# Movies With Ambiguous Endings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643 "2013-02-18T00:08:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/41 "2013-02-18T21:38:09Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > Do you mean the causes of the changes to Earth were unknown? In “POA” we can assume you blew it up, you bastards and in “QE” the last shot indicates a cosmic planetary shift. Neither is definitive, but they aren’t that ambiguous either. The ending of POA (2001) differs quite a bit from the original film’s ending. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/42 "2013-02-18T21:44:19Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > The ending of POA (2001) differs quite a bit from the original film’s ending. Oops! I missed the year for POA as the 2001 version. Geez, has it really been that long since the remake? ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/43 "2013-02-18T21:55:39Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > Blade Runner. I’m of the “Deckert was a replicant” school, but you’ll get a vigorous debate about it. Deckard. Yes, he is a replicant. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/44 "2013-02-19T17:45:26Z")
I’d nominate _Ghost World_ - exactly what did the bus mean? (I don’t think that’s spoiling anything). Although it was a good ending, it didn’t really tie things up nicely, which I think was the point. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/45 "2013-02-19T19:35:49Z")
> [@K.S.Masmacho](#): > > I too think the ending of _Lost in Translation_ was well done. > > Just what did he say to her? But in spite of the frustration of never really knowing, I think it is ultimately more satisfying this way; each viewer can come up with their own idea that best suits them. The main thing is, she smiled – so it was good. “So, a priest, a rabbi and a Zen monk walk into a karaoke bar…” ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/46 "2013-02-19T20:13:15Z")
> [@Mrs.Cake](#): > > John Carpenter’s _The Thing_ Both the movie and the short story it was based on made the ending pretty clear. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/47 "2013-02-19T20:21:57Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Both the movie and the short story it was based on made the ending pretty clear. It certainly _is_ ambiguous. In Campbell’s story the ending certainly is clear. Lancaster’s script, however, extends the end beyond the story’s, and it certainly is ambiguous. Is either of the two survivors a Thing? Are they both? If either is, then the humans have failed. I find conclusions based on whether the viewer thinks he/she can see anyone’s breath unconvincing. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/48 "2013-02-20T00:42:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It certainly _is_ ambiguous. > > In Campbell’s story the ending certainly is clear. Lancaster’s script, however, extends the end beyond the story’s, and it certainly is ambiguous. Is either of the two survivors a Thing? Are they both? If either is, then the humans have failed. > I find conclusions based on whether the viewer thinks he/she can see anyone’s breath unconvincing. The director made it clear that the ending of the movie is true to the story including the missing glasses. ---
**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 20, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/49 "2013-02-20T01:55:43Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Both the movie and the short story it was based on made the ending pretty clear. Just don’t play the video game sequel. It reveals the resolution. Not that it counts for anything, but it does show it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/50 "2013-02-20T01:58:07Z")
Likewise, there’s always **Watchmen**. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/51 "2013-02-20T02:19:13Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > > [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > > > What’s ambiguous about Memento? > > Plenty.Was there really a Sammy Jankiss? Did Leonard really kill the “right” John G. a long time ago? How much of what Teddy said was the truth? Did Leonard kill his wife after the attack with insulin or was she actually killed during the attack like he thinks? Yes. Yes. Nearly all of it, except when he is specifically manipulating Leonard’s condition. The former, as Teddy said. At least, it seemed pretty clear to me at the time. Otherwise, killing Teddy is not the great ending that it is. It is not both the final break with the truth and the (entirely misunderstood) resolution to Leonard’s ordeal. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/52 "2013-02-20T02:33:02Z")
Minority Report Blade Runner Total Recall Pretty much anything by or based on Philip K. Dick is going to wind up ambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/53 "2013-02-20T02:46:58Z")
> [@K.S.Masmacho](#): > > I too think the ending of _Lost in Translation_ was well done. > > Just what did he say to her? But in spite of the frustration of never really knowing, I think it is ultimately more satisfying this way; each viewer can come up with their own idea that best suits them. The main thing is, she smiled – so it was good. “No one will ever believe you.” ---
