All Time Top 5 (Movies Where Things Aren't Always What They Appear)

After watching Oldboy recently, I began to think about movies that have great surprise endings. There really isn't anything like a shocking twist to end a movie. One minute you think you know what's going on. The next, some clever writer pulls the rug out right from under you with a killer twist to the plot (even though -- if you're like this blogger anyway -- you usually think to yourself that you should've seen it coming all along). The ability to come up with unpredictable surprise endings isn't easy. And some people (see Shyamalan, M. Night) can make a lot of money off the ability to write good twist endings even if their movies aren't very good (sorry to any M. Night fans, but nothing he's done after The Sixth Sense was really anything special). It truly is an art form. And, when used effectively, a great twist can really turn a good movie into great one.

Here are the All Time Top 5 Movies Where Things Aren't Always What They Appear:

SPOILER ALERT: All readers should note that I've discussed the surprise endings in this post. Feel free to scroll over these spoilers if you haven't seen these movies and don't want to ruin it for yourself.

5

Primal Fear -- I'm guessing not everyone has seen this one, but Richard Gere is actually pretty good as a defense attorney trying to defend a schizophrenic altar boy (who is played pretty brilliantly by Ed Norton) accused of murder. This movie really got Ed Norton's career going.

SPOILER:

Ed Norton was actually lying the entire time about his schizophrenia to trick everyone (including Gere).

4

The Sixth Sense -- I imagine that pretty much everyone knows the plot twist to this one. I have to give M. Night credit. I definitely didn't see it coming.

SPOILER:

As Haley Joel Osmet told us from the start, he could see dead people -- including Bruce Willis's character.

3

Fight Club -- I know soap salesman Tyler Durden would probably kick my ass because I'm breaking the first rule of Fight Club by talking about the movie, but this one is awesome. Sidenote: As I make this list, I realize Ed Norton has been in some movies with pretty good twists (check out The Illusionist and The Score for other examples).

SPOILER:

Tyler Durden (Pitt) and Norton's unnamed character are one in the same. So, Norton shoots himself to get rid of Durden (makes sense, right?).

2

Fallen -- I'm guessing this is the least watched movie on the list. For those who haven't seen it, check it out. Denzel Washington plays detective John Hobbes, who discovers that a serial killer he devoted much of his career to tracking down was actually possessed by a demon named Azazel. Hobbes then turns his attention to taking down the demon in this really underrated sci-fi thriller.

SPOILER:

The movie's narrator (voiced by Denzel) turns out to be Azazel the entire time. And, as he reminds us, this is the story of the time he almost died...

1

The Usual Suspects -- A lot of people probably guessed that this one would be at the top the list. It's one of my favorite movies of all time and has such a great ending. How could it not be number 1?

SPOILER:

Cripple Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey, who actually won an Oscar for his performance) is actually the notorious Keyzer Soze. His greatest trick? Convincing the world he didn't exist...

George Clooney, Jedi Warrior

The Men Who Stare at Goats was barely worth seeing. If you read my preview post, you know that I had pretty high hopes for it. It didn't meet them. But it wasn't as big of a disappointment as some of the reviews I've been reading have said it would be. And it wasn't bad enough to actually walk out of the theater about an hour into the movie (as two people did when I saw it).

The movie is definitely lacking when it comes to anything resembling a cohesive plot. Most of the film is simply Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) following around George Clooney's character, Lyn Cassaday, in Iraq as Cassaday tells Wilton the history of a top secret sector of the military called the "New Earth Army." The New Earth Army was started by Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), basically a huge hippie that convinced the higher-ups in the military to give him approval for the team, and focused their training on psychic powers (for example, the group focuses on the ability to "remotely view" anywhere in the world by simply going there in their mind). Cassaday was the all-star of the group and considered himself a true Jedi warrior (and the only one ever portrayed as actually successful in any remote viewing).

But when another group member Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey) convinces the military to start using the New Earth Army for "the dark side," Cassaday quits the team. Now, years later, Cassaday is going to reunite with Django at Hooper's facility in Iraq in an effort to stop him from psychic experiments torturing prisoners (using methods such as playing the Barney and Friends theme song for 24 hours straight in their prison cells).

That's all there is to it, really. You'll definitely be disappointed if you go expecting anything more. And the movie's climax (if it even really has one) and ending are such an insignificant and honestly stupid part of the movie that I won't even bother mentioning them.

But the movie still has its positives. You will definitely laugh more than a few times. Clooney has a bunch of great one liners and does a great job convincing you that his character really believes in everything he's saying. It's really funny to hear him describe some abilities that his psychic training has given him (for example, he says he can become "invisible," but he really just means hiding himself). The nerd in me also found it humorously ironic to watch McGregor (best known as Obi-Won Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy) ask Clooney explain to him what a Jedi warrior was. And Bridges has his moments as well. But Spacey's character and performance are really not very good. And, as a friend of mine said, the movie is essentially an SNL skit that would've been hilarious for 4 minutes stretched out into an hour and a half movie.

Bottom line: The movie has a few laughs but not much else. If there's anything else you'd rather see, don't feel like your missing out by avoiding this one. (C-)

Here's the trailer:

Staring at Goats?

On November 6, Overture Films will release its adaptation of Jon Ronson's The Men Who Stare at Goats. Directed by Grant Heslov (writer of Good Night, and Good Luck), the movie packs some serious star power: Ewen McGregor will play Bob Wilton, a reporter who stumbles upon the story of Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a special forces operator involved in top secret military experiments (among these experiments, and where the story gets its title, is trying to kill goats through psychokinesis -- basically blowing them up with your mind). Wilton tags along with Cassady until they discover the founder of the unit, Bill Django, played by Jeff Bridges, has been kidnapped by a rebel group led by a former member of the unit, Larry Hopper (played by Kevin Spacey).

With such a strong cast, I've got to admit I'm pretty excited to see how funny this movie is. It'll be interesting to see how well Clooney, Bridges, and Spacey can pull off lunatics believing they have psychokinetic powers . My guess is that we won't be disappointed.

Here's the trailer: