Premiere has a list of 20 of their favorite movie plot twists (hat tip to Movie City News for the link), and while it contains usual suspects like, um, The Usual Suspects, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Sixth Sense (pictured), it also contains some that I don’t think qualify. Finding out what "Rosebud" refers to at the end of Citizen Kane doesn’t count, since the big reveal doesn’t really answer any deeper questions but leaves intact the mystery of what drove Kane. Or Eddie and the Cruisers — could any viewer have been surprised that Eddie wasn’t really dead? Or any of the it-was-all-a-dream scenarios floated here; that always strikes me as a cop-out. My idea of a great plot twist is something truly unexpected, like in the Scottish film Comfort and Joy, where the protagonist, a radio DJ who’s been moping over being dumped by his girlfriend at Christmastime, suddenly finds himself caught in a gang war between rival ice cream truck franchises. (I sure didn’t see that one coming.) C’mon, PW-ers, we can do better. I know we can.
Are these the best movie plot twists?
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Comments (1-30) of 132 Add your comment
One of my favorite twists is in “The Conversation,” because it shows the fatal flaw in our main character. Harry thinks that, with enough technology, he can hear anything, but, even with his best setup, he doesn’t hear the conversation correctly. His interpretation of the conversation is entirely colored by his biases.
A Beautiful Mind: his roommate and all that codebreaking is a just a figment of his psychosis.
I am a big fan of Memento’s plot twist. Completely surprising but made perfect sense when you thought about it. Going after his wife’s killer is the only thing that gives his life purpose. Also one of the few movies that I can watch again years later and be thoroughly engrossed.
Do the Right Thing: Mookie is a actually a douchebag.
I like the twist in The Village even if it wasn’t 100% new. It was a good allegory to what is going on in the world today.
The first one that comes to mind is The Village. I never saw that one coming.
American Psycho. American Beauty – didn’t see Kevin Spacey’s death coming.
Terminator, Blade Runner and Total Recall. I’m still not sure if Arnold’s character saved Mars or it’s just another vision. I know I shouldn’t be that invested after all these years, but I love sci fi.
i may be alone in this one, but i really liked the plot twist in “arlington road.” i won’t spoil the ending, but i’ll just say – i didn’t see it coming. completely underrated movie in my eyes…
The Others. I was shocked at the plot twist in that one.
“Road Warrior” had a good one…the best one in recent memory was in “The Prestige.”
Fight Club
Primal Fear with Edward Norton – the look on Richard Gere’s face when he figures it out!
The Others – I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out.
Fracture – great ending/explanation for the head scratcher about the gun.
V for Vendetta – I don’t want to ruin too much for those who haven’t seen it, but when she gets out of prison…WOW
Um, Erin, at the beginning of American Beauty Kevin Spacey actually says he is going to die.
… Even toward the end of the movie Spacey mentions it’s the day he’s going to die…
I don’t know if this counts as a plot twist, but I liked the resolution in Lone Star – the teenage lovers (Chris Cooper and Elizabeth Pena, now adults) were kept apart by his father because he was Elizabeth’s real father. Hence, CC and EPs relationship was incestuous. such a good twist that the writers of House stole/used it for their show 10 years later.
I agree wit Primal Fear. It jut goes to show you that if Ed Norton is given a decent role, he can be very convincing.
The Departed even though I think that the writer hinted that that the offier Matt Damon was talking to in the begining when he made detective was also a Costello plant. However, no one supected that Delacourt was an undercover police officer until he was shot and Delecourt figured out that Carstigan was also an undercover.
memento, la confidential, arlington road…those are good ones. usual suspects, though, will always be my favorite.
The revelation at the end of Se7en that Detective Mills is the keystone to John Doe pulling off his murder “masterpiece” – seven serial killings based on the Seven Deadly Sins. With the murder based on Envy complete (a la Paltrow’s head in a box), Mills completes Doe’s plan by killing Doe in the name of Wrath. Although, Brad Pitt repeating “What’s in the box?” 3,000,000 times before killing John Doe bordered on gluttonous.
The revelation at the end of Se7en that Detective Mills is the keystone to John Doe pulling off his murder “masterpiece” – seven serial killings based on the Seven Deadly Sins. With the murder based on Envy complete (a la Paltrow’s head in a box), Mills completes Doe’s plan by killing Doe in the name of Wrath. Although, Brad Pitt repeating “What’s in the box?” 3,000,000 times before killing John Doe bordered on gluttonous.
Hello? Daddy Day Camp! Who saw it coming at the end when it said ‘directed by Fred Savage.’ Wow.
The Brave One, the new Jodie Foster flick. She was killed in the beatdown at the beginning, and the whole thing is her dreaming in her comatose state. Did not see that one coming.
My favorite twist ever: In Unbreakable when it’s revealed who the mastermind behind the tragedies is. SO great.
The most classic twist ever: In Psycho, killing off the main character a half hour into the movie. Didn’t see that coming.
Most hilarious twist: Soylent Green: “It’s people!!!”
Honorable mention: The end of Planet of the Apes. Wow.
Jeez, Mercedes, could you at least have said Spoilers or something? The rest of these movies have been around but that one isn’t even OUT yet!
That said, I thought ‘The Illusionist’ had a nice twist at the end. That whole movie kept you guessing.
Mercedes you truly need a beating for revealing a plot twist to a movie that is not officially released yet.
MOT COOL>>>>
I’ve never seen it, but people always say the ending to the low-budget horror flick “Sleepaway Camp” is an amazing twist.
Mercedes,
Uhm thanks for the spoiler. :-i
How about that awful movie with Antonio Banderas and Rebecca DeMornay in which it is revealed that Rebecca DeMornay is a just a crazy psychiatrist? I forgot the movie title.
Anchorman. When they jump into the bear pit. Who saw that coming!
I can only think of Memento’s plot twist having not been mentioned in the list (though it’s mentioned in the comments). That one was pretty good.
Don’t think American Beauty qualifies as having a plot twist. Spacey’s voiceover narration in the beginning of the film telegraphs his coming death. What could qualify is the Colonel Fitz’s (Chris Cooper’s character) closeted homosexuality. Or that Angela is actually a virgin.