10 Terrible Movies With Awesome Endings
6. Escape From L.A.
It certainly has its defenders, but what is Escape from L.A. if not a huge comedown from Escape from New York? It's effectively the same movie again albeit shifted to the other side of the U.S. and worse in every which way.
Sure, Kurt Russell's sheer, badass charm counts for something, but John Carpenter's direction goes regularly on auto-pilot, and some of the more ambitious, effects-driven sequences - namely that surfing scene - felt dated even back in 1996.
But the ending? Pure poetry.
Snake (Russell) and the President's daughter, Utopia (A. J. Langer) are captured by the President (Cliff Robertson), who has his traitorous daughter taken to the electric chair and then orders his officers to execute Snake by firing squad.
After they open fire, however, Snake is miraculously unharmed, revealing that they actually shot at a holographic projection.
At this point, the real Snake emerges and activates the Sword of Damocles superweapon, rendering all technology on Earth useless, in turn preventing Utopia's execution.
And because that's not awesome enough, Snake then lights up a cigarette and glares at the audience, before quipping "Welcome to the human race" as the image fades to black. The End.
Where the hell was this anarchic spirit, energy, and sheer coolness in the preceding 80 minutes?