Going back a bit but the closing scene with John Wayne in 'The Searchers'.
I love some of the endings mentioned, The Usual Suspects, The Long Good Friday, The Good the Bad and the Ugly and (my favourite film ever) Zulu, but the ending for The Searchers is just great. Great choice.
Can anyone help me understand why Usual Suspects is so popular?
We find out that everything we’ve watched before the end was a lie. We’ve no idea if any of it actually happened. At most we know that there’s a bad guy called Soze and he killed a bunch of people to protect his identity, but not necessarily in the way that we saw. In fact we know that at least half the people - and potentially 90% of them - didn’t exist. That’s not a plot twist that’s... lame!
Bryan Singer said “there’s no right answer” and I’d say that’s because the writing wasn’t smart enough to have one. Just a gimmick ending. Unlike, say, Inception where Nolan insists there is a definitive answer to whether or not Cobb is in the real world.
Going back a bit but the closing scene with John Wayne in 'The Searchers'.
I love some of the endings mentioned, The Usual Suspects, The Long Good Friday, The Good the Bad and the Ugly and (my favourite film ever) Zulu, but the ending for The Searchers is just great. Great choice.
Can anyone help me understand why Usual Suspects is so popular?
We find out that everything we’ve watched before the end was a lie. We’ve no idea if any of it actually happened. At most we know that there’s a bad guy called Soze and he killed a bunch of people to protect his identity, but not necessarily in the way that we saw. In fact we know that at least half the people - and potentially 90% of them - didn’t exist. That’s not a plot twist that’s... lame!
Bryan Singer said “there’s no right answer” and I’d say that’s because the writing wasn’t smart enough to have one. Just a gimmick ending. Unlike, say, Inception where Nolan insists there is a definitive answer to whether or not Cobb is in the real world.
It's a film. They're mainly all "lies".
It's a great film.
Guess I asked the wrong person.
Meaning?
Why do you like an ending that doesn’t make any sense?
Going back a bit but the closing scene with John Wayne in 'The Searchers'.
I love some of the endings mentioned, The Usual Suspects, The Long Good Friday, The Good the Bad and the Ugly and (my favourite film ever) Zulu, but the ending for The Searchers is just great. Great choice.
Can anyone help me understand why Usual Suspects is so popular?
We find out that everything we’ve watched before the end was a lie. We’ve no idea if any of it actually happened. At most we know that there’s a bad guy called Soze and he killed a bunch of people to protect his identity, but not necessarily in the way that we saw. In fact we know that at least half the people - and potentially 90% of them - didn’t exist. That’s not a plot twist that’s... lame!
Bryan Singer said “there’s no right answer” and I’d say that’s because the writing wasn’t smart enough to have one. Just a gimmick ending. Unlike, say, Inception where Nolan insists there is a definitive answer to whether or not Cobb is in the real world.
It's a film. They're mainly all "lies".
It's a great film.
Guess I asked the wrong person.
Meaning?
Why do you like an ending that doesn’t make any sense?
Makes sense to me.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, he's gone.
I'm going to add The Prestige. Great film, excellent ending, and I love the Michael Caine speech at the start and finish.
"It's not enough to make it vanish.
You 'ave to bring it back'.
Class
Going back a bit but the closing scene with John Wayne in 'The Searchers'.
I love some of the endings mentioned, The Usual Suspects, The Long Good Friday, The Good the Bad and the Ugly and (my favourite film ever) Zulu, but the ending for The Searchers is just great. Great choice.
Can anyone help me understand why Usual Suspects is so popular?
We find out that everything we’ve watched before the end was a lie. We’ve no idea if any of it actually happened. At most we know that there’s a bad guy called Soze and he killed a bunch of people to protect his identity, but not necessarily in the way that we saw. In fact we know that at least half the people - and potentially 90% of them - didn’t exist. That’s not a plot twist that’s... lame!
Bryan Singer said “there’s no right answer” and I’d say that’s because the writing wasn’t smart enough to have one. Just a gimmick ending. Unlike, say, Inception where Nolan insists there is a definitive answer to whether or not Cobb is in the real world.
It's a film. They're mainly all "lies".
It's a great film.
Guess I asked the wrong person.
Meaning?
Why do you like an ending that doesn’t make any sense?
Makes perfect sense to me too. Have I missed something that makes it NOT make sense?
I know it was exactly the ending because they had an extra few minutes after with Danny getting arrested and getting out(which added to the story) but I the water fountain scene from Oceans 11 would have made a great ending.
