MovieChat Forums > The Guardian (2006) Discussion > Why i prefer The Alternate Ending.

Why i prefer The Alternate Ending.

posted 10 years ago by The-Furious-Arrow
6 replies | jump to latest

This has been controversial ever since the movie came out. I thought i'd throw my two cents in.

Reason #1: I like the alternate ending because it doesn't defeat the purpose of never letting go. The original ending defeated the whole moral of never letting go and fighting with every ounce of strength.

Someone said a better ending would have been him holding Randall in till they made it back, defeating his record of holding on to him.

Reason #2: I study screenplays, i've written two of them already. I research screenplay books and read them. I found this interesting paragraph from the book Writing Screenplays that Sell by Michael Hauge

"Finally, the ending must be the one the audience accepts as the most emotionally satisfying resolution of your story. this doesn't mean that you have to give your screenplay a happy ending; such a rule would eliminate decades of successful tearjerkers, all classic tragedy, all film noir, and half of Meryl Streep's career. But the principle does mean that you cannot have a defeated ending.

All i'm saying here is that an audience is willing to hear that life is hard, that life is sad, or even that life is tragic, but they dont want to hear that life is *beep* they probably suspect that it is, and they certainly wont pay $7.00 to have the feeling reinforced."

The ending made me feel like *beep* the whole guardian thing tried to make you feel a sense of hope, but it didn't. Also, i go to movies to watch problems resolved, and thats what he said. he also went on to say "Happy Endings Sell"

Reason #3: the original ending was not real to life. they could have gotten a backup cable or something to do the job. And they could have lowered the helicopter so that if they fell, they wouldn't die. and if they did go in, they can give them a raft and ride out the storm.

To you people who like the original ending, you clearly like tragedy, i do not. i'm not going to pay $10.00 to have a stupid ending like that and have a bad feeling reinforced.

Read my Blog at: http://hollywoodstarreviews.wordpress.com/

[–] Nerd_in_Norway 10 years ago

For someone who "studies screenplays" you sure missed the boat on this one.

The moral of this story was not "never letting go and fighting with every ounce of strength."

The moral was TO LET GO.

Costner's character refused to let go. He let his career ruin his marriage. So much that he was grabbing onto his wife of fear of drowning (symbolically) without seeing
the big picture. Then he struggled to get over the tragedy that killed his team. So he meets a young student who has the same issues: Kutcher, who refused to move on after the death of his friends in a car crash, blaming himself for what happened.

Costner also focused on the dead, not the living. He told Kutcher he only counted the ones he couldn't save, when he should have focused on the living as well as his own personal life. Costner was just like Kutcher, beating himself up and never moving past his failures.

In the end he taught Kutcher the hard way that he has to let go, when he forced Kutcher to lose him in the ocean. Costner was already dead inside, but in the end not only did he pass his professional skills on to a new generation, but he also made damn sure his student won't spend a lifetