.....I feel dumb as hell. I just don't get it. Or is it one of those that's left down to your own interpretation. Was Clay always a "Phoner" and the whole movie was a fantasy in his head? Was Clay transformed at arrival to the tower and just the end explosion was in his head? Who the hell was the red hoodie guy. Guess I should've paid more attention throughout what was quite a disappointing movie. Still....I gotta know. Please help lol.
shareYou and me both buddy. I hope someone puts us outta our misery.
shareMight help >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXCxFqO4e7g
shareThat’s as good an explanation as I could come with. Good movie, weird ending.
shareThis was helpful. Thanks!
shareI was confused too. But I watched the last few minutes again. He's a zombie now too,circling the tower and he never found his kid or blew the ice cream truck ,you can see the truck as he's walking with the everyone else. Unsatisfactory ending for me ...that he imagined finding his son and having to taken everyone out by blowing up the truck.
shareFelt like a forced plot twist to trick you into thinking the movie was clever.
shareNot a zombie.
shareI couldn't see the truck or much else. The last few scenes were pretty dark and my TV and lighting in the room didn't help.
shareThere is no explaining. Other than bad writing. Please read the book. So much better than this crap. I really wish I could unsee this movie.
shareThe book explained nothing either. In fact, the ending in the book was even more open ended than the movie's.
As for bad writing, King co-wrote the screenplay.
John Cussack stated that both he and Steven King were pretty much frozen out of the screenplay writing process in the end.
I know movie adaptations of Kings work are hit and miss.... but this is probably the worst.
Well, Kubrick didn't care about King much when he made "The Shining" adaptation. And King hates the movie, while it is probably the most acclaimed adaptation of his work. If he thought the movie wasn't worthy of his name, he could have removed himself from the equation. Other writers and directors in film history have done this.
Fact is, this is a decent idea to start with, which then develops into a terrible story with no depth, no twists and a lot of boring characters. It's simply a badly written script that can't decide if it wants to be an action or horror movie.
What turned me off the most was this terrible camerawork and lighting in the movie. I thought this was right up there with some of Sci-Fi Network's original and terrible productions. The difference is just, this movie takes itself seriously and doesn't have cheap CG-monsters.
Terrible work, Mr. King. You're rich enough to bail out of projects like this and erase any notion you were involved. And the director of this, whoever it was, needs to get a new job. For good.
Wouldn't Shawshank be the most acclaimed adaptation of his work?
shareProbably more The Green Mile. Come to think of it he has had a more than a few good ones. Also Stand By Me. and to some extent Pet Cemetary, IT (aside from the ending), Cujo, Carrie, The Dead Zone, The Mist, Misery (probably need to put this one higher than just some extent) and hopefully soon The Dark Tower.
shareShawshank, Misery, Green Mile and Stand by me are all superior to the Shining if you ask me. Shining has loads of classic scenes but as movies Shawshank, Misery, Green Mile and Stand by me are way better!
shareThat was good, but the best would definitely be Salems Lot.
shareNah, The Shining is the most acclaimed by quite a bit. The site They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? aggregates critical and popular lists into a list of 1000 most acclaimed films and Shining comes in at #109, Shawshank at #388 and Carrie at #507. Then Stand by Me is somewhere between #1000 and #2000.
shareEnjoyed the movie very much... Up till the ending. Left me as aghast as everyone else
shareStephen King writes Novels like he has a gun to his head. Not everything he writes is a masterpiece.
sharewhen it started zooming in you could see the van in the center , so i think the kid transformed him before he ,made the call
shareit was a crappy ending but I guess it made sense he would be converted too just like anyone else who went there
shareReally? you need an explanation or are you just trolling?, i can understand if you need an explanation about who is who among the mess with the houses in game of thrones, but if you really need an explanation for the ending of this movie, i wouldn't give a driver license to you..
no need to post like an idiot. The movie ended, then it showed a different ending, which is just bad writing, dumbass.
shareNo, it's called they made what he thought was the ending, but then showed what the actual ending really was. Him blowing up the truck never happened, and then you see what is going on in his head as a "phoner." It's pretty cut and dry.
shareThat was pretty much what I took from it but it's highly disappointing. You want there to be more but there just isn't.
shareYour rude post was uncalled for. It just gave away your own ignorance and maturity.
sharewow....learn how to write
shareyou could see the van in the center , so i think the kid transformed him before he ,made the call
"The Raggedy Man" (red hoodie) is proved throughout the film to be a construct of Clay's mind that the flock have used as an interpretation for him to target. After Clay seemingly kills him, it seems that the flock or the pulse sends in another as their representative to protect the tower.
