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These movies came so close to perfection until the ending. Here are 18 films that almost had way better finales.
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00:00Granted, many of these endings that we're about to talk about are still pretty good,
00:04but had the filmmakers been able to stick to their guns and trust their original gut feeling,
00:10then the self-contained story would have had so much more integrity.
00:14Instead, these nine films all left their superior climaxes on the cutting room floor.
00:20You are watching What Culture and here are movies that almost had much better endings.
00:25First Blood
00:26In First Blood, just as John Rambo plans to murder the villainous Sheriff Teasel,
00:33Colonel Troutman appears and, after a lengthy emotional chat,
00:37manages to convince Rambo to turn himself in rather than be shot dead by the police.
00:42The iconic final scene then sees Rambo being taken into custody for his violent rampage,
00:49leaving the door open for the glut of brain-dead sequels that followed.
00:53Hooray.
00:53But much like the source novel, the film originally ended with Rambo's death.
00:58An exhausted Rambo tries to convince Troutman to kill him rather than allow him to go to jail.
01:04And when Troutman hesitates, Rambo grabs his gun and does the job himself.
01:09The end.
01:10Unsurprisingly, test audiences loathe this ending,
01:14so Stallone went back and conceived a slightly less depressing one.
01:18Though the theatrical ending is still very good in its own way,
01:21there's definitely a greater sense of realism to the bleaker original ending.
01:26Which also serves as a far more startling commentary on how society treats war vets when they return home.
01:32Furthermore, Rambo's death would have also prevented the mostly terrible array of shoot-em-up sequels.
01:38Now what movie sequel do you wish never happened?
01:41Let me know in the comments section right down below.
01:44The Amazing Spider-Man 2
01:46The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014 fell particularly flat,
01:50with the ending teasing something further that never came to fruition.
01:54The final moments of the movie saw Harry Osborn begin to set up the Sinister Six,
01:59while Peter was dragged out of his downward spiral of depression following the death of Gwen Stacy
02:04to return to the superhero life.
02:06One of the heavier themes throughout Andrew Garfield's second Spider-Man film
02:10was how he was affected by the loss of his parents.
02:13Something that would have taken a new direction had the alternate ending
02:16in which he actually met his father face-to-face made the cut.
02:20It's a scene that would have raised questions, certainly,
02:23but it saw Andrew Garfield put in some of his finest and most emotional work as Peter Parker,
02:28as his first conversation with his dad since he was a small boy
02:31helped push him towards making his triumphant return as Spidey.
02:35Paranormal Activity
02:37At the end of Paranormal Activity,
02:39Katie gets out of bed in the middle of the night and heads downstairs,
02:44screaming for her boyfriend, Micah.
02:46He wakes up and runs downstairs,
02:48and after a beat, we hear loud footsteps returning upstairs,
02:53only for a possessed Katie to throw Micah's dead body at the camera,
02:57knocking it over.
02:58Katie then approaches the camera,
03:00flashes a demonic CGI-assisted grin,
03:03and disappears into the night.
03:05The original ending, screened to early festival audiences before the film was bought by Paramount,
03:10however, was a lot less open-ended.
03:13After it's implied that Katie has killed Micah,
03:17she returns to the bedroom and rocks back and forth for days at a time.
03:21The police eventually arrive to discover Micah's body,
03:24and just as they find Katie upstairs,
03:27the demon leaves her body, causing Katie to awaken, confused.
03:31Just as Katie approaches the cautious police officers with a bloody knife still in hand,
03:36the demon slams the door behind the cops,
03:39startling one of the officers who promptly shoots Katie dead.
03:43The film then ends with the officers sweeping the rest of the house,
03:46as a memorial title card flashes up for Katie and Micah.
03:50Once Paramount acquired Paranormal Activity, though,
03:52they decided to shoot several different endings in the hope of extending the film into a franchise,
03:58because everything needs to be a franchise.
04:01The OG ending was a really satisfying one-off that wouldn't have opened the door for a string of increasingly forgettable sequels,
04:08and the execution was both smarter and more tragic,
04:12with the demon tricking Katie into getting herself killed.
