# The "why the hell did you do that for?"-thread



## Jakke (May 8, 2013)

I am personally amazed at what decisions goes into making movies on occasion. There are great decisions being made all the time, but this thread is not for them. 

Since I am a movie fan (and does not let things go, it's a disease really), and I would imagine most on this sub forum are (movie fans that is, and not vindictive verging on the autistic), I thought we could get grumpy and pull out pet peeves that we have among questionable decisions made in the cinematic industry. Please post spoilers with the


Spoiler



-code if you want to include spoilers, I don't care about them, but for some reason, other people do.

I have two, and they relate to endings. The first one is one that I pull out every time I get a chance, and that's I Am Legend. Disregarding that Hollywood took a tale called "The greatest story ever told" and made it into a braindead zombie shooter with Will Smith and a dog, they also decided to forgo any sort of social or psychological relevance, took a perfectly okay ending, and replaced it with stupid squared.
This is the alternate ending that really should have been the real one:



My second one is The Butterfly Effect, which I thought was an okay movie all the way through, but what really gripped me in the feels was the ending. It was such a painfully heart-wrenching movement for the young sport I was when I saw it, and I had to process it for quite a while afterwards.

And what did I find out later? Well, of course that what I had seen was the "alternate ending", and that the theatrical version included an extremely sappy ending that turned the movie from a kick in the heart to mediocre

(The scene is in English, despite the Portugese title)


Spoiler



This ending also shows the implication that his mom had several other children with this ability, and they too had to go back and end it. It is also a lot more consequent with his father killing himself for the same reason.


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## technomancer (May 8, 2013)

Sorry they should have just stuck with the book for I Am Legend


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## Jakke (May 8, 2013)

Indeed


That was truly "the greatest story ever told".


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## Friendroid (May 8, 2013)

Never understood how/why did they switched from a monkey throwing a bone in the air to a spaceship in the middle of nothing in 2001, A Space Odyssey. The end looks cheesy as hell, also.


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## ElRay (May 8, 2013)

Friendroid said:


> Never understood how/why did they switched from a monkey throwing a bone in the air to a spaceship in the middle of nothing in 2001, A Space Odyssey. The end looks cheesy as hell, also.



That's one of those movies that are great, providing you know the book, otherwise there's a whole lot of WTF? Likewise with the David Lynch Dune.

Ray


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## jbab (May 8, 2013)

Why the hell did Heath Ledger overdose on drugs?? Can you imagine what TDKR would have been if he was still alive? I'm not saying the Joker would have had the main role as the villain, but some explanation about where he is, or even a cameo would have been nice. And I'm sure they had to drop some great ideas from the film out of respect for him


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## pink freud (May 8, 2013)

ElRay said:


> That's one of those movies that are great, providing you know the book, otherwise there's a whole lot of WTF? Likewise with the David Lynch Dune.
> 
> Ray



I know Dune. I know ALL of Dune (read the entire damn series). David Lynch's Dune is an atrocity. The SciFi version (which went through CoD) was much truer to the books.


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## Captain Butterscotch (May 8, 2013)

Dune. The best cure for insomnia I've ever discovered. Puts me right to sleep.


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## Bloody_Inferno (May 8, 2013)

pink freud said:


> I know Dune. I know ALL of Dune (read the entire damn series). David Lynch's Dune is an atrocity. The SciFi version (which went through CoD) was much truer to the books.


 
This. So much this. Look, I love David Lynch and all, but he had no idea what the book was all about at the time. This was really the stain in his career, and to make matters worse, the whole project was doomed from the beginning. 13 years in development, the 3 hour length pissed off, both Lynch himself and the film's financiers (too short from the former, too long from the latter), and the fact that during the theatres had to hand out pamphlets to explain the movie vocabulary was rather stupid. Nobody wants to read a freaking pamphlet in a cinema. 

It's no wonder Lynch has disowned that abomination. But it had it's moments. I guess the soundtrack by Toto was alright. And Lynch turned down George Lucas' offer to direct Return of the Jedi for this. Could you imagine if he accepted that? 