First it looks like Clay is killed in the blast with his infected son, then it seems like they got away and they're following Tom's signs, then it appears that he didn't get away after all. It looks like they infected him the same way they infected the people at the bar.
It's a *beep* ending and completely off base with the novel, like the rest of the film.
In the book, there are more survivors. The flock subliminally reunites them and sends them to Kashwak where the flock have been directing human traffic to convert all human survivors with marquees full of cell phones.
Ray Huizenga's bomb is stored in a school bus. They're locked in a casino where Clay gets Jordan to climb out of a window and drive the bus into the sleeping flock and then when he gets back, they set off the bomb and escape to find that the pulse has been stopped and the "Phoners" are all rebooted and no longer a threat.
Clay finds Johnny G and takes him to a cabin after he's told that dialling a phone and picking up the new pulse might reboot him back to human sensibility. He dials the number and listens for the tone and the story ends.
And I *beep* hated this movie!!!
Thank you for this. I wanted to know how the book ended, compared to the movie.
shareThank you for this. I too read the book like 6 years ago. I remember the flock would speak to the survivors also. If I remember correctly too, the flock could also levitate and control people as well. Man I wish they really stuck to the book more but oh well.
shareThank you! What annoyed me the most was the complete absence of the original dynamic. Clay and Tom were a funny and touching dynamic. Making Tom black wasn't an issue, but his story was based around his personal hatred of religion and the first world problems of being a middle aged gay man, right?
Whereas I usually like to bank on John Cusack, he ironically phoned it in. He was way too old anyway. Also, Professor Ardai should have been the bulk of the middle of the film, and IMO it should have been Donald Sutherland.
I don't know whether to blame audiences today for not being able to move on from garden variety zombies, or producers for being scared to confuse people by doing it right. But this is a bad bad bad bad film!
Never completely explained who was behind it, but humanity generally had become enslaved Matrix like, our cell phones acting as the conduit. John Cusack thought he'd found his son and escaped and was going withj Samuel Jackson and the other one, to Canada, in fact he hadn't, he'd got absorbed or taken over or whatever and was in a dream state. That's what I understood anyway.
Not a bad movie, intense at the very beginning, very like 28 days later, fizzled out a bit toward the end, but Stephen King books generally don't seem to transfer well to the screen, Dreamcatcher was ok, Desperation was good, but the rest I have to say I don't think work, books are far and away better
but Stephen King books generally don't seem to transfer well to the screen, Dreamcatcher was ok, Desperation was good, but the rest I have to say I don't think work, books are far and away better
do you go on line to comment on other people's reviews!
shareits called a message board dumbass, you make a comment, someone else replies to the comment, you reply to that etc.
if you dont want someone replying to your comment and pointing out your mistakes or disagreeing with you...then dont post anything.
"dont you hear that horrible screaming all around you? That screaming men call silence."
[deleted]
No... he's right, this is a message board. People are free to say what they like (within the rules) and respond to others comments. Such responses can, and often do, include disagreement with, and criticism of, other people's posts, (sometimes with insults). If you don't like it, or can't handle it, you should probably avoid this site altogether, and any similar ones.
You may not like it, but it's the internet, and it's not going to change anytime soon.
Wolf
"I Drank What?!" - Socrates
Wow You really can't handle someone disagreeing with you, can you?
Well as wolfchild has already pointed out, it IS a message board. You can tell because on the page for 'Cell' you scroll to the bottom and click on the link under "MESSAGE BOARDS"
If it's friends you're looking for
you sound American.
By the way, when was the last time you heard silence!
You're leaving reviews of films, but my hopes weren't high anyway of making you think anything
shareThat response makes no sense dumbass.
I'm leaving reviews of films on the message boards? Yes sometimes...so what? You can post ANYTHING you want on a message board. A question, a comment, a review, disagree with something, correct something ... ANYTHING.
I have once again had to explain message boards to you... you are either too old to understand simple modern things, or too young to have any sense.
Now...'your hopes weren't high of making me think anything?' 2 different posters have had to explain message boards to you, and you made it clear you didn't understand my movie quote sig. Its not a film you will have seen.
So what exactly were you trying to make me think about? Better make it good, as so far you really do seem like a total dumbass...you don't even think Shawshank Redemption and The Shining are good films, and Dreamcatcher is better than them!! Jeez.
"dont you hear that horrible screaming all around you? That screaming men call silence."