04:15Conversely, the theatrical ending involved a hideous visual effect and a lousy final jump scare,
04:21neither of which were apparent in the original finale.
04:24Such is what happens when Hollywood discovers a creative original idea,
04:28sees money signs,
04:30and promptly turns it into something decidedly more conventional.
04:33The butterfly effect.
04:34Time travel has been done so often in movies that it can be difficult to find a new and unique way of presenting it within a story.
04:42In 2004, the butterfly effect had an interesting premise in that Ashton Kutcher's Evan
04:47was able to project his conscience back in time to inhabit his younger self during blackouts,
04:53which he used to change the past in an attempt to make the present better for him and his friends.
04:58It's a dark story, portraying heavy themes of abuse and suicide,
05:02and every time Evan went back to the past to change something specific,
05:06a different aspect of his life would suffer for it.
05:09In the end, Evan accepted that there was nothing he could do in the past that could make life better for everyone,
05:14so he sacrificed his own happiness and removed himself from his friends' lives in order to make sure that they had better ones.
05:21It's an interesting conclusion, but the director's cut features something much darker and far more shocking.
05:27After coming to the harrowing realisation that the world was better off without him,
05:32Evan went back to being in the womb where he strangled himself with his own umbilical cord
05:36to prevent his curse from ever coming to life at all.
05:40It is bleak, certainly, and doesn't make for pleasant viewing,
05:43but it would have been a lot more powerful and memorable even if a little traumatising.
05:48Die Hard with a Vengeance
05:49The oddly forgettable climax to the otherwise spectacular third Die Hard film
05:55sees Simon Gruber attempting to make his epic escape,
05:59while John McClane, his unwitting pal Zeus and the NYPD try to stop him.
06:04Gruber and his girlfriend Katya flee in a helicopter,
06:07only for McClane to shoot a power line which hits the chopper and causes it to crash,
06:12killing Gruber and Katya in an explosive fireball.
06:16However, the original ending actually sees Gruber initially getting away,
06:20and the final scene picks up some time later,
06:23with an embittered McClane blamed for his escape and eventually tracking Gruber down to a bar in Hungary.
06:29John invites Gruber to play a game of McClane Says,
06:33which effectively amounts to Russian roulette with a portable rocket launcher that's had the sights removed,
06:38meaning it's impossible to tell which end is the business end.
06:41Simon gets McClane's riddle wrong, and after being forced to fire the launcher,
06:45it sends a rocket straight through his body, killing him instantly.
06:49Lovely.
06:49Unfortunately, the studio thought this ending lacked action and showed an overtly cruel side to McClane,
06:55and instead ordered the more action-packed, sanitized final ending to be shot at great expense.
07:02Screenwriter Jonathan Hensley put it best when, on the movie's DVD commentary,
07:06he said that his intention with that original ending was to show that the events of the movie
07:11and everything McClane was ultimately blamed for had a tremendous impact upon him psychologically.
07:16Though that ending arguably feels more in line with the climax of a James Bond or Jason Bourne movie,
07:22its caustic edge would have unquestionably been refreshing for the franchise,
07:26even if it also would have left fans questioning how John could come back from this for the fourth film.
07:30Still, as a savage piece of character development, it was effortlessly superior to the bland finale we ultimately ended up with.
07:38Fatal Attraction
07:39Fatal Attraction gained universal praise upon its release in 1987 and was nominated for no fewer than six Academy Awards.
07:48However, that doesn't mean the movie was perfect,
07:50as even the star of the show was completely dissatisfied with the ending that made it into cinemas.
07:55The story tells of the married Dan Gallagher, played by Michael Douglas,
08:00having a weekend-long affair with Glenn Close's Alex Forrest,
08:03who takes it badly when the former wants to cut things off.
08:06The ending that everyone knows shows Alex attempting to kill Dan's wife, Beth,
08:10in a fit of jealous rage before being ultimately killed by the married couple herself.
08:15Dan and Beth then go back to being happily married like nothing happened.
