15 Awesome Plot Twists That Totally Saved Awful Movies

10. The Final Simulation Is Not A Simulation - Ender's Game

The Twist: Ender's (Asa Butterfield) final test simulation results in him winning the game decisively, but he's then informed that it was no game, and Ender just wiped out the Formics' homeworld. Ender, devastated by the news, but now given his own ship as a result of his success, locates the single remaining unborn Queen of the Formics and ends the movie searching for a new home to repopulate the alien race.

Why It Saves The Movie: For 90% of its run-time, Ender's Game is a relatively uninvolving sci-fi flick about a bunch of squeaky-voiced teenagers training to become intergalactic soldiers. The training goes on so long that viewer ennui likely sets in by the half-way point, but given the film's final stinger, it's absolutely necessary for viewers to buy into the fact that pretty much the entire movie is a training exercise.

In retrospect, it seems glaringly obvious given that the movie's marketing tagline was "This is not a game", but on its own terms, it was a clever, thought-provoking twist with something to say about the nature of war and the world around us. Perhaps it leaves a film more to be respected than truly liked, but the ballsy twist won Ender's Game its measured praise.