What makes a movie ending great?

Ending it how it should end.

Example: If throughout the movie the main character is sick and is goig to die. I dont want them to recover because “mainstream people” in production companies say people want to see that. I want to see that person die.

Good guys dont always win, but the fight better be sweet. I dont always like traditional good guy winning.

Good point. Some people like the happy Hollywood ending, while some prefer a higher degree of realism.

Maybe it’d be good to point out what endings don’t work, too. Personally, I disliked the end of Slumdog Millionnaire because I didn’t believe their relationship was all that significant (from the start) and it left many loose ends untied. Feel free to argue me, here.

For me, its an ending totally unexpected.

My wife and I are always joking about movies that have a “French” ending, which is to say that they don’t come to any kind of closure at all. Mostly, that just annoys me, but I can think of two films (French, of course) that use this very skillfully.

One is the original version of Diabolique It’s the perfect anti-ending, so powerful that there’s an onscreen plea at the end asking viewers not to reveal it to anyone.

My other favorite was Caché (“Hidden”) where the lack of closure is actually the point.

@Harp – Wow, really? So, I’ll have to rent the movie to see the ending?

Sometimes I complain about lack of closure, and other times, I rave about how well it works. It’s weird.

Like @May2689 , I like totally unexpected endings, like the one where the kid “sees dead people”.

I don’t like the happy Hollywood endings either. I prefer a movie to be realistic. A movie that best fits this description for me is A Simple Plan. The ending is very depressing, but it does a great job of showing how a person lives with guilt.

NOT ending in a monologue. My screenwriting professor told us the very first day of class: “if you have to end the movie with a monologue, especially one with the title of the movie in it, you didn’t do your job for the last 2 hours”.

I agree completely.

I don’t like a nice neat ending. Life isn’t nice and neat – why do movies portray it that way – oh wait, it’s because it’s fictional – generally. I don’t like the happily ever after endings. I want something that mirrors real life.

In the LOTR Trilogy, when I went to see the first one, with friends, one of them was so annoyed with the ending. It just stopped at a certain point. That’s it, end of movie. He complained and complained…I pointed out that they are on a journey, there is more to come. There was no “perfect” ending for that movie. It ended the way it should end. I’m ok with that type of ending, you know there is more to come.

I like an ending that leaves room for you to use your imagination about how it ends. A good example of that kind of ending would be “Thelma & Louise”. Driving off the cliff into the abyss and the car stops in mid-air. Did they leave some wiggle room for a sequel or WHAT???

A great movie: The good guy wins and he gets the girl.

@Mr_M : what about the boy in the stripped pijama? For those who havent read the book, like me, was totally unexpected and surprising.

I believe that a truly great movie ending comes at the end of the movie. If it came in the beginning or the middle of the film I don’t think it would have the same kind of impact. It would make the film seem awkward and over prematurely.

I don’t need closure, but I need to feel satisfied. The two French movies that @Harp mentioned are excellent examples of open-ended films that still satisfied me.

@May2689—I think I must’ve been the only person in the universe who hadn’t read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, didn’t know the ending before watching, and still wasn’t surprised. I’m not sure exactly what that says about me, but I’m pretty sure it’s not very good. :(

@Mr_M : Nooo you are not the only one who hasnt read it, count me in as well! Why werent you surprised?? I didnt expect that ending at all.. it all started making sense when the boy gets into the concentration camp… that moment hit me like a tsunami!!!
Do you recall any good unexpected endings?

The surprising twists that you do not expect to happen.

Interestingly enough one of the most unexpected movie endings I can recall was a film called “Wisdom” with Emilio Estavez and Demi Moore. I was totally didn’t see it coming.

everybody dies or the hero walks alone

One of my favourite movies is The Prestige. It basically started with the end of the story, and then flashed back to the start and proceeded from there. We were kept guessing for the next two hours. It was AMAZING.