Also, this image of Sting is always chuckle worthy:









The TV series wasn't too bad, quite enjoyed it actually. I didn't mid James McAvoy as Leto II, not sure about William Hurt though...


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## Rosal76 (May 8, 2013)

David Fincher: Director: The girl with the dragon tattoo (2011).

In an interview, David stated that he thought is was important to include the rape scene (of Rooney Mara) because it would let the viewers "understand the hardships Mara's character is going through in her life".

Bullshit!!!

Earlier in the film we find out that Mara's character: 1. Tried to kill her father when she was younger. 2. That she was in and out of foster homes for most of her life. 3. Has been in trouble with the law more than a few times. 4. She had spent time in a mental institute.

Sorry to be a nit-picker and I know it's not my movie but I don't believe watching a rape scene is required for me to understand that Mara's character has a difficult life.


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## Yo_Wattup (May 8, 2013)

The recent movie 'Oz the Great and Powerful' (a prequel to The Wizard of Oz) made me quite depressed with the ending. I mean the movie as a whole wasnt great but...

*Spoiler alert*

Long story short, the protagonist's first true love in the movie gets turned into a witch (against her will of course) and subsequently joins the bad team. The whole time I thought the protagonist was going to undo the spell but he ends up falling for another woman and the movie eventually ends like that. Very dissapointing. Also the girl that got turned into a witch was Mila Kunis' character...  that may be a reason I'm butthurt...


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## ilyti (May 8, 2013)

I could tell by the trailer that that Oz movie was not worth my time. Not surprised in the least that it would have a stupid ending.

There are too many movies ruined by ONE thing, a stupid ending, or an unnecessary scene, or that it was too long, etc. The first that comes to mind is About Schmidt. Great movie, but I did not need to see Kathy Bates naked. Or Helen Mirren naked in Prince of Jutland. Ergh. I'd add naked Robin Williams in The Fisher King, but that was also hilarious. I'm not entirely against nudity, only when it comes out of nowhere and is unnecessary. The only exception to this is that naked men bathing scene in Room With A View. Just a hilarious, brilliant scene, despite coming out of nowhere.

Not that I liked Star Wars episode III (at all) but what ruins it more than anything is that Padme dies in childbirth. Leia says in RotJ that she remembers her mother. HOW?!

Here's a biggie: The psychic connection between Arwen and Aragorn in LOTR. That was NOT in the book. At all. There's not even a hint that Aragorn has any kind special powers whatsoever. They just wanted to give Liv Tyler something to do in the movie. At least they took out the scene of her fighting at Helm's Deep, that would have been even worse.

The movie "O" is a modern retelling of Othello. There's one scene that was really stupid ; in the original play, the main character slaps his wife because he thinks she's cheating on him. In the modern version, he _rapes _her. That's a bit of an escalation... also. in the original play, he has an epileptic fit when he was really angry about something, but in the modern version, he's sniffing coke. THAT DOES NOT CORRESPOND AT ALL. I have no problem accepting the correlation between an army general and captain of the basketball team, but that movie took too much "artistic license," making it extreme for no reason.


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## ElRay (May 9, 2013)

I've read the entire series several times. I guess what I'm getting at is that visually, the David Lynch version better matched what I was expecting and the voice over/internal monolog better captured the tenseness/anxiety that was going on. Sure, there were changes I didn't like (the wierding way became voice activated firearms), but overall it had more "weight" and a visual fit I liked better.

The SciFi miniseries had it's moments (it's easier when you have almost five times the amount of time), but there was just too much disappointment in it. Starting with the "Let's turn all the Fremen into tantric muslims worshiping Muad'Dib." decision. By the end, I just found it pondering and boring. Maybe it was more of an unsatisfied expectations issue -- I had high hopes that a mini-series would do the novel justice, but it seemed watered-down and overly adjusted for your stereotypical TV viewer -- the ones that would find Stargate or the meta-plot in Babylon 5 too complicated to follow.

