- 5 months ago
Brace yourself for some truly baffling storytelling decisions! Join us as we count down the most groan-worthy, eye-roll-inducing plot twists in movie history that left audiences more confused than amazed. From killer plants to inter-dimensional aliens, these reveals had us wishing we'd stayed home. Which cinematic curveball made you want to demand a refund?
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00:00I'm sorry. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're reluctantly looking at the plot twists that
00:06didn't surprise us in a good way, and instead failed to deliver the results they hoped for.
00:11There will be major spoilers ahead, but don't have your expectations set too high.
00:16Press permission to land. You're way off target. Way off target.
00:21Number 28. The Aliens Undoing. War of the Worlds. Thanks to its heart-racing action and eerie
00:28commentary on post-9-11 America, Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds could have been a future classic.
00:36Unfortunately, the movie's loyalty to H.G. Wells' novel turns out to be its biggest weakness,
00:42and that's especially true of the confounding ending. After nearly two hours of aliens wreaking
00:48havoc, they're ultimately defeated, but not by a human resurgence. Nope, the only thing these
00:54invaders didn't count on was the bacteria that's lived within the Earth for millions of years.
01:01From the moment the invaders arrived, breathed our air, ate, and drank, they were doomed.
01:08On top of being extremely anticlimactic, this is the kind of twist that can't help but raise more
01:14questions. You're telling us these hyper-intelligent beings could trek through the cosmos, but they
01:19couldn't survive the common cold? By the toll of a billion deaths, man had earned his immunity,
01:25his right to survive among this planet's infinite organisms. And that right is ours against all
01:33challenges, for neither do men live nor die in vain. Number 27. Assange Denounces the Movie.
01:43The Fifth Estate. This 2013 bio-thriller tells the story of WikiLeaks and the dysfunctional
01:49partnership between Julian Assange and Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Sort of.
01:54These are human beings, Julian, and their lives are at stake.
01:58What about the lives of the soldiers and the civilians involved in these conflicts?
02:03Death squads, unreported civilian casualties, countless incidents of friendly fire. This is
02:09information the world needs to know. The real-life Assange hated this biopic,
02:14criticizing its reportedly inaccurate portrayal of him and the site. Near the end of the film,
02:19Assange is being interviewed, and he publicly denounces two upcoming movies about his website.
02:25The WikiLeaks movie? Which one? He states that they are factually inaccurate. Was that the
02:31writer's attempt at being meta by pointing out that this film may not be accurate itself?
02:35If so, it's too little too late. All this twist did was confirm the real Assange's criticisms and
02:41make the rest of the film feel like a waste of time.
02:44If you want to know the truth, no one is going to tell you the truth. They're only going to
02:50tell
02:50you their version. So, if you want the truth, you have to seek it out for yourself.
02:57Number 26. The Real Killer. Scream 3.
03:00Wes Craven's Scream films are still remembered fondly for their meta-commentary on the slasher
03:06genre. Then, everything changed when Scream 3 hit the screens.
03:10Well, all I know about movie trilogies is that in the third one, all bets are off.
03:16It tried to act as a closer for the original trilogy, but had massive production issues that
03:21greatly affected the story. Arguably, the biggest sin of all was the plot twist. It expects us to
03:26believe that Roman Bridger, Sidney's half-brother and the fifth Ghostface killer, was the true
03:31mastermind behind the whole trilogy.
03:43While it sounds promising on paper, the sloppy execution damaged the first film's legacy. It was
03:49no better than the slashers it skewered, and made the series timeline a convoluted roadmap.
03:56Number 25. The Real Joker. Joker, fully adieu.
04:00The first Joker film shook us to the core as we watched Arthur Fleck tragically devolve into the
04:06Clown Prince of Crime. The sequel, Joker, fully adieu, did not get such a claim.
04:11You don't know what it's like, baby, you don't know what it's like.
04:19Along with being a mediocre jukebox musical, the film ends with Arthur renouncing his Joker persona,
04:25claiming it was all an act. There is no Joker. It's just me.
04:32Then in the final scene, an inmate fatally stabs Arthur before carving a smile on his own face,
04:38cementing himself as the real Joker.
04:40So, a psychopath walks into a bar and sees this famous clown sitting there all alone. Totally drunk,
04:47it's pathetic. I can't believe you're here, he says. What a disappointment.
04:53Was this supposed to be the origin story for Heath Ledger's Joker? If so, it was a disappointing take,
04:59especially at the cost of one of the most tragic and realistic portrayals of Batman's arch nemesis.
05:05Number 24. Zurg's Identity. Lightyear.
