Sometimes, sticking the landing is all that’s needed to save a film from being woeful to watchable. Plenty of two-star films have got an extra one thanks to how things played out before the credits rolled, and Reddit has concluded just which ones fit the bill.
When a fan on Reddit asked, “What movie had an ending that saved the whole film?” Plenty of cinephiles chimed in with their favorites. One Redditor suggested The Others, saying, “When you think you’re just in a haunted house movie, you start to get tired of all the jump scares. Then it hits you.” Another suggested Saw, saying, “It was enjoyable, but the writing and especially acting were not strong from both men in the film. But then the ending was epic and launched a hugely successful franchise.”
Another film fan considered Richard Gere’s classic courtroom drama, Primal Fear. “It feels like a solid but fairly standard courtroom thriller. Good performances, decent tension, nothing wow. And then the ending hits, and it completely reframes everything you just watched.”
Then came perhaps one of the most eagerly anticipated threequels ever with Terminator: Rise of the Machines. “The movie was okay. A big step down from T2,” they wrote. “But that ending came out of nowhere. To date, I find it to be one of the ballsiest endings to a major blockbuster film.”
Other suggestions, varying from Doom to Vanilla Sky, Sorry To Bother You, and Split, were also mentioned. Perhaps one of the hottest takes was The Sixth Sense, which one Redditor said, “Went from pretty boring to ‘oh my god, oh my god,’ real quick.”
Let’s not leave things on a bad note, though. For some of the best ever movie endings, check out our list of film finales here and see if there’s a favorite in there for you.