Ray


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## ghost_of_karelia (May 9, 2013)

Mass Effect 3.

Need I say more?


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## vilk (May 9, 2013)

Friendroid said:


> Never understood how/why did they switched from a monkey throwing a bone in the air to a spaceship in the middle of nothing in 2001, A Space Odyssey. The end looks cheesy as hell, also.



You really don't get it? It's a metaphor... er... something of that nature. The monkey throws a bone that he had used to kill the other monkey.. the first use of a "tool". 
Then it match cuts to humans flying in a spaceship, the evolution of the "tool".

also I would say that they aren't intended to be monkeys, rather the ancestors of humans.

It's making a statement about humans and our ability to develop technology. At first tools were as simple as bones, but they've progressed all the way to machines and cars, and following this pattern in the future spacecraft.

I actually thought this scene was one of the only interesting things about the movie.


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## Rosal76 (May 9, 2013)

Jango Fett: Star wars 2: Attack of the clones (2002). I know a lot of die hard Star wars fans will probably have good answers for this one.

In the Star wars universe, they claim that Jango Fett is one of the best assassins, bounty hunters, and mercenaries. I would think that most individuals in this profession would do a lot of research on their enemies.

Anyways, it just blows my mind that Jango Fett, who was safe standing next to Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus, decided to jet pack into the battlefield, when he clearly knows what trained Jedis are capable of doing, since Jango did fight Obi-Wan earlier in the movie. I would think that, for a professional, he would have just sniped the Jedis are afar. Too bad that his "cowboy gun holster move" didn't mean shit afterwards.  

Nonetheless, I did like the movie but thought the writings for his actions was a little odd.


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## Captain Butterscotch (May 9, 2013)

Rosal76 said:


> Jango Fett: Star wars 2: Attack of the clones (2002). I know a lot of die hard Star wars fans will probably have good answers for this one.
> 
> In the Star wars universe, they claim that Jango Fett is one of the best assassins, bounty hunters, and mercenaries. I would think that most individuals in this profession would do a lot of research on their enemies.
> 
> ...



Man, I stopped trying to justify so many things from the prequel trilogy years ago. So many things are just too stupid in the whole thing and you can't wish them all away. I'm glad that Lucas has no creative control over the scripts for these next few movies.


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## Rosal76 (May 9, 2013)

ilyti said:


> Not that I liked Star Wars episode III (at all) but what ruins it more than anything is that Padme dies in childbirth. Leia says in RotJ that she remembers her mother. HOW?!



I caught that too. The only explaination that I have is maybe George Lucas and co. didn't have the script written in concrete for Padme when "Return of the Jedi" was being filmed. 

None of these movies would have plot holes if only Stanley Kubrick directed them all. But then everyone would have to do 50 takes of everything.


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## Xiphos68 (May 9, 2013)

Rosal76 said:


> Jango Fett: Star wars 2: Attack of the clones (2002). I know a lot of die hard Star wars fans will probably have good answers for this one.
> 
> In the Star wars universe, they claim that Jango Fett is one of the best assassins, bounty hunters, and mercenaries. I would think that most individuals in this profession would do a lot of research on their enemies.
> 
> ...



They should just make a movie about him or Jango.


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## MaxOfMetal (May 9, 2013)

ilyti said:


> Not that I liked Star Wars episode III (at all) but what ruins it more than anything is that Padme dies in childbirth. Leia says in RotJ that she remembers her mother. HOW?!



Perhaps she's referring to her adopted mother. 

Even if she does mean Padme, to my recollection, she [Leia] doesn't mention actually interacting with her "mother" just that she was very pretty. Padme was a political figure, there most certainly would be many photographs, holograms, video, etc. to tell that from.


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## zappatton2 (May 9, 2013)

Captain Butterscotch said:


> Man, I stopped trying to justify so many things from the prequel trilogy years ago. So many things are just too stupid in the whole thing and you can't wish them all away. I'm glad that Lucas has no creative control over the scripts for these next few movies.


