25 Greatest Movie Endings Since 2000

From Christopher Nolan's jaw-droppers to the devastating, the hilarious, and the truly screwed up.

By Jack Pooley /

As great as any movie is as a whole, the part that's most likely to stick in your mind when it's all said and done is the ending, either cementing a film's greatness or blowing it all at the last minute. An iconic ending will give a great movie what it needs to live on in cinema history forever more, whether shocking, hilarious, or simply just dramatically potent. Though not every movie on this list is a bonafide masterpiece, each nevertheless served up an extremely memorable and well-wrought ending, which acted as a fine capper to what came before, either reinforcing the film's themes or perhaps completely turning everything on its head. These endings dropped jaws, wrung tears, left you feeling like crap or had you pumping your fist in the air, but regardless of what emotion they evoked, each was undeniably excellent in its own way. From some of the century's most iconic horror fare to date to a number of mind-bending Christopher Nolan movies and a couple of Best Picture winners as well, these 25 endings are lodged firmly in the minds of anyone who saw the films. Without any further ado, here are the 25 greatest movie endings since 2000...