Great Stories with stupid endings *spoilers ahoy*
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While I wouldn't call it a "great ending", I feel the ending to The Next Three Days was disappointing.
It's a story about a man who ruins his life in order to break his wife out of prison. In the movie, he escapes the country and it turns out his wife didn't commit the murder she was convicted for. I would have had it that they were caught and the wife had committed the murder, I feel like it would have better fit the idea that this man has risked and pretty much lost everything for nothing.
And again with the "not a 'great story'" disclaimer, but My Sister's Keeper, the film.
In it a sister sues her parents for medical emancipation, since the sister had been routinely, since she was born, been forced into donating blood, bone marrow, etc. to her terminally ill sister.
At the end it's revealed the sister doesn't actually want medical emancipation, the ill sister just wants a way to die, so she convinces her sister to cut off the donations in this way. I was disappointed with this, since it seemed to me like the film was avoiding confronting an interesting moral dilemma.
It's a story about a man who ruins his life in order to break his wife out of prison. In the movie, he escapes the country and it turns out his wife didn't commit the murder she was convicted for. I would have had it that they were caught and the wife had committed the murder, I feel like it would have better fit the idea that this man has risked and pretty much lost everything for nothing.
And again with the "not a 'great story'" disclaimer, but My Sister's Keeper, the film.
In it a sister sues her parents for medical emancipation, since the sister had been routinely, since she was born, been forced into donating blood, bone marrow, etc. to her terminally ill sister.
At the end it's revealed the sister doesn't actually want medical emancipation, the ill sister just wants a way to die, so she convinces her sister to cut off the donations in this way. I was disappointed with this, since it seemed to me like the film was avoiding confronting an interesting moral dilemma.
Yeah, you're right. I guess I was just projecting a little bit when I said that. That and I kind of assumed that he was exaggerating. I'd say over 90% of movies/games/shows out nowadays have a happy, or at least bittersweet ending, so to say that any happy ending is a bad ending would be akin to saying that the ending to virtually every story is dumb.Eddie the head said:
I do actually disagree with him though about The Mist. I felt that the army coming around seconds too late was wayyyyyy too convenient to the plot. I didn't walk away thinking that it was a powerful, meaningful ending, I walked away thinking, "Wow. That was stupid." That's because I have the same gripe with that story that I did with the movie version of Cujo, except in the opposite manner. It strived for the darkest ending possible simply for the sake of having the darkest ending possible. Cutting it off with all of them killing themselves would've been plenty dark, and not overly so. Adding the last bit with army just made it seem like they were thinking, "HA! Bet you didn't think we could make it any sadder did ya?!? Well we showed you! We're edgy, give us attention!!!"
Yes, with most stories it becomes a bet as to who will be the token sacrifice so everyone else can feel bad.krazykidd said:
I think leading up to it by that point you knew that was something Goku was going to do. hes always been about being the protector and less abut being the family man unless his family man in danger and he can now also fill the role of protector (Other than really early on before going to namek).Sean Hollyman said:
you mean the movie that completely ignored the book ending and is just about as far away as possible as you could get from it and the usual king writing, especially with how the ending was supposed to be meaningful? yea, lets take lessons fromt hat. hell, lets take lessons from stanley kubrik as well on how to make a movie based on someting that has no semblance to the movie other than name.krazykidd said:
...
actually sticking to that theme, Ive heard people say that both endings of Stephen King's the dark tower (and a lot of his books by extension that dont have a definitive answer [despite that being his style and what he does because hes one of those writers that likes to leave an open end incase he wants to revisit something or link another story to it]) are bad. Id ont necessarily agree with it and wihle i was slightly miffed at the ending before Coda, after I read coda it certainly felt more like a King book and like an ending fitting to Roland
<spoiler=The Coda ending being>Roland steps into the tower and finds the top with a door for him marked Coda. When he goes through the door youre brought back to the beginning of the first book, the only difference being he now holds the horn of eld (which many remember he lost at the battle of Jerhico Hill and was pretty significant). the book then ends with the same sentence the first book starter, and shows that roland has (possibly) made this journey a thousand times before and each time he gets just the slight bit closer to ending it).
