There’s nothing better than getting down to the final moments of a movie and being totally absorbed and invested in what’s playing out on that screen. Watching it unfold becomes a bit like magic. Whether you credit the acting or the storytelling, when you come across a movie ending that is just so good, so breathtaking, or moving, it gives you the same sense of satisfaction as say finding $10 in between sofa cushions, or waking up an hour before your alarm. For a real movie lover it can make shelling out $12 and braving the undulating horde of opening weekend moviegoers worth it. You’ve gotta be careful, though. Every once in a while you’ll come across flammable polyester culottes wrapped in a golden fleece, and you’ll wind up witnessing a certified suckfest.
Take a look at a few movies that have left many of us speechless.
Note: Yes, there are spoilers here. Most of these movies are incredibly far from being new releases, but I’m letting you know in case you’ve never stumbled upon the offerings below. Consider yourself warned. We can discuss how and why you’ve never seen some of these things in a later article called: “So What! I’m a Movie Shut-In and I Like It!”
The Mist
This is the ultimate in final movie scene turmoil. When you watch the final moments of this movie literally your insides are wailing along with the lead character. After an alien attack kills many, our hero finds himself stuck in a car with several survivors including his young son. As the car runs out of gas and it sounds like the aliens are closing in, the hero takes his gun and mercy-kills everyone in the car. Running out of bullets, he resigns himself to be killed (eaten!) by the aliens outside. He exits the car and in a move of sheer unexpected dastardly genius by writer Stephen King Frank Darabont…the smoke clears. The alien war is over. Humanity has won. As proof, the military is rescuing survivors. Our stunned hero watches in despair as a survivor-filled convoy passes his stalled vehicle now full of the four people he just murdered seconds ago. Wow.
Se7en
“What’s in the box?” Oh, my, my, my. Did you see the anguish on Brad Pitt’s face? Yup. We watch the screen horrified as we, just like Brad, have just figured out that “what’s in the box” is his pretty wife’s (a less annoying Gwyneth Paltrow) severed head. WE CAN SEE THE BLOODIED BLONDE TENDRILS BLOWING IN THE WIND. (Nice touch) Once that realization sets in and we feel our gorge rising the serial killer levies the final blow…his wife was pregnant. And says with sickening glee, “Oh, he didn’t know.” We then get to witness the complete dismantling of Pitt’s psyche as he battles the urge to kill the man, and eventually does, with such pain that it’s visceral and unavoidable. Disturbingly poetic.
The Others
I really wasn’t that moved by this movie at first. I actually found it pretty boring. Some creepy shenanigans at a big, old drafty house set during wartime. Whatever. There are some ominous characters, lots of frantic angst. The family is reclusive, inexplicably unable to tolerate the sun, and relies on their suspicious hired help for their day to day needs. Seems a bit odd, but not too foreign for a ghost story. Everyone is on edge as the mother, Nicole Kidman, tries to investigate just what is haunting her family! All pretty typical…that is until the final moments in the movie when we listen in on a séance and realize that the ghost ravaged family is actually a family of ghosts who are being ravaged by the living who have inadvertently contacted them to find proof of the undead. Pretty clever. It went from being a formulaic ghost story, which yes, was a bit boring, to having a pretty good twist that made you want to re-watch the movie to identify the signs.
Fight Club
Remember when Ed Norton was spectacular at dark and edgy films? Yes. This is probably one of his best. We follow Norton’s character as he befriends a mysterious braggart and veritable lunatic named Tyler Durden. Tyler makes soap out of fat. Tyler is made of sinew and leather. He convinces Norton’s weaker character and a bunch of his coworkers to form this fight club where I think you all know what the rules are. They commence in this practically MMA style brawl club. As Norton hangs out with Tyler, all matter of other insane things happen (Helena Bonham Carter appears. Yikes.) In the end we realize that hey, what? Tyler didn’t actually exist. He was just Norton’s alter ego, and he was really the one doing every insane thing that’s happened over the last 90 minutes. Confronted with this truth Norton decides the best course of action is to blow his jaw off thereby killing Tyler. Well, okay!
Buried
::Trailer Only::
This is a small underrated movie starring Ryan Reynolds from last year. I’m not going to spoil the end since it’s still relatively new, but let’s just say that there is a slow build up that makes this movie a true edge of the seat thriller. There is a pretty expert use of cinematography here. It’s actually pretty refreshing to note that you can tell a whole story without overuse of CGI, dumb camera tricks, or much of the other Hollywood ploys. You are along for the ride every step of the way as Reynolds’ character, a contractor stationed in Iraq, realizes that he’s been kidnapped and imprisoned in a coffin with a cell phone as his only lifeline. Rent it and tell me what you think.
The Village
Now, you’re thinking, “The Village took your breath away?” And I’m going to concur…and that’s because there is still the ability to be speechless after witnessing the most awful, asinine, horrible movie ending to ever attempt being clever and smart. Ah-ha! See what I did there? This is that movie. Where to start? Well, how about the lie at the beginning of the movie? We’re shown during a funeral that the death-date of the newly deceased is 1897. So we’re led to believe by M. Night Shamealiealan that we are somewhere in the late 19th century based on the clothing and the speech yadda, yadda. After watching a bloated movie that offered nothing in substance except “monsters” in red capes and lots of nonsensical antics by everyone involved. At the end, the lead actress, Bryce Dallas Howard, discovers that it’s all an elaborate lie and the date is really closer to 2004 and they’ve all been living on a protected wildlife preserve because mommy and daddy wanted to live a simpler life. What about those wild wolf-monsters that stalk the community? Yeah, they were created to keep the kids from leaving the crazy farm. JUST WHAT? Seriously. This has got to be the worst conceived movie ever. There are so many questions, plot holes, and other stupid things filling up the screen that after you list them, you realize that you’re trying to apply logic to M. Night Shyamalan and when has that ever helped anyone? Pffftttt!
