all of "Schindler's List" and at the very end somebody just says:
"Eh, maybe Hitler was right." And then rolled the credits.
Everything would have meant nothing! And all from just one line.
Spielberg obviously knew how to end this movie, but that hasn't always been the case with him.
From "War of the Worlds" to "Lost World" to "Minority Report" to "A.I."
to even the movie that invented the blockbuster, "Jaws"...
Yeah, they brilliantly kept the shark a secret, building up what he looks like,
but then, when they actually showed more and more of him,
a lot of people weren't impressed the more they revealed.
"The shark still looks fake."
But the interesting thing about Spielberg is half the time, he's pigeon-held it to these endings.
"War of the Worlds", for example, is technically how the book ends,
but the other incarnations knew to make a bigger deal out of it.
This one forgets to have a climax, which is closer to the book but not the best for a movie.
"A.I." is known as one of his worst endings,
but he did it as a dedication to his friend, Stanley Kubrick,
who, despite every writer telling Stanley that the ending sucked,
still wanted it that way before he died, so Spielberg did his best to honor his wishes.
Who would have thought being too faithful and understanding could work against a film?
Nevertheless, most of these movies were still hits,
despite them leaving people scratching their heads at the endings.
In fact, for all the films we bring up that have endings that ruin the movie,
sometimes a bad ending doesn't even make a dent.
Take "Superman", for example,
arguably, the stupidest cop-out ending ever.
Yet people still see this as the best "Superman" film,
because everything else was so good.
Even the emotion before the lame ending was genuinely powerful.
"Return of the King" practically held us hostage for the number of endings it had,
but everything else was so huge and well done, and it was wrapping up three very long movies,
that we allowed our asses going numb for these sometimes awkward moments.
[makes an uneasy sound] It's still creepy!
People didn't like the Ewoks or Vader's reveal in "Return of the Jedi",
but they still thought it closed things out well enough.
And even all the "Iron Man" movies, with their painfully botched villains in each film
still managed to be spectacular at the box office.
So... What did these films do right to excuse the bad endings that these films didn't?
Well, maybe they got the spirit down.
All the "Iron Man" movies have had bad final acts,
but it's still Robert Downey Jr.'s incredible charisma at the center,
and the faultiness of his character that drew us to like them in the first place.
That is one of the elements that's always kept in check.
You can say the same thing about "Superman", or "Star Wars", or "Lord of the Rings":
even though they get the final part wrong, it's still felt it was in the same vein
of what made it charming and likable to begin with.
The ending of "A.I." is not the same feel as the opening.
The ending of "Into Darkness" is an immediate disconnect from the rest of the film.
But this isn't as surprising, seeing how a lot of bad endings nowadays come from a very similar place:
the "twist".
Years ago, when "The Sixth Sense" came out, everyone was so blown away by the surprise ending
that they had to go back and see it again.
Thus, people would go tell their friends and then they would have to go see it twice.
So not only were a ton of people going to see a movie, they were going to see it two times.
Suddenly, a huge hit didn't need to have a lot of money, it needed a reason for you to come back
and watch it all over again.
So tons of movies start to throw in twists even if they didn't require them at all.
"Dark Knight Rises", "Remember Me", "Last Exorcism", "Secret Window",
there's too many to count.
Even the guy that started this craze, Shyamalan,
couldn't keep up with constantly forcing them into his stories, and his films began to suck.
So movies that might have been "okay" or "passable" were suddenly destroyed or made worse
by shoving in an unneeded element that ruins the way not only that you look at the ending,
but the way you look at the entire film.
Oh, that dumb surprise at the end is what's supposed to be going on throughout the entire story?
Well, that just makes the whole entire story lame then.
So okay, if an ending can ruin a film, is it possible an ending can save a film?
It's no secret I'm not a fan of "Jurassic World", but it's hard not to tell someone to go see it
based on that kick-ass climax, especially fans of the other movies.
"Usual Suspects" would have probably just been an okay crime thriller,
but the ending turns it into a lot of people's favorite movie.