05:08Remember in Toy Story 2 where they spoofed the iconic Empire Strikes Back twist by having evil
05:14Emperor Zurg reveal himself as Buzz Lightyear's father?
05:18Surrender, Buzz Lightyear. I have won.
05:21I'll never give in. You killed my father.
05:24No, Buzz. I am your father.
05:30It was hilarious, and it ended up being a better twist than the one we got years later in the
05:35spin-off
05:36film Lightyear. It turns out that this version of Zurg is actually Buzz from 50 years in the future.
05:41Having traveled through time and becoming obsessed with finishing the original mission no matter
05:46the cost. He adopted the name Zurg after his Zyklop minions kept mispronouncing his name. It's a
05:58unique take on the you're your own worst enemy trope, but it's a pretty weak take on an established
06:03character. It's a good plan.
06:05Number 23. James Bond's Brother. Spectre. Remember when the James Bond movies were
06:11self-contained and didn't need to overcomplicate things with some multi-film connection?
06:16So, James, why did you come? I came here to kill you.
06:22And I thought you came here to die.
06:24Apparently, Spectre forgot this when they included this convoluted twist. It turns out that the events
06:29of the rebooted series were all orchestrated by Spectre, with longtime foe Ernst Stavro Blofeld
06:35acting as the mastermind behind the recent catastrophes in Bond's life.
06:40A nice pattern developed. You interfered in my world. I destroyed yours.
06:47Or did you think it was coincidence that all the women in your life ended up dead?
06:51Not only that, but Blofeld is also revealed to be Bond's half-brother.
07:06Even with the forced continuity with the previous films, the sudden familial connection added nothing
07:12to the narrative except to give Blofeld a reason to hate Bond. Seriously, was having them just be
07:17rivals not exciting enough? It worked just fine in the previous continuity.
07:21Number 22. Martin's Fantasy. The Human Centipede 2. Full Sequence.
07:27Remember seeing the first human centipede and being rightfully disgusted by the excessive body horror?
07:32Don't worry. Because the sequel reminds us that it was just a movie.
07:36A movie that inspires Martin Lomax to try his own experiment.
07:40He keeps on talking about a centipede with 12 people. What does that mean?
07:46For nearly 100 minutes, we're forced to watch as this disturbed individual fulfills his twisted
07:51fantasy in the most disgusting ways possible. At the very end, it turns out it really was just a fantasy.
08:03The entire film was seemingly just one of Martin's fantasies after re-watching the first movie.
08:09Should we be terrified at the idea that Martin might actually enact this horrific ploy?
08:13Or annoyed that we endured all that for a, it was all a dream cliche? Maybe both.
08:19Number 21. What's really beyond the woods? The village.
08:23For a time, M. Night Shyamalan seemed like the king of plot twists. The village had a promising start,
08:30with the titular 19th century village living in fear of the terrors that live beyond the forest.
08:35With regards to those we don't speak of, I am certain they will let me pass.
08:40But in the final act, the plot completely disappears when it's revealed that the village
08:44is actually a traditionalist cult living in modern times.
08:47You're not allowed to go in there. Please return to your vehicle.
08:53What was that noise?
08:58What are you doing out here? How'd you get here?
09:02Their home is actually a facade to protect the townsfolk from the terrors of modern society.
09:07And the monsters are just people in costumes preventing them from leaving their fake community.
09:12So instead of letting us have a fun period thriller,
09:15Shyamalan gave us a convoluted mess that only weakened his artistic credibility.
09:25Number 20. Killer X. The Girl on the Train.
09:28Marketed as the next Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train was a whodunit thriller masquerading as a
09:34psychological drama. But unfortunately, it did not live up to the hype generated by the novel it was
09:39based on. It is a story about substance use disorder, obsession, and an untrustworthy narrator
09:45mixed up with a murder mystery. While that worked great on the page, the film adaptation does woefully
09:51little with these juicy themes. What it did do, however, was fail to make the telegraphed big reveal of the
09:57killer's identity either surprising or satisfying for viewers.
10:01What's going on? Don't worry about it.
10:04The only shocking twist was a literal one involving a corkscrew.
10:16Number 19. The Good Guy is the Bad Guy. A Good Day to Die Hard.
10:21Die Hard films are always good for a twist, usually in the villain's plans.
10:32A solid twist is a surprise that you savor, something that adds to the plot. It should not,
10:38however, leave you feeling duped, which is surely what both cinema-goers and John McClane felt when
10:43it came time for this big reveal. Apparently, the Russian whistleblower that he and his CIA agent's
10:49son have been trying to protect is, in fact, the bad guy.
