10 Movies They Didn't Know How To End

7. The Matrix Revolutions

This could really apply to both of the Wachowskis' Matrix sequels, which while visually dazzling and jam-packed with awesome action, had no idea how to reach a satisfying climax.

This is especially true of the final entry into the trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions, which built up to a tectonic mega-brawl between Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), and still couldn't give fans a compelling send-off.

As a whole, it feels like the Wachowskis visualised the ridiculous, Dragonball Z-inspired final battle and then reverse-engineered the rest of Revolutions from that concept.

The battle itself, while undeniably silly, is at least creative and technically ambitious, and really should've led to a pretty straight-forward conclusion where The Matrix is purged of Smith.

Perhaps seeing this as too "neat", the Wachowskis instead gave fans an obtuse and anti-climactic ending where, after Smith is destroyed, Neo's code is returned to the source - whatever that means - and the precise nature of his (non)existence is left infuriatingly ambiguous.

Granted, it can't have been easy to come up with a gratifying ending to a pop-culture monolith of this sort, but despite the series' technical complexity, a simpler ending clearly would've sufficed.

Audiences don't always need their expectations subverted, and an unsurprising ending that works is better than an unexpected one that frustrates.