MovieChat Forums > 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Discussion > The Ending is Terrible

The Ending is Terrible

posted 8 years ago by BITmixit
73 replies | jump to latest

First of all, what a film. Absolutely loved it up until the "twist" ending. The buildup was brilliant! My girlfriend who hates generic Hollywood films (she did Film at University) was genuinely on the edge of her seat during any of the scenes where tension is building and was very much on the side of "what the *beep* is going on?" Which made the film interesting and compelling. Along with John Goodmans acting the film was turning out to be a 9/10...then the ending came...what the *beep* was that ending all about.

It's literally like the writers sat down and went "What's going to happen when she goes outside? We can't have the Cloverfield monster appear as it'd be too obvious to Cloverfield fans and an attack by a foreign nation is too boring...what shall we do???....Aliens!"

Which was a terrible decision, they either should have stuck to the whole Cloverfield monster thing OR have her escape with Howard still alive and the underground bunker still intact. She escapes in her suit and see's the world turned to chaos due to the devastation left after the Nuclear Attack against Clovie, realises (through visual imagery) that her only current choice is to essentially become Howards weird "adoptive" child (he behaved more like a man who wanted a daughter rather than a sex slave) or sex slave. Then have Howard come back and begin to drag her in as the camera pans out showing just how much devastation the attack on Clovie caused, then another "roar" from Clovie to again give us the "is Clovie alive or dead" mystery. I very much wanted the end (especially after I saw the actual ending) to be a "This is what the world is now, accept it or die".

Instead we have *beep* aliens who have the ability to fly yet can't chase a slower, weaker female human down, have trouble against plastic bottles, display their weakest spot for the human to take advantage of & get tricked by a *beep* car alarm. Just more *beep* dumb aliens vs lucky human, seen it dozens of times...IT'S BORING. As soon as the aliens appear, you know she isn't going to die, you know there is going to be some freedom fighter movement against the aliens, you know all of this as soon as the movie confirms the threat.

Plus the after-scene was so *beep* She's driving along and has to make a decision between

Route A = Literally nothing
Route B = People that will help you but you might to help them &/or fight Aliens

Woah what a *beep* of a decision that one must have been...god I can tell why she has such difficulty making that decision.

It had a very "I Am Legend" quality ending to me and that was *beep* as well. It had the standard "nothing bad can happen to the protraganist so she won't die and there's a solution provided to all her problems" *beep*

Final result: 5/10 (You can skip the ending and pretend they all remain friends in the bunker, that'd be a better ending)

[–] dustinmcnab 8 years ago

I think you missed the point of the film. It's not about the alien attack or anything else going on outside. It's about the main character learning to face her problems instead of running from them. She started the story by running away from whatever problem she had with her boyfriend. Her 'regrets' story was about her tendency to run away when things get tough. But by the end of the story, she's strong enough to fight her way out of the bunker and find a way to fight the aliens. She even had enough self-confidence to head toward people who needed 'combat experience' help. Route A would have been the safe option because the radio message said they already took that area back. She took the tougher Route B option.

One of the signs of the good story is character growth. Your ending about "This is what the world is now, accept it or die" doesn't work because that's not growth. That was how the young, weak Michelle would have reacted. Why would you want the story to end with the main character stuck in the same problem she's been dealing with her whole life?

[–] nicolaiheinhuis 8 years ago

huh? in the ending she can choose between going to a 'safezone' that has been recaptured by humans or go to Houston to fight.

Liked the ending..but they better make a sequel.

[–] DeltaFlotFan 8 years ago

The Problem I had with the end of the movie is she chose to go to Houston, on the left, instead of Baton Rouge, straight ahead. Those directions don't work, seeing that even if you're starting south of Baton Rouge, you'd have to go through Baton Rouge to get to a direct link (aka a Road that would have signs for Houston on it). Since the movie implies that she's driving in from the North, then she has a few more options, depending on her starting location.

[–] Saristas711 8 years ago

I suggest you re-watch Cloverfield, the big monster wasn't the only thing attacking, there were in fact smaller "Aliens" in the movie.