 Seeing as how Hollywood seems to have a voracious appetite for turning out remakes, maybe after the next three sequels, they can set about remaking the three Star Wars prequels. Into good movies, preferably.


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## hairychris (May 9, 2013)

Army of Darkness alternative ending ftw.


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## Xaios (May 9, 2013)

ilyti said:


> Here's a biggie: The psychic connection between Arwen and Aragorn in LOTR. That was NOT in the book. At all. There's not even a hint that Aragorn has any kind special powers whatsoever. They just wanted to give Liv Tyler something to do in the movie. At least they took out the scene of her fighting at Helm's Deep, that would have been even worse.



Huh? I've watched the movies a boatload of times, and I've also read the books. While they did greatly expand her role from the books, they didn't give them any kind of psychic connection. They gave Arwen some limited precognition, but they didn't give Aragorn anything like that.


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## Xaios (May 9, 2013)

hairychris said:


> Army of Darkness alternative ending ftw.



Meh, the international ending is blah IMO, so Shymalanesque. WHAT A TWIST!

The north american version is way cooler. The image of Bruce Campbell blasting a shotgun in front of a row of American flags...







I was ready to recite the pledge of allegiance right there, and I'm not even American. 

"Hail to the king, baby."


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## hairychris (May 10, 2013)

Xaios said:


> Meh, the international ending is blah IMO, so Shymalanesque. WHAT A TWIST!
> 
> The north american version is way cooler. The image of Bruce Campbell blasting a shotgun in front of a row of American flags...
> 
> ...



That's the alternative ending in the UK, and the one that I meant.... and yes, it's genius.


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## wankerness (May 10, 2013)

jarvncaredoc said:


> Mass Effect 3.
> 
> Need I say more?





I think "Stranger than Fiction" might be an example, it's pretty decent until the ending. It seems to have been a movie that probably originally ended properly and then had a test screening where some retard whined about it not having a happy ending so the studio demanded it be changed.


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## Xaios (May 10, 2013)

wankerness said:


> I think "Stranger than Fiction" might be an example, it's pretty decent until the ending. It seems to have been a movie that probably originally ended properly and then had a test screening where some retard whined about it not having a happy ending so the studio demanded it be changed.



That would be hilariously meta, given how the author of the book in the movie changes her original ending.


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## Rosal76 (May 10, 2013)

Xaios said:


> Meh, the international ending is blah IMO, so Shymalanesque. WHAT A TWIST!
> 
> The north american version is way cooler. The image of Bruce Campbell blasting a shotgun in front of a row of American flags...
> 
> ...



This ending is cool but you have to think, if the other ending, where Ash sleeps for several decades and wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world, would have been the final version, that could have been the opening format for an Evil dead 4.

It would be cool to see Ash fight Deadites in the futures. I mean, he already fought them in the present time and in the past so...


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## wankerness (May 10, 2013)

I prefer the american ending for Army of Darkness also. Having an extra pointless action scene and one liner is much more fun than that lame downbeat ending. A movie that silly doesn't really have any integrity to begin with!


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## ilyti (May 10, 2013)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Perhaps she's referring to her adopted mother.
> 
> Even if she does mean Padme, to my recollection, she [Leia] doesn't mention actually interacting with her "mother" just that she was very pretty. Padme was a political figure, there most certainly would be many photographs, holograms, video, etc. to tell that from.


Luke: Leia, do you remember your mother? Your real mother?
Leia: Just a little bit. She died when I was very young.
Luke: What do you remember?
Leia: Just... images really. Feelings.
Luke: Tell me.
Princess Leia: She was... very beautiful. Kind, but sad.



Xaios said:


> Huh? I've watched the movies a boatload of times, and I've also read the books. While they did greatly expand her role from the books, they didn't give them any kind of psychic connection. They gave Arwen some limited precognition, but they didn't give Aragorn anything like that.