Now i personally thinkt he weakest ending Ive perosnally experienced was the ending to the lemony snicket books, particularly the thirteenth book because it just seemd a jumbled mess, and most questions either were left unanswered or half assed, which I understand is something I guess he wnated to go for, but when youre making a children's "epic" in league with Harry potter and narnia you are expected to have a little bit more.
For me, The Count of Monte Cristo movie really irked me. I first saw the movie, then on a whim, decided to read the book. Granted, Hollywood movies NEVER turn out liketh ebooks do, but for some reason, what they did really ate at me. Instead of the bittersweet ending of the bok, Dantes gets his happily ever after ending where Mercedes reveals that she always thought of him, and Albert is actually his son. That kinda crap needs to stop. People need to get hurt in movies. Audiences have been so numbed by Hollywood endings, that when a less that fairy tale ending comes along, it really stuns them.
Oh..uhh..I think that was better than the alternate ending, actually. I mean, I choose the lesser of evils:thebobmaster said:
So basically, once they trap Neville, the Darkseekers' alpha male makes Neville understand that all he wants is his girl back, which is the girl he was experimenting on. So he agrees, apologizes and gives the girl back and they all leave and have a nice day. So basically, the aggressiveness of the Darkseekers equals mutt after that. And hell, what stops them from co-existing at that point? Why not just forget about the cure he was working on all this time? No need for it now!
I guess killing him for a "greater" cause was a better ending, even if a stupid, random woman and a kid are the ones to blame for killing a man, in less than a week nonetheless, that survived years and years by himself.
I guess killing him for a "greater" cause was a better ending, even if a stupid, random woman and a kid are the ones to blame for killing a man, in less than a week nonetheless, that survived years and years by himself.
OT: I'll never be okay with FFVII's ending.
"Crap, Seph's gonna kills us...but HEY! RANDOM AERIS MAGIC!" Okay, I can ignore that, but then they fast forwarded 500 years into the future, where everyone is already dead and...I don't know, perhaps no one remembers them or something.
Which brings me to DBZ/GT. DBZ's ending sucked because Goku just ditches his family and friends to go train with a random kid forever. Everyone's response? "Well! That's Goku for you!". To add insult to injury, GT comes along (Which I consider an extended ending to DBZ) and turns Goku into a kid for no particular plot-wise reason, makes him reach Super Saiyan level 3424521242352, makes the world explode AGAIN and rebuilds it AGAIN and then kills him once and for all. Because, hell, that guy doesn't stay dead for long!
Oh, and again, fast forward to the future where everyone is pretty much dead except for Pan who's old and useless and there's a Goku and Vegeta brats who become Super Saiyans just because. And then there's the post-GT movies! Just let DB die already!
Avatar: The Last Airbender was amazing And the ending wasn't THAT bad. But it did raise some questions. How did Aang learn Energybending? Giant random turtle did it? How? When? Why does the turtle know this? Wait, Aang, who's 12, and Katara, who's 14, are in a serious relationship?!
Okay, the last one is more of a pet peeve and the show does try to answer some of those questions. But the ending shouldn't be raising more questions and than answers! It's about resolution!
I hate myself for saying this but...Twilight: Breaking Dawn. See, I read the books only because I love reading and I hate not finishing books. I read the first one just to see how good it was. At any rate, at the end, they all get together for a massive vampire revolution or something. They're all ready to kick butt but...not much happens. The bad guys call it a day and leave and Bella and Edward proceed to hump each other like bunnies and raise their demonic child along with the werewolf who fell in love with it.
I mean, I know I couldn't expect much from that series but even that was lame.
A bit more unknown would be Musashi Samurai Legend for the PS2. It's an okay game and it's not like the story will bring you to tears. But the ending was just some sort of "what happened to the real life Musashi and why he became so badass (?)" story. So Musashi saves the day, rescues the princess and kills the bad guy. Except the bad guy isn't really dead. In fact, he seems perfectly fine. And he shows up at HQ. But just slash him once and THEN he's done for. Oh, you rescues 6 princesses but guess what? You don't get to even kiss one of them because it's time to go back home! You gained nothing from this experience and you'll take nothing! Off you go!
