10 Movies That Totally Surprised You When They Ended
2. No Country For Old Men
No Country for Old Men's sudden ending doesn't sit well with everyone, but didn't stop it winning the Best Picture Oscar, and damn straight.
For the first 95 minutes of the Coen brothers' mesmerising Western thriller, it seems like a sure thing that our "hero" Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) will prevail against the Terminator-like hitman Anton Chigurh (an Oscar-winning Javier Bardem) in the climax.
But instead, Moss is suddenly killed off-screen by a group of Mexicans before any such showdown can take place, seemingly leaving Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) to take his place in the quest to end Chigurh once and for all.
But this also never happens. Instead, Chigurh kills Moss' wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald) as he promised he would, survives a brutal car crash, and then escapes to parts unknown.
As for Bell? Knowing he's absolutely outclassed by Chigurh and tired of the whole mess, he basically gives up and accepts retirement, ending the film with a chilling recount of two eerie dreams he had, seemingly signalling his own failings and impending mortality.
And just then, the Coens cut to black. The End.
A less-scrupulous pair of filmmakers would've likely changed Cormac McCarthy's source material to end with the aged Sheriff taking down his much younger foe, but instead they wrapped it on a brilliantly savage ellipsis, so perfectly encapsulating the film's title and themes.