10:56It's a convoluted plot in which everyone seems to be corrupt, so it lacks any real weight to it.
11:11You can't help but feel frustrated that McClane has been wasting his time, and, by extension,
11:15so have you.
11:17Number 18. Ghost Wife. Safe Haven.
11:25When Katie arrives in North Carolina, it seems she has big secrets. As she starts to fall for a
11:31widower named Alex and becomes friends with her neighbor Joe, we learn more and more about her,
11:36even suspecting that Katie is a murderer. But it turns out that she isn't, and her abusive drunk
11:46husband is just claiming that so he can have an excuse to look for her.
11:50I was a stupid young girl that got into a relationship with the wrong man.
11:54How am I supposed to believe that?
11:55So, is that this romance movie's twist? Nope. The twist is that Joe is actually the ghost of Alex's
12:01dead wife, and she's been making sure Katie is right for Alex throughout the whole film.
12:06I'm so glad he's found you.
12:10I only wish I could be there, somehow, to meet you.
12:17Number 17. It was Aliens? The Forgotten.
12:21The Forgotten is a bizarre little sci-fi psychological thriller about a woman who is accused of making up
12:26her memories about her deceased son. She's told she's delusional, but ends up finding another
12:31victim whose memories of his daughter were erased. Learning that this is a part of an experiment
12:36conducted by a mysterious group known only as them, they rush to escape mysterious agents,
12:41lights in the sky that blow roofs off, and imagery that is clearly UFO-related.
12:55We're dying to find out who is responsible, and the big twist is that this was an experiment to see
13:01if a parent-child bond can be broken. But by whom exactly and why? Them. Just them.
13:08This is insane.
13:10The mystery is left unanswered, and audiences underwhelmed.
13:14Number 16. Mandarin, Trevor Slattery. Iron Man 3.
13:19Some people call me a terrorist.
13:25I consider myself a teacher.
13:28After he sanctions several terrorist attacks and blows up Iron Man's house,
13:32audiences were really excited to see the Mandarin in the flesh.
13:36My disciples just destroyed another cheap American knockoff.
13:41The Chinese theater.
13:44Until they actually did. You see, it turns out the evil Mandarin is just a drunk British actor
13:49named Trevor Slattery.
13:51They gave me things. They gave me this palace. They gave me plastic surgery. They gave me things.
13:58Did you just nod off?
14:00And this actor is as surprised to find out about his terrorist persona as audiences were,
14:05since he had no idea such things were occurring in his name.
14:09Killian?
14:10Killian.
14:11He created you.
14:12He created me.
14:13As is later revealed, the Mandarin was a lie invented by Aldrich Killian to cover up the fact that his
14:19disability cure was kind of blowing up veterans, and that he was the real terrorist.
14:25Look around you, costumes, green screen.
14:28Honestly, I wasn't on location for half of this stuff.
14:30Number 15.
14:31Ravings of a Castaway, Life of Pi.
14:34Life of Pi has another somewhat open-ended twist ending that had a better execution in novel form
14:40than on screen. After his rescue, Pi recounts his unbelievable story of survival, which includes
14:46spending many months on a boat with a tiger and other exotic animals. He then hints that he may
14:51have invented all the fantastical elements and animals because the truth was too gruesome and
14:56depressing.
14:57But I have to believe there was more in his eyes than my own reflection staring back at me.
15:01We get the theme about storytelling and trusting your narrator, but after sitting through a beautiful
15:06visual spectacle, no one wants to be told it might have been imaginary.
15:10Number 14. David is Charlie, Hide and Seek.
15:14Spaghetti and meatballs is your favorite dish. You're not hungry?
15:18Seeing Robert De Niro in a horror movie is a rare occurrence, but unfortunately,
15:22this next twist is all too common in the genre.
15:25Okay, well, if he's not a doll, then who is he?
15:30He doesn't want me to talk about him.
15:31He doesn't want you to talk about him?
15:33In Hide and Seek, De Niro plays a psychologist who is concerned about his daughter's mental health,
15:38and the influence of her imaginary and homicidal friend Charlie.
15:42Charlie? Is that you?
15:50You might be able to see where this is going.
15:52Who is Charlie? Where is he? Just please help me understand what's happening here.
15:56I can't.
15:57It turns out that Charlie never existed, and instead, the protagonist David is suffering
16:02from dissociative identity disorder, making him the killer after all.
16:16It's difficult to make this twist work when it's already been done to perfection in iconic films
16:20like Psycho and Fight Club.
