This list wouldn't be anywhere near complete without the unexpected events that occurs in the closing moments of Stanley Kubrick's science fiction masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey - a bizarre and mind-bending ending that has stumped people for decades. The body of the movie concerns a space mission where astronauts enter into an unwitting battle with a malevolent computer named HAL 900. After defeating HAL, survivor Dave ends up being flung through an inter-dimensional wormhole/portal thing and awakens in a well-furnished room, looking at an old man version of himself. Then Dave is transformed into a giant baby floating in space, which is just about the weirdest thing to have ever happened, well, ever, really. How do you beat that? This ending was unexpected, to say the least, and movie-goers are still trying to figure out the inherent mysteries of 2001's frankly insane final moments. There were a few naysayers, of course; those who deemed it to be "unnecessarily vague" or "pretentious," and - as a result - it also stands as one of the most controversial endings in all of cinema. Like this article? What did you make of these unexpected and controversial endings? Got any to add that we happened to miss out? Let us know in the comments section below.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