One of the most interesting cases of this is "The Straight Story".
This film is purposefully relentless in how slow and dull it is.
The majority of the time, it's practically unbearable.
But by the time the ending shows up, suddenly everything is made clear why it was so slow and dull,
and it makes everything that you went through suddenly seem phenomenally important.
The whole entire movie suddenly changes from bad to kind of brilliant.
So for some films the ending is everything, but for others it barely makes a dent.
How is that possible?
Well, the important thing to realize, especially focus group suits,
is that while film-making is very technical and precise, film-watching isn't.
The experience in viewing a movie isn't measurements or mathematics,
as much as many executives wish it was.
It's entirely emotional.
You want to make a connection with these characters, feel like you're in their spot,
and discover something important or interesting with them.
They seem real when this happens, and just like real people in your life,
they can piss you off and leave you angry.
Everyone has a friend that you love, but can sometimes push you a little too far.
Many friendships have been broken because they were pushed beyond
what they thought was trustworthy.
Movies, in a strange way, are a form of trust.
You're taking a gamble, spending hours of your time and money
on something declaring it's going to make a connection with you.
If the connection is bad, then the whole movie is bad,
but if the connection is good, but then suddenly can't deliver in its most important moment,
we feel like that trust has been betrayed.
Sometimes, that's even worse than a movie that's bad all the way through.
We identified with you, movie, we thought you got us.
You took us to an emotional place we didn't know existed.
And now you throw something at us that doesn't seem like you at all?
What happened? I thought you were cool!
Much like a friendship, all the wonderful moments you spent together
can be easily forgotten because of one terrible choice.
That's why so many entertainers use the phrase "always leave them wanting more",
because it's the last emotion they usually remember.
Now does that make it right that we should dismiss all the good stuff that they gave us?
Well, it depends on the viewer.
Again, like a person, it's all about the emotional connection you have.
I can overlook the lame ending of "Last Exorcism", but a lot of folks can't.
I think the ending of "Into Darkness" ruins everything, but some people don't mind.
Everybody is going to have a different acceptability of what's fulfilling and what leaves you lacking.
Our memories especially tend to put the most value in the last major thing we went through
even though many other major things might have happened.
So, can an ending ruin a film?
Absolutely! And there's good reasons why.
But that doesn't mean every film works that way.
A movie can have a bad ending, but maybe it wasn't bad enough to overshadow the good.
An ending can even change the way you look at everything,
teaching you that sometimes it really is important to stay and hear everything someone has to say.
It depends on the person and it depends on the movie.
But one thing's for sure:
a movie is never truly over until it's over.
"The only thing that matters is the ending."
Anyway, what fun is it to talk about a movie that only has a bad ending?
It's time to return to the movies that suck all the way through.
[thud]
[ominous sound]
Fine. At least this time I don't have to review it
with a whiny, obnoxious, pain in the a... just zoom out, you know he's here.
What the hell?! I had a cool entrance planned!
It was a close-up! Clearly you were gonna be in the next shot.
Well, at least it's only the two of us doing the review.
Yeah, just you, me, and... is it me or is that light looking a little suspicious?
No, I'm not!
[theme music]
Hey, Doug Walker here, doing the charity shout-out.
This week we are doing "RedRover.org".
Founded in 1987, the mission of Red Rover is to bring animals out of crisis
and strengthen the bond between people and animals through emergency sheltering, disaster relief services,
financial assistance, and education.
Red Rover accomplishes its mission by engaging volunteers and supporters,
collaborating with others, and maximising the use of online technology.
They are about engagement, not only with each other, but also side by side with animal professionals,
animal groups, local officials, law enforcement, media, and schools.
You see these little animals, you can't help but say: "How can I help them?
How can I make them the best that they can be?"
Well, if you go to their site (RedRover.org) or their YouTube channel
you can see they're not only helping these animals but they're helping a lot of people too.
This is a wonderful organization, definitely worth checking out.
So definitely go, take a look, and see how you can lend a paw.
RedRover.org