16:3213. Just a Vision – The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 2
16:38After four arguably dismal movies, plenty of people were more than ready to see all the characters in
16:43Twilight brutally murdered. And that's exactly what they got. Jasper, Jane, Caius, Marco, Arrow, and others,
16:50all get the chop in the final installment of this romantic fantasy saga.
16:54The Varturi might be gone, but they will never forgive what happened here.
17:00Except, gotcha, because the battle sequence was just a vision being shown to Arrow of what would
17:05have happened if there was an epic and awesome battle. Since Arrow decides not to wage war,
17:10the coolest scene in the franchise is made irrelevant.
17:1312. Doris Ain't So Innocent – Ouija
17:17Not to be confused with its infinitely superior prequel, Origin of Evil, this 2014 film is pretty weak,
17:25even by modern horror standards, and the indifferent twist ending does not help.
17:2913. Is there a presence here among us?
17:31Trying to solve the mystery surrounding her house's past, which involves a Ouija board,
17:36our heroine, Lane, attempts to free the spirit of a girl and stop the madness.
17:41Only at the end of the film, however, after Lane has succeeded,
17:44do we find out that the seemingly friendly ghost, Doris, was in fact the demonic one,
17:49and that the terrifying mother was trying to warn them.
17:52Okay, but substituting one creepy spirit for another doesn't exactly make for a memorable ending.
18:0313. Mark Ruffalo's Scheming – Now You See Me
18:10For a film about tricks, this caper thriller sure didn't know how to pull one off.
18:14A group of magicians is assembled by a secret leader. The plan?
18:26To rob insurance magnate Arthur Tressler.
18:29Yeah, what do the kids call it these days? Oh yes, that's right, magic.
18:32The only man who can stop them is FBI agent Dylan Rhodes, played by Mark Ruffalo.
18:37You know, the less angry half of the Hulk.
18:39How did you do that?
18:40I have no idea, but I'm sure there's a logical explanation.
18:43Luckily for the magicians, though, he's a bit of a moron.
18:46Except in reality, Dylan doesn't want to stop the Four Horsemen.
18:50Why? Because he's the guy that brought them together.
18:52So we're supposed to believe that this guy has been able to make his way up in the FBI,
18:57all while acting like a moron?
19:0210. Mary Saves the Day – Hancock
19:06While it starts out as an entertaining riff on the superhero genre,
19:10showing the consequences of the destruction so often left behind by caped crusaders,
19:14this film devolves into a weird origin story after the reveal that Mary is also a superhero.
19:19A twist that nobody really asked for, the audience is expected to believe that the wife
19:24of the random person Hancock saved and invited into his home is not only another superhero,
19:30but the only other remaining immortal of Hancock's species.
19:399. David Frames Himself – The Life of David Gale
19:47David Gale, a former philosophy professor, has hit rock bottom in life,
19:52and is on death row for assaulting and murdering a colleague.
19:5510. You're here because I want to be remembered as much for how I led my life,
19:59and the decisions that I made as for how my life ended.
20:0211. Journalist Bitsy Bloom looks into the case and realizes there's a greater conspiracy at play.
20:07The victim and the supposed murderer had worked together to frame David for her murder,
20:12to prove just how ineffective the death penalty was.
20:17However, in one last head-scratching twist, it's revealed that David was the true mastermind behind
20:23the scheme, orchestrating his own demise to abolish the death penalty.
20:27Instead of being a convincing argument against capital punishment,
20:31it's a confusing goose chase that discredits everything that David and the victim fought to prove.
20:368. A Member of the Eye – Now You See Me Too
20:40Although a hit at the box office, moviegoers were not too pleased with the ridiculous twist
20:45at the end of the first film in this series. Planning to top its predecessor,
20:49Now You See Me Too reveals at the end that Morgan Freeman,
20:52among numerous other characters, was also a part of the secret magician's organization,
20:57The Eye, all along. Not only does this feel like a rehash of the surprise twist from the previous film,
21:03it also complicates Mark Ruffalo's plans, as another surprise member of The Eye,
21:08to frame Freeman and put him in jail.
21:13Doesn't this organization know who their members are?
21:15If they did, it would probably be easier to avoid all that wrongful imprisonment.
21:239. Just A Fear – Savages
21:26When they smell your fear, they like it. They will attack us.
21:30After 90 minutes of gritty realism, it looked like this crime thriller's climax would be realistic.
21:3710. Savages
21:38After their shared girlfriend is kidnapped by a cartel,
21:42pot dealers Ben and Chon capture the cartel leader's daughter.
21:4510. Give me my daughter!
21:4710. Now!
21:5010. An exchange is organized, but a shootout erupts.
21:5311. Several characters die, Ben is wounded, and he, Chon, and the girlfriend Ophelia all overdose to die together.
