Same here. That’s perfectly said. I pay to watch the movie, and go with the flow, not to try and out-think the writer and director. I usually don’t figure out “twists” because I don’t even try.
That’s so sad. Seriously, I said “ooooh nooo” out loud when I read it. The Others is a great movie and it doesn’t diminish by knowing the “twist.” In fact, I believe there are movies that get better with multiple viewings after knowing what happens at the end. The Others is one. The Sixth Sense is one. Shutter Island is going to be one. A 2nd, or more, viewing of these and some other movies are fascinating to me because knowing the ending it makes the rest of the film a completely different film. I saw The Others and The Sixth Sense in the theater at least 5 times each, and the 5th (or whatever) viewing was as good, if not better, than the first viewing. I have no doubt whatsoever that Shutter Island will be the same way. I’ve only seen it once so far but I can’t wait to see it again.
And btw, I never figured out The Sixth Sense either. Partially because I saw it on opening day before there was any buzz. It was an unknown quantity then. Plus I never saw any ads or trailers or read any reviews so I wasn’t even aware that there was supposed to be a twist.
That’s what’s so damned hilarious about The Village.
Without ever thinking about whether there was a twist or not, I guessed the twist from the very first trailer. Knowing there was a twist, I would have dismissed the actual twist, because it was so obviously, to me, something we were supposed to know going into the movie.
Same here. I actually saw it a couple of weeks after it came out. I really hadn’t paid much attention to the buzz, as up to that point I really hadn’t been all that interested in seeing it. But when I went back to school that fall, I heard a lot of people say that they liked it, so on a night when I had nothing better to do I decided to go watch it.
What made that movie great was that you had no idea whatsoever that there was going to be a twist ending. It caught you completely off guard. And that’s the reason why none of M. Night Shymalan’s movies since have been as effective, because you know going in that there’s going to be a twist ending, and you spend the whole movie looking for it.
I’ve said this twice already but I’ll say it again. It helps to not be surprised when the distributor doesn’t announce in their ads that there’s going to be a twist.
I saw “Sixth Sense” well after it left theaters and I was STILL surprised because I hadn’t told that there was a twist. Not only did the distributor help out, but other people who’d seen the movie were nice enough not to ruin it.
The last time I was truly surprised by an ending was the last episode of this season’s “Dexter.” Didn’t see that coming a mile away.
I never, ever guess them either, at least with movies. With books, sometimes I do a little better, but not always. I don’t mind being surprised.
The annoying part is that my husband is exactly the opposite. He’s that guy who’ll know how the movie ends 15 minutes into it, almost every time. This would not be a problem if he didn’t occasionally mention it or try to discuss the upcoming plot twists with me. He “ruins” movies for me all the time. I’d be more annoyed about it, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s not doing it on purpose. It simply hasn’t occurred to him that I haven’t figured out what’s coming. He’s lucky he’s cute.
Count me in this category. I very, very rarely guess twist or surprise endings. Come to that, I very rarely guess the endings of fairly conventional plots. I don’t regard this as a bad thing, because for most people guessing the ending usually spoils the experience, at least a little, whereas I always get to enjoy that ‘Hey, never saw that coming!’ feeling.
Rare exceptions: for no particular reason, I figured out what was going on in The Sixth Sense, and in The Others. I also knew what was going on in The Village, but then is there anyone who saw it that didn’t?
Me too, Sixth Sense being just one of many examples where I didn’t know the twist till it was staring me in the face! (Almost pathetic in my case, since my vocation was, in effect, puzzle solving!)
I’m glad to see so many other Dopers similarly oblivious! It makes me feel in good company!
Movies have… a kind of language. And once you learn the language, bad twists are nearly impossible to miss. When the camera lingers an extra 5 seconds at a seemingly insignificant electrical socket, you know someone will be electrocuted. If someone is casually mentioned to have a weakness to something, you know it will be his downfall. When random friend is introduced by name and given an intro despite having no obvious role in the movie, you know he’s gonna turn out to be the one pulling the strings.
Good movie twists get me, but with bad movie twists it doesn’t even matter if I try to figure it out or not, because the movie is basically telling me outright. Oftentimes I just casually call out “he’s evil” within 5 seconds of someone’s innocuous introduction, simply because he has no other possible funtion, and there are NEVER any unnecessary elements in today’s streamlined plots.
When things look dire for the characters in a movie, and the camera moves in, slowly, to focus on one innocuous guy why hasn’t said or done much - he’s the culprit, surprise! I find I can detect twists in books easier than movies, though. There’s always one incident, one paragraph of explanation about the past, that figures into the surprise! ending.
Yup, I’m the same. Of those films you noted, those that I had seen with no prior spoilers surprised me with their ending. Add to that Old Boy as mentioned above.
I’m never too sure what I’m supposed to have seen or picked up on somehow to enable me to see the twist coming. Is it cliches, previous works by the writer/director?
I can’t speak for others, but I’m well aware of that language, it’s just that I often get caught up in the narrative flow and stop looking for those cinematic signals. To give an example of a minor twist/event I saw coming because I was only moderately engaged by the movie, at the end of * No Country for Old Men*
the editing jumps right before Chigurh gets rammed in the intersection practically scream "someone’s going to run that light and hit him!
But more often than not I’m way too engaged to step back and look at the editing or character decisions.
I never try. That’s looking for trouble, sabotaging your own enjoyment. That said, I saw The Crying Game before I knew it had a twist, but as soon as Forrest Whitaker showed Steven Rhea the picture in his wallet, near the beginning of the movie, I knew what was going to happen. Which kind of sucks; I never saw the girlfriend character as anything but what she was.
I would say it’s true for most movies that don’t specifically make an effort to keep the viewer guessing. It’s perfectly understandable. Unless they want to just pull the twist out of a hat at the end of the movie they have to introduce the clues along the way, and given how streamlined movie plots tend to be any seemingly insignificant element is going to stick out like a sore thumb. I always try to play ball and try to forget I’m watching a movie, but it’s hard when the movie is sitting there yelling PLOT POINT, PLOT POINT and waving it’s arms.
Same here. I mean, I didn’t see the Forgotten, but in general if it unfolds as I thought with little deviation, there’s a feeling of, “Is that all there is?”
Like others upthread, I let myself get caught up in the narrative most times, only if a movie is getting boring or is distractingly obvious do I end up looking for clues. Movies that have surprised me include Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Se7en, Usual Suspects, The Ring, and Scream.
For those annoyed by SOs who always figure the movie out; have a giallo film festival and watch them shake their heads in befuddlement.
