Editing is a masterful art, though one that so many directors, no matter how skilled, can’t seem to get a grasp of; though they usually don’t edit the films personally, they almost always sit in on the edit and guide the editor along the way.
As a result, there’s really no excuse when a film just seems to have no idea where to finish; this might partially be the fault of a script that drags on past the point of exhaustion, yet the laborious manner in which these 10 films closed out made for a punishing viewing experience (even if most of them are on the whole pretty good).
There’s nothing like a great film that takes you on an epic, sprawling journey; it’s just a shame that these filmmakers didn’t have the good sense to realise that not every one of their ideas was a good one, and sometimes, less is more. After all, am I more likely to forgive a film for its flaws if it’s brief and to the point or bombastic and torturously long?
Here are 10 movies that didn’t know when to end…
10. Speed
Don’t get me wrong, I love this Keanu Reeves-starring action-packed thrill-ride like anyone else, but the final act taints things slightly because it goes on for about 20 minutes longer than was necessary.
According to director Jan de Bont, the film was originally planned to end once Jack (Reeves) and Annie (Sandra Bullock) escaped the bus (which will explode if it drops below 50mph), but the studio insisted that an additional climax be appended in which Jack faces off against the terrorist who planned the scenario, Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper).
Though it makes sense to find a way to do away with Payne, surely there were simply ways that could have occurred within the original climax? Instead we get a protracted finale on a train, in which Payne has incredulously kidnapped Annie, and ends up getting decapitated during a fight with Jack on top of the train.
Oh, and then the train’s brakes are broken, so Jack and Annie have to deal with that. It’s still a classic action movie, but damn, it goes on way too long…
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60 Comments
Completely agree regarding Source Code. The “happy ending” left me feeling slightly disappointed, as it had gone against everything the story had been setting up throughout the film.
Couldnt agree more with Pearl Harbour, if its ever on tele, I tell people who want to watch it, look when it end then start watching it 1 hour n half hour inwards then the japanese have invaded and its straight war. LOTR shouldve ended soonerm it just dragged n dragged n dragged n then when you thought it was going to end it dragged on even more…
I was just expecting you to miss Source Code so I could point it out.
The moment Jake kissed Michelle after calling his father and everything freezed, I thought it was a beautiful ending and almost shed my tears. Then there came the ridiculously cheesy happy ending that ruined the film.
A really good read and agree with all your choices but one. I cannot swallow the Shawshank Ending any other way, it is the kind of film that gives an illusion of being longer than it actually is.
By the time it ends you feel like you have been on a huge journey and this is all down to the closure you get at the end. I personally cannot sit through such a huge narrative and not have it all sewn up at the end. I love that beach shot at the end and for me, the best part of Shawshank is that incredible scene when Red finally tell the parole board how he feels and gets released.
Just my two cents, but it is still a really good article sir!
Titanic and Pearl Harbour are similar in this respect that the viewer knows (or at least should know if they have any grasp of history) the ending before the start. Similarly, everyone knew that King Kong takes an attractive blonde girl up the Empire State Building for his moment of heart-felt affection (its been parodied enough!!!) and literally gets brought back down to earth. In all three cases, I suspect a big chunk of the viewing audience didn’t really care about the respective love stories and just wanted it to get down to business, which possibly creates a subconscious sense that the film runs longer that it needs to.
Felt the same about Speed though. Yeah yeah, in an elevator that you don’t want to stop; now in a bus that can’t stop; now trapped in a train you can’t escape from; now running free in a train that stop…….
Funnily enough I watched Source Code for the first time last night and felt exactly the same as it happened.
But surely the ultimate example is Con Air? If that film ended when the plane first landed it would be an enjoyable romp with Messrs Cage, Malkovich and Cusack all on fine, albeit pantomime-esque form. Yet even this cheesefest is pushed over the edge with the ridiculous second landing in Vegas with a final showdown on a fire engine.
Exactly. Not once did I feel the movie had multiple endings and correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t this how the book ended too? Too me, the ending would have felt wrong if it stopped at Aragorn’s coronation and not knowing about the dwarfs afterwards.
*I mean hobbits
I agree with most but i actually liked the ending of LOTR. It gave us closure on many characters that we spent so much time with. I hope he does something similar with the Hobbit.
Thank you thank you thank you. I thought I was the only one who felt that way about AI. I thought it had structural problems anyhow, including the fact that it was really two slightly incongruous films in one; but the coda or epilogue was really too much.
Dead on about Titanic; the framing device was unnecessary and long, and didn’t add any story value.
