21 Movie Climaxes That People Found Rather Disappointing

"The ending didn't even make me mad or groan. I just quietly went, 'What?"

Damjan

• Published in Film & TV
• June 17, 2022

After seeing a sufficient number of films, you begin to notice patterns in the plot lines, the portrayal of particular characters, and even the occurrences that were supposed to be surprised plot twists. Predictability may be one of the reasons why a film is deemed terrible or at the very least uninteresting.

If you somehow don't know what we're talking about, read on... There is one rule, and one rule only - amazing stories require great endings.

The closing few minutes of a film determine whether moviegoers will leave in good spirits and promote it to others or lament the wasted hours of their lives. Unfortunately, poor endings have spoiled some truly outstanding movies throughout the years.

The endings are typically regarded as terrible since they are either incomprehensible or make no sense in the context of the greater plot. The discussion over which films have the worst endings can cover a wide range of films, but on the Internet, a few titles have been singled out as the biggest letdowns.

We have compiled a list of some of the most interesting remarks movie-goers have about movie endings, and we know you will agree with most of them. Let's take a look:

1. The movie Us - Red and Adelaide had switched places, and her son somehow knew

"The plot twist had no backing, and undermined Lupita Nyong’o’s performance. I couldn’t tell if we were supposed to know that her kid knew she was a tether before."

—ajeverything

2. Movie Shutter Island - Teddy was actually Andrew Laeddis, a murderer and psychiatric patient.

"When I saw the trailer, which shows DiCaprio's character visiting a mental institution and then his reality crumbling around him, it was obvious to me that DiCaprio was also a patient. I spent the whole film hoping I was wrong, and then when the 'twist' came it was just one big roll of the eyes.

Don't get me wrong, I think Scorsese and DiCaprio is actually a better pairing than Scorsese and De Niro, but I don't get the hype around that film at all. Perhaps if they had kept things vague in the trailer, but the whole thing was predictable and at the same time ridiculous."

—jonsharky

3. Movie Sixteen Candles - Jake showed up to be with Sam.

"We all knew that Sam wouldn’t get with Farmer Ted because he was such a creep, and since it’s an '80s teen film, she gets the guy she wants in the end. Nonetheless, I love this movie, but its plot is just too basic and predictable."

—dracomalfoyandhamilton

4. Movie X-Men Origins: dead Wade Wilson/Deadpool returned as the mutant killer Weapon XI:

"When they introduced Deadpool as a mutilated toy from Toy Story."

—stylishpenguin64

5. Movie Antebellum - Veronica escaped the plantation only to discover she had actually been in a civil war reenactment park:

"I started watching it, waiting for it to get better, but it never did. There didn't seem to be any kind of narrative framework to it; events just kind of happened. And then when it turned out the people were being tortured by people doing an elaborate form of cosplay? WTF? Really? The whole thing made no sense."

—tmar_of_vulcan

6. Movie Weathering with You - Hina sacrificed herself for the greater good but Hodaka decided to bring her back, dooming Tokyo:

"I was full on, tears-rolling-down-my-face crying as I thought we were getting to a bittersweet but beautiful end to the movie, and then it just goes full weird comedy for a long chase scene that is so out of place before it just pulls a compete switch that is so messed up and made me so angry...

You think the main twist is that Hina's actually slowly fading from existence the more she uses her abilities, serving as basically a human sacrifice that in the end will stop the rains and flooding. And you think she's going willingly, having realized how valuable the normal weather is to the world and the people she loves.

But no, Hodaka decides he won't allow it and escapes police custody to go 'rescue' her. Okay, fine, but how will they deal with the whole needing a sacrifice to stop the rain that is destroying Japan?

Plot twist: THEY DON'T. He gets the girl, and the rain never stops and half the country is underwater and people have died but they basically say, 'Eh, the weather changes, that's how it is, and now we're together so I don't care.'

I will always be so mad at how this movie was going so, so well and then it just becomes the worst thing it could possibly be."

—bryacynth

7. Movie Then Came You - Skye dies and nothing ever happens between her and Calvin:

"Skye's character literally dies after doing all that stuff, and instead of them being together (you could cut the sexual tension with a knife), he ends up with a flight attendant and [Skye] sends him letters from the grave...seriously?"

—joyfuldays09

8. Movie Glass - superhuman David Dunn was killed in a puddle:

"After the decades of waiting for the classic [conclusion to] M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable and Split, all we saw was Bruce Willis die over a fucking puddle. WTF even was that?"

—afsanahoque2000

9. Movie Frozen - Hans turned out to be the bad guy instead of Anna's true love:

"Let’s all be honest and say that Frozen had the most obvious twist ever. Kristoff was obviously going to be the romantic interest, so Hans filled no apparent role in the movie.

