10 Movies That Almost Had Much Better Endings

8. Die Hard With A Vengeance

The Actual Ending

The oddly forgettable climax to the otherwise spectacular third Die Hard film sees Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons) attempting to make his epic escape, while John McClane (Bruce Willis), his unwitting pal Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson), and the NYPD try to stop him.

Gruber and his girlfriend Katya (Sam Phillips) flee in a helicopter, only for McClane to shoot a power line, which hits the chopper and causes it to crash, killing Gruber and Katya in an explosive fireball.

The One We Almost Got

The original ending actually sees Gruber initially getting away, and the final scene picks up some time later, with an embittered McClane blamed for his escape and eventually tracking Gruber down to a bar in Hungary.

John "invites" Gruber to play a game of "McClane Says," which effectively amounts to Russian Roulette with a portable rocket launcher that's had the sights removed, meaning it's impossible to tell which end is the business end.

Simon gets McClane's riddle wrong, and after being forced to fire the launcher, it sends a rocket straight through his body, killing him instantly.

Unfortunately, the studio thought this ending lacked action and showed an overtly cruel side to McClane, and instead ordered the more action-packed, sanitised final ending to be shot at great expense.

Why It Would've Been Better

Screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh put it best when, on the movie's DVD commentary, he said that his intention was to show that the events of the movie and everything McClane was ultimately blamed for had a tremendous impact upon him psychologically.

Though the ending arguably feels more in line with the climax of a James Bond or Jason Bourne movie, its caustic edge would've been refreshing for the franchise, even if it also would've left fans questioning how John could come back from this for the fourth film.

Still, as a savage piece of character development, it was effortlessly superior to the bland finale we ended up with.