worst movie plot twists of all time?

[Kegek]

Those twists were fine. What ruined them was the lack of decent payoff in Revolutions.

I agree - I loved the end of Reloaded, but agree that Revolutions just fell very flat.

I can't fathom how you could thin that. Reloaded was trash. Revolutions had one of the best final battles in film history and Neyo went out a total hero and brought the saga to an end.

I thought Reloaded was uneven but probably the best of the Matrix films (if one ignores that rave and pointless car action sequence), that the first film was okay if considerably overhyped, and the third was a mess dramatically, philosophically and creatively; an orgy of sound and fury that signified essentially nothing.

And what's all this about Neo being a hero? As I recall; he rejects any noble basis for his motivations at the end of the film and states he fights for totally unjustified choices. (i.e., 'Because I choose to'). Protagonist, yes. Hero? Less sure about that.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

My vote: "The Crying Game"

Yes, you know I'm right

 

[the_wildcard]

Yeah, Matrix 2 and 3 were a bit convoluted in terms of plot. They sorta went sideways and made everyone go "uhh"?

 

[Delta Belle]

Luke and Leia turning out to be brother and sister in Return of the Jedi. It would have been better if they'd killed off Han Solo instead, as Harrison Ford suggested. (Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher had committed to doing Jedi, but Ford hadn't.)

 

[amalie]

The Illusionist, it was far too predictable.

 

[Aragorn]

The entire movie Basic. It was all about twists upon twists upon twists, and a lot of it failed to hold up to any sort of movie logic, probably because of all the heavy rewrites. A character who was supposed to be dead didn't die, and a character who was the surprise bad guy turned out to be a good guy. It was like they took parts out and put in new parts that didn't fit.

 

[Immolatus]

That one with Mark Hamil where the angry over the top villain revels he is his Father.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

People are going to kill me but Revenge of the Sith. We all knew Anakin Skywalker was going to fall to the dark side. What was intriguing was the twist on how he turned. What made him fall. We get a whiny, emo kid that should've been bitch slapped a few times by Mace Windu and Obi Wan instead. That twist blew badly and pretty much killed the trilogy.

Oh and the Clone Wars, another twist gone badly. It was this grand epic war and...uh...Basically a bunch of jedis die and a bunch of clones, who no one would care twice if they blew themselves up.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

The Illusionist, it was far too predictable.

It was predictable, but I wouldn't call it bad.

Some of the worst plot twists are a result of creators trying too hard to be unpredictable.

 

[Ethros]

Tim Burton
Planet of the Apes
End of

That was more consistent with the ending of the book than the earlier Planet of the Apes film though.

Not really. If it were just apes that had taken over the earth then fine, but it was the fact it was a statue of General Thade (in place of Lincoln) that Marky Mark found that's so shit.

So the time distortion thing would have sent Thade further into the past makes sense, but how did he escape from being entombed in the ship at the end of the movie? And how did he cause an uprising of Earth's apes when they're all still dumb animals as compared to the modified apes from the space station.
Just bollocks

 

[Worf412]

I thought Reloaded was uneven but probably the best of the Matrix films (if one ignores that rave and pointless car action sequence), that the first film was okay if considerably overhyped, and the third was a mess dramatically, philosophically and creatively; an orgy of sound and fury that signified essentially nothing.

The thing about Reloaded was that the third movie completely negated it. Reloaded aspired to have grandiose themes, questions without answers about free choice, and various other matters and threads that were swore to get tied up.

Then the third movie came along and said "Yeah, about all that... Forget it".

Seriously. If it wasn't for the fact that Neo was in a train station at the beginning of the third movie, one could watch Matrix, then watch the third movie, and there would be no problems.

That was my main problem with the 2nd one. A two-hour "ah... None of this matters".

 

[Kegek]

^
Ironically, I think you accurately summed up my problems with the third movie.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Tim Burton
Planet of the Apes
End of

That was more consistent with the ending of the book than the earlier Planet of the Apes film though.

Not really. If it were just apes that had taken over the earth then fine, but it was the fact it was a statue of General Thade (in place of Lincoln) that Marky Mark found that's so shit.

So the time distortion thing would have sent Thade further into the past makes sense, but how did he escape from being entombed in the ship at the end of the movie? And how did he cause an uprising of Earth's apes when they're all still dumb animals as compared to the modified apes from the space station.
Just bollocks

I heard a theory. Remember how, when the USAF station Oberon hears the distress call that they haven't sent yet? Perhaps they turned around and went home as a result of this. And somehow, the apes that were born on the Ape Planet in the film, were born on Earth in the new timeline - thus Thade lived on Earth and led the rebellion there.

 

[Warp Coil]

Citizen Kane - "Rosebud" is a frakkin' sled!

 

[Worf412]

^
Ironically, I think you accurately summed up my problems with the third movie.

Oh, don't get me started on the third movie. It's a piece of trash, too. Just saying why my hate flows a little more towards #2.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Luke and Leia turning out to be brother and sister in Return of the Jedi. It would have been better if they'd killed off Han Solo instead, as Harrison Ford suggested. (Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher had committed to doing Jedi, but Ford hadn't.)

The way Luke found out that Leia was his sister was underwhelming and under-dramatized. But I didn't object to that plot twist per se.

The plot twist in Mission To Mars, for example--that was so silly, it made the entire film just ridiculous.

What was that twist? I haven't seen that movie.

People are going to kill me but Revenge of the Sith. We all knew Anakin Skywalker was going to fall to the dark side. What was intriguing was the twist on how he turned. What made him fall. We get a whiny, emo kid that should've been bitch slapped a few times by Mace Windu and Obi Wan instead. That twist blew badly and pretty much killed the trilogy.

I'm with ya on that (and I think there are plenty who agree so you don't need to worry about lynch mobs). Lucas really botched the chance to show a strong, competent Jedi with one fatal weakness (I would have chosen "lust for power" over "fear that wifey-wife will be killed boo hoo" - less pathetic that way and we don't have to wonder why super-advanced Star Wars people don't have super-advanced medical technology that could prevent something as absurdly primitive as death in childbirth) that leads to a tragic but inevitable downfall. But there's no single plot twist that you can point to as the problem. The whole trilogy would have required a major rewrite.

 

[Twilight]

Event Horizon

Not so much a "twist" but a plot point

The ship having gone to "hell" was just lame.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The Illusionist, it was far too predictable.

It was predictable, but I wouldn't call it bad.

Some of the worst plot twists are a result of creators trying too hard to be unpredictable.

I figured it out early on, too, but the movie was still enjoyable and since a good script needs to do some kind of foreshadowing, which can usually be picked up on by an attentive viewer who is looking for the twist, it's inevitable that some people will figure things out.

I appreciated how The Illusionist stuck to normal reality in explaining its magic, as opposed to The Prestige, which took the easier option of going straight into sci-fi. Of the two, I was less impressed by The Prestige as a result.

Also, I was just entirely blown away by Edward Norton's performance.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

My vote: "The Crying Game"

Yes, you know I'm right

I guess the filmmakers were being a bit cocky with that twist, thinking themselves clever little buggers.

 

[Harvey]

Citizen Kane - "Rosebud" is a frakkin' sled!

Now, now, Warp Coil, just for that I'd watch out for an entire legion of Orson Welles junkies led by Peter Bogdanovich if I were you.

Actually, I like that plot twist. It makes sense thematically. Even if all the build up turns out to be towards nothing, but that's kind of the point, isn't it?