# Fictional works where the revealed mystery is awesome **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225 "2012-01-30T21:04:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/21 "2012-02-01T15:53:37Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > **Oldboy**. I don’t need to say anymore. > > The reveal to William Hurt’s character (and us) about the nature of the city in **Dark City**. Although, of course, the opening narration spoils it. Which is why friends don’t let friends watching _Dark City_ for the first time hear that narration; keep it on mute until you see the bathtub, folks. /PSA ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/22 "2012-02-01T18:04:21Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Although, of course, the opening narration spoils it. Which is why friends don’t let friends watching _Dark City_ for the first time hear that narration; keep it on mute until you see the bathtub, folks. > > /PSA Heh. I do that too. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/23 "2012-02-01T20:38:19Z")
Sixth Sense Usual Suspects The Crying Game ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/24 "2012-02-01T20:56:31Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Although, of course, the opening narration spoils it. Which is why friends don’t let friends watching _Dark City_ for the first time hear that narration; keep it on mute until you see the bathtub, folks. > > /PSA There is a very nice director’s cut DVD that has the silence in the beginning. It’s worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/25 "2012-02-01T21:07:19Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > “A Study in Emerald” by Neil Gaiman That’s a good one. Unless you do like I did, and play the audio version for someone who hasn’t READ Sherlock Holmes. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/26 "2012-02-01T22:21:08Z")
“[Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who%27s_Afraid_Of_Virginia_Woolf%3F)” [Seven](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_%28film%29) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/27 "2012-02-01T22:26:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **E.E. Smith’s “Lensman” Series** – at the end of every volume, the scale of the epic increases. Definitely! **Children of the Lens** was a great example of how to end a long-running series. Though I wish he would have put more about Cynthia in it. 😉 I thought Clarke’s **Childhood’s End** worked pretty well, too. ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/28 "2012-02-01T22:29:59Z")
Fight Club ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/29 "2012-02-01T23:25:26Z")
\*The Greek Coffin Mystery \*and \*The Egyptian Cross Mystery \*by Ellery Queen. IMO, the first of these is as radical as _The Murder of Roger Ackroyd_ and the second is a brilliant piece of misdirection. If you ask yourself the right question in the first 30 pages, it’s obvious who the murderer is, but I’m betting most of you are like me: you didn’t ask that question of yourself. \*The Long Goodbye \*by Raymond Chandler The scene where Philip Marlowe fingers the murderer is probably not as surprising as some other mysteries, but the way Chandler wrote it made it very powerful. For science fiction, I’ve always thought Arthur C. Clarke’s \*The City and the Stars \*was pretty mind-blowing. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/30 "2012-02-02T14:19:12Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > We just watched this amateurish (in the best possible way) silent _Call of Chthulu_ yesterday - I will not reveal how they did the R’lyeh scenes, but it was AWESOME. Could you put it in a spoiler box please? Having just read a few of Lovecrafts short-stories I’m intruiged. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/31 "2012-02-02T15:56:28Z")
From Watchmen: “It’s Adrian.” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/32 "2012-02-02T17:05:52Z")
Angel Heart ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/33 "2012-02-02T18:14:49Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > Could you put it in a spoiler box please? Having just read a few of Lovecrafts short-stories I’m intruiged. Well, it follows the story as far as I remember, but there’s a King Kong-style stop motion Chthulu at the end that ought to suck but IMHO was AWESOME. There’s two big set pieces in the movie - the Louisiana cult and the ship with the island, and both have this wonderful dreamlike quality. The scenes where people are sitting and talking to each other are amateurish. The scenes where stuff happens are fantastic. ETA - and somebody obviously shares my nitpick rage about bad fake old newspaper clippings in movies - the ones in this one are perfect. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/34 "2012-02-02T20:47:57Z")
> [@Shark\_Sandwich](#): > > Fight Club You broke rule #1! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/35 "2012-02-03T17:20:03Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Angel Heart Came here to post this. Awesome and creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/36 "2012-02-03T17:25:37Z")
**The Murders in the Rue Morgue** is a classic. Some consider it to be among the first detective stories. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/37 "2012-02-03T19:28:41Z")
In _Children of Men_ the mystery isn’t very hard for the _audience_ to figure out, but the two scenes where the _characters_ become aware of it\* are awesome in the original sense of the word – everyone is struck dumb with almost religious awe. \*Spoilered: When “the girl” is examined and again in the famous scene when everybody stops shooting. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/38 "2012-02-04T02:56:14Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > You broke rule #1! 😃 And #2! ---
**Author:** ![qubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f07891/32.png) [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/39 "2012-02-04T03:08:14Z")
A lot of these (Oldboy, Chinatown, Usual Suspects) of these don’t seem like mysteries that are revealed, but rather unsuspected twist endings. To me, the mystery of \*\*The Matrix \*\*is how & why the machines came to power, which isn’t revealed until the sequels (and isn’t a good reveal). Likewise, the mystery of **Children of Men** is why were children never being born, which is never explained. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225/40 "2012-02-05T19:56:49Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > \*The Greek Coffin Mystery \*and \*The Egyptian Cross Mystery \*by Ellery Queen. IMO, the first of these is as radical as _The Murder of Roger Ackroyd_ and the second is a brilliant piece of misdirection. If you ask yourself the right question in the first 30 pages, it’s obvious who the murderer is, but I’m betting most of you are like me: you didn’t ask that question of yourself. Awww, man, my library system doesn’t have it. Is it worth ordering on Amazon? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-where-the-revealed-mystery-is-awesome/611225.md?page=3)