**Author:** ![K.S.Masmacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/96bed5/32.png) [@K.S.Masmacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K.S.Masmacho)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/54 "2013-02-20T03:40:48Z")
…I should have known.😛 Nice call, Harvey The Heavy! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/55 "2013-02-20T13:25:10Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > Minority Report > Blade Runner > Total Recall > > Pretty much anything by or based on Philip K. Dick is going to wind up ambiguous. Yeah – although Philuip K. Dick specialized in the blurred reality game, Holywood has amplified this far beyond what Dick himself actually did. The films made from his novels, short stories, and novellas generally make much more of this “is it live or is it Memorex?” than Di ck’s original works. There’s really no hint of ambiguiity in _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ (filmed as _Bladerunner_ or _Minority Report. And they’ve changed We Can Remember it for you Wholesale so much (whole sale, in fact) that it’s almost irrelevant how accurate that part of it is. In the story, it’s pretty clear what’s real and what isn’t, since it’s about memory, whereas in the film it’s changed into something like a virtual-reality game_. They actually did get it right with _A Scanner Darkly_ and _Second Variety_ (Filmed as _Screamers_; some have argued that it might have served as inspiration for the “flash forward” sections of _Terminator_). They fortunately left it out of _Paycheck_. But the REAL Dick “blurred reality” stories – _Ubik_, for instance – haven’t been filmed (I havebn’t seen _The Adjustment Bureau_, so I can’t comment. I suspect that Hollywood is wired for the “real or false” imagery by the very nature of the business, and they can’t help injecting it , the thing for which PKD is best known, into his stories even when it’s not really there. \*Of course, I admit, they had to change it. A movie about someone simply remembering things, without showing those memories, would be damned dull, and it’s always better to how “real time” rather than flashbacks. I’ve long maintained, by the way, that the bulk of the original film was a rip-off of Robert Sheckley’s _The Status Civilization_. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/56 "2013-02-21T19:01:34Z")
I’m having a hard time with _2001_ as “ambiguous.” Yes, I’ve read the book, and seen the movie many times, and I understand what happens. That’s not the point. To me, an ambiguous ending would be one that makes you say, “Did she or didn’t she?” or “Was he the guy or wasn’t he?” But an ending that makes you say, “What the fuck just happened?” isn’t ambiguous. Unless there’s an ambiguity to the end of _2001_ that I’m missing. ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/57 "2013-02-21T19:33:46Z")
Does **Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid** count? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/58 "2013-02-21T20:06:24Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > I’m having a hard time with _2001_ as “ambiguous.” Yes, I’ve read the book, and seen the movie many times, and I understand what happens. That’s not the point. > > To me, an ambiguous ending would be one that makes you say, “Did she or didn’t she?” or “Was he the guy or wasn’t he?” But an ending that makes you say, “What the fuck just happened?” isn’t ambiguous. > > Unless there’s an ambiguity to the end of _2001_ that I’m missing. You keep using that word. I do not think that [that word](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambiguous) does not mean what you think it does not mean. > [@Merriam-Webster](#): > > 1a : doubtful or uncertain especially from obscurity or indistinctness \ b : inexplicable Sounds like it fits, to me. Unless there’s something _I’m_ misunderstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/59 "2013-02-21T20:42:27Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Another TV series, **One Foot in the Grave** , which ran for several series in Britain. > … > And it ends like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06O_uDUHG7w). > > One of the best series endings ever. I skimmed that 5-minute video. Can you summarize what makes it such a good ending? Henry Fool is the example I thought of. In the end of the movie, the main character is either going to be the coward he’s always been, and flee the country; or he’ll finally grow a backbone and accept responsibility for his actions. The final shot shows him running frantically, but it doesn’t show his destination. Well-done, in my opinion. But my favorite ambiguous ending is Pan’s Labyrinth. True, Guillermo del Toro says that of course everything in the movie was real, and I think there’s at least one or two events in the movie that don’t make sense as fantasies, but the movie works best, I think, if the ending is ambiguous. Certainly we had a lot of conversations (over a lot of stiff drinks) about what the ending meant. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643/60 "2013-02-21T23:29:53Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Sure it was… Did Bill Murray’s character really have a son or was it all a lie by a pissed off ex-girlfriend? The boy he meets at the end isn’t his kid, as he thinks he might be, but then we see another boy watching him from a car as it drives away. If he did have a kid, was that him? > > The movie’s point isn’t about whether or not he actually has a kid but rather the journey he goes on when he thinks he might, so it doesn’t matter either way but we never really know. Made even more ambiguous by the identity of the [kid](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0124968/) [in the car](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1979743/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-ambiguous-endings/650643.md?page=4)