Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
(Guy Ritchie, 1998)
In a ending that imitates the classic The Italian Job, low level criminal Tom is attempting to dispose of some vintage guns, the last remaining evidence that links himself and his friends to a crime. At this moment, his (incredibly skint) friends discover that the seemingly worthless guns are actually (incredibly valuable) antiques and attempt to ring Tom to tell him to keep them. Unfortunately for them, at this moment he is halfway over the side of a bridge, about the dump the guns into the Thames river. The film ends with Tom still climbing over the side, with one arm about the unload the goods, and his frantically ringing mobile phone in his mouth.
The Farewell
(Lulu Wang, 2019)
A surprisingly upbeat ending to an emotional film; The Farewell follows a Chinese-American family who claim to be returning to their hometown in order to celebrate a relative’s wedding, when in actual fact they are saying goodbye to the family’s matriarch, Nai Nai, who is believed, unbeknownst to her, to be dying of cancer. After a devastating goodbye, Nai’s Nai’s granddaughter returns to New York, where she embraces the Tai Chi movement and shout of “Ha!” that her grandmother had taught her. The screen then cuts to the real-life Nai Nai making the same movement, still very much alive six years after her terminal cancer diagnosis.
Paddington 2
(Paul King, 2017)
One of the best family films of all time deserves a stellar ending, and boy, did it get one. With his escape and near-death after a false imprisonment following a simple attempt to get a present for his aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday, things hadn’t been going well for Paddington in his sequel. He awakes back at home on his aunt Lucy’s birthday, happy that he has been exonerated but disappointed that he didn’t manage to get his aunt a present. Until he realises that the Brown family had got Lucy the best birthday present of all – a trip to London to be reunited with her nephew.
The Truman Show
(Peter Weir, 1998)
After discovering that his entire life is a lie and each day has been broadcast to millions of televisions all over the world, Truman becomes determined to escape the fake town he calls home and find the woman who tried to tell him years ago. He spends the final act of the film overcoming his fear of water and attempts to cross the sea that surrounds his hometown to reach the ‘real world’. In the film’s final scene, Truman succeeds, reaching a door on the painted-on horizon. As he opens the door, the screen cuts to black. Excruciating on first watch, and yet still one of the best film endings of all time.
The Edge of Tomorrow
(Doug Liman, 2014)
In a Groundhog Day-esque plot, military man Bill Cage has to succeed in saving the world from aggressive aliens to avoid living the same horrific day over and over. He soon learns he needs to enlist the help of Sergeant Vrataski to even have a chance, which in itself takes many goings-over to do so. Eventually, Cage and Vrataski grow closer while also working out where the aliens’ control centre, Omega, is located. Cage, believing that he can no longer do-over the day, luckily manages to destroy the Omega, but dies while doing so. However, he wakes up one last time to the previous morning. The alien danger has been neutralised, but none of the other events of the day seem to have happened. He finds Vrataski, who he no idea who he is. Cage grins anyway.
Some Like It Hot
(Billy Wilder, 1959)
Ending with a classic; while some of its jokes appear dated to a modern audience, Wilder’s comedy, which featured cross-dressing and suggestions of homosexuality, was considered progressive and controversial at the time. Some Like It Hot was even released without Hays Code approval because of some of its ‘taboo’ themes. These themes come to a hilarious head in the film’s ending, when the heroes – two male musicians masquerading as women to dodge the mafia – escape with a fellow musician (played by Marilyn Monroe), and an elderly millionaire that one of the two, Jerry, has been inadvertently wooing when dressed as a dame. Despite his attempts to put him off, the millionaire, Osgood, is determined to make Jerry (in his female guise) his wife. Eventually Jerry pulls off his wig and reveals “i’m a man!” to which Osgood replies “Well, nobody’s perfect.” Brilliant.
anna writes about films 