Top 10 Movies RUINED In The Final Act

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at films that started with such promise, only to fumble over crucial twists and resolutions in the third act. Be warned of story spoilers, in both this list and the movies themselves. What are your favorite films with your least favorite finales? Vent about it in the comments.

#10: “The Flash” (2023)

“The Flash” initially confirmed that the DCEU is at its best when it’s at its funnest. But the climax was self-serious, formulaic pandering at its worst. It was disappointing enough when the hectic post-production resulted in bafflingly bad CGI. But there’s no excuse for the tedium of Barry Allen continuously running through time to prevent his comrades’ deaths in battle with General Zod. He ultimately accepts fate after encountering a variant of himself, driven mad by a lifetime of violating the spacetime continuum. It was a waste of Dark Flash, though the whole finale was more rushed than the superhero himself. “The Flash” ran out of gas with way too many ideas. Making time for star-studded cameos of superhero variants only made it more embarrassing.

#9: “Prometheus” (2012)

After so many clunky “Alien” sequels, Ridley Scott sought to restore the franchise’s prestige with a prequel. “Prometheus” was a creatively and philosophically stimulating speculation on humanity's extraterrestrial ancestors. Unfortunately, all these compelling ideas wound up deprioritized by the expedition team’s run-in with xenomorphs. The action distracted from satisfying characterization, as well as lofty themes and subplots that were introduced too late. Why, the action itself was distracted by gimmicky callbacks to and expansion on “Alien” lore. For a reboot this promisingly epic, there were too many plot holes for a real sense of consequence. “Prometheus” certainly left viewers with more questions than answers. They just weren't questions to excite them for the altogether disappointing “Alien: Covenant”.

#8: “The Wolverine” (2013)

After “X-Men Origins”, “The Wolverine” marked a return to form for the moodiest mutant in movies. That is, until it betrayed the refreshing intrigue of Logan grappling with trauma while fighting the Yakuza in Japan. The emotional arc gets lost in shoehorned action scenes and motifs from the comics. That includes the Silver Samurai, whose forced villain turn with Ichirō Yashida and non-canonical robot armor made the last battle more over-the-top. Director James Mangold admitted that his more grounded vision of “The Wolverine” was hijacked by studio demands for generic superhero spectacle. He more than redeemed himself with the masterful sequel “Logan”. It's just a shame that the trilogy’s middle installment had so many scuffs to heal by the end.

#7: “Downsizing” (2017)

Intimate dramedy auteur Alexander Payne explored bigger concepts with “Downsizing”, in which people are shrunk down to address overpopulation. This sci-fi setup gives way to a quaint slice-of-life that lives up the filmmaker’s distinct quirks and heart. But after it's revealed that methane emissions will wipe out humanity, the story suddenly pivots to an overblown political satire about dealing with an eco-apocalypse. That promising theme is too superficially explored and excessively plotted to work with the preceding character study. And questions of what makes a life worthwhile just make our leads feel like devices in Payne’s muddled commentary. Just when you thought he understood that bigger doesn't always mean better, “Downsizing” collapsed under its own mass.

#6: “Hancock” (2008)

An amnesiac super-deadbeat’s rise to stardom hooks with a gritty satire of heroism and mysteries surrounding his origin. The second half of “Hancock” is not only disappointing, but everything the first half pokes fun at. It all begins with Hancock’s discovery that he's a celestial immortal whose soulmate is none other than his PR consultant’s wife. The twist is too high-concept, and far-fetched, to just drop in exposition before a throwaway villain breaks out of prison for a trite action climax. “Hancock”’s infamous difficulties in concept and production are pretty apparent by this point. This rare example of an edgy, self-aware superhero movie is ultimately a prime example of a studio reducing the genre to slap-dashed spectacle.

#5: “Lucy” (2014)

For the record, it’s a scientifically unsupported myth that humans only use ten percent of their brains. Luc Besson’s “Lucy” still plays with thrilling hypotheses after a drug gives an ordinary woman full access to her mind. Things quickly devolve into brainless action against the many people who want this substance. That’s still easier to wrap your head around than a superpowered Lucy transcending spacetime in an ambiguous finale. And what’s up with uploading the secrets of the universe to a USB flash drive? The freewheeling theoretics are thought-provoking, but fundamentally flimsy. Never mind the folly in tackling extreme metaphysical questions in a 90-minute action blockbuster. Too frivolous for its philosophizing, yet too high-minded to stay thrilling, “Lucy” simply burns out.

#4: “Law Abiding Citizen” (2009)

“Law Abiding Citizen” posited refreshingly complicated ethics about vigilantism until the over-the-top studio ending. Granted, the plot already falls apart when it's revealed that the incarcerated Clyde Shelton has been using tunnels to orchestrate convoluted revenge against his family's killers. When prosecutor Nick Rice realizes that public officials are also held responsible, he moves a bomb planted at City Hall into Clyde’s cell. The vigilante meets a poetic end to his self-righteous homicide. Nick’s, however, is rewarded with a happy ending. The original draft saw him kill Clyde less sensationally, then fall victim to the broken legal system himself. It's one thing for “Law Abiding Citizen” to get increasingly ridiculous. With the final pro-status quo conclusion, it offensively contradicts its core principles.

#3: “Spectre” (2015)

The Daniel Craig era of James Bond stands out for its bold dramatic liberties with the classic lore. “Spectre” promised a meaty reintroduction of the titular terrorist group, with Christoph Waltz being perfectly cast as Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Unfortunately, as long as he takes to show up, his retcon goes too far. It turns out the villain is Bond’s long-lost adopted brother, who apparently founded Spectre to spite him for being the favored son. After this dizzying exposition over torture, everything gets resolved with an extended action set piece. Four movies had been leading up to SPECTRE’s cop-out downfall, whose overproduced narrative conveniences harken to Bond’s least grounded incarnations. Considering Blofeld's absurd backstory and motivations, the character ambitions were already stretching thin.

#2: “Now You See Me” (2013)

With magic in the mix, “Now You See Me” has more twists than the average heist movie. It's a refreshing game of wits between the illusionist thieves the Four Horsemen and FBI agent Dylan Rhodes. However, the heists get too fantastical to engage the audiences’ minds. The Horsemen eventually get away and learn the identity of their plots’ hidden mastermind. …It’s Rhodes, motivated to pin the thefts on the man responsible for his magician father's disgrace and death. Rhodes’s dedication to the law seemed so firm up to this point that the big reveal lacks dramatic logic. Sure, overall logic pulls a disappearing act by the film’s third act. But that botched closer is the big reveal that spectacle mattered more than the characters.

#1: “The Village” (2004)

Water-allergic aliens in “Signs” were the first sign that M. Night Shyamalan relies too much on plot twists. “The Village” is an even more infamous anticlimax. A remote community in what appears to be the 19th century falls into pandemonium over mysterious monsters from the forbidden woods. When Ivy Walker defiantly follows their roars, she discovers a road. Her community is really a traditionalist cult in modern day, and the monsters are village authorities wearing costumes. It would have been a mind-blowing revelation, if it didn't require too much explanation throughout the final act. That still didn't sufficiently fill the plot holes. With this derailment of “The Village”’s creeping intensity, Shyamalan became synonymous with losing the plot in the home stretch.