22:0011. That's the way I imagined it.
22:0312. But the truth has a mind of its own.
22:0612. Except that this was all just Ophelia's fearful thoughts of what might happen.
22:1013. In actuality, the good guys live happily ever after. And for some reason, so does Leto,
22:16despite all the horrible things the cartel enforcers done.
22:2013. These things that happened, you could never go back.
22:2616. The Origin of the Skulls
22:29Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
22:33Fans were eagerly awaiting the return of the great adventurer Indiana Jones for years,
22:37but sadly, some felt that his comeback fell flat. The film was a huge box office hit,
22:42but many audience members and longtime fans balked at the twist ending. Although the Indiana
22:47Jones series never shied away from supernatural elements, the reveal that the mysterious psychic
22:52skull belonged to interdimensional alien archaeologists left audiences more bemused than thrilled.
22:5813. Were aliens and UFOs too much for Indy? Or was everyone just annoyed at the atomic fridge sequence?
23:0715. Plant Attack – The Happening
23:17This list wouldn't be complete without some more M. Night Shyamalan.
23:2115. I don't have any reason to disagree right now.
23:2315. Although meant to be a purposefully over-the-top B-movie idea, the explanation behind The Happening
23:28was still beyond laughable. After Mark Wahlberg hams it up as a science teacher,
23:3315. we are introduced to a world where people are taking their own lives in truly shocking ways.
23:3816. This is Shyamalan we're talking about, so a twist was to be expected,
23:45but the bizarre and ultra-violent set pieces did not prepare us for this odd reveal. The Earth's plants
23:50are rebelling against man and making us go crazy.
23:59Thanks a lot, Global Warming.
24:024. Double Identity – High Tension
24:05The aforementioned trend of split personality twist endings was nearing its end by 2005 and had
24:11overstayed its welcome. Great for thrillers when used properly, it's not quite as effective in a
24:16slasher setting. Praised for its acting, design, and relentless pace, High Tension was beloved by
24:22many. However, most audiences flipped out over the final reveal. And not in a good way.
24:27We're meant to believe that the brutal, hulking killer chasing a little, frail Marie is…
24:32Marie herself.
24:36Raising more questions than it answers, this confusing twist requires way too much suspension
24:42of disbelief to accept. 3. Water, Water Everywhere – Signs
24:48There's a monster outside my room, can I have a glass of water?
24:52Here we return to the king of the god-awful twist.
24:55So the aliens can't read our minds?
24:57In Signs, Mel Gibson and his family slowly realize aliens have landed.
25:02Won't let anything bad happen to you.
25:04The tension is slowly and masterfully built up until one weakness is found.
25:09Water. Yep, water. You know, that thing that's spattered all over the planet?
25:14The liquid that comes out of taps in everyone's homes?
25:17That naturally existing phenomenon that literally falls out of the sky?
25:21Are you kidding us? The aliens are supposed to have superior intelligence, right? Guess not.
25:282. Tyler's Fate – Remember Me
25:32Remember Me is a film that, ironically, will be forgotten by history.
25:38It was billed as a romantic drama, which is partially why its twist ending felt so wrong.
25:44I gotta go to my dad's office.
25:48Say hi to him before me.
25:52I love you.
25:53I love you.
25:54Near the very end of the movie, we find out Robert Pattinson's character, Tyler, was actually the
25:59victim of a terrorist attack. In a ridiculous exposition shot, we see the character standing
26:04inside an office building shortly before it becomes the scene of an attack.
26:08Yes, apparently if you're stuck trying to end a romance film, throwing in an international
26:13tragedy will do.
26:14Whatever you do in life will be insignificant.
26:21But it's very important that you do it.
26:23Lazy writing at its most emotionally manipulative peak.
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26:421. Abraham Lincoln – Planet of the Apes
26:51The original Planet of the Apes flick is considered a classic and one of the greatest films of the
26:56late 60s.
26:572. Abraham Lincoln – Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!
27:02So when Tim Burton took the reins for a reboot, he already had the foundation of a great film
27:07ready for him to slap his name on.
27:082. Abraham Lincoln – You maniacs!
27:12You blew it up!
27:13Instead, the director took out what's arguably the greatest twist
27:16in movie history and replaced it with this.
27:31Needless to say, it pissed off fans, critics, and pretty much everyone with eyes.
27:35If this is the best twist humanity can think of, we deserve to be overrun by apes.
27:40Seriously, how does this make any sense?
27:462. Abraham Lincoln – Which plot twist made you roll your eyes?
27:56Let us know in the comments!
27:572.
28:0310.
28:0311.
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