Summary:
- Unnecessary and overly complicated twists can detract from character development and story coherence.
- For instance, twists in films like “Remember Me” and “Now You See Me” were disappointing due to poor setup or execution.
Frustrating movie plot twists have irritated years down the line, long after they were released to the public, but some are more memorable than others. The most significant movie plot twists are great because of how unexpected and surprising they leave the audience, but some titles weren’t as good about it.
The urge to deliver a type of twist such as has even led to the pull-back by backtracking, and thankfully, some films have gone that route from actually delivering these poor plot twists.
Yet, not all twists pay off the way they should. There have been loads of superb movies featuring just unnecessary plot twists, such as in Fight Club. However, in one too many cases, the movie’s plot twist was too bright and the plot got overcomplicated.
Whether the film came to Oscar-worthy or just as a feel-good watch, some of those movie’s plot twists were ridiculously frustrating and diminished the overall enjoyment.
#1 Tyler’s 9/11 Death (Remember Me)
The 2010 film Remember Me wasn’t exactly one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, but its twist ending made it so much worse. It followed the developing romance between Tyler Hawkins (played by Robert Pattinson) and Ally Craig (Emilie de Ravin) but also delved into both of their dark pasts.
Tyler’s brother, Michael, took his own life, while Ally had a strained relationship with her abusive father. Over time, the two discover how they feel about each other and admit their love, but then, at the end of Remember Me, it turns out that Tyler has died in the terrorist attack on 9/11.
There are several reasons why this was the most annoying and disappointing plot twist: it had no setup or foreshadowing for such a sudden, heartbreaking moment, and it occurred so out of left field that it left my head spinning.
It was also somewhat distasteful and disrespectful that Tyler would die on an occasion of such historical significance, in fact, one which had only taken place nine years before the making of this film. Remember Me did not relate in any way to the day that changed lives, and the development of the character of Tyler was overlooked in placing the terror into time.
#2 Aliens & UFOs (Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull)
The Indiana Jones trilogy was well done, but the fourth, with its strange and entirely nonsensical ending, was a standout. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had this hero returning to the screen with a whole new adventure involving a crystal skull.
However, its resolution was ridiculous even by Indy’s (Harrison Ford) standards. The reveal that the skull was supposed to belong to alien interdimensional archeologists was over-the-top. Though the franchise had played in the supernatural in some of its previous films, this addition of extraterrestrial beings was simply a bit too out of place.
In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’s climax, the main villain, Irina Spalko (played by Cate Blanchett), is killed by the power of the alien’s omniscience, and an interdimensional portal takes her soldiers.
Indy and his friends escaped, but the final action was so over-the-top and ridiculous that it was a bit of a distraction to their survival. The saucer flew off, but again the context given in the film didn’t tell what was next, and the concept of an alien threat was accepted with no argument. It’s not primarily a frustrating plot twist at all, but definitely bemusing.
#3 Dylan Rhodes The Mastermind (Now You See Me)
The ending to Now You See Me was annoying because it essentially negated significant character development for the whole movie. Now You See Me substantially revolves around the FBI agent Dylan Rhodes, played by Mark Ruffalo, who sought out a mysterious group of conjurers known as The Four Horsemen.
The film follows Rhodes set after the mission of locating the Horsemen, and hence, in every other scene, he got on the verge of their tail of the next heist. However, it was finally revealed that Rhodes had no intention of stopping the Horseman and was the mastermind behind it all.
Rhodes confirmed that he was the son of Lionel Shrike, a magician who was exposed by Horseman member Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) and so plotted his revenge. While this plot twist was supposed to be a huge shock, it was more illogical than anything else.
He was brilliant but never did anything in the movie to establish that his mind worked in that way. The twist of the film wasn’t terrible, just not well-written. If Rhodes’ motivation had been established at some point in Now You See Me, it would have made him a more enjoyable character.
#4 It Was All A Dream (Next)
Next in line was the tale of Cris Johnson, played by Nicolas Cage, who could see the future. But then his was limited to only two minutes into the very future. One day, he caught a vision in his mind of Elizabeth Cooper, portrayed by Jessica Biel, walking into a diner and started waiting on hand and foot until the two finally came face to face; they met.
But after a wild chase with the FBI and a band of terrorists, Cris and Elizabeth ended up at a cliff’s edge, encouraged to fight back against the national threat as it was closing in on them. In the true fashion of such movies, Cris managed to diffuse the bomb safely, only that the bomb wasn’t real.
In one of the most frustrating cases of the “it was just a dream” trope, the bomb exploded and destroyed large portions of the city. It was then clarified after the entire schedule for the day was rewound that the things that happened in the last quarter of the movie were only Cris’ premonitions.
The ending itself was ambiguous, but very literally, the final scenes were a plot twist, which left no actual conclusion to Next. In a way, the plot twist wasn’t as unique as one would suspect, given Cris’ psychic abilities, but the lack of resolution made it even more annoying.
#5 A Movie Within A Game (Serenity)
Serenity was a thriller movie with a simple hook but a ludicrous plot twist. The whole film is led by fisherman Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) after his ex-wife, Karen (Anne Hathaway), comes to him for help—a request to kill her new husband, Frank (Jason Clarke), to keep their son safe—though it quickly becomes clear that Dill’s reality wasn’t what it seemed.
In a shocking twist of plot, in the end, it was revealed that the world was just a modded video game made by Dill’s son, Patrick (played by Rafael Sayegh). Dill wasn’t Dill at all. He found out he was Captain John Mason, who died in Iraq.
