10 Sci-Fi Movies With Unexpectedly Ridiculous Plot Twists

8. It Was All A... Game? - Serenity

A strong twist is able to completely catch an audience off-guard without entirely derailing the experience of watching the feature in question.

2019's Serenity's attempt at pulling off this feat, while utterly nailing the shock element, quickly left audiences feeling a little cheated for getting caught up in the apparent story of fisherman Baker Dill looking to help his ex-wife kill off her abusive new husband.

Instead, it turns out that, why this thankfully didn't end up being "all a dream", it's pretty much the second best/worst thing.

As it goes, the frequent shots of Dill's son Patrick tapping away at a computer throughout the movie were far more than what they seemed. Patrick has actually found a way to create a freakishly sophisticated virtual reality game that involves a central character based on his late father as a way of dealing with the resentment he feels towards his abusive real-life step dad.

And just like that, a basic but still rather intriguing concept of a man trying to save his ex-wife and son from the evil new fella on the scene is well and truly flipped on its head, with the star-studded cast soon dumped into a virtual scenario that asks its audience to contemplate a world where a kid happily sat back and watched his parents digitally bang on a boat.