08:19The problem with this is that Dan doesn't really face much in the way of consequences for his adultery,
08:24while Alex is made to look like the only one in the wrong.
08:27Glenn Close herself reportedly hated this ending,
08:30as it painted her character as just another female psycho,
08:33rather than the nuanced and troubled character she had played.
08:36In the original script, Alex killed herself, framing Dan for the murder.
08:41He was ultimately acquitted thanks to a tape of Alex threatening to commit suicide,
08:44but there is a huge difference in the tone.
08:47Instead of Alex being portrayed as the cliched, irredeemable villain,
08:51she is seen as vulnerable, troubled and sympathetic,
08:54with the point being driven home of how badly Dan treated her.
08:58Close initially refused to shoot the new scene, and it's easy to see why.
09:02The Shawshank Redemption
09:04Frank Darabont's legendary 1994 prison drama concludes in undeniably heartwarming fashion.
09:12As convict, Red is finally paroled after spending 40 years in Shawshank.
09:16Red then violates his parole in order to meet up with his escaped pal Andy,
09:21crossing the border into Mexico,
09:23and finally being reunited with him on a Zihuataneo beach in the film's tear-jerking final scene.
09:30Originally, though, writer-director Frank Darabont actually ended the movie
09:34with Red taking the bus across the Mexican border,
09:37leaving the outcome of his attempted reunion with Andy entirely unknown.
09:41However, producer Liz Glotzer insisted that Darabont shoot a reunion scene,
09:47despite his protest that it was commercial, sappy.
09:50As a compromise, the studio assured Darabont that he'd have the final decision
09:54on whether the extended epilogue was used.
09:56And after seeing how strongly a test audience reacted to it,
10:00the director ultimately changed his mind.
10:02Hollywood frequently underestimates the value of subtlety,
10:06and it doesn't need to be reiterated how little test audiences reflect the tastes
10:11of intelligent, discerning viewers.
10:13Though the ending we got is in no way bad,
10:16it does feel like one sentimental indulgence too far, doesn't it?
10:20Because leaving the audience to consider whether Red and Andy really found each other again
10:24would have been so much more provocative and interesting, right?
10:28But nope, that's not what we got.
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10:35A Nightmare on Elm Street
10:37Up there with the likes of Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Leatherface,
10:42as some of the biggest icons in the history of the horror genre is Freddy Krueger.
10:46The dream-stalking villain first appeared in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street back in 1984,
10:52and has since made eight further cinematic appearances.
10:56All of these sequels were made possible by the fact that the original movie ended
11:00with the reveal that Freddy was still alive,
11:03allowing him to haunt nightmares for many more years to come.
11:06But that's not how the director initially wanted things to go.
11:10Craven's initial ending focused more on Nancy's victory rather than the villain.
11:16She had won, and without the final twist of Freddy's survival,
11:19the movie ended on a quiet, peaceful note that saw her return to her normal life.
11:24Producer Bob Shea took issue with this, however,
11:27as there was no potential to build a franchise.
11:30Of course, the scene that made the final cut famously showed the return of Freddy,
11:34but this in turn signaled the departure of Wes Craven from the franchise.
11:38Bird Box
11:39After spending years trying to keep herself and the two children she cares for
11:44safe from the creatures which kill anyone who sees them,
11:48Mallory makes it to a sanctuary along with the kids at the end of Bird Box,
11:52which just so happens to be a school for the blind.
11:55The school has been able to flourish due to the resident's inability to see the creatures,
11:59and feeling a sense of hope for the first time in years,
12:03Mallory not only frees her pet birds, but also finally gives names to the children.
12:09Tom and Olympia. How lovely.
12:11The film originally ended in somewhat bleaker fashion,
12:14as in Josh Malerman's original novel, though,
12:17with Mallory and the kids arriving at the school,
12:19only to learn that the residents intentionally blinded themselves
12:23to ensure they could never set eyes upon the creatures.
12:26Ah.
12:27Screenwriter Eric Heiserus stated in interviews that it seems smarter
12:31to give the film a more optimistic ending,
12:33and director Suzanne Beer similarly stated that she had no desire
12:37to leave the audience feeling hopeless.