Come on, if I wanted to play Mario, I'd just buy a Wii.
The Inheritance series
Eragon spends 3 books trying to find a way to beat Galbatorix, seeing as Galbatorix has spent a 100 years training,storing magic and has the strength of thousands of dragons behind him.
The books constantly set it up as Eragon being hopelessly outmatched however it has a character it being setting up since the second book in the series as a possible way of beating him (she can sense a persons pain, and by extension their weaknesses)
so how do they resolve it ?
Eragon spends 3 books trying to find a way to beat Galbatorix, seeing as Galbatorix has spent a 100 years training,storing magic and has the strength of thousands of dragons behind him.
The books constantly set it up as Eragon being hopelessly outmatched however it has a character it being setting up since the second book in the series as a possible way of beating him (she can sense a persons pain, and by extension their weaknesses)
so how do they resolve it ?
Murtagh breaks free of his oath via a change of heart (which is the result of 10 pages, at max,, of character development)
Galbatorix's dragon is killed via dues ex machina
Galbatorix is killed by due ex machina despite all the set up to elva being able to sense his weakness
afterwards, Eragon leaves the land forever, why?
because. no real reason.
a hidden stash of eggs are found, saving the dragon race
Eragons love interest becomes a dragon rider, via dues e machina
many questions set up in the other books are left unanswered or are hand waved with weak excuses.
Galbatorix's dragon is killed via dues ex machina
Galbatorix is killed by due ex machina despite all the set up to elva being able to sense his weakness
afterwards, Eragon leaves the land forever, why?
because. no real reason.
a hidden stash of eggs are found, saving the dragon race
Eragons love interest becomes a dragon rider, via dues e machina
many questions set up in the other books are left unanswered or are hand waved with weak excuses.
The Eldest saga. The ending left a bad taste in my mouth for a month.
OT: Your mom did too. BAZINGA!!
OT: Your mom did too. BAZINGA!!
i have seen the movie My Sister's Keeper, and i thought it was an interesting story, and the movie ended up with a nice ending where: The mother learns to let go, the sister that wants to die gets to, and the other sister gets to stop being harvested to keep her sister
I haven't read the book but apparently what happens is, the sister that wants to stop the organ donatiopns dies in a car crash, the sick sister who wants to die gets the Organs, because the other girl died, and the mother learns nothing.
It's strange to see movie make a better ending than a book, but there it is, although i could be wrong.
I haven't read the book but apparently what happens is, the sister that wants to stop the organ donatiopns dies in a car crash, the sick sister who wants to die gets the Organs, because the other girl died, and the mother learns nothing.
It's strange to see movie make a better ending than a book, but there it is, although i could be wrong.
I've harped on it before but Stephen King's Dark Tower series:
Preacher:
The Last Exorcism and Insidious: Both just seemed to fall flat on their faces for the final act.
I was really interested in seeing what was beyond the tower and heavily invested in seeing Roland finish his quest but the story got rebooted so somewhere Roland is still trying to reach it, but we'll never get closure. Also the whole artist character felt like even more deus ex machina in a book that almost bursting with it
Preacher:
They'll show us that one guy fucking his meat mother thing but the final battle between the Saint and heaven takes place off page? Are you shitting me?
The Last Exorcism and Insidious: Both just seemed to fall flat on their faces for the final act.
The Ending to Left 4 Dead 1 foreshadowed new survivors from the begging. Of course the survival mission which suits as the ending was retconned and instead only bill dies for fuck-knows-all. I can't remember the mission's name but it takes place around the lighthouse, along with any survival mission they always end with your death, here this was one if not the last update before Left 4 Dead 2.
The Half-Life endings, they always, ALWAYS sequel hook and its annoying as fuck.
The Half-Life endings, they always, ALWAYS sequel hook and its annoying as fuck.
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is a great game with a great story through the entire game.
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is the sequel, and it's story is not that bad. But then you come to the endgame, and the story is thrown out of the window.
Great games, but I feel that endgame's story could have been done better.
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is the sequel, and it's story is not that bad. But then you come to the endgame, and the story is thrown out of the window.
Great games, but I feel that endgame's story could have been done better.