Two recent theatrical releases make it a great time to talk about twist endings — of course, I kind of feel compelled to not mention which releases, as that might actually ruin the fact they have twists. And thus, we enter that weird place where film journalism becomes more and more like theoretical particle physics — if you know there's a twist, does that affect how you watch the film, like the observed particles of the Heisenberg principle? Of course, considering that one of the two recent twist films — A Perfect Getaway (see Locke's review here) — mentions that you won't believe its twist in its ads, I think I'm clear on that one, and the other recent twist film — Orphan (see my review here) — is pretty much abandoned at the box office, I feel okay mentioning that they even have twists.
And yet, I've been burned before; decades after Citizen Kane, there's still always someone who will react in shock and horror if you dare talk about the exact meaning of "Rosebud" even though, really, at this point, that information should be as much of a shocker as the answer to the question of who exactly won World War II. Maybe you like to get to the movies at your own pace, and I can respect that; maybe you really like to see movies as a blank slate, and I respect that, too. (There are films where I won't even watch the trailer for fear some punk in marketing gives away the whole film in the name of selling you a ticket.) So, if you want to watch Orphan and A Perfect Getaway unsullied by too much prior knowledge, look away! Click away now! And if you click to go farther, you were warned!
Well, okay. And now that we've all stepped inside, let me just say this: The Orphan kid, Esther (played by Isabelle Fuhrman) is actually a 32-year old midget and the Hawaiian honeymoon killers Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovitch are seemingly worried about in A Perfect Getaway are Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovitch. Don't you feel better like a weight has been lifted? I know I do. But, seriously, there are three things that make a twist matter, and Orphan and A Perfect Getaway illustrate them quite nicely. A twist has to come from somewhere; a twist has to re-frame the whole movie without invalidating it; finally, a twist only matters if the movie around it does.
What do I mean by 'come from somewhere?' Well, there has to be a context, hints, groundwork — not only to build up the twist, but, just as if not more importantly, to earn it. A Perfect Getaway kinda sorta works because everyone in the movie won't shut up about the honeymoon killers, and we're looking askance at everyone Zahn and Jovovich meet to see if they fit the bill. If A Perfect Getaway ended not with Zahn and Jovovich revealed as the killers but also as vampires, we'd wonder Hey, where did that come from? But them being the killers — well, those killings are all anyone in the movie can talk about. And so it gets built up nearly perfectly.
As for "reframing the whole movie," that's the miracle of twist endings; when they're done right, they not only give you a great moment, they make you take that moment and use it to re-think every second of film that's gone before, giving you a completely different perception of time as you re-see the whole movie in a split second. I'll ever forget the press screening of Sky High I was at — yes, the Kurt Russell Disney superhero high school flick — where the audience of kids gave a audible "Ohhhhhh …" as the film's villain revealed their plot and the plot twist. And I just knew that was proof it worked. The best twist ending films know that the twist has to be big — Kevin Spacey's Verbal is Keyser Soze — and it has to work with everything we've seen before, or give us a way out of that. (Remember when Spacey's revealed, we also realize that everything he's told us could be a lie; we have absolutely no way of knowing if any of the flashback sequences with the crew are real. …)
And finally, the twist has to be in a good movie in the first place. There are plenty of gimmicky movies with moments the writers and directors want to be mind-blowing that turn into a damp fizzle. Take Orphan: The movie was actually scarier, and weirder, when Esther was just a smart, creepy, homicidal kid, and the revelation she's 32 is just a way for the filmmakers to have their cake ("Ooh, crrrrreepy kid …") without having to clean up after baking it (" … but really a grown-up, so all the weird sex and homicide stuff is a bit less weird; yay!") In A Perfect Getaway, we care in large part about the film around the twist because we've spent so much time with Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez that when the movie judo-flips us and makes the heroes the bad guys, we can swap in new heroes without anyone's brain getting too fried by the swap. Twist endings are like any other effect or technique — from make-up to editing, sound effects to stunts: If you have a movie, they can make it better. But they can't make a movie where there isn't one to begin with.
(What are some of your favorite — and least favorite — twist endings of all time? And what, to you, makes a twist ending work or flop?)
Posted on August 11, 2009 at 9:52 am
Why is it that when someone warns about spoilers, I can’t look away? It’s like a car wreck. Maybe it’s subconscious masochism. Oh well, I don’t really like horror or thrillers anyway, so I probably never would have seen either movie.
I might still see A Perfect Getaway, but only because I’ve seen the Na Pali Coast in person. It IS that beautiful.
Posted on August 11, 2009 at 10:01 am
To me, it seemed like twist endings really came into vogue with the likes of The Sixth Sense and The Crying Game… not that there weren’t twists before that (obviously, as Citizen Kane was mentioned in this post), but I feel like those movies REALLY upped the ante and made BIG twists all the rage for a while. M. Night’s been pretty much cursed by the fact that that’s what everyone expects from him now (kind of his own doing, too, but you know what I mean).
I must agree with James’ point, however, that when you’re prepared for a twist, it changes the movie-watching experiment… with my husband and I it becomes almost like a challenge of “who can guess the twist first?” But I do love switcheroos and shockers and unexpected veer-offs… that’s why I’m such a nerd about Lost.
On a related note, I knew I would never see A Perfect Getaway or The Orphan, so I googled their plots immediately after they came out just to learn the twists! Still can’t get over the whole Esther thing.
- Erika
Posted on August 11, 2009 at 11:21 am
I know many people loved FIGHT CLUB, but for me it was one of the worst twists. When I thought back after it was revealed that Brad Pitt and Edward Norton were the same person many things didn’t make sense.
Such as when Pitt and Norton are fighting outside that bar and a guy walks up and says “I’m next.” Who would walk up to a guy beating himself and say “I’m next.”?
It’s been too long since I’ve seen the movie to remember more specific instances, but I just remember being very disappointed.
Posted on August 11, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Speaking of M. Night Shamalan, someone spoiled The Sixth Sense for me beforehand, (I enjoyed the movie anyway) but I did manage to watch The Village without knowing what the twist was, so I was caught off-guard by that one. Those are the only 2 of his movies I like. I liked the Robin Williams movie Toys, but not the twist at the end. I just saw the Sandra Bullock mess “Premonition” for the first time. Even after I read what Moviespoilers.com had to say about it, it still didn’t make sense — too many plot holes and inconsistencies.
Posted on August 11, 2009 at 4:25 pm
See: “The IT Crowd” Season 2, Episode 3: “Moss and the German.”
Posted on August 13, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Favourite twist endings would have to be Memento with Guy Pearce, and Primal Fear with Edward Norton/Richard Gere. Both great ways to finish off their respective movies.
Just like the author mentioned though, both movies were good enough on their own that you cared about the characters and plot enough to actually be affected by the twist endings. An example of a movie that I really didn’t care had a twist ending is “Employee of the Month” with Matt Dillon (not the Dane Cook one).
Posted on August 18, 2009 at 11:38 am
Please, if you’re going to reveal the “twist”, put “SPOILER” or something in the title. I use google reader for reading feeds, and there’s no “click to see the jump”, hence, ‘A Perfect Getaway’ became that much less perfect.