While the reason for the twist was sentimental, as Patrick based imagined memories of him and his father fishing in this world to start over fresh, it destroyed the movie’s bigger picture. The central storyline seemed first to be Dill grappling with his guilty conscience about whether he was going to help Karen or not.
Still, then the story took a dramatic turn where Serenity seemed like an entirely different movie. Although Patrick’s need to be with his father somehow was an interesting concept which should have been explained from the start as the jump in protagonist really did not pay off with its use in Serenity.
#6 The Return Of Palpatine (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker)
This year, in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker—the big bad comes back, as played by Ian McDiarmid, but the big came back out of left field. He is to have been dead for over three decades in the franchise; Emperor Palpatine‘s return to the timeline of Star Wars garnered several reactions of confusion.
He supposedly died, so many people were perplexed about what was going on with Palpatine between Return of the Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. However, such mixed responses could have been avoided if the movie had handled the survival of the Sith Lord more effectively. The only reason that Palpatine survived was through cloning, which is why he is in Exegol.
News of the Emperor’s reappearance was given so early that it shifted the pacing of the entire film, except, of course, for the added twist. It later transpired that Palpatine was now Rey’s (Daisy Ridley) grandfather.
Star Wars famously pulled off a similar plot twist in the past, making both Leia and Luke siblings. However, in The Rise of Skywalker, this same family revelation comes across as lazy. The same story had been told and retold now. Sadly, following on from that first infuriating plot twist, the second plot twist made the second one more painful.
#7 Tom Is Kate’s Organ Donor (Last Christmas)
Last Christmas‘ plot twist was unrealistically convenient, making it wholly unsurprising that it was, in fact, impossible to have occurred. The movie, which had a Christmas vibe, took inspiration from the eponymous song by Wham! Regrettably, its lyrics unfolded and spoiled one nonsensical plot twist at Last Christmas.
In the entire movie, Kate is being taught by Tom how to live life to its fullest and to care for herself more. Their relationship develops, but then it goes out that when Kate falls for Tom, he is the ghost, indeed, of the organ donor who gave Kate a new heart.
The second half of Last Christmas took on Tom as a ghost, yet it rendered the motivation for the film unnecessary. Since it was impossible to cheer on Tom and Kate’s love, it had become a struggle to figure out what was propelling the film’s action.
The shift from the romantic comedy, which was more comedic than romantic, to one driven by the supernatural felt shocking in this decidedly Christmassy world and mostly didn’t make any sense. But the most irritating about this twist is that the movie took the lyrics, “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart,” so literally.
#8 Blofeld Is James’ Brother (Spectre)
The new developments in James Bond‘s mythology in Spectre were profound and, consequently, widespread beyond the film itself. Since – being Daniel Craig – Bond thought Blofeld was dead, he discovered the most significant enemy in his life to turn out to be his previously presumed dead foster brother.
That was utterly ridiculous for James Bond – not to mention Bond’s reaction to this information – but even with his strange look since childhood, it was too comical that a spy could fail to see through his looks.
The forced sibling connection didn’t function, and part of why the James Bond films were so great was that a lack of personal connections with villains made them more accessible to hate. The most troubling reason this twist was so enraging, though, was that it contributed nothing to the plot of Spectre.
Had he been excised from the film, it would have had no impact on the final product—Bond still saves the day, and Blofeld is apprehended. The Spectre “twist” with Blofeld would have worked so well in terms of a new villain, but because he was already established, it added nothing to the plot and did nothing to raise the stakes.
#9 A Modern-Day Experiment (The Village)
Although there have been some plot twists in M. Night Shyamalan‘s movies that are considered good, The Village has created not the same euphoria. This movie, which seems like it is set in a 19-century secluded village, turns out to be based in the modern present and turns the whole movie around.
The movie began excellently; it was thrilling and captivating as it follows closely a small community that lives in fear of weird creatures who haunt their lives. However, it was then revealed that the small village was actually part of a crazed experiment.
The sudden transition from supernatural to thriller was too convoluted and changed the narrative of The Village. It became even worse when it was explained that the mysterious creatures were only the village elders who would wear cloaks.
This made many people feel that The Village had been wrongly marketed, as its story proved to be quite different from what had been advertised. Sadly, the twist ending of The Village is pretty lame, laughable, and nowhere near as tense and brainwashed as Shyamalan probably wanted.
#10 Erin Is Haunted By Her Boyfriend’s Dead Wife (Safe Haven)
Safe Haven began with the assumption that there was something to hide on Erin’s part, but this was an assumption quickly negated. Under the guise of “Katie Feldman,” Erin quickly falls in love with Alex but is haunted by the memories of her abusive husband and is constantly worried about him or the police catching up to her.
But the more immense fear of hers was staring right at her- Jo (Cobie Smulders). It is only at the end that we find out that Jo isn’t honest but is a ghost, Alex’s widow, Carly.
This is what made this plot twist so ridiculous; it was just inserted finally at the very end of Safe Haven. The twist’s tardy appearance added nothing to the bigger story of the film, nor would it have if it had come earlier in the narrative.
All Jo/Carly being there added was an incident of Erin’s dream of her husband finally coming home, which was unnecessary since she received him as already standing over her when she woke up. It was a theoretically intriguing plot twist, Safe Haven’s frustratingly applied to a film that did not need it.