You’re probably right about LOTR. And if Jackson must have all those endings, he should have worked in the Scouring of the Shire, which was thematically so crucial in the novels.
Good list.
How about Face/Off? It was not great cinema in any event, but that last, ridiculous boat chase scene took about 20 minutes of running time, I think. It’s like the producers said, “hey, we’ve got another 10 million in the budget! How about a chase!”
I believe that the writer was talking about how these films basically ended after there was a resolution and since the resolution came as a direct result of the boat scene, it would have been kind of stupid to leave it out.
I would have to include “The Dark Knight” personally, even though it’s easily one of my favorite movies. The entire final scene between Batman, Gordon and Two-Face completely breaks the pacing up to that point and felt very tacked-on to me. They could/should have done something with Two-Face before that, because the final scene between Batman and The Joker really should have been the final scene in the movie.
I would respectfully disagree here. The Joker wins? The white knight is gone? The Dark Knight knows he need to continue, despite now being criminal #1?
The “tacked-on” ending was the whole point of the movie.
King Kong really disappointed me when I first saw it. I indeed just wanted it to finish. I really liked Source Code but got bored of the repeated lines/situation. Films with this sort of concept can get real old, real quick.
Looks like somebody didn’t read the Lord of the Rings.
No, I got bored of that after the first few pages as well, funnily enough :D
Too bad, you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s undoubtedly one of the very best literary masterpieces I’ve ever read, and puts every other fantasy novel to shame. I’ve read it about a dozen times throughout my life and still enjoy it more and more with each read.
Pretty much agree on all counts, especially Pearl Harbor. I’m far more satisfied with Tora, Tora, Tora! A very no-nonsense depiction of the event, the SFX may be just wee bit dated, but it’s still looks spectacular. Plus they used REAL planes in it.
I have to disagree about ‘Shawshank.’
In fact I think the ending is the very reason why ‘Shawshank’ continues to have a place in many a moviegoer’s heart.
Audiences want resolution and payback for investing their time and emotions in a movie, especially ones where we truly care about the characters in it. Not to mention movies with a depressing plot and moments.
I can’t think of a more perfect way to end a film on an upbeat and hopeful note than ‘Shawshank.’
One movie I thought should have ended sooner was “Lincoln.”
It should have ended once Lincoln put on his hat and walked down the steps on his way to the theater. Instead it drags on and is really distracting.
I would say that Hannibal, Meet Joe Black and Unbreakable were also movies that just dragged on for ages.
Good list though.
I liked the article, even tho there were some movies on there that I have never seen (Source Code, Titanic Shawshank Redemption, one or two others). LOTR: Return of the King ended how it should have, with endings for all the main characters. I tried to sit down once and watch King Kong but I got tired of the lead-in to the action (which I never saw because I got tired of sitting there waiting for it). And I could have done without the love triangle in Pearl Harbor. It was pointless and stupid and it took away from what the film was really about.
Finally , i guess someone has explained the reason behind ‘the shawshank redemtion’s not winning best picture award back in ’94 . . . . . . .. . . :D . . . . . . . . . . . (not agree)
Guhhh Return of the King.
I’ll tell you what belongs here along with Pearl Harbor is Transformers 2. If you cut out all the ridiculous BS that movie could seriously be half an hour instead of the whopping two and half it presents. That movie was so long I felt my brains frying inside my head. Guhhh…
Although it is one of my Top 5 favorites, I always felt “Shawshank” should have ended with Morgan Freeman on the bus, heading to Fort Hancock. His voiceover at that time is (paraphrasing) “I hope the Pacific is as blue as in my dreams. I hope to see my friend again. I hope.”
Since “hope” was always Andy’s message, it seemed to me once Red embraced it, the story was complete. We, as the audience, could determine if they ever met up again – we didn’t need to see it to believe it.
Like I said, still in my top 5.
It’s a perfect ending because that’s where the book ended, which I don’t think the author of this article has read, as they think it should have ended with any escaping, but the book , in my opinion, follows red more than andy. Just sayin
yes keep playing video games
Love this article. I believe the final scene on the beach in “Shawshank” was added on as the producers didn’t like it closing ambiguously with Red on the bus so they gave Darabond some money and asked him to film the bit with the boat.
I totally agree that Peter Jackson overindulged KING KONG. The original was so great because of economy of storytelling but his adaptation, though thrilling, was overbloated and stuffed with unnecessary subplots.
Having said that THE RETURN OF THE KING should be allowed its long fade outs. It’s been a mammoth journey for the audience and some indulgences should be granted to lead us out from the narrative I think. Perhaps, Peter Jackson was in love with the story and characters so much, he didn’t want to let go; just like the first time a parent sends his child to the big school. Or maybe not.
