Just when you thought it was over ...

pansy · Sep 15, 2007

... it isn't!

Two endings in a film. Good idea or bad idea?

For example, the main bad guy finally gets his due. But a peripheral character few took notice of, tries to grab opportunity within the 'vacuum of evil' and adds one last scene and sets up the final twist (and sequel).

I've heard some complaints about films that end twice (or more), but can it work??

A

www.alexwhitmer.wordpress.com

Plot Device · Sep 15, 2007

I saw an interview with Elijah Wood where he said that Jack Nicholson came up to him at a public gathering durng the six months or so after the release of The Return of the King. (It might even have been at the Oscars that Nicholson walked up to Wood--I don't recall.) And Nicholson said to Wood: "Did you die?"

WOOD: What?

NICHOLSON: When you were Frodo. Did you die at the end?

WOOD: No, man. Didn't you see the end?

NICHOLSON: Nah! I left early. Too many endings.

I say it can certainly work. But some people have less pateince for it than others.

ALLWritety · Sep 15, 2007

Do you guys remember quite a few years ago they released loads of movie with alternative ending. You had to choose with screen you would see it and with which ending. WAH!!!!

On the all I don't think it was/is a good idea. Sometimes i can see why there would be a different ending but some can really take away the power of the ending.

*****************Spolier***********************************

Ex: The Guardian - At the end Kev Cos dies.
In the alternative he lives but to me that didn't do the film justice. He needed to die.

Kevvers

javili · Sep 15, 2007

Standard for scary movies, isn't it. The monster/evil pscho always suddenly pops back up when they think it's over.

zeprosnepsid · Sep 19, 2007

This is a bad idea. I can't think of an example of it that worked, although I'd be interested if anyone else can. I mean, sometimes you have multiple climaxes, often for multiple storylines, but that's not what you're talking about really.

That being said, I'm currently working on a script that does this. I realized I had three endings and tried to make it work. Now two happen concurrently in the climax, including the final showdown between the protag and the antag. But then I have another scene afterwards when the protag finally kills the antag. I know this is a bad idea. In fact, I may make another post about it with more info and solicit opinions....

icerose · Sep 19, 2007

The only one I can think of where it really worked (other than Lord of the Rings) is Sliding Doors.

But that was because it involved a paralell story. A "What if she caught the train?" kind of story.

zeprosnepsid · Sep 19, 2007

I don't think it works in LOTR but they're stuck with what the novel does. I actually read the trilogy years ago but I never read the last 50 pages. Why? Because the story was over. So the bookmark sat there for years. Finally after the movie I read them just to read them and as I suspected, I didn't really need to.

I love Sliding Doors but I don't remember the ending you're talking about.

*spoilers*
You mean the twist where they end up in the elevator together? I guess that's kind of like two endings, but it felt more like a 'button' to me almost. I should watching that movie again.... =)

Plot Device · Sep 19, 2007

Wayne's World

scripter1 · Sep 19, 2007

The Lethal Weapon's

and Die Hard franchises all use these types of endings.
But they aren't really double endings, more last minute actions.

I was a little worn out by LOTR, it just went on.
At least with the scourging of the Shire (novel) there was character wrap up there, a touch more to the story, a final arc.

All the other stuff was epilogue. Comforting little moments of seeing Frodo and Bilbo get the great rest and reward they needed and deserved, Sam being happy, and all things wrapping up.
In a sense the movie itself was a Ring, making a complete circle.

I liked it, though it felt really really long.

A double ending has to be part of the story to work. It can't feel tacked on, or like a new start. It has to resolve or wrap up something for the characters.

And I think the audience really knows when it's there just for sequel purposes.

I remember the CLUE films years and years ago.
I think there were like three or four of them and all had different endings. It was kind of fun. Just not practical for most stories.

To quote the Mad Hatter "Start at the beginning and when you get to the end..... STOP."

similan · Sep 19, 2007

Personally, I hate when someone I least expected turns out to be the one. If you want to throw in a surprise, think memento.

Just have the protag tells the world he was the thug behind it all. Then your leading female can blow him to pieces. The surprise could be how she blows him to pieces. See what I'm saying?

icerose · Sep 19, 2007

zeprosnepsid said:
I love Sliding Doors but I don't remember the ending you're talking about.

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!

No, at the end of sliding doors, the one who caught the train gets hit by a bus and dies. The man who fell in love with her is at the hospital in the other senario because his mother just died. So she, the one who didn't catch the bus, ends up with him {who finally finalized his divorce and his mother died} anyway.

WarrenP · Sep 19, 2007

I cannot stand alternate endings (but I admit I always watch them on DVD), and don't like multiple endings, so to speak.

The story needs a clear and logical ending, singular. If the ending isn't clear and logical, then the events leading up to the ending (meaning the rest of the friggin movie) won't "feel right".

If the writer wants to trick the audience into thinking the movie ends before it "really ends" I can live with that, as long as the movie was written with that in mind from the start.

BTW, I was ok with LOTR. I always viewed that as homage to the book, and don't judge that the same as a singular movie that can't figure out how it is supposed to end...

kevacho · Sep 23, 2007

I think anything, within reason, can work as long as it's written well and serves the story arc and characters. But I must admit to agreeing with the folk who do not like multiple endings.

Ending something can be almost as difficult as beginning, if not more so.

Good luck, Alex.

Regards,
Kevin
www.kevacho.com

nmstevens · Sep 25, 2007

scripter1 said:
and Die Hard franchises all use these types of endings.
But they aren't really double endings, more last minute actions.

I was a little worn out by LOTR, it just went on.
At least with the scourging of the Shire (novel) there was character wrap up there, a touch more to the story, a final arc.

All the other stuff was epilogue. Comforting little moments of seeing Frodo and Bilbo get the great rest and reward they needed and deserved, Sam being happy, and all things wrapping up.
In a sense the movie itself was a Ring, making a complete circle.

I liked it, though it felt really really long.

A double ending has to be part of the story to work. It can't feel tacked on, or like a new start. It has to resolve or wrap up something for the characters.

And I think the audience really knows when it's there just for sequel purposes.

I remember the CLUE films years and years ago.
I think there were like three or four of them and all had different endings. It was kind of fun. Just not practical for most stories.

To quote the Mad Hatter "Start at the beginning and when you get to the end..... STOP."

I really admired the LOTR movies and I know that Jackson wanted to be faithful to the books, but man -- if everyone had kneeled down in front of the Hobbits at Aragorn's coronation (and also if Aragorn hadn't bothered to sing), and they'd just faded to black and saved all that other stuff for the extended DVD it would have been perfectly okay with me.

In fact, I think it would have been a much stronger ending.

The book's the book. The movie's the movie. End it.

NMS

NikeeGoddess · Sep 25, 2007

the one movie that fans cried out for an alternative ending was thelma and louise. if you can write a story that turns into a movie where people are begging for it to continue then you've won.

Red-Green · Sep 28, 2007

Even movies that have layered endings can be tedious. For instance, as far as I'm concerned, Jane Campion's The Piano really ends with Ava floating in the sea, tethered to the piano. That other bit--that was just for people who can't stand sad endings.
Similarly, some movies billed as having alternate endings aren't terribly alternate, just variant.

Just when you thought it was over ...

pansy

Plot Device

A woman said to write like a man.

ALLWritety

One Step closer, I hope!

javili

zeprosnepsid

icerose

Lost in School Work

zeprosnepsid

Plot Device

A woman said to write like a man.

scripter1

Article Queen

similan

icerose

Lost in School Work

WarrenP

kevacho

nmstevens

What happened?

NikeeGoddess

Red-Green

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