12 Great Action Movies Ruined By Terrible Endings

12. Law Abiding Citizen

This gritty 2009 revenge thriller saw the filmmakers combine Saw-style torture porn with intense action sequences in order to craft a brutal but brilliant story. Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx both shine in their respective roles as a broken man driven by a bloodthirsty desire for vengeance, and the amoral lawyer ensnared in his ambitiously violent plot to enact justice.

For most of its run time, we’re left with our sympathies bouncing between protagonists, and as bloody-minded as Butler’s character is, the uncaring cruelty of Foxx makes him easy to root for through each successively bloodier sequence.

That is, until the film’s weak ending, wherein law and order are restored, the moral questions raised by the film are ignored, and we’re reliably ensured that things won’t get too brutal, lest the conclusion be too surprising or, God forbid, thrilling.