He was either gonna turn on Anna or was going to be a nothing character. Disney films are like crime shows — if there’s a character with a big role that isn’t playing a big part of the story, they’re probably dodgy AF."

—zoer4b5e921fd

10. Movie Frozen 2 - Elsa's mom appeared and revealed that Elsa was the fifth spirit:

"I literally cannot. First of all, Elsa learned NOTHING from the first movie.

She pushed Anna away, AGAIN! Second of all, it was disappointing that the voice is her mother and Elsa was a fifth spirit.

Like we should've gotten something like Anna having powers or maybe Anna and Kristoff's kid having powers or something like that. Frozen 2 disappointed me in the plot and that's why I like Frozen better."

—viribavi

11. The Village - it turned out the "monsters" were just residents of the village:

"The ending didn't even make me mad or groan. I just quietly went, 'What?' in realizing it just annihilated the excitement."

—dsw62

12. Notebook - it turned out the old couple were Noah and Allie and then they died together:

"They had a beautiful life together and died peacefully in their sleep at a ripe old age. I thought it was supposed to be a sad ending."

—sarahs402d05f80

13. Toy Story 4 -Woody decides to leave all his friends to stay with Bo Peep:

"The end of Toy Story 4 was shocking for all the wrong reasons. Woody's choice to stay behind at the end of the movie is completely out of character and ruins his evolution throughout the entire well-planned series.

I have to omit Toy Story 4 from my memory because Woody's identity is shaped around giving love to others (particularly his kid and his family of toys), not selfishly running off for an adventure.

Pixar ruined the character they helped us learn to love."

—hiitsnicetomeetyou

14. Star Wars: Episode IX - it was revealed that Rey was a Palpatine:

"That movie was all meaningless plot twists and death fakeouts, and no substance."

—femkat

"Luke deserved better and Rey being related to Palpatine? We as fans deserved better."

—mattb115

15. Wonder Woman - Sir Patrick was revealed to be Ares:

"The point was that war was multifaceted and that Diana couldn’t just find one source to fight, and then Ares shows up at the end?????? It completely disregarded the message that it built up just for a bad action sequence."

—morganelle18

16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Voldemort died via his skin flaking off.

"The choice to have Voldemort turn into ash was ludicrous and a huge letdown. It didn't allow for any catharsis or climax to happen for a journey we had been following FOR A DECADE.

In the books, he dies like a regular man, the stillness and lifelessness of his body is a poignant moment for all the children and parents he terrorized."

—kenobae

"Voldemort was supposed to die like a 'normal' man; that was the entire point of destroying the Horcruxes (you know, pretty much the entire plot of the last book?). The flaking/fading effect was not at all what should have happened and I remember being really disappointed when I saw it in theaters."

—baelee23

17. Gone Girl - Amy returns and tells Nick she was pregnant:

"Someone should have died or just left. Anything other than just being pregnant and staying together in fear of one another."

—taradactyl8

18. Split - The Beast was revealed:

"The ending of Split was a let down. The whole movie had such a build-up and then they just turn him into a cannibal monster?

It was a letdown and felt like a cop-out and a stretch. So disappointing, especially since the rest of the movie was so good!"

—sugasugaaaa

19. Remember Me- It was actually Sept. 11 and Teddy was at the Twin Towers:

"I legit walked out of the theater when they pulled back and showed the towers. It was an unnecessary use of a national tragedy that still had (and HAS) thousands of living victims.

To use it as the 'twist' in a crappy rom-drama was, frankly, disgusting."

—shadyslytherin

20. The Goonies - Rosalita discovers Mikey's marble bag filled with gems, meaning the Goonies didn't have to move:

"All they did was break a real estate development that would’ve netted their parents out more than their homes were worth...If they scored that rich stuff they all would’ve moved anyway!"

—bradleyalbert

21. Hide and Seek - David finds out he's Charlie:

"20 minutes in, I knew exactly how it was going to play out. Robert De Niro had a 'split personality' he wasn't aware of, who ended up being a psychopath. It was dull, dreary, and predictable."

—thomaslloyd1

"Personally, I had a problem with the 'split personality' thing because of how such plots misinform people about Dissociative Identity Disorder."

—rooftopstorage

For every movie ending that leaves us feeling startled, wowed, and satisfied in the most beautiful, Shawshank-ian of ways, there are hundreds upon dozens of duds with denouements that leave us feeling tricked, puzzled, and even outraged.

Movie makers should reconsider their actions. Creating a good plot is not enough - a movie has to have an equally effective ending.

Damjan