What are some of the least contrived/most sensical movie twist endings?

Spoilers

Lots of movies these days, especially thrillers and horrors, try to pull off a twist ending. It has become pretty overused, and it often isn't satisfying. The twist is either cliche and predictable, or, once you really start thinking about, you realize that hundreds of variables could have thwarted the whole thing, or that some plot elements simply aren't explained. Plenty of threads about the worst and/or least believable twist endings have been posted already.

However, there's gotta be some plot twist that really make sense within the limits and rules of the movie (or are even realistic), and don't leave much plot holes. Some non-contrived, sensical plot twists. What are those?

First of, I think that the twist at the end of "Frailty" worked pretty well and made lots of sense (within the movie's universe, of course). "Frailty" actually had like three twist endings (that Fenton is actually Adam, that Fenton lured the FBI agent to an isolated location in order to kill him, and that demons are actually real), and they all worked pretty well, which is quite remarkable. All of the flashbacks were the events that featured Fenton and Adam together, so Adam would have no trouble telling the whole story while pretending to be Fenton, telling it from his POV. Also, in the first act, the FBI agent is about to shake hands with Adam (who is posing as Fenton), but Adam pulls away. That also makes sense later on. In the end, the fact that nobody can remember what the guy who talked to agent Doyle (Adam Meeks) and led him away looked like, and that all security footages are blurry so Adam's face can't be seen, not to mention agent Hull not recognizing Adam, reveals the final, "main" twist; father Meeks was right all along, the demons are real, and the God has chosen the Meeks family to fight against them. It also explains how are they able to get away with all those murders: God is protecting them, they are his soldiers.

The twist at the end of "Jacob's Ladder" also makes sense and works pretty well. All of the bizarre, creepy stuff happening is explained by Jacob Singer's mind and senses going wild while he is dying and struggling to stay alive. That twist is a bit obvious though, since two different people (a fortune teller and a "monster-surgeon") flat out tell Jacob that he is dead earlier in the movie. [Well, he was actually dying the whole time, not being dead all along, but still.] However, the "sub-twist" (that Jacob's fellow soldiers were drugged and ended up turning against each other) is a bit more subtle, and it also works really, well if you pay enough attention to the opening scene. It is kind of hard to notice at first, due to all the commotion, but it eventually becomes clear that there are no enemy soldiers there; just American soldiers going wild and shooting all over the place... and at each other. It also ties in with the "main" twist pretty well: the effect of the drug would make Jacob's dying experience all the more vivid, psychedelic and frightening.

The twist ending of "Psycho" also works pretty well. It makes sense given all the clues provided beforehand, and doesn't leave much plot holes. We never actually saw "the mother" before the reveal (other than shadows), and we never got a clear look at the person who stabbed Marion Crane to death either. The explanation provided by the psychiatrist at the end also ties all the knots together pretty well, and actually seems believable ( though they were probably "stretching" the severity and complexity of the actual disorder, which is also quite rare).

Though Shyamalan is probably a controversial subject on this subreddit, I think that the twist at the end of both "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" make sense and tie everything together really good. The twist at the end of "The Sixth Sense" may seem contrived at first, but lots of confusion can be cleared by three simple lines: "They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know they're dead." Still, I prefer the twist ending of "Unbreakable", since it is more original (not that that necessarily makes for a good twist ending, but here it works IMO), and it connects to all of the infamous comic book tropes very well.

What are your suggestions?

Submitted June 23, 2018 at 09:09PM by Elementaryfan https://ift.tt/2IlAzTJ