Creating a great ending can be one of the trickiest parts of making a film, given that the entire cinematic experience often hinges upon a good conclusion to the story. While some movies truly nail their ending, some fail to adequately bring a close to their premise, stumbling just before the finish line.
Sometimes, the severe drop in quality between a film's first two acts and its third is so egregious that it ruins the film as a whole. Some Redditors have spoken up about what they feel to be the worst examples of this unfortunate reality in recognizable films.
Hancock
Amidst a list of films that they believe dropped the ball in their final act, Redditor RelevantEmu5 suggests that the Will Smith superhero film Hancock was almost something great. They write "Hancock was an interesting take on the superhero genre until it became a generic action flick."
For Will Smith fans and superhero enthusiasts alike, Hancock was an exciting picture that promised to subvert the increasingly-saturated genre of superhero films. However, while the film seemed to deliver on its premise for much of its runtime, the final act took a sharp turn in direction after Charlize Theron's character is revealed to also be superhuman, quickly devolving into not only a cliche film, but one that didn't live up to the finales of the more popular films it claimed to be subverting.
Fan4stic
A Redditor under the handle GwenGunn has some positive things to say about the often-maligned Fantastic Four reboot in 2015, often stylized as Fan4stic, writing that they actually "liked it until roughly the 2/3 mark" before it suddenly "got so remarkably, horrifically, [unexplainably] bad that it retroactively ruined ANY positive aspects of the opening."
This film is almost universally disliked as a superhero story that even the director, Josh Trank, cannot stand. Many forget that the first hour or so of the reboot is actually somewhat promising, yet somehow gets immensely more boring after the team gets their superpowers. What follows in the film's last forty minutes is a slog of exposition, boring fisticuffs, and a final fight that feels like it came right out of an '80s made-for-television production.
Prometheus
Redditor farmerarmor reminds viewers of the highly-anticipated but colossal failure that was Prometheus, the secret prequel to Alien, which kickstarted a prospective trilogy that would be canceled after its second film. They write, quite simply, "Prometheus was great. Until it wasn't."
Prometheus had a lot riding on its interesting alien slasher premise, especially with Ridley Scott at its helm. However, its sudden and unnecessary twist ruined any potential the film might have had. By making this film an Alien prequel, Scott puts the film in a position where it struggles to differentiate itself from its predecessor while also ruining much of the mythology that made the originals classic, ultimately making for a stale finale that ruins not just one film, but an entire franchise
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
Redditor donwityurshite625 feels that a mention of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is "obligatory" when discussing films that flopped in their final act, admitting that they "genuinely thought it was a decent Indiana Jones flick until aliens entered the chat."
While recent years have seen a small contingent of fans coming out to suggest that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is underrated, the consensus is that the film fails to live up to its predecessors. This is mostly due to the sudden revelation that aliens indeed exist in the world of Indiana Jones. From the moment that the concept of real aliens is introduced, the film devolves into a mess of bad CGI and poorly-written sci-fi lines that the great filmmakers behind the film are likely ashamed of in hindsight.
I Care A Lot
Reddit user passinghere has a serious problem with the 2020 Netflix thriller I Care a Lot, complaining about Rosamund Pike's lead character faring too well in the film's finale despite earning a harsh comeuppance. They complain that the film seemed to justify her actions, "[promoting] the idea that she was right to do everything she did."
While this film was generally liked by critics, audiences did not respond similarly. Many viewers watched the film with the expectation that Pike's villainous character would get her just desserts by the end. Although the character does die in the end, her comeuppance is short and to the point, with much of the film's final act leading up to this moment seemingly portraying the villain's actions as worthwhile.
Interstellar
Though some consider Interstellar to be one of the best sci-fi films ever, Redditor Averos_ has a different opinion based on the film's ending: "I was really put off by... how such a movie that is heavily grounded in science ultimately resorted to a heavy-handed 'love is the answer' cliche."
While this take might be controversial considering the praise Interstellar has received since its release, the Redditor does have a point. The film has a considerably sappier ending than most of Christopher Nolan's other projects, trading in the cerebral space-time antics of the first two acts with an emotionally overdrawn conclusion that might have disappointed some of Nolan's hardcore fans.
Passengers
Commenting under a post bemoaning the ending of the 2016 sci-fi film Passengers, Redditor Finory expanded on their complaints about the box office bomb. "It could have been such an exciting story," they assert, "but they had to go for the icky romance ending."
Passengers isn't exactly one of the best films in either of its stars' filmographies, shamefully wasting its interesting premise for a far less intriguing romance. What the film sets up in its first two acts as a sci-fi thriller is quickly done away with as it decides to be a romantic comedy that, despite the true effort made by Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, is not nearly engaging enough to bring the story to a satisfying end.
Sinister
User itslimbo had high hopes for the 2012 horror film Sinister, starring Ethan Hawke, only for those hopes to be quickly dashed by the film's ending. "I consider Sinister an almost perfect horror movie. But the last 30 minutes become this goofy, cheap, jumpscare-filled abomination. I wish that movie wasn't made for the mainstream horror audience."
Horror films are often victims of the general audiences' whims, as viewers tend to stay away from movies within the genre that deviate from the norm. Sinister seems to recognize this by attempting to play both sides, with an artistic take in its first hour that likely captivated eager horror fans yet alienated general audiences and an ending that reversed this trend, leaving no one happy by the time the credits roll.
Sunshine
TwasBrillig_ had been genuinely enjoying the 2007 sci-fi thriller Sunshine as a subversion of its basic dystopian premise, only to be severely disappointed in the direction the film eventually went, writing that it "became a slasher movie in the third act," thus killing its interesting plot.
Though the film sported a cast of up-and-coming stars like Chris Evans and Rose Byrne, it failed to resonate with audiences due to its inconsistency of tone. Many critiqued the film's sudden switch to what could only be described as a "slasher" film in its final minutes, in what was likely an ill-conceived attempt to appeal to younger audiences.
Firestarter
MaeSolug believes that the latest Stephen King adaptation, Firestarter, a reboot of the 1984 film of the same name, ultimately fumbled its final act. They write that the film was "pretty fun" in the first half-hour, complimenting its subtle use of CGI until it arrives at an ending that "ruins it all." They complain the film devolves into being "poorly-made in terms of acting, producing, all those fancy words," before humorously adding "I watched it for free and I still want a refund."
Firestarter fizzled quite quickly after its release, barely making a dent in its competitors at the box office. The film suffers from a similar problem to other of King's adaptations in that it fails to find a properly crafted ending. The third act truly feels like an entirely new movie--and a worse one at that.