15 Potentially Awesome Films Undermined By Their Terrible Endings

With The Grey, everyone expected a lightweight film in which Liam Neeson fights wolves in the snow. Instead we got a insanely depressing and highly intelligent survival thriller with an unexpectedly philosophical tone. It's very worthwhile but you won't want to watch it again for two main reasons: firstly, it's miserable as hell and secondly, the ending doesn't work.

The Grey ends on a cliff-hanger as protagonist Ottway (Neeson, in one his best-ever performances), the last man alive from the plane crash that stranded him and several other workers from an oil drilling facility in the snowy wilderness, prepares to take a stand against the wolves that have been stalking him. As he charges at them, the film cuts to black. The film has a post-credits scene that shows both the leading wolf and Ottway lying in the snow, but who won the fight is ambiguous.

This was an incredibly brave ending but unfortunately it was just very frustrating and didn't really add anything to the movie. Additionally, while the film's bleak tone mostly works, this was a step too far and a tiny bit of hope really would've gone down a treat.

Ending the film with Ottway surviving probably wouldn't have worked, but this still wasn't the right choice of ending.