10 Awesome Recent Movies You'll Never Watch Again

All Quiet on the Western Front deserves to be ranked among the finest war films of the 21st century - a devastating, ferociously intense First World War epic buoyed with a thoughtful script, a stellar cast and masterful direction. Still, most viewers probably clocked this would be their only viewing as soon as the film ended, for one specific reason. 

Of course, the film is a harrowing and violent nightmare that director Edward Berger films like a fully-fledged horror movie, and the constant deaths of the characters are difficult to take. It's also another film that's likely to make audiences angry as they witness German generals and politicians thoughtlessly sacrificing over a million soldiers to serve their own needs. These themes feel chillingly relevant right now, as multiple terrible conflicts rage around the world. At the same time, plenty of other great war movies do that too. 

No, what really makes this film hard to rewatch is the ending, which is (once again) frustrating in the best sort of way. At the film's end, General Friedrichs (Devid Striesow) orders the soldiers to attack the nearby French troops on the morning of armistice day, hoping to fit in one final German victory before 11 o'clock that day. As a result, protagonist Paul (Felix Kammerer) dies seconds before the war ends, a heart-breaking and rage-inducing outcome punctuated by the knowledge that almost 3,000 soldiers on both sides of the conflict were killed on what should have been a day of peace.

It's a terrific ending that hammers home the film's anti-war message in crushing fashion, but it does mean that a second viewing would be difficult to stomach.