12 Great Action Movies Ruined By Terrible Endings

9. 2012

Independence Day director Roland Emmerich’s endings flop as often as they land, and this 2008 apocalyptic action adventure is no exception to this rule. Already about an hour longer than it needs to be, the flick loses steam as soon as our hero John Cusack and his family have fled a rapidly self-destructing Los Angeles. So what now, since the film has already fulfilled the trailer’s promise of world-ending disaster action?

Well, the few surviving cast members are left to fight over spaces on what is effectively a government-sanctioned Noah’s Ark, and the epilogue reveals that the few stars left are going to be stuck stranded in the last land mass on earth. What was probably intended as an environmentalist message instead comes across as an overly obvious Christian metaphor, sapping the film’s conclusion of any tension and leaving the until-now impressive action feeling flat and uninspired.