Movies with endings that don't resolve anything (SPOILERS SHOULD BE EXPECTED) (1 Viewer)

[Jonathan T.]

I don't know about you, but my BIGGEST movie pet peave is the movie ending that does't answer any questions and makes you leave the move scratching your head, or just plain mad. I'm gonna list a few that stick out in my mind. Please add your own, but don't just list the title, explain it a bit for those who may not have seen the movie. PLEASE DO NOT CONFUSE MOVIES THAT INTENTIONALLY LEAVE THINGS UNSAID OR AMBIGUOUS WITH A POSITIVE RESULT. THIS THREAD IS ABOUT MOVIES THAT TEASE AND NEVER DELIVER A RESOLUTION TO THE VIEWER, REGARLDESS OF WHETHER ALL PLOT THREADS ARE WRAPPED UP.

Jeepers Creepers
-GRRRR. I could not have been more pissed of that they never give us an origin story for the creeper. Not even a hint. Very lame. I never saw the sequel, but I hear it doesnt explain the creepers origin either.

Big Fish
-way to mess with my mind. I don't mind being strung along during the movie, but at the end Dorothy better wake up in Kansas, or not. But in Big Fish Dorothy wakes up and then goes back to sleep again.

The Bogeyman
-in this case the whole movie made no sense, so the fact that it isnt explained at the end is doubly annoying.

Swordfish
-whole movie doesnt make sense, and the ending just makes it worse.


Unrelated random thought. Is Lois Lane the stupidest person on earth? I mean if a pair of glasses will make me instantly unreconizable, then I gotta get me a pair of those glasses!


RUNNER UP CATEGORY
movies that make sense while you're watching them, but actually have gaping plotholes.

The Interpreter
-seems to make perfect sense, but in reality makes no sense at all, and leaves a tonne of unanswered questions. Like, if Nicole Kidman is behind it all, then why is she genuinely afraid when she overhears the phone call, why are people trying to kill her, and are we expected to belive that an attempted assasin is allowed to walk around as a free woman before being deported? And yet is still manages to be a decent movie.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I hate movies that leave stuff unresolved- just watched "The Emperor's Club" and it doesn't explain what became of the character running for office, or what he did about his kid overhearing the conversation.

There's tons more examples- I always like when they have some minor detail wrapped up after the end credits, like in "Adventures In Babysitting" (the guy got left outside the window) and "Nothing To Lose" (the guy whose money was stolen got it mailed back to him).

 

[george kaplan]

By far the worst example is Blow-Up. The movie spends two hours presenting a murder mystery, and then, in the last 5 minutes of the movie, instead of solving the murder, the movie gives us MIMES PLAYING TENNIS! The end.

 

[Chad R]

You didn't get Big Fish? It's pretty simple, the Dad is dying, so the son does the one thing the dad's always wanted -- he tells a tall tale. He tells his dad how they escape from the hospital, etc. Afterwards, they are at the dad's funeral and we see many of the characters from the tall tales, and see that they existed, but we also see how the dad exaggerated many of the stories to make them interesting.

As far as movies not resolving, a prime example is Kramer Vs. Kramer, with its infamous ending leaving questions unresolved. But, life doesn't resolve easily. Life has ongoing complications outside the scope of a two hour story. For that movie to remains as real as possible, it shouldn't resolve. Just becasue the plot didn't reach a finite conclusion, doesn't mean that the audience hadn't taken other things away from the movie -- i.e. you understand the character completely, themes were illuminated and in turn illuminating aspects of your own life.

Plot is not the only component to a movie (or book).

 

[AlexCremers]

- Mulholland Drive
- Lost highway

 

[Shawn_KE]

Yea, I've watched Mulholland Drive several times and still don't know what the ending is.

 

[Linda Thompson]

Audition - fantasy / reality / hallucination? Where does each begin and end? I felt NO resolution on this one either time I watched it.

The Birds - no explanation as to WHY things happened...but that was a big part of the whole point. No real resolution...they escaped the immediate danger, but the birds were still there

 

[Linda Thompson]

Forgot this one: American Psycho - the eternal debate as to whether the murders really took place, or were they all just in Patrick's head?

 

[george kaplan]

Well Mulholland does a HORRIBLE job of explaining anything within the movie. However, if you step outside the movie, and go the the web sites, and read what's going on, it does make sense. Nevertheless, I maintain it's essentially impossible to figure all that out just by watching the movie (some Lynch fans here claim to have figured it all out by watching the film, and list all these 'clues', but I frankly still don't believe that they discovered all those clues, figured out all the backward timelines, all the cases when character A was really character A, and when character A was actually character B in a fantasy world concocted by character C, etc., etc., just by watching the film).

In other words, I agree that, just in the film itself, Mulholland Drive does not come anywhere near successfully resolving itself.

 

[Joel Stein]

The ending of Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man)--

 

[Joel C]

I liked the film, but Primer makes almost no sense. I read a timeline on the internet that seemed to explain everything, but it's still entirely mind-boggling.

 

[Nick C.]

I wouldn't say THE SQUID AND THE WHALE didn't resolve anything, since there wasn't really a conflict that demanded denouement, but I was hoping for a little something...

 

[Mark Kalzer]

You see, maybe this is the Canadian film studies student in me talking, but I'm starting to understand that it isn't always important that every thread be resolved at the end of the film.

I look to something like Saw which in the final minutes so blatantly ties up every loose thread with a montage of clips showing you all the clues to the big twist ending. I just started thinking when watching it, what point were the clues spread throughout the film if they are just going to be spoon fed to us at the end anyway? In this case it is not even as if any single character is coming to any revelation as no one was present for every single moment flashbacked to. It just does not feel challenging or thought provoking.

I find it's better if we are left to think about the film, to consider what occured and re-consider it again. International cinema all the time leaves things open to interpretation. The Matrix wasn't clear cut, but it encourages you to think about what was going on and how everything came together. Or even Total Recall which offers two very different possibilities to the viewer and doesn't say which is correct, or Blade Runner which merely suggests but doesn't outright say something secret about the identity of the protagonist.

Also consider this, in reality our problems rarely get resolved so definitively all at once. I realize most of us use film to escape reality, but more and more I find the excessive closure now, I hesistate to use the word 'insulting', but perhaps just, inappropriate.

....this is what a major in film does to you.

 

[Jonathan T.]

Mark, I think the movies you mention are different from what we are talking about. Resolution can come in many forms. I am not againt some things being left unsaid by any means.

What I am against are films that spend the ENTIRE film teasing you, and then fail to deliver what should be the obvious fulfillement to the story, leaving with you a feeling that you have just wasted two hours.

Jeepers Creepers is a great example if this type of movie.
I was hoping more people would add their own choices...

 

[Colton]

- DAWN OF THE DEAD (actually all of the 'Dead' movies)
- MEMENTO

 

[george kaplan]

This one I disagree with. I think that movie does resolve the basic storyline.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

You don't even think the end of DAY OF THE DEAD was resolved?

 

[Jeff]

Watch it again.

 

[EricW]

i thought Big Fish resolved everything - if anything, too much. i wish they'd have not included the funeral service scene, but that's just me.

in terms of other movies, i thought that while this year's Mr+Mrs. Smith kinda resolved stuff (implied), after the last scene i was like 'that's IT?!?!?'

some people complain that at the end of Color of Money, you don't actually see the end game, but i thought that was fine.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

Well, Monty Python and the Holy Grail has an unresolved ending, of sorts. At least it doesn't resolve the way one would expect.

First one that came to my mind was Blow Up, which Mr. Kaplan mentioned above. I happen to like that film, but I certainly understand why some don't.

--Jefferson Morris