This level of open ended storytelling is simply lazy.
I totally agree. I argued that exact point on these boards for this film and also on The Soprano's series finale.
With The Sorpanos, Chase just didn't know how to end the series and bailed. What he should have done is had the writers who had written some of the best Sopranos episodes write the finale.
Yes, I've read how the video editing reaction shots of Tony is supposed to indicate he died, but had Gandolfini lived and they did a sequel film two years later, no one would howl that Tony came back from the dead. The ending was ambiguous to the point that Tony living for a sequel wouldn't have raised a whimper from anyone.
Now, fans of 2001 say that the ending makes sense if you read the book. OK, I haven't. I probably never will, but even if the ending makes more sense if people read the book, that doesn't absolve the writer/director of making a film that doesn't leave anyone scratching their heads. I mean, I can read Shakespeare if I want to read stories that don't make a lot of sense.
The shame of it is that 2001 is one of my favorite films ever, despite the ending. I watch the whole thing until the end where LSD must be used to keep up, then switch to something cerebral, like Andy Griffith.
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