9 Movies That End Without Solving A Major Problem

We all love a happy ending, where the hero defeats the villain, saves the day and rides off into the sunset. Of course, pulling off a satisfying ending is always a tricky balance, since it has to serve the characters while paying off the story. Ideally, it will also tie up any major loose ends, which amazingly some movies forget to do.

They head full force towards a resolution to one problem, while seemingly forgetting about another major crisis that hasn’t been dealt with. Sure, the bad guy might die, but his evil plan might still be in place. Or maybe the inciting event is forgotten after the first act, and the hero forgets it was a problem in the first place.

Whatever the case it’s kind of baffling such major issues are just dropped from the finale, yet the filmmakers make it look like everything is a-ok. Here are some films that suffer from this lack of proper resolution, and how it affects the story.

It’s not all volleyball and karaoke in eighties classic Top Gun; occasionally, s**t gets real too. After a lot of training and homoeroticism the final act sees the young pilots engage in a real conflict, when they have to aid an American ship strayed in foreign waters; a Danger Zone, if you will.

The movie goes to great lengths to avoid naming exactly which nation American has annoyed in this instance, though with the type of aircraft they fly and the insignia used, Russia is a safe bet. So, during the height of the Cold War an American ship wanders into Russian territory, and when they send out planes to investigate American planes swoop in and shoot them down. This hardly sounds like a wise diplomatic approach.

Nonetheless, Tom Cruise and chums come out of the battle high-fiving and fist bumping, not once considering the possibility their actions may have just triggered a war. A couple of nuclear weapons would surely take their breaths away. And if not, shouldn't the paranoia have kicked in anyway?