Otherwise Great Movies Ruined by Their Third Act?

[ed2962]

Hancock. It was a great movie when he was just a bitter drunk that happened to have super powers, but then they had to work in a love interest and some crap about being an angel.

The original script was written as a dark satire. It was almost completely re-written when Will Smith signed on.

[RayField Adam Clement]

The Pantom Menace. Why are Skywalker people always blowing up Imperial stuff with small ships?

[The Darknight Detective]

A movie ruined by its third act can't be considered a good movie by definition, so films like Wonder Woman or (huh?) Raiders of the Lost Ark shouldn't even be listed here, IMO.

[Kirby101]

A movie ruined by its third act can't be considered a good movie by definition, so films like Wonder Woman or (huh?) Raiders of the Lost Ark shouldn't even be listed here, IMO.

Wonder Woman was fine, just not a great final fight. Raiders is near perfect from first shot to last. It should be considered one of the all time great action/adventure movies. Fortunately, it is.

[Scott Taylor]

Suicide Squad. I liked the set up for the squad itself and much of movie until somewhere past the middle. By the third act, though, the movie hit the swamp big time. Somewhere in there they forgot to make us care about anything. Classic case of a film made to look cool and sound cool on the surface, but having absolutely no lasting substance

[dancj]

You are making a joke, right?

Not at all.

Magic ghost (holy spirit, whatever) from the ark kills all of the bad guys and unties their ropes.

That's pretty much the definition of "deus ex machina". More literally than most because it arguably was actually God.

[Kirby101]

Not at all.

Magic ghost (holy spirit, whatever) from the ark kills all of the bad guys and unties their ropes.

That's pretty much the definition of "deus ex machina". More literally than most because it arguably was actually God.

Exactly. And it was integral to the plot. And a logical conclusion to the story.
A Deus ex machina is usually a plot device that comes out of nowhere to solve the situation. A contrived character or plot device that fixes story problem. This was not that, it delivered a great finale to the audience that fit the story and brought it to it's natural conclusion.
It was groundbreaking as well. Before, in this kind of movie, something would happen and people would say, was it a miracle or just a advantageous accident. But they had freaken God come down.

[jetengine]

The problem with Raiders is you get the same result with or without Indie there.

[Kirby101]

The problem with Raiders is you get the same result with or without Indie there.

Except the Ark wouldn't have been found without Indiana Jones. His situation during the finale did not bother me or the vast majority of the audience. Sounds like a nitpick to me.

[Scott Taylor]

Except the Ark wouldn't have been found without Indiana Jones. His situation during the finale did not bother me or the vast majority of the audience. Sounds like a nitpick to me.

It was a part of the TV show Big Bang Theory. One of the guy's girlfriends points it out and none of the guys have an answer. Silly TV show.

Take Indy out and the Nazis get the stone from whats-her-name in Tibet, which theoretically means they find the Well of Souls and the Ark by themselves. The big difference then would be that the Ark would have gone directly to Berlin, where Hitler probably would have died during the opening of it.

Indy's presence basically ensures that 1) Hitler lives and 2) the Ark ends up in a warehouse somewhere in the U.S.

The point of these movies is often not to justify the hero's presence or make the hero indispensable, its to provide a good story. And Raiders does exactly that.

[Kirby101]

It was a part of the TV show Big Bang Theory. One of the guy's girlfriends points it out and none of the guys have an answer. Silly TV show.

Take Indy out and the Nazis get the stone from whats-her-name in Tibet, which theoretically means they find the Well of Souls and the Ark by themselves. The big difference then would be that the Ark would have gone directly to Berlin, where Hitler probably would have died during the opening of it.

Indy's presence basically ensures that 1) Hitler lives and 2) the Ark ends up in a warehouse somewhere in the U.S.

The point of these movies is often not to justify the hero's presence or make the hero indispensable, its to provide a good story. And Raiders does exactly that.

Yes, true. Though I doubt Marion would have given it up easily.

I should add that ROTLA was the single best movie going experience I have had. I saw it in a pre-opening screening, when nobody knew anything about it. So I went in knowing nothing.(I thought it was a Spielberg sci fi movie) It was revelatory.

[BruceWayneJr.]

I was enjoying Widows, and it felt like it was going somewhere and saying something, but ultimately it didn't.

[Personamanx]

Every Quentin Tarrantino movie. So many otherwise good films ruined by his inability to stick a satisfactory landing.

[Tendrin]

Yes, true. Though I doubt Marion would have given it up easily.

I should add that ROTLA was the single best movie going experience I have had. I saw it in a pre-opening screening, when nobody knew anything about it. So I went in knowing nothing.(I thought it was a Spielberg sci fi movie) It was revelatory.

Raiders is an all time great, yeah. Indiana was pivotal to finding the Ark but the Nazis may well have found it on their own and met the same grisly fate, 'coz those are the legends surrounding the Ark and, frankly, we can all be pretty sure that God doesn't like Nazis very much. :P

Man, I really need to get around to buying that melting nazi candle.

[Matt]

... and I'm moving this thread over to the TV & Film Board.