12:39Though both endings provide a certain catharsis,
12:42the intense bleakness of the book's ending,
12:45where people are so desperate to survive that they literally remove their own sight,
12:50feels truer to the overall tone of the story
12:53than the softer, more coincidental meeting with the already blind survivors.
12:57Given that the final film ended up being viewed by 80 million households
13:02during its first week on release, though,
13:04Netflix probably feels that their more mainstream skewing ending was the right one.
13:08Integrity be damned.
13:10It's all about them figures, right?
13:12Rampage.
13:13Dwayne Johnson is without question one of the biggest stars working in the industry today,
13:17and has earned his way to the top of the highest-paid actors list multiple times
13:21over the last few years.
13:23However, all that doesn't necessarily mean that every movie of his is a hit.
13:28In fact, plenty fail to strike a positive reception.
13:31The likes of San Andreas and Skyscraper are particularly poor entries in The Rock's back catalogue,
13:37as is 2018's Rampage.
13:40For all of the action and CGI involved,
13:43these titles in particular have come across as just a tad generic.
13:47The video game adaptation saw George, a silverback gorilla,
13:51grow to a ridiculous size and essentially fight off and save Chicago
13:54from an equally gargantuan crocodile.
13:58If the original ending had made the final cut,
14:00George would have sacrificed himself to save the day.
14:04Johnson likes sending audiences home happy
14:06and didn't like the idea of such a sad end to the story.
14:10Sad it may have been,
14:12but it could have at least gone some way
14:13to stopping the film from being so damn forgettable.
14:17Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan!
14:20The second ever Star Trek movie is the most iconic for damn good reason,
14:24namely that it ends with the tragic, sacrificial demise of Spock.
14:29But to soften the blow for audiences,
14:31the film also provides a few closing hints that Spock is not gone for good.
14:36Moments before he expires,
14:38he performs a mind meld on bones, telling him, remember.
14:42And the final shot of the movie lingers on Spock's casket resting on the Genesis planet,
14:48suggesting that maybe we'll see him again.
14:50The original cut of the film gave Spock a far more decisive demise, however,
14:55with the mind meld and the shot of Spock's casket both absent,
14:59therefore suggesting that he was indeed perma-dead.
15:02But typically, test audiences were absolutely fuming that Spock was worm food.
15:08And so, producer and story writer Harv Bennett suggested these extra inserts to be shot before the film's theatrical release.
15:15As wonderful a character as Spock obviously is,
15:18I mean, you don't need me to tell you that,
15:20and as entertaining as some of his post-resurrection adventures were,
15:23his daft revival in the search for Spock does rather undermine the emotional impact of his death in this film, though.
15:31As tough as it is to argue that Spock should have stayed dead,
15:34it would have made the Wrath of Khan more dramatically watertight in retrospect, that's for sure.
15:39Terminator 2 Judgment Day
15:41Like too many movie franchises, Terminator has steadily declined over the years
15:46and has ultimately outstayed its welcome.
15:49Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation, and Terminator Genisys underwhelmed greatly,
15:55unable to come anywhere close to Terminator 2 Judgment Day and 1984's The Terminator.
16:01The ending to the first Terminator sequel, however,
16:04was ultimately undone by both Terminator 3 and Terminator Dark Fate,
16:08rendering the T-800's noble and emotional sacrifice redundant.
16:12James Cameron's original ending would have been very different and much more final,
16:17with a glimpse into the future confirming that Judgment Day definitely did not happen on the 29th of August 1997.
16:24After saving the future and ensuring the evil Skynet Corporation would not incite the nuclear holocaust as prophesied,
16:31Sarah Connor would have enjoyed what seemed to be a peaceful life with her son John and his daughter.
16:36Instead, the precedent created by Skynet always being able to send someone back in time
16:41gives the feeling that no matter what happens in each movie, the cycle will just keep repeating itself.
