10 Movies That DELIBERATELY Didn't Give Fans What They Wanted
8. No Country For Old Men
No Country for Old Men may have won the Best Picture Oscar, but it's probably one of the more divisive films the Coen brothers have ever made, at least where casual, mainstream audiences are concerned.
Though in most respects a tightly wound neo-western, it refused to merely serve up the typical shootout climax audiences were expecting and probably also wanting.
Viewers desperately hoped to see Terminator-like assassin Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) stopped by our rugged hero Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), but per the particulars of Cormac McCarthy's source material, that isn't quite what happens.
Instead, Moss is killed by a group of Mexicans long before the real climax, and the Coens rob us of even that moment - we only see the bloody aftermath of Moss' murder.
This denied gratification continues for the rest of the film - the death of Moss' wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald) is also kept off-screen, and just as the audience expects retired Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) to step up, he doesn't.
The final scene sees Bell lamenting an ultra-violent landscape he is helpless to tame or control, and then the film just... ends without any wider resolution.
It's brilliant, but naturally a comedown for anyone geared up for a more standard western finale. It works so well, but it's also understandable that many - especially younger viewers - didn't vibe with it.