But for every one of the endings Jackson fades to black. That’s an unwritten rule in film making. Don’t fade to black in thethird act unless you want to throw a little twist in. Jackson violated this rule for each of his 6 endings. That’s why people were laughing at it. And this piece of garbage still won best picture.
Or to put it simply: he was being faithful to the end of the book.
Regarding ROTK, they could have shown Aragorn being crowned, and for a few scenes it would seem as Frodo and Sam are dead. Then Galadriel goes on to talk about how a true ringbearer can never recover from it’s malice, and we see Bilbo boarding the elven boat… and then we see frodo boarding the ship behind him, and then we see sam, his family and the other hobbits watching the boat sail away.
Disagree on Shawshank, although the end could have used a bit more tightening editwise. Not mentioned here is “LA Confidential”, which should have ended after the climactic shootout and the films protagonist holding up the badge to announce to the arriving LE cavalry that he too is a police officer. Instead they dragged on it with nonsense inserted, I guess, to explain what just happened. Saps the movie of any dramatic impact.
I started watching The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in my local theater on December 17, 2003, and it feels like I’m STILL watching it.
Kidding, of course. But as I understand it, there’s a 263-minute special extended version of the film available on Blu-ray. 263 minutes. That’s four hours and 23 minutes.
Great googly moogly.
I nominate Crimson Tide. I don’t know how long that movie runs, but I definitely would have cut to black right at the point where Capt. Ramsey and Lt. Cmdr Hunter (Gene Hackman / Denzel Washington) were nose to nose in the control room. Leaving the outcome ambiguous, instead of the anti-climactic conversation on the courthouse steps, would have made a finer film in my opinion. A lot of viewers need to have a spoon-fed ending, though, so my kind of ending only rarely gets made.
Hi Shaun, and fellow readers, I’m glad to see that you wrote about the same problems I saw in Superman Returns, because I believe I have addressed those issues in my new fanedit called Superman Resolved. Made by a fan, for fans, it is a brand new release and it’s getting great reviews. It’s available now at fanedit.org, or just google Superman Resolved. :)
Roger Ebert aptly described Pearl Harbor as “a two hour movie skillfully crammed into three.” A.I. is dead on, and, proving Spielberg just cannot end a movie, Lincoln. Lincoln announces he’s going to Ford’s Theater, walks down the hall and out the door, fade to black. Cut! CUT, DAMMIT! No, we get the whole assassination and death scene, too. Leave that whole bit out. Give a few seconds transition and do the Second Inaugural scene. Or just end it after he walks down the hall. And LOTR drags on, but it also left out a major chapter where Saruman takes over the Shire and has to be defeated. Tolkien couldn’t end a story, either.
Shawshank Redemption is based off a book. Also Signs. If it hadd ended when the lights came on it would’ve been awesome. But no. Apparently aliens invade planets that have life sources based off of the thing that kills them, not to mention the planet is 80% of the stuff that kills them! Did not need to have the last 10-15 minutes of it.
This (common) criticism of “The Return of the King” is rooted in a lack of perspective. TRotK is the culmination of nearly 9 hours of film. Would you begrudge a 9 hour film 20 minutes of closure for all of its characters? I’ll be the first to criticize Jackson for sometimes overindulging on his runtimes, but I don’t believe that to be the case here.
Add Cast Away and Funny People to this list.
I completely tuned out of this list’s credibility when the Shawshank Redemption was put on here. That ending lingers long for a purpose.
But in Source Code the happy ending is not the one where he is with the girl in the beach at the end, they finally show us that was another trick of the computer, he was still hooked without knowing it.
I’m about fifty years old now, and I used to watch a lot of movies at the theaters.
The one movie that about tortured me to death because it would just never end was Out of Africa with Meryl Streep.
I don’t know if it just didn’t know when to end, or maybe it was just
long and boring, but I thought time had stopped and that movie was never going to come to its conclusion.
I have to agree with nearly the entire list. Titanic is long but it never felt like it dragged on like some movies. Source code lost all it’s power with the warm and Fuzzy ending. and Perl Harbor was filed with pointless fillers. King Kong drove me nuts every one of the unneeded Landscape Flyovers felt like lost footage form the LOTR franchise.
Left out of this list regrettably:
Red Tails, at 125 minutes contained a totally useless love story that did nothing but stop the movie in its tracks. That time cod have been better spend in the air or dealing with what these Black pilots had to go through.