16:47Freddy vs. Jason
16:48As is the predictable outcome of pretty much any versus movie,
16:53this horror slugfest ends with an ambiguous final scene that ensures neither side is the loser.
16:59Jason emerges out of Camp Crystal Lake while holding Freddy's severed head.
17:03And after a beat, Freddy's noggin winks at the audience, implying the battle is far from over.
17:09But according to writers Mark Swift and Damien Shannon,
17:13they toyed with several other endings during production,
17:16including the possibility of having Freddy and Jason drag each other to hell,
17:20where they're suddenly interrupted by Hellraiser's Pinhead.
17:24Pinhead would arrive by separating the pair with his trademark chains,
17:27before asking them the sequel-baiting question,
17:30Gentlemen, what seems to be the problem?
17:32But naturally, legal red tape prevented it from happening,
17:36as New Line Cinema didn't want to go to the hassle of securing the rights to Pinhead.
17:40Boo!
17:41Throwing Pinhead into the mix here would have had horror fans tearing the seats out of their cinema
17:46in fits of uncontrollable excitement.
17:49But, of course, we didn't get that.
17:51We did not.
17:51Boo.
17:52Boo, again.
17:53Natural Born Killers
17:54The story of Natural Born Killers is a relatively simple one with a powerful message that hits hard.
18:00Mickey and Mallory Knox, played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, respectively,
18:05go on a killing spree taking the lives of more than 50 people
18:08and are all but made stars thanks to the media's coverage.
18:12It's a movie that has not been without controversy over the years
18:15and has been accused of glamorising the crimes of Mickey and Mallory
18:18in the exact same way it was itself trying to satire.
18:21The final moment certainly didn't help in this regard.
18:25After being arrested and incarcerated for their crimes and having their faces plastered all over TV,
18:31the killers managed to escape and, in doing so, killed almost everybody else in the process.
18:36The final shot sees them living out an almost normal life as a happy family with laughing children
18:41and another one on the way.
18:43They killed without remorse and, in the end, suffered no consequences.
18:47This wouldn't have been the case in the alternate ending that was shot and left on the cutting room floor
18:52as the two would have been murdered themselves by Owen who helped them escape
18:57and is described as something of a guardian angel figure.
19:00There is something to be said about the irony of their deaths coming at the hands of another so-called natural-born killer
19:05rather than any authority like the police
19:08as well as the fact that they weren't able to live out a happy ending after the atrocities they committed.
19:13Law-abiding citizen
19:15After spending the entire movie launching his preposterous and preposterously entertaining
19:21revenge crusade against the broken American legal system,
19:24vigilante Clyde Shelton's plan to blow up City Hall and kill the mayor backfires horribly.
19:31Ultimately, our thoroughly unlikable attorney hero, Nick Rice,
19:35discovers the bomb and plants it in Shelton's own jail cell without him knowing,
19:40killing him and saving the day.
19:41Yay.
19:43Though it's often stated that Jamie Foxx insisted upon the film's original ending being changed,
19:48that's actually not true at all according to those who worked on Law-Abiding Citizen.
19:52However, it is true that the story went through numerous iterations during shooting,
19:57as the filmmakers struggled to reconcile how much more likable Clyde was than Nick.
20:02As a result, though most of the other planned endings still resulted in Clyde's death,
20:07they were decidedly less charitable to Nick than in the final cut.
20:10One proposed ending saw Nick actually killing Clyde by hand,
20:15resulting in him ending up in jail and making a deal with the DA,
20:19effectively turning him into the new Clyde and ensuring that the cynical,
20:23corrupt legal system continues to perpetuate.
20:26The theatrical finale leaves a sour taste because Nick's happy ending,
20:31where he sits down to watch his daughter's musical recital, just doesn't feel remotely earned.
20:36There's not much of a feeling that he's really changed in any way,
20:40and so his victory over Clyde feels completely hollow and unsatisfying.
20:45The alternate ending is a fairer compromise,
20:47in that while it still ends with the fan-favorite character dead,
20:51at least Nick is also forever tarnished by his behavior.
20:55Get Out.
