15 Awful Endings That Ruined Potentially Great Films
13. War Of The Worlds (2005)
Perhaps a contentious choice for great film status, due in part to the divisive inclusion of Tom Cruise as the lead actor, War of Worlds nevertheless had potential to be a great film. The original 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds, when first written by H.G. Wells, caused a great deal of panic in some smaller communities. People who heard the report over the wireless thought it was a genuine news program. Today we are a cynical bunch. Even with the master of all things extra-terrestrial, Steven Spielberg, at the helm many people still dislike this film. But War of the Worlds was gripping when viewed in the cinema, and it held a great deal of promise. We all know Spielberg can do aliens well. And it was going smoothly until: The Ending That Ruined The Film It is important to reiterate that people today are far more cynical, far more discerning movie goers. This should have been a key factor when the script was being drafted. The original ending however was kept in, and so that thing that defeated the unstoppable aliens was: influenza. All the big scary aliens sneezed their faces off and keeled over and everybody lived happily ever after, the end, what the hell? Seriously? This was an ending designed to reassure American radio listeners in 1938 that is was all a Halloween hoax and there were not really aliens, so please put down that shotgun and dont loot your local store to stock up on supplies just yet. It is not an ending befitting a multi-million dollar Hollywood movie in the 21st Century.
