Disclaimer: This post is not suitable for people who thought Bambi would have been a better movie if the mother hadn't been killed.
I finally watched Saw the other night. It was a movie I had been avoiding due to a misinterpretation of what the film was. I thought it was just a movie about two guys in a room who have to mutilate themselves or face certain death. Well, that's what it is about, but I thought that's all it was. I thought the movie never really left the room. Little did I know that it had a back story and character development like any good thriller or murder mystery.
It's not really that gory – they do a good job of insinuating gore without actually showing it. Only one real "ewww" scene, involving feet and hacksaws.
And, like everyone who has seen it had been telling me, it is indeed quite clever. Not least of all because it packs a nice set of twists up its sleeve.
The sequels, which I subsequently downloaded and watched shortly after, naturally take a step up in gore (pleasing the fans that surely had crowed for it), but they still manage to crank out some nice unexpected endings. If anything I'd say that what happens in Saw 2 and 3 is impressive, although rather...convenient. Everything seems to run according to Jigsaw's(the villan) master plan, which is fair enough – but it seems like he had a lot riding on some events that someone as clever as he supposedly is wouldn't assume to be 100% certain. Then again, maybe he has a back-up plan we never get to see.
Anyway, this got me thinking about what I thought my favourite 10 "movies with twist endings" are. I may well have missed a few, but they would probably be (order irrelevant):
1. Saw (see above)
2. Cypher (damn!)
3. The Sixth Sense
4. Fight Club
5. Memento
6. The Empire Strikes Back
7. Matchstick Men
8. Infernal Affairs
9. Arlington Road
10. Vanilla Sky
NB: If Donnie Darko can be said to have a twist ending, then that should make the list way ahead of many. Also, The Usual Suspects and Existenz are worthy also-rans, as is Inside Man.
The worst twist movies I know include:
- Gothika
- Secret Window (why, Johnny? why?)
- Identity
- The Prestige (well, its a good movie...but Science is angry. Plus it was very predictable for such an unrealistic twist)
Any thoughts?
1 comment:
Agree with your choices although the corkboard scene at the end of The Usual Suspects should put it before Cypher (I love Cypher but the twist wasn't as "oh my god!" as with The Usual Suspects)
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