15 Potentially Awesome Films Undermined By Their Terrible Endings

15. Darkest Hour

Darkest Hour makes one question whether the term Oscar Bait should be used as an insult since, despite being blatant Oscar Bait, it's actually pretty good, but it makes a very poorly-judged narrative left turn at the very end.

Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) is unsure of whether or not to seek peace with Germany and he impulsively goes on the London Underground, where members of the public tell him they all want to continue the fight. Inspired by these words, he then delivers his legendary "We shall never surrender" speech in the House of Commons.

While the speech is well-acted by Oldman, the tube scene was a near-fatal blunder. To suggest that such a momentous and important political decision as the one to continue the fight with Germany would be influenced by a few random civilians on the Tube is ludicrous, as is the implication that Churchill's speech was largely taken from the words of the members of the public.

It's not a particularly well-written scene and, since the rest of the film takes a reasonably factual and straight-forward approach to events, this blatantly fictional moment is very jarring.

Since this scene is so badly done, the film rather undermines its climax and Churchill's famous speech feels far less powerful than it should've done.