Even the best movies can be derailed by a frightful ending . That ’s true of any writing style , but especially so for sci - fi . Far too often , a film will do along with such a large science fiction premise that it seems like it just ca n’t miss . But if the creative squad behind the movie does n’t meticulously craft its ending , then it can all fall apart faster than you could sayHonest Trailers .
In award ofThe Marvels , a future conscript on this list , we ’re picking seven of the bad sci - fi film endings of all prison term . If you ’ve seen these movies , you know full well how these ending played out . But for anyone who desire to ward off spoilers , then look at this your first and onlyspoiler warning .
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
The most aggravating thing aboutA.I. Artificial Intelligenceis that it almost has a great ending . Stanley Kubrick try out for long time to make the film , which was ultimately organise by Steven Spielberg after Kubrick ’s death . The story follow David ( Haley Joel Osment ) , a graphic mechanical man who desperately wants to become a real human to win back the love his “ mother , ” Monica Swinton ( Frances O’Connor ) .
Because David is so taken by the story ofPinocchio , he spends most of the moving picture take care for the Blue Fairy to turn him human . The Kubrick - style ending would have been to halt the cinema after David is trapped underwater , forever out of reach from a Blue Fairy statue as he prays for her help until his power play out . That would have been the thoroughgoing end . Instead , Spielberg had to go way out of his way for a heartwarming terminate in the remote futurity as exotic - like androids revive David and temporarily clone Monica so they can have one perfect solar day together . Tonally , it does n’t fit in with the ease of the motion-picture show , and it just did n’t play .
WatchA.I. Artificial IntelligenceonParamount+ .
War of the Worlds (2005)
Spielberg could n’t resist another felicitous end in his adaptation of H.G. Wells’The War of the Worlds . The film ’s depiction of the invading alien dying from Earth germs is straight from the novel . But Spielberg added his own flourish with the story of Ray Ferrier ( Tom Cruise ) and his two kids , Rachel ( Dakota Fanning ) and Robbie ( Justin Chatwin ) .
As the foreigner put down their world , Robbie is so overtaken with hate for them that he give up Ray and Rachel and on the face of it run off to his day of reckoning while campaign alongside the marines . I say “ seemingly , ” because in the last shot of the moving-picture show , Ray and Rachel finally make their mode to the plate of Ray ’s ex - wife , Mary Ann Ferrier ( Miranda Otto ) , when , lo and behold , Robbie was already there await for them . Then the hugging the beginning . This twist would n’t have been necessary if Robbie had n’t run off earlier , and it ’s a bizarre way to exit the picture .
WatchWar of the WorldsonNetflix .
I, Robot (2004)
In retrospect , it was credibly a error to turn Isaac Asimov’sI , Robotinto a Will Smith action at law movie . The credits say that the premise was “ advise byI , Robot . ” Perhaps it should have said “ very , very generally paint a picture . ” Smith ’s character in the movie , Del Spooner , is a detective who absolutely hates robots . He ’s called upon to inquire what looks like the first instance of robot - on - human being violence : the death of Dr. Alfred Lanning ( James Cromwell ) at the workforce of an in advance android called Sonny ( Marvel ’s Spider - Man 2‘s Alan Tudyk ) .
Sonny profess his innocence of the crime throughout the movie , until deep in the film , when he confesses that he really was Lanning ’s killer . It was all part of a convoluted design by Lanning to warn Spooner about a renegade AI that was attempting to take restraint of humanity . So , Lanning attached suicide by robot , and Sonny was free to go . It ’s a entirely flat resolution to the story that undermines almost everything that come before it .
WatchI , RobotonHulu .
I Am Legend (2007)
Yea , this is another Will Smith sci - fi adaptation with a terrible ending — what a concurrence . There are in reality two endings forI Am Legend , but we ’ll go with the theatrical end since that ’s how the director , the screenwriters , and studio see to it fit to close out the story . The premise of Richard Matheson ’s original novel happen Dr. Robert Neville ( Will Smith ) as seemingly the last normal humanity alive after the relaxation of humanity was transubstantiate into vampire - same creature .
The film cease with Neville sacrificing his life to take into account survivor Anna ( Alice Braga ) and Ethan ( Charlie Tahan ) to lam with a sample distribution of his blood that may lead to a remedy for world . Neville blows himself up real unspoilt as a host of brute attack him . The problem is that the novel had a more poignant finish that draw back to its claim . As Matheson envisioned it , Neville really was the last man and the creatures were the new humans . After they enamor him , Neville realizes that he ’s the real monster in the eye of the creatures , and he accepts that he will become a fable in their retelling of history . Without that conclusion , the rest of the photographic film just does n’t hold together .
WatchI Am LegendonFubo .
Knowing (2009)
For most of its runtime , Knowingis an intense sci - fi thriller about John Koestler ( Dream Scenario‘s Nicolas Cage ) , an MIT astrophysics prof who discovers that his son , Caleb ( Chandler Canterbury ) , comes into the possession of a strange numerical subject matter from Lucinda ( Lara Robinson ) that was send 50 year earlier . Much to John ’s horror , he realizes that it ’s a countdown of catastrophe culminate with the oddment of the world in two daylight .
John convinces Lucinda ’s daughter , Diana ( Rose Byrne ) , and her daughter , Abby ( Robinson ) , that the warning is real . But the twist ending is that the revelations were sent by angels so that nipper like Abby and Caleb can come through . Diana dies in a horrific railcar accident , while John burn with everyone else on Earth when a solar flare destroys the surface of the major planet . It ’s super barren , and the conclusion was off the rails as soon as the aliens showed up .
WatchKnowingonMax .
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
J.J. Abrams earned a lot of good will for reviving theStar Trek franchisein 2009 withStar Trek . Then he burned most of that forth four geezerhood later withStar Trek Into Darkness , a moving-picture show that does everything it can to remakeStar Trek II : The Wrath of Khanwithout fully understanding why the previous film do work so well . There are some change fromStar Trek II — for example , Captain Kirk ( Chris Pine ) become flat in engineering keep reach the ship rather of Spock ( Zachary Quinto ) .
Spock ’s scream of despair at Kirk ’s dying starts the death spiral for this picture show . But before Kirk even gets put in the ground , Dr. McCoy ( Karl Urban ) discovers that Khan ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) has enhance lineage that can literally bring Kirk back from the stagnant . It ’s an incredible copout ending that kills the stakes for the film . It takes a lot to render death meaningless , even afterStar Trek III : The Search for Spock . Into Darknessdid exactly that in the most flat and deadening way possible .
WatchStar Trek Into DarknessonParamount+ .
The Forgotten (2004)
Do n’t you just hate it when aliens fare down to Earth to make you blank out about your dead son ? If you ’re upset about this mollycoddler ofThe Forgotten‘s twist , keep in brain that the film is nigh two decades quondam now . Julianne Moore star as Telly Paretta , a woman who is so confident that her Logos , Sam ( Christopher Kovaleski ) , was real that another parent , Ash ( Dominic West ) , also recover his memories of his nipper .
It ’s a looney premiss , but the conclusion is even dotty . When the alien overseeing the experiment tries to permanently pass over Telly ’s memory of her son , she cling to the accuracy and the alien is whisk off away . curtly thereafter , Telly and Ash are back with their various children . It ’s an perfectly flat way to cease the movie , which may be why few people talk about it today .
snag or buyThe ForgottenonGoogle Play , Prime Video , YouTube , orApple TV+ .