Nothing in this movie makes sense. said the narcoleptic.

[–] andre_te 8 years ago

the entire movie was bulls**t!

gave it a 3/10 , wouldn't deserve more. just as stupid as "Don't Breathe" was.

[–] Sammy_Sam_Sam 8 years ago

I must've discussed this film was a dozen people by now, all of whom agreed with you regarding the ending. I loved it up till that last 10-15 minutes, but I was so disappointed. I've included a note with the DVD to skip the last chapter - it's now the non-director's cut.

[–] burzinb 8 years ago

Agree. The ending watered down that whole movie.

[–] jwelker 8 years ago

Disagree.

The ending did a couple of things.

One, it proved that Howard was correct about aliens, which means that he wasn't just trying to keep them locked up when there was no danger on the outside (albeit he was totally incorrect (or was lying) about people not being alive up there).

Two, it fit into the abuser theme the whole film had with Howard and Michelle. Michelle tells of the abuse she suffered when she was younger, and how she always ran instead of stood up to it. Howard exhibits many abuser tendencies throughout the film, even if he never physically harmed Michelle (it's ambiguous if he would have ever done that or not). When she finally gets out of that, the ending shows the world is not simply roses, similar to how people that are abused sometimes realize when they are out of an abusive relationship. It almost feels like she should have just stayed in the bunker instead of escaping.

Three, the choice at the end to go to Houston helps to show that Michelle isn't running away from problems anymore.

[–] Smokey_T 8 years ago

Yes, I am sure anyone that suffered the ending was well aware of everything you pointed out.

Is it relevant that Howard was either wrong or right? Why do we care, how does that inform his character, or provide any sort of twist? It's called Cloverfield, we know some awful crap is killing all the people above ground. Could be human. It is no particular twist that the film called Cloverfield had aliens...

No, no twists there, no merit, not interesting.

This history of abuse is probably the biggest flaw in the film's 'psychology'. If she had a history of abuse it would have been more likely that she would have engaged passively with Howard and accepted his abuse, and position of power. I never had the impression she was someone that has suffered considerable abuse, or was dealing with the effects of it. You are reading FARRRR too much into that ending when you read it as consciously speaking about the nature of 'abuse'. Yes, sometimes the devil you do not the devil you don't is best. Again, a fairly obvious reading that I am sure all critics picked up on, and discarded out of complete irrelevance.

Yes, we were well aware of her running away, and in the end she didn't run away, and that represented he change or growth of character. Who cares? It's a glib, and formulaic ending to a disjointed narrative.

This is not interesting, it's by the numbers storytelling.

[–] jwelker 8 years ago

The film isn't about Howard; it's about Michelle. So it really doesn't matter if he was wrong or right.

The way the movie started out and then ended is hardly "by the numbers storytelling." By the numbers would have been if she escaped and there was like a nuclear attack or some other disaster and everything was destroyed, etc. (like the original treatment of the story, which apparently had Michelle go and find that Chicago was destroyed).

[–] Smokey_T 8 years ago

If that it's true that it doesn't matter if he is wrong or right why mention that
"it proved that Howard was correct about aliens, which means that he wasn't just trying to keep them locked up when there was no danger on the outside"...

By the number means adding elements with 'efficiency' that enable the plot, and are clearly resolved later. The start and the end, and a lot of what happened in between did exactly that. Everything that was added at the start was resolved at the end, and had little effect upon what happened in between. I'm all for efficient narratives, but this was lazy.

She needed to be in a car, and Howard needed to hit her. That was all that mattered to make the plot work, everything else was about creating something resembling a closed narrative once we got through all that.

[–] jwelker 8 years ago

For some reason I was taking it as whether or not he was right or wrong about taking her in, not whether he was actually right about the reason for the disaster.

How did Michelle venturing out to who knows what in Houston, still not knowing anything about what happened to her fiance even, resolve what happened in the beginning of the movie?

[–] WarpedRecord 8 years ago

I loved the bunker scenes as well, and I think the film completely lost momentum and credibility with it removed one character and abandoned another. This would have been so much more satisfying had the three seen the story through to the end.