Summary
Glass: The final act of M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass disappoints, with contrived conflicts and cheap plot twists, failing to live up to his past work.
Downsizing: The concept of shrinking humans in Downsizing is intriguing, but the abrupt ending revealing human extinction feels out of place and leaves audiences confused.
Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman starts strong but falters in the final act, with rushed and unexplained conflicts that don’t match the well-developed characters.
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There are a lot of great movies in the world, but these 10 films fall just short of that benchmark due to poorly received final acts. What makes a good movie is obviously subjective, but the general consensus often leads to movies being labeled as either good or bad. Not every movie can be an Oscar winner, but movies that expect to receive the “good” label from the general public have to include satisfying endings that tie the narrative up and leave audiences feeling content.
That’s not always easy though. Often times, a film will excite people based on its cast or premise, but end up letting audiences down when their endings fall short of expectations. This can be particularly brutal for movies that are good for two-thirds of their runtime, only to collapse in the final act. Whether they fell short because of an inadequately finished narrative or they simply fail to entertain audiences in the final act, these 10 movies could have been great if they had more satisfying conclusions.
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10 Glass
M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass is the third and final film in his Unbreakable trilogy, and though it provides some excitement and typical Shyamalan plot twists, the final act is decidedly disappointing. The beginning of Glass is a fun watch, as David Dunn runs around the streets of Philadelphia, dishing out vigilante justice and chasing the Beast relentlessly, but the narrative ends up feeling hollow by the end of Glass. The conflicts between the superhumans and Dr. Ellie Staple feel contrived, and the plot twists are surprisingly cheap. As a result, Glass falls short of being the best work in Shyamalan’s accomplished career.
9 Downsizing
The 2017 film, Downsizing, is another movie that is entertaining for a time, before collapsing in its final act. Downsizing is a fascinating concept, following a fictional world where a Norwegian scientist figures out how to shrink organic material, allowing him to shrink humans down to about five inches in size. This interesting approach to preserving the planet is thought-provoking for a time, but when the end of Downsizing reveals that humans will soon be extinct anyway, it feels contrary to the movie’s premise. Not to mention, this ending seems to come out of nowhere, leaving audiences wondering what just happened.
8 Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman has the appearance of a great new superhero movie for the first two-thirds of its runtime, but by the film’s third act, things begin to unravel. Wonder Woman’s ending doesn’t work for a few reasons. Firstly, the film spends so much time developing the characters, which it does a fantastic job of, that it doesn’t have enough time to craft a well-paced and reasonable ending. Things begin to happen rapidly in the final act as Diana is tossed into epic conflicts, seemingly out of nowhere. The end of Wonder Woman simply moves too quickly without providing reasonable explanations for its major conflicts.
7 The Grey
The Grey follows John Ottway, a survivalist and expert on grey wolves, who ends up crashing in the Alaskan wilderness on a flight to Anchorage. Ottway leads the other survivors through the treacherous landscape, helping them navigate the constant threat of wolves in the icy tundra. He is so successful for a time, but one by one the other survivors die off tragically, leaving Ottway stumbling alone into the heart of the wolves’ territory. The Grey ends with Ottway and the alpha wolf charging each other, but it cuts to black before the audience can see what happens, leaving viewers wondering what the point of all this was.
6 Planet Of The Apes (2001)
Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake suffers from a confusing final act that detracts from the entertaining parts of the film. It all feels a bit ambiguous in the end as Leo manages to return to Earth, only to find the planet is now ruled by apes. Exactly what caused this to happen is unclear, and while explanations exist within the film, it’s never satisfactorily clarified. Planet of the Apes has plenty of strong points, but the final act leaves a bad taste in the mouth as it concludes on a confusing note.
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5 Law Abiding Citizen
Law Abiding Citizen is a truly riveting film, but it struggles to craft a satisfying ending. After everything that Clyde was able to achieve from his prison cell, it doesn’t feel realistic for him to be duped so easily by Rice at the end of Law Abiding Citizen. It also feels somewhat like a betrayal to have Clyde lose in the end after everything he goes through. It might not be right to have a man like him go free after all the people he killed, but it feels like he could have had a more satisfying ending had the movie gone a little bit darker in its conclusion.
4 The Wolverine
The Wolverine feels like it’s going to be the best X-Men movie for a time, but as the final act commences, it begins to stray from that course. Most of the film deals with Wolverine’s character as he is forced to cope with the consequences of his powers, and it creates a very grounded feel for a superhero movie. However, when he ends up clashing with Ichiro Yashida in a giant robotic samurai suit at the end of the movie, it returns to generic superhero movie status. Their fight is too out of sync with the rest of the film, and it ruins what could have been a great movie.
3 Lucy
Lucy follows its title character’s quest to unlock the supposed 90% of the human brain that people are incapable of accessing. It’s an interesting concept, if somewhat played out, and it could have worked in a much better way if not for the approach the film takes to its ending. Essentially, once Lucy gains access to 100% of her brain, she turns into a form of artificial intelligence. This seems contrary to the movie’s premise, and it feels like a cheap way of wrapping up the story. Ultimately, Lucy comes across as a movie that is unwilling to fully explore the concepts behind its central premise, resulting in a lackluster conclusion.
2 Sunshine
Sunshine follows a crew of astronauts tasked with reigniting the sun after Earth begins to freeze over. Sunshine begins as a thought-provoking film that explores some interesting concepts and feels like it’s going to be a classic science-fiction brain-teaser. However, the final act of this film feels so wildly out of place that it ruins the premise and completely upends the feel cultivated across its first two acts. The film ends with the astronauts’ ship being invaded in the middle of outer space, turning Sunshine into a Star Trek rip-off.
1 World War Z
World War Z is an engaging zombie disaster movie that puts audiences on the edge of their seats for much of the film. Sadly, the conclusion seems to cheapen the rest of the plot, as protagonist, Gerry Lane, realizes the zombies won’t attack sick humans. It’s not necessarily the idea that ruins the movie, but the somewhat anticlimactic way that it’s executed. Most of the film moves at a rapid pace with a lot of exciting action, but the ending seems to sputter out as the writers realize they need to end this thing at some point.