Was reading and interview with Steven Soderbergh who said he told the cast that other than Carl Reiner leaving last everyone else was to walk away when it felt right for their character
Godfather Some Like it Hot ("I'm a man" "Well nobody's perfect") The Italian Job Kind Hearts and Coronets It's a Wonderful Life (schmaltzy but like Toy Story 3 guaranteed to bring a tear to my eye)
Going back a bit but the closing scene with John Wayne in 'The Searchers'.
I love some of the endings mentioned, The Usual Suspects, The Long Good Friday, The Good the Bad and the Ugly and (my favourite film ever) Zulu, but the ending for The Searchers is just great. Great choice.
Can anyone help me understand why Usual Suspects is so popular?
We find out that everything we’ve watched before the end was a lie. We’ve no idea if any of it actually happened. At most we know that there’s a bad guy called Soze and he killed a bunch of people to protect his identity, but not necessarily in the way that we saw. In fact we know that at least half the people - and potentially 90% of them - didn’t exist. That’s not a plot twist that’s... lame!
Bryan Singer said “there’s no right answer” and I’d say that’s because the writing wasn’t smart enough to have one. Just a gimmick ending. Unlike, say, Inception where Nolan insists there is a definitive answer to whether or not Cobb is in the real world.
It's a film. They're mainly all "lies".
It's a great film.
Guess I asked the wrong person.
Meaning?
Why do you like an ending that doesn’t make any sense?
Makes perfect sense to me too. Have I missed something that makes it NOT make sense?
The end is gimmicky and the film doesn't hang together as a result, on any level. It doesn't make narrative sense. It's the total opposite of a great ending. With a twist like Sixth Sense or Memento, we find out that there stuff going on with a purpose that we didn't know existed, and a rewatch will reveal we hadn't noticed the real drive behind certain elements. This ending renders the previous 90 minutes ot have been utterly irrelevant.
A rewatch of The Usual Suspects is pointless, because nothing happened. It's just a yarn being spun by a guy who doesn't want to get recognised...
The entire crux of the movie is super-genius criminal mastermind Keyser Soze killing the only man who could ID him. A complicated scheme (and we don't know if any of it happened in the world of the film anyway, nearly every character was taken from a piece of stuff in the cop's office so we can only assume he made them up). And the finale to his master plan was to... sit with the cops for a few hours and run away before a fax comes through that identifies him?
He could have left the police station any time he liked (a character says so) but he sticks around to tell a pointless story that only covers his tracks for 30-45 seconds after he leaves the room? And the cops are now VERY familiar with what he looks like?
It's slick, well acted, nicely directed nonsense, with an ending that makes no sense whatsoever. It's blindingly exciting the first time you go through it. The second time... you should start to wonder, what the fuck? The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making us think this film made any sense whatsoever!
Comments
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, he's gone.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wxL8bVJhXCM&feature=youtu.be
Ice cold in Alex
Carrie
Grease :-)
Similar effect, through more dramatic, in Land and Freedom (ken loach)
Was reading and interview with Steven Soderbergh who said he told the cast that other than Carl Reiner leaving last everyone else was to walk away when it felt right for their character
Godfather
Some Like it Hot ("I'm a man" "Well nobody's perfect")
The Italian Job
Kind Hearts and Coronets
It's a Wonderful Life (schmaltzy but like Toy Story 3 guaranteed to bring a tear to my eye)
On a baseball theme, I'd include The Natural
The end is gimmicky and the film doesn't hang together as a result, on any level. It doesn't make narrative sense. It's the total opposite of a great ending. With a twist like Sixth Sense or Memento, we find out that there stuff going on with a purpose that we didn't know existed, and a rewatch will reveal we hadn't noticed the real drive behind certain elements. This ending renders the previous 90 minutes ot have been utterly irrelevant.
A rewatch of The Usual Suspects is pointless, because nothing happened. It's just a yarn being spun by a guy who doesn't want to get recognised...
The entire crux of the movie is super-genius criminal mastermind Keyser Soze killing the only man who could ID him. A complicated scheme (and we don't know if any of it happened in the world of the film anyway, nearly every character was taken from a piece of stuff in the cop's office so we can only assume he made them up). And the finale to his master plan was to... sit with the cops for a few hours and run away before a fax comes through that identifies him?
He could have left the police station any time he liked (a character says so) but he sticks around to tell a pointless story that only covers his tracks for 30-45 seconds after he leaves the room? And the cops are now VERY familiar with what he looks like?
It's slick, well acted, nicely directed nonsense, with an ending that makes no sense whatsoever. It's blindingly exciting the first time you go through it. The second time... you should start to wonder, what the fuck? The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making us think this film made any sense whatsoever!