Lincoln, at 150 min the movie dragged on. With the focus on Lincoln and the dilemma to end the war or end slavery the content dealing with hi wife’s mental issues seemed unnecessary. Granted Sally Field was Amazing as she channeled her character M’Lynn from Steel Magnolias but still. What was worse was the last 20 minutes of the movie. We all know the war ends and that Lincoln is shot. We dolt need to watch 25 minutes of it an dose nothing to sum up the movie. The movie have stopped after the vote or My personal choice [spoiler alert] when Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) Barrows the Amendment and takes it home to what we discover is he is married to a Black woman, were she reads the amendment allowed as they lay in bed. It’s one of the most powerful moment of the movie.
in regards to ROTK, you have to look at the source material. the ring gets destroyed with a solid quarter of the book remaining, the point being htat just because their journey was over, life goes on, and evil goes on. peter jackson already cut out the entire part of the shire burning, the conclusions of legolas and gimlis stories, etc etc. the book itself goes on so it was in respect to the storytelling of JRR Tolkien that the movie kept going.
i think casino royale is the opposite kind of movie. After 2 hours I thought the movie was going to end and I thought hey, a pretty decent movie. But then events changed and the movie went on for another half an hour. then i was wondering, is it over. but no the movie proceeded for another half hour, where bond experiences his tragedy that would be his future motivation to not trust anyone. and then the m16 ending with bond music happened of course
This list didn’t know when it should end.
Majority of Bollywood movies
Minority Report. It should’ve ended with Tom Cruise falling victim of the precog system he served. That whole third act was unnecessary in my opinion.
To be fair, Return of the King cut out a lot of the endings. Peter Jackson really had to tie it all together, so it’s a bit understandable why that one is so long.
Pearl Harbor, however, is three hours too long. That film is a waste of existence. At least Michael Bay’s other films stop immediately after their big climactic showdowns. I’d rather see Armageddon for a month nonstop on loop without sleep than watch Pearl Harbor once more. At least Armageddon has Bruce Willis.
Heh. During the RotK sequence of Sam and Frodo climbing Mt. Doom, I was all “Go Frodo, GO!”
But by the end of that insufferable series of green-screened, slow-mo goodbyes, I was all “just go, Frodo, just go already [/facepalm]“.
While I enjoy the ending of Shawshank Redemption, it might make the author of this article feel better to know that Darabont had originally intended the movie to end before the reunion scene. Studio executives demanded he extend the ending after some early screening feedback from audience members. As was discussed here, audience members had SO much emotional connection to the characters that they needed to be sure that everyone was “alright” at the end.
I was eager to find my picks for movie that didn’t know when to end. But alas neither was on the list. So here they are:
My first pick falls in the same arena with A.I., and that was Bicentennial Man. I realized they gave the movie that name because I felt like I sat in that theater for at least a Bicentennial, Man. By the end I told my wife that I felt every one of those two hundred years as the movie dragged on to tell a tale that didn’t necessarily need to be told. It was like watching Pinnochio one frame at a time. Ugh!
My second pick was Meet Joe Black. I was glad I got in to see this stinker for free since my brother worked at the local theater. But I was sorry by the time the movie ended, and ended, and ended… Every time I thought the final scene was approaching, it just kept moving into the darkness that was Meet Joe Black. Thankfully for the other moviegoers in the theater, I resisted my overwhelming urge to shout “When the hell is this movie going to finish already!” For some reason I still haven’t learned that it is okay to leave the theater before the end of the movie if it is so horribly long. I know now.
I thought ‘The Dark Knight’ was that way, as great as it is. The tension started to devolve into boredom around the 140-minute mark. Of course, the movie was still fantastic, but no movie is without flaw.
Last Action Hero! It wasn’t a very good movie, but they spent too much damn time in movie land. It may have been more of a keeper of a movie had they brought him into the real world sooner.
This guy is talking about making changes in some of the best movies ever made. Just ridiculous…
Actually, I read somewhere that Darabont wanted the ambiguous ending for Shawshank, but the studio made him film a reunion clip. DON’T BASH DARABONT!
When hit the 180 plus run times for some of these movies, all I can say is thank God for Depends
The American remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo needs to be on this list as well. Overall a very good list though, well done.
There was supposed to have been a big twist at the end of Speed: Dennis Hopper’s character was revealed to have been dead all along, the real villain would have been the friendly crippled cop partner who had puppeteered the whole thing while sitting at his desk back at the police station. When they threw that plot point away, late in the production, and brought back Hopper to the set as the villain without changing the rest of the script, the climax made little sense.