I watched this on DVD and didn't care for the ending, so I was pleased to see an alternate ending included. But when I played the alternate I swear I couldn't tell one bit of difference between it and the regular ending. Anybody else notice this? Were there differences?
shareThe directors cut ending had her standing there...but the other ending (that I guess you didn't see) had him being saved by her.
shareThe same thing happened to me. You probably, at the beginning, selected to watch the director's cut of the movie, like I did. If so, the endings are the same. To watch the ending that was shown in theaters (which is much better in my opinion) do this: On the DVD, after you select play, select "theatrical version". Then hit menu and select the next to the last scene. You will be able to see a little bit longer ending.
shareThanks. I guess I did see only the director's cut ending. I'll get it again from Netflix and view the theatrical version, or wait until it comes to cable.
shareI like the ending of the director's cut. It was more in tune with what you would expect from a thriller. Also, it was poetic, shot beautifully...I just liked the photography of the film. I looked for the credits of the cameraman - he worked on many great movies!
shareMay be the director's cut shows a natural ending, at least after what she tells to Oliver at the hospital: she walks away leaving him to die, just like his father Patrick did years ago. But isn't this somewhat weird? Can such an accident kill someone? If his neck is broken or any other fatal injury killed him instantly, then there is nothing to do for her whether she loves or hates him. But if not, then could that accident injure him so badly that he needed a quick rescue to survive? In both cases she would need to check his status. Also the cause of accident doesn't matches this ending. Why would she try to jump from a running car if she just wanted him to die?
In the other ending her behavior after pulling him out of the car is also weird. Is this way anyone acts when his/her loved one is in deep trouble? Wouldn't it be natural if instead of kissing and making excuses she helped him breathing?
Actually many things of this movie are similarly weird, may be this is the proper answer to my questions.
Here's my take on the two endings. About what you said about someone acting when their loved one is in deep trouble, well, while he was hurt, he didn't seem to be in any life threatening danger (clearly since he survived). The kissing him and grinding afterwards was most likely about assuring themselves that the other was alright and expressing the love they felt and the relief they had that the other survived. Such behavior isn't that uncommon. After a life threatening situation, people tend to need to assure themselves that their loved one is alright through displays of affections. I actually saw a movie on this a long time ago that was based on such a premise.
As for the directors cut, where it showed her just standing there staring at the ocean, I assume we were supposed to know that she was the only survivor. I think that what the director was going for was tragic irony. Kelly stated that for so long she hated Scott and his family and wanted revenge. Oliver was trying to give her the revenge he thought she wanted and the revenge he wanted for her, but as she fell in love Scott and learned the truth of what really happened to her mother along with Oliver's true sadistic tendencies, she decided that she didn't want revenge anymore and wanted to move on and be with Scott. However, her actions ended up causing the death of the only person left that she loved, resulting in her getting the revenge she originally thought she wanted. But she realized it too late and lost what she really wanted and is now left alone.
Personally, I like the theater version where they both survived. The director's cut where she's the only one that lives is just so dissatisfying. Not to mention it's only like 30 seconds long and leaves us with nothing while the theater version is a few minutes long, provides us closure, removes loose ends, fills in gaps, answers questions, and even has an epilogue.