A
few months ago I discussed when a movie character is killed off in a
way that it works and leaves a strong impression. But, there is another
side to that coin. When a death is so unnecessary, stupid, or contrived
that it actually spoils the whole movie.
Killing off a movie character has to have a reason. It needs to have
some sort of effect. Or it needs to come at the end and leave an impact
because the death makes sense and involves a character we have spent
time with. For instance, in Star Wars Obi Wan Kanobi’s death has all
sorts of importance (in my opinion). It is necessary to advance Luke’s
story and changes the tone of the whole movie. In The Dark Knight
Rachel’s death not only changes the whole course of the movie for both
Bruce and Harvey, it continues to resonate into The Dark Knight Rises.
And the death in Spider-Man 2 was done well because it made sense in the
movie, it didn’t feel like it was done as a shock moment.
But for all death scenes done well we get the stupid one’s. When Kirk
was killed in Generations even though there were a million ways they
could have avoided it. Or Man of Steel when it killed off Jonathan Kent
in an absurd way with that tornado (not to mention killing off Zod just
to shock the audience, with no follow up!). Or Aliens 3 killing off
most of the popular supporting cast in the first ten minutes!
Like last time the death’s have to be permanent and there will be
spoilers if you’ve never seen these movies. And I stress that as always
this is my opinion so feel free to disagree.
Now, here are five examples awful movie character deaths that ruined
the movie for me. These are in order from crappy movies to movies which
were decent or even great.
#5.X-Men 3:The Last Stand
Do I really have to explain why this here? Nice of them to kill
Cyclops off in the first ten minutes. Off-screen! Nobody liked him
anyway. And the death of Professor X could have been a very powerful
thing…if it wasn’t so over the top goofy. Cyclops was real bad because
it wasn’t dealt with at all. Yeah I know the actor wasn’t available, why
not just have him simply not be in the movie? Aren’t characters written
out constantly in movies when the actor is unavailable? At least that
way you can bring him back if there is a sequel. This movie had many,
many problems. I don’t think I have heard anyone ever say anything good
about it.
#4.City of Angels
This one pissed off so many people because it was so unnecessary, and
to make matters worst-IT WAS AVOIDABLE! The whole movie is about how
Nicholas Cage wants to be human so he can be with the woman he loves,
Meg Ryan’s Maggie Rice. Long story short, he gets his wish and they are
together. Until the next day when Maggie is riding a bike with her eyes
closed when she rides into a truck and is killed. Do I really need to
explain how this could have been avoidable? A lot of people seem to
think romantic movies need to have a sad ending even if it is forced
(wait til my next example). After all the story of Nicholas Cage giving
up his spirit whatever to be human to be with her…she dies right away?
Awful.
#3.Message in a Bottle
Ok this is a “girl” movie and I’m a guy. Fair enough (and one of these
days I should discuss “chick flicks”). But this one flat out pissed me
off. It sounded like such a simple concept. A woman finds a message in a
bottle. She tracks down who sent it, meet the guy, and falls in love.
Yadda yadda yadda. This was actually based on a book and it was ok, a
little boring but it is a nice story, well shot, and the acting is
decent. Then the ending happened. Want to know how it ended? Kevin
Costner plays a shipbuilder who goes out into the ocean to rescue some
people. AND HE DROWNS. What is it with romance movies and the obligatory
sad ending?? I know Terms of Endearment kind of started this trend but
the death made sense in that movie. Here it is soooooo stupid.
#2.Pay it Forward
This is one of those movies, kind of like City of Angels too, that you
know the ending even if you never saw the film. It pissed people off
that much! This was based on a novel too, weird. Anyway, how does it go?
Get this-Haley Joel Osment plays a brilliant little boy. The boy comes
up with a plan to do charity work and “pay it forward”, where the
recipient of a favor does three more favors for others rather than
paying the original person back. Ok, let’s cut to the chase. The boy
named Trevor notices his friend being bullied. He steps in to help, and
ends with a knife in his chest. WHY???? What in the world did that to
the ending, besides make it real sad? I just don’t get it, what purpose
does killing the kid serve?? As I said people were pissed off by this
movie, which wasn’t bad at all till the end. It was a great story with a
positive lesson and the acting was top notch. Though Entertainment
Weekly HATED this film. It was one of the harshest reviews I ever read
worth checking out. But that ending…that stupid, stupid ending!!!
#1.Thelma & Louise
Oh boy, we gotta talk about this one. This movie is about two women
played by Gena Davis and Susan Sarandon who take off on a trip and man
what an adventure they end up having. They get into all sort of trouble
after Davis’s character is nearly raped and Sarandon’s character kills
the rapist. They run off and basically try to outrun the law. How does
it end? The police finally catch up to them at the edge of a canyon.
They both decide that there is no other choice so they hold hands and
drive the car….right over the cliff! To be fair the screen freezes while
the car is in mid flight but we get the idea.
And when I saw this as a kid, I hated it! My brother did too but I
won’t speak for him. I just was not happy at all with how the film
ended. Not to mention the heavy anti-male message which permeates the
film. Then, I got a little older. And I get it. But I decided to mention
the film because when I first saw it, it did honestly ruin the movie
for me. And I still think an ending where they survived wouldn’t have
hurt the film any. But it got critical praise, was a huge hit, and
nominated for a few awards. What the hell did I know? I guess that this
and all these choices are subjective, I am sure there are people who
cried at the end of City of Angels and loved the touching ending to
Message in a Bottle. But for me, they just did not work.
Lots of honorable mentions I could have brought up including a little
film called Marley & Me. Finally, if you’re wondering why I didn’t
mention “Bridge to Terabithia” it’s because Nostalgia Critic already
went over why that death didn’t work very well. Rather than repeat what
he said, just check his funny review.
For some reasons I couldn’t think of any 80′s movies to mention. Maybe next time.
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