No Country for Old Men
There are actually quite a few “take your breath away” moments in this film. You could offer that amazing He-Man hair Javier Bardem sported throughout the movie as the first such moment. That hair alone was enough to make you swallow your comments since you can’t rectify the sanity of a person who actually has that hair un-ironically. We’re to conclude that he’s crazy from jump, right? Now, I’m not saying the movie didn’t have a quality that just pulled you in. It did. At times you rooted for Brolin’s character to get away. At times you wanted to see what happened when Bardem finally caught up with him. You just knew that it would be a showdown like no other. AND THEN at the end, Brolin’s character is dead after a hotel showdown that apparently happened offscreen. OMG! You followed these characters the whole movie and the BIG DEATH happens offscreen?! Bardem also kills Brolin’s wife ALSO OFFSCREEN! What we’re left with is rusted, salted, rawhide-faced Tommy Lee Jones grousing about old men and looking out a window while someone makes him eggs. HOLY CRAP THAT JUST BLOWS! No breath because I couldn’t speak due to the amount of anger in my throat. Pffftttt! Pffftttt!
The Blair Witch Project
Yes, we know it was all a big rouse. They were actors. It was a bit of a sham. BUT! Before you knew that it was fake, it was one of those things that was just too compelling to pass up. From the shaky cam effects to the minimal use of mind-blowing cinematography…it was just a few kids lost in the woods capitalizing expertly on things that go bump in the night. After an exhausting journey mostly in the dark, when the kids finally come upon the haunted shack, and things start to go very, very wrong…at first we’re confused. Just what is happening?! Why is Mike just standing there?! Holy crap! He’s possessed! He’s dead! Isn’t he?! He’s going to kill everyone! JUST EVERYONE! The camera fizzles. There’s screaming. And then the camera falls to the floor and we’re left with just our imaginations to fill in the blanks. I’m not kidding when I say that everyone in the entire movie theater screamed during those final moments. Bravo.
The Butterfly Effect
Well, lookee here. I bet you never thought Ashton Kutcher would ever make it on a cool movie list. This one however was kind of interesting. Sure, yes, critics were a bit mixed on whether it was bullshit or brilliant. I found it a bit fascinating. Kutcher’s character time travels in efforts to save one girl from a horrible future, but what he ultimately realizes is that messing with the space/time continuum and causing ripples and galactic paradoxical mayhem just makes things worse. In most every scenario there is a sacrifice. He’s great, but she’s a crack whore. She’s great, but he has no arms, etc. He finally finds a way to erase the negative effects mostly by refusing to be friends with Kayleigh in the first place. He travels back to childhood once more and whispers in her ear, “I hate you and if you ever talk to me, I’ll kill you and your family.” The breath holding moment comes years later when walking down the street Kutcher’s adult character comes face to face with Kayleigh. As you watch him get closer, recognize her, and see her do the same, you say to yourself, “Oh, man, if you talk to her it will start all over again. But you love her. She’s probably your soulmate. What if it’s different now?” And as he walks past and doesn’t acknowledge her you breathe a sigh of relief…but you still wonder if you would have done the same. For anyone interested, there’s an alternate ending in the Director’s cut DVD. I won’t ruin it here, but boy, that would have been crazy!
Stand By Me
I’m going to end it here with something at first glance wouldn’t typically be so breathtaking. It’s just a simple conclusion to a coming of age movie. But Stand By Me is one of those movies that you just don’t forget. It resonates for generations since there will always be boys (and girls) who seek adventure. You always remember the first time you did something exciting without your parents. And most of us know the feeling of having those best childhood friends who you shared your innermost secrets with. Those who you cried in front of and didn’t make you feel like a baby. Or understood something about you that you could never share with anyone else, maybe not even family. Just your diary and that one other person…this is what Stand By Me is at its heart. At the end of the movie, after the adventure and the boys return to Castle Rock, upon parting for the afternoon, Will Wheaton as an adult gives the audience a rundown of what happens to each boy as they become men. Vern marries, has four children, and operates a fork-lift. Teddy tries to join the military, is refused, goes to jail, and now does odd jobs. We know that Gordie (Wheaton) is married, has sons, and is a writer. Lastly, Chris, played by River Phoenix, becomes somewhat successful, leaves his small town and becomes a lawyer…but we find out that he was recently stabbed to death trying to break up a fight. And in that moment as young Chris turns and looks at Wheaton one last time before walking away…his image fades. Watching this now it’s hard not to associate that visual with the real life end to promising actor River Phoenix. Every time I see that end my breath catches just a little.
Honorable Mention:
- The Ring – Tell me you didn’t gasp or at least do a double take when the little boy says to his mother, “YOU LET HER OUT?”
- Saw – So dude was the corpse in the middle of the floor the whole time?! Facepalm.
- The Skeleton Key – It’s hard to give Kate Hudson credit for anything since acting has mostly served as her professional dating service, but it was cute seeing her turn into a Creole Voodoo Madwoman.
- Superman the Movie – Seeing Christopher Reeve’s final smile at the end of this movie as he flies out of the cosmos is beautiful and haunting. RIP Superman.
What do you think? Have any others? Tell us in the comments.
