Ever watch a movie and think to yourself, “Wow, this scene would be a lot more impressive if I hadn’t seen the other bit 20 minutes ago?”
Then this thread is for you.
There are at least one scene in The Return of the King that does just this. As mentioned in this thread, Theoden King’s speech to rally the troops just before they join in the Battle of Pellenor fields is wonderful. Hell, I completely despised the movie by that point, and yet I’d have been willing to follow him anywhere he led based on his words and delivery. This has the unintended consequence of making Aragorn’s “not this day” oration at the Black Gate seem utterly meh.
I forget the exact details, but in short, Identity revealed its twist ending far too soon, which made the next few scenes almost entirely pointless. Had they simply moved that one scene closer to the end of the film, it would have been much better.
Dark City. I love the movie, but if you’ve never seen it before, hit the mute button at the very beginning, and don’t unmute until it cuts to the scene in the bathroom (very early on). Stupid narration ruins what should be a colossal twist much later on, and it would be a damn near flawless movie if they didn’t have it in there.
It became so blatantly, blatantly evident that Verbal Kint (Spacey’s character) was Keyser Söze when he was asked why he didn’t shoot the Keyser Söze character he “saw” and he half-heartedly said that he couldn’t shoot the devil in the back - what if he missed? With a broken voice, a dubious look and the fact that we’re seeing him with a machine gun undercuts the entire tension so much that I thought “horseshit!”
If they could have just CUT that away, the real “revelation moment” merely two minutes after might just have surprised people.
Similar to Dark City the opening narration of The Dark Crystal gives the entire plot away.
I would say that the direction of The Prestige gives away one of the major plot twists. Just saw it last night and I knew the two big twists (including the shot at the end) long before they were revealed. One I worked out logically from what had been shown; the other was given away by the way the director shot a particular character. Still, I enjoyed the film anyway.
Fallen starring Denzel Washington, John Goodman and Donald Sutherland…
[spoiler]We know Azazel the demon can jump bodies. So when Denzel gets him out into the woods without anybody around we’re supposed to think he died a hero by killing the demon.
But earlier in the film we see Azazel watching them in the body of a cat. Which totally ruins the reveal of Azazel having survived by jumping into an animal at the end. Of course there are animals in the woods!
Cut out that scene and a movie I love turns into one of the greatest thrillers ever made.[/spoiler]
For me, the twist isn’t that Verbal was Keyser, it’s that
Everything he told the detective was made up from items he saw in the office. If you rewatch the movie there’s a scene where you can see Spacey looking around before he tells his tale.
I’ve always thought that Carousel would’ve been better if they’d cut out everything that happened after Billy Bigelow got killed, although virtually everybody else thinks that that’s where the story actually begins.
You’d be amazed though at the number of people who miss this, or it doens’t make them twig to it.
Personally I’m like you, once I new what Denzel’s plan was, I immedaitely thought that won’t work as you mentioned. But a number of people I’ve spoken to, didn’t twig to it before then.
It wasn’t outdone by an earlier scene, it just didn’t really do it for itself.
I’m talking about the most important scene in the flm. Woody is trapped under the milk crate, Buzz is taped to a rocket and just doesn’t care because he just learned that he is a toy.
This scene is the most important becuase the two main characters fundementally change at their cores. They become friends, and Buzz realizes the value of being a toy.
The dialogue of the film is really crappy. They have shown several scenes of how the toys help stimulate Andy’s imagination but Woody convinces Buzz that it’s great to be a toy becuase Buzz has all these cool buttons and stuff. Woody also accepts that he may losing his space as Andy’s favorite.
What they should have said.
Woody: Are you kidding! Andy wants to be a real astronaut now. He wants school to start so he can take math class. Buzz, you’re the future, and I’m nothing past. I should strapped to that rocket.
Buzz: Andy was a pretty good kid when I showed up. Somebody helped teach him to fight evil and defend the weak. I think you had a part in that sherriff. Come on, let’s get you out that thing, There’s a little boy that needs us over there.
To me they walked up to the emotional moment and chicken out.
[SPOILER]Fallon, then I agree–the ‘disguise’ (as far as I can tell, a fake mustache and beard, and a bulky hat) was practically see-through, so the movie had him constantly in the background but never focused the camera on him for more than two seconds, which made the whole thing even more blindingly obvious.
As much as I loved the movie, it was definitely the weakest point in the plot.[/SPOILER]
When the killer’s face is revealed in Jagged Edge with Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges, it’s shown upside-down and is almost unrecognizable. Who wants to stand on his head in a movie theater to understand a movie’s big revelation?
Can’t think of an example off the top of my head, but I totally disagree with those who’ve said The Return of the King, The Usual Suspects and Toy Story.
On a related note, I much preferred the first endings of both A.I. and Terminator 2. (I mean, A.I. still sucked, but the second ending made it even worse.)
In the Matrix, I am lead to believe that it would be better to live in a pod then to undergo the elaborate fantasy that some oppressor has created for me. Give me that fantasy anyday.
[spoiler]The key things Verbal wanted to get across in his story were that:
1.) He himself was a coward and a weakling
2.) Soze was a total badass
3.) He was terrified of Soze
For him to be petrified when faced with Soze in person seems perfectly reasonable. Of course it helps if you haven’t had the twist spoiled for you already.
[/spoiler]
I had no idea, until he walked away and his foot straighened out, which by the way is my favorite scene from a movie.
But then again, to all the people who figured it out ‘ten minutes in’ and say the same thing about movies like the sixth sense, well, I don’t look for twists, I just watch the movie. What fun is the movie if you’re trying to figure it out as soon as it starts. I mean it’s one thing if it’s a mystery movie, but a movie like The Usual Suspects isn’t a mystery so to speak, we’re not trying to figure out who Keyzer Soze is, or at least the movie doesn’t imply that Verbal might be him. Just watch the damn movie and take it at face value.
Even though I’m not a fan of either Carousel or musicals in general, I have to disagree. That part of the play is necessary because Bigelow’s attempt to at least partially redeem himself is an integral part of the story. It was also an important part of “Liliom” which is the play that Rodgers and Hammerstein based “Carousel” on. However, in the much-darker “Liliom”, the barker screws up his second chance.