If you watch the DVD extras, the producers talked about those scenes where Aragorn wakes up in her bedroom in Rivendell, and they talk in Elvish for awhile, and that it was not just some dream he was having. They said specifically that there was a psychic connection between them; that this was an added plot device written into the movie to make her a more important character. And they talked about how it was a difficult pitch to the movie financiers, this "psychic connection" (their words). If we want to justify it now though - It could be that her own Elvish powers are reaching out him through the pendant she gave him, and that way they can communicate in dreams... so I guess those scenes don't necessarily imply that he has any psychic powers "naturally."


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## Choop (May 11, 2013)

There are so many you could call out from the many versions of the Star Wars special editions alone..bleh.

Also I didn't really care for the ending to MGS4 much.


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## piggins411 (May 13, 2013)

I REALLY hated the ending of The Dark Knight Rises. And after seeing Iron Man 3, I really wonder why they made it. It rubbed me the wrong way for sure.



Spoiler



Is it me or does it seem like movie makers are afraid to kill off main characters these days? Obviously it's not always the answer, I just think that sometimes it can work very well.


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## Jakke (May 13, 2013)

piggins411 said:


> I REALLY hated the ending of The Dark Knight Rises. And after seeing Iron Man 3, I really wonder why they made it. It rubbed me the wrong way for sure.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler



Well, in the case of Iron Man, it's quite simple; there is an Avengers 2 in the making


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## piggins411 (May 14, 2013)

Jakke said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> Well, in the case of Iron Man, it's quite simple; there is an Avengers 2 in the making





Spoiler



Oops, haha I suppose I should have been more clear with that. I understand that it never happened this way in the comics (or so I'm told), but I was referring to Pepper in the case of Iron Man. That whole section after we learn she didn't die was absolutely cringe-worthy for me


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## brutalwizard (May 14, 2013)

M. night destroying the last airbender.

"I wanted the names to be pronounced probaly like in asia"
Its a show made in america and you let them cast white people.

and the rest of the the abomination that movie was.


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## Rosal76 (May 28, 2013)

I was on Youtube the other day and was watching clips of "the most gruesome zombie deaths on humans on film" or something like that. Anyways, they had the scene in George Romero's Day of the dead (1985) in which Captain Rhodes gets torn in half by the zombies towards the end.

I just could not believe, even in a George Romero movie, that Romero would have a Army captain (Rhodes) of all people, go to a armory room, grab a M-16 assault rifle, two clips and not load the gun before running off. Seriously, who grabs firearms in movies and not load them before facing off the enemy when they know zombies are already in the compound. Apparently in happens in George Romero zombie movies.


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## estabon37 (Jun 5, 2013)

For no reason I can think of, the only plot tweak I've ever seen that really bothered me, strangely, was how the people behind the 2005 film version of _The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy_ basically hooked Trillian up with Arthur. The other tweaks were fine, as Douglas Adams let the radio show, novel, and television show do their own takes on what was always a pretty loose plot. But forcing a romantic subplot into a storyline that is so fantastic and well loved without any romantic bullshit doesn't make sense. It killed an otherwise reasonably worthy film for me. I think it's like the _I Am Legend_ 'ending': Hollywood assumes certain endings or character interactions are mandatory, and shove them in where they don't fit.


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## flexkill (Jun 5, 2013)

The endings, or lack there of, to *Deadwood* and *Rome*


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## texshred777 (Jun 8, 2013)

brutalwizard said:


> M. night destroying the last airbender.
> 
> "I wanted the names to be pronounced probaly like in asia"
> Its a show made in america and you let them cast white people.
> ...


 
This. 

Not only the casting, but so many things besides. Apparently he is a big fan of the series, which makes me wonder why he destroyed it so.

First WTF-Fire benders need a fire source to bend? Only Iroh and Zuko apparently have the ability to create fire?  

The action scenes looked half assed. If you actually look around in the background of a fight scene it's laughable. The actors don't even look like they're trying to be believable combatants. The combat between two main characters wasn't any better. 

