USA films with twist endings

I constantly bitch about the fact that Hollywood films are for the most part, boring, because they have very predictable endings. When you go to a movie that has The Rock in it, you already know before the film even begins that he is going to emerge victorious, it is just a question as to how it is that he is going to get there. The same goes for just about any other movie as well. If you look at cinema from Korea and Japan, for example, just because a big name actor is in the lead role doesn't mean that they are going to come out on top. As often as not, the movie has a twist ending, sometimes one that is horrible and gruesome and definitely is not a win for the good guys.

I'm going to do my best to not spoil anything in here

There aren't many USA films that even bother with this approach but there are a few. Here are some of my favorites where outside of a few people, the ending was not predictable and this made the movie so much better.

Se7en

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A crime thriller of epic proportions. This film teams up Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, and the now disgraced Kevin Spacey in one of my favorite thrillers of all time. The climax of the movie is absolutely amazing and I don't think anyone could have predicted it.

Saw

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While they went a bit crazy with this franchise the one where it all began is the best one in my mind and it was back when they didn't have much of a budget either. By the time you get to the end you have seen some pretty crazy stuff and while some of the pieces coming together don't actually make sense and there were a lot of things that could have gone wrong to change things if you think about it logically, this was a fantastic film. I actually watched this in theaters by accident because the movie I went to go see that day was sold out. A wonderful mistake if you ask me.

Primal Fear

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I don't know if this was Edward Norton's breakout role but it was one of the first times I ever remember seeing him in a big blockbuster film. His performance in this movie is absolutely outstanding as is Gere's and Francis McDormund's. It's a real roller-coaster of emotion that once the truth hits you, you are going to be surprised and amazed.

The Others

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Pulling off an unexpected ending in the horror genre is one of the most difficult to do if you ask me. It is expected that the good guys will eventually achieve victory but this movie actually has a very different approach to this that I at least didn't see coming at all. When it is all revealed to you in the end, I felt like telling everyone that I know that they need to go and watch this movie so we can talk about it.

Black Swan

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This film was not at all what I expected it to be. When someone told me about an amazing film that centers around ballet I was thinking to myself "there's no way I'm going to enjoy that." What you end up getting is a wild and chilling ride that I believe to be one of Natalie Portman's best roles of her life. Mila Kunis was a surprising choice for a major supporting role that she absolutely nails as well. I say she was a surprising choice because before and after this role, Kunis is involved mostly in comedies or romance films so to see her selected for a very dark and very serious role was a real change for her.

When the film finishes you will likely still be a bit confused as to what happened and you'll find yourself questioning what you saw much earlier on in the film. This lead to me re-watching it multiple times searching for possible clues and it is rare that I will rewatch any films.

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Unfortunately, films like this are a rarity in US cinema as everyone seems to be interested in the cookie-cutter standard movie style and I guess it is easy to understand why: They tend to make more money than good cinema in the United States and that is just a shame.

There are many more of course, and maybe I'll dedicate some time to pointing them out in the future. For now though, if there are any films on this list that you haven't seen, I highly suggest you change that as soon as possible.