Jeez, what I'm saying is, I'm not interested, so don't send me lists of your favouorite films or what your favourite colour is, we're at different ends of the food chain, if you want to lock horns intellectually get a budgie and quit bugging me
shareIf you are not interested in peoples thoughts on this film, or your post, then WHY DID YOU POST ON A MESSAGE BOARD
so don't send me lists of your favouorite films
we're at different ends of the food chain
if you want to lock horns intellectually
Just out of curiosity is your signature quote from Herzog or more specifically The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser? I believe that is the name of the movie anyways.
Yes its the onscreen quote near the start of the film, where Pachelbel's Canon is playing to the visuals of grass swaying the wind.
Its a truly brilliant piece of art, where the visuals, music and quote come together to make something both profound and beautiful.
"dont you hear that horrible screaming all around you? That screaming men call silence."
@mikef1958
You need to stop. You are embarrassing yourself.
Wolf
"I Drank What?!" - Socrates
[deleted]
@mikef1958: Sorry, but it IS a message board, and if people want to share lists, or anything that is within the rules, they can. If you don't like it, don't read it and don't respond to it. It really is, that simple! Cheers!
shareKing adaptations hit or miss for me for sure. I think sometimes it's to do with an inability to represent all of the details you would normally find in a King novel, which with some stories, that's where the magic lies. Other times, I think the story is just not for me, like with "Sleepwalkers", and the last Cusack/Jackson King flick, 1408. In any case, with this film I was kind of thinking it was a "Matrix" type of deal at the end but I was obviously unsure and came directly here when my 14 year old asked me to explain. I haven't read the book yet but I got the feeling throughout the movie that the story was being rushed through.
Just out of curiosity, is "sounding American" equated with sounding ignorant? and Is my driver's license going to be revoked for not knowing with absolution the true intended ending to this story? Now I'm all worried and I need a friend, but not one who sounds American.
The book Cell is much better than the film Cell. There have been some great films and some bad films based on kings books, so I agree with you they are hit and miss.
Unfortunately the film wasn't good enough for me to go back and try to figure the ending out in any more detail. The ending was a bit ambiguous, either all the events in the film are in his head, or just the last bit about finding his kid was in his head, or there was an explosion or there wasn't...I am not really sure. I didn't like the ending. The rest of the film was OK as a low budget apocalypse film - just weird to see well known actors in it!
Just out of curiosity, is "sounding American" equated with sounding ignorant?
Green Mile was pretty great as well
shareI loved The Silver Bullet.
Dead Zone is a classic movie. All of those movies are good.
The Running Man ?
Surely, you aren't using the word 'best' pertaining to reflecting the source material...are you?...;)
Karstens Creations
http://kkarstens.wix.com/karstenscreations
Not at all, the book is great, and the film is very different, but still great.
"dont you hear that horrible screaming all around you? That screaming men call silence."
The Dead Zone is much higher on that list!
sharein what sense was this a bit like 28DL? i cant think of any apart from it being 'apocalyptic'...
shareIt looked like Clay was himself up to the point he drove the ice cream truck to the tower. Then he was converted, either by the hoodie guy or the hoodie guy was only in his mind after the tower converted him. It explains why the truck is there but not destroyed. I liked the ending in the book much better and hope that when it comes out on DVD they'll add in another ending like they did with The Mist. The Mist was another great King story with a so-so movie adaptation but at least the alternate ending on the Mist DVD was less stupid than the one I sat through in a theater.
Only a handful of good King movies out of so many novels but that is sometimes partly King's own fault as he is often involved in the screenwriting. Such as this movie, which could have been so much better with just a few tweaks and a bit more attention to what made the book compelling.
I read Stephen King was blocked from the final draft of the screenplay. The Mist was a good adaptation, and Stephen King LOVED the theatrical ending. The series based on his JFK time travel book was good, and King had a hand in the changes on that one but they pretty much kept the ending intact. Keeping the ending is rare in King adaptation land.
But hey, same thing happened with Joe Hill. They changed the *beep* out of the Horns book and we got a sub par movie out of it. The Kings are just cursed, I dunno. Even Clive Barker gets better adaptations, partially because he directed three of them.
Well, i agree with you mostly, but King did direct Maximum Overdrive himself, with rather questionable results. I would also argue the Clive Barker is much more visionary in his stories, so he almost has to translate them himself.
shareI'd like to see him try his hand at directing again someday, because you have to take Maximum Overdrive with a lot of grains of salt. He was heavily abusing alcohol and other drugs in that time period, so I'm sure that had a lot to due with how crappy that movie was.
sharewhat's the alternate ending?
It's mercy, compassion and forgiveness I lack. Not rationality...
I thought I was the only one who didn't understand the ending.
share