20:56Despite previously being best known as one half of the comedy duo Key and Peele,
21:01Jordan Peele took the entire horror genre by storm in 2017 with his directorial debut.
21:07Get Out was almost universally praised and became all but a classic overnight.
21:12The director was praised for his approach to and interpretation of society
21:16and its powerful message about inequality and discrimination.
21:19There was an alternate ending, however, that would have been far darker,
21:23but could have driven home the message of Peele's story even further.
21:27Rather than Chris being rescued, he would have been greeted by the police,
21:31who immediately arrested him for the murder of the Armitage family,
21:34with nobody believing his story.
21:37The distinct lack of justice brought on by Chris being sent to prison,
21:40depressing as it may have been,
21:42arguably would have been a more poignant and thought-provoking full stop
21:46on the message the movie portrayed throughout than his ultimate escape.
21:50Man on Fire
21:51Tony Scott's dizzying 2004 action thriller wraps up with strung-out bodyguard Matt Creasy
21:58surrendering himself in exchange for the life of his employer's nine-year-old daughter, Peter.
22:03In the final scene, Creasy dies from gunshot wounds sustained earlier in the film,
22:08as he's being driven away by Peter's kidnappers, seemingly at peace.
22:13While the big bad, known as The Voice, is quickly shown being gunned down by Agent Manzano.
22:19Man on Fire's alternate ending, though, is the stuff of legend.
22:23It has Creasy survive the climactic car ride to end up facing off against The Voice himself.
22:29And after a brief chat, it's revealed that Creasy has concealed a literal buttload of C4 up his own rectum,
22:36which he promptly detonates, killing everybody around.
22:39Though this ending was reportedly suggested by Washington himself,
22:44Scott apparently nixed it as he felt it didn't match the overall tone of the film.
22:48Given that Denzel literally kills a guy earlier in the movie by shoving a bunch of C4 up his ass,
22:54this would have been one of the all-time most insane callbacks in cinematic history.
22:59Not to mention, given Creasy an impossibly badass demise compared to just, you know, expiring of previously sustained wounds.
23:07Mercifully, the scene was at least made available on the film's DVD release.
23:12And it is a doozy, alright.
23:14Go and treat yourself to that and thank me later.
23:16Black Widow
23:17Scarlett Johansson has been a major part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe longer than almost anyone,
23:23and there is no denying that Black Widow deserved her own solo outing.
23:27However, there is also no denying that Natasha's solo outing came too late.
23:32Acting as a prequel set between the events of Captain America Civil War and Avengers Infinity War,
23:38the movie ended on a tease for how Nat wound up back with the Avengers in time for Thanos' invasion.
23:45This fell flat because everyone already knew the story,
23:48and as such the scene really didn't add anything substantial.
23:51What would have, however, is Black Widow's original closing moments.
23:56Instead of leading into a film that had already happened,
23:59both Natasha and Scarlett Johansson's MCU swan song could have concluded in a much more meaningful way,
24:05by showing just how much impact the hero had on the world.
24:09Passing a group of children playing in the street,
24:11Natasha was recognised by one of the young girls with whom she shared a quick moment.
24:16They only smiled and pointed imaginary blasters at each other,
24:19but it showed how much Black Widow meant to her as a superhero,
24:23and in a more real way, how much Scarlett Johansson's role meant to young girls watching her.
24:29She was a true role model,
24:30and this would have been a far more poignant and meaningful final scene for the character.
24:35She was a true role model,
24:36and she was a true role model,
24:37and she was a true role model,
24:38and she was a true role model,
24:39and she was a true role model,
24:40and she was a true role model,
24:41and she was a true role model,
24:42and she was a true role model,
24:43and she was a true role model,
24:44and she was a true role model,
24:45and she was a true role model,
24:46and she was a true role model,
24:47and she was a true role model,
24:48and she was a true role model,
24:49and she was a true role model,
24:50and she was a true role model,
24:51and she was a true role model,
24:52and she was a true role model,
24:53and she was a true role model,
24:54and she was a true role model,
24:55and she was a true role model,
24:56and she was a true role model,
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