6. No Country For Old Men (2007)
The Twist: After finding a suitcase full of money, Llewelyn Moss enters a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a terrifying hitman, only to... end up getting killed
off-screen twenty minutes before the ending of the movie? What? Are you kidding me, Coen Brothers?
Why It's Unpopular: Having followed Moss for the entire length of the movie, suddenly killing him off without warning (and off-screen, no less) seemed like a certified smack in the face, and film-goers did not appreciate the casual and fanfare-less way in which this character was suddenly dispatched.
Why It Deserves More Credit: Because it's a brilliant deconstruction of our expectations, and the Coens are making a great point: why do we need to see Llewelyn Moss killed on-screen, anyways? If they're showing us that he's dead (and it isn't left on an annoyingly ambiguous), what does it matter? We're given the same information that we would have if we'd have seen him shot on-screen. So although it's frustrating, it's a clever way to approach the material. It also links perfectly to the themes in the movie - that the moment Moss takes the suitcase, he's doomed, and he won't be able to outrun his destiny. This point is echoed throughout the movie via Sheriff Ed Bell, who has become disillusioned by the amount of evil in the world - evil that he finds much too overwhelming to deal with. The sudden nature of Moss' death highlights the inevitably of this evil. It may be irksome, but it makes sense given the themes of the movie.