Otherwise Great Movies Ruined by Their Third Act?

[Timothy Hunter]

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

I disagree. Both Kill Bill and it's sequel both have some of the greatest climaxes in cinematic history and in my opinion almost redeem mediocre movies.

[Immortal Weapon]

The Wolverine

[Cyke]

You are making a joke, right?

I love Raiders too and will defend it with all my heart, but c'mon now, people are allowed to like and dislike what they want without it being challenged. Asking them to elaborate? Sure. But trying to prove their preferences wrong? That's something else.

Anyway, for me, The Matrix. All this great pseudo-philosophical stuff with machines and the Matrix itself as thoughtful metaphors, and the unconventional movie is then reduced to a conventional shootout (filmed unconventionally, no doubt, but still a shootout nonetheless). The movie went from a 9 to a 6 for me by that point.

Also, folks mentioning Wonder Woman made me think of the Wolverine. It's like Logan retroactively took the first two acts of the Wolverine while Origins took the third act with its bloated, probably studio-mandated CGI.

I also really like The Dark Knight Rises, but the twist with Talia being Bane's boss really undermined Bane's charisma and presence (hey, *I* liked him) whereas Talia was too underutilized to justify her reveal as Talia to begin with.

Lastly, the first Mission: Impossible, at least as far as the franchise is concerned though the rest of the series followed its lead. The first two acts were like the TV show -- not just intrigue, but the emphasis on pulling off a caper unnoticed (the iconic wire scene, for example). Tension and mystique abounds. But the third act threw all that out the speeding train window, and the clandestine spy format turned into something you just can't cover up. (ironically, better Mission: Impossible movies have come since then, but they betray the original formula so badly; and yet, I don't hold that against them in this thread because their 3rd acts are pretty good. The original movie just wasn't that thrilling in Act 3).

[Personamanx]

I disagree. Both Kill Bill and it's sequel both have some of the greatest climaxes in cinematic history and in my opinion almost redeem mediocre movies.

I might have to give you that. I've never been able to sit through either Kill Bill so I can't speak for the endings.

[CRaymond]

Wonder Women

Came here to say that.

[Theleviathan]

The Wolverine

Good choice right there.

Also, we should just call this the M. Night Shyamalan award. It applies to almost all of his movies.

[ChrisIII]

Raiders of the Lost Ark had a good third act overall, but the final resolution was a crappy bit of deus ex machina.

I think TEMPLE OF DOOM is pretty much the only film where Indy had a fairly active role in defeating the main villain, although he still uses the artifact against them; in the other films he pretty much either watches or leaves as the villains destroy themselves, although in RAIDERS he doesn't really have any involvement in Toht or Dietrich's death either (The only one he kills is Gobbler by running him off the cliff).


Come to think of it, what the heck happened with Chatter Lal from TOD? Guy gets pinned by the wheel but he's later seen getting to his feet and seems to be just forgotten by Indy and co. The Indiana Jones wikia says he escaped, but that's kind of not really canon; apparentally there was a deleted scene where Indy knocked him into the pit.

[Midvillian1322]

The Wolverine. Iono about great but it was good and then the ending was like awhile different movie.

Hancock and Wonder Woman as others have said. Though I don't think either were ruined just brought down.

[Amadeus Arkham]

Man Of Steel -Generally not considered a "great" movie by the consensus but I for one thought it was great it until the third act which was CGI overkill, disaster-porn imo.

[Minerboh]

I am going to change the recipe and mention a guilty pleasure of mine.
Space Crystal, a B-C movie from the 80's. You have two tolerable acts of an Alien rip off only to see it changing into a E.T rip off in the third act.

[Flash Gordon]

Wonder Woman is a really great film until it isn't. All the Marvel flicks tend to just stop without an ending.

[Jon Clark]

Superman: The Movie- the Krypton and Smallville stuff feel almost like a different movie than the one with Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty. The tonal shift once we get to Metropolis is jarring and the slapstick really goes overboard.

[Midvillian1322]

Wonder Woman is a really great film until it isn't. All the Marvel flicks tend to just stop without an ending.

What do you mean stop without an ending. I mean none of them are final cause theres always more coming but the specific story usually ends. So curious what you mean all stop without a ending

[Darkseid Is]

Iron Man. Not really ruined but a very mediocre ending to an otherwise excellent movie. The ending is just as forgettable as Wonder Woman's if not more so.

[Darkseid Is]

I disagree. Both Kill Bill and it's sequel both have some of the greatest climaxes in cinematic history and in my opinion almost redeem mediocre movies.

Also, I mean Pulp Fiction has one of the greatest endings of all time.