Sokka? Nothing at all like the Sokka I know and love in the series.

Easily one of the biggest disappointments for me.


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## Andromalia (Jun 8, 2013)

Han shot first.


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## wankerness (Jun 9, 2013)

Rosal76 said:


> I was on Youtube the other day and was watching clips of "the most gruesome zombie deaths on humans on film" or something like that. Anyways, they had the scene in George Romero's Day of the dead (1985) in which Captain Rhodes gets torn in half by the zombies towards the end.
> 
> I just could not believe, even in a George Romero movie, that Romero would have a Army captain (Rhodes) of all people, go to a armory room, grab a M-16 assault rifle, two clips and not load the gun before running off. Seriously, who grabs firearms in movies and not load them before facing off the enemy when they know zombies are already in the compound. Apparently in happens in George Romero zombie movies.



I'm not saying this movie isn't dumb, but wasn't the problem that he got shot by Bub and then was weakened and could only use the handgun and then got eaten? Been a long time since I saw it.


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## wankerness (Jun 9, 2013)

piggins411 said:


> I REALLY hated the ending of The Dark Knight Rises.



I sort of liked the ending of TDKR.


Spoiler



After the trilogy went to such lengths to be dark and edgy I thought they'd earned the right to go a little bit sappy. The only thing I had much issue with in the ending was just how Bane was first totally neutered by the revelation of his backstory and then was killed off so anticlimactically by Catwoman shooting him with a motorcycle so he gets blown into the next room. He was pretty awesome up until the last 20 minutes! Oh well.


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## Rosal76 (Jun 10, 2013)

wankerness said:


> I'm not saying this movie isn't dumb, but wasn't the problem that he got shot by Bub and then was weakened and could only use the handgun and then got eaten? Been a long time since I saw it.


 
John, the helicopter pilot, took his 2 revolvers and his M-16 assault rifle when he (John) knocked him (captain Rhodes) out. A few minutes later, the zombies entered the compound and Rhodes went to the armory room and grab the M-16 assault rifle. And then he was face to face with Bub. 

What was even more ridiculous, was that the door to the armory has a glass window. When captain Rhodes got shot the first time, he tried to enter the armory but couldn't because the door was locked and then continues to scamper away from Bub. I could not believe that Rhodes did not even think about breaking the glass with the M-16.


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## fps (Jun 10, 2013)

wankerness said:


> I sort of liked the ending of TDKR.
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...





Spoiler



It was the worst kind of twist ending, it ruined the rest of the film the first time I saw it, and ruined the whole film the second time. There were obviously lots of other problems too


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## jbab (Jun 10, 2013)

fps said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> It was the worst kind of twist ending, it ruined the rest of the film the first time I saw it, and ruined the whole film the second time. There were obviously lots of other problems too





Spoiler



And Talia Al Gul's death was probably one of the worst death scenes ever. She looks like she's having a fit of narcolepsy more than anything else


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## skisgaar (Jun 13, 2013)

I actually thought the ending to TDKR was good.



Spoiler



In regards to Bane's death, I thought the quick and easy approach was actually good. He had been reduced to so little by that point. Bruce had overcome him, and his past had been revealed. He was a shadow of his former self, and Catwoman barging in and defeating Bane so easily was symbolic of how she didn't play by the same rules as Bruce, and also that he couldn't do what he was doing on his own. It also accented the sense of urgency that the film had in its final 20 minutes. Talia's death was god awful though. How anyone allowed that 2 seconds of painfully bad acting to ever be shown on screen is beyond me, wholly. The plot twist was nothing special, but I didn't think there were any specifically bad plot holes in there.



But Bane though. Best villain in years IMO. The Joker was utterly out standing, but Bane had a motive, and he made the Joker look like a child in terms of the destruction he brought with him.


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## texshred777 (Jun 13, 2013)

Should have called Sean Bean for death scene tips. I don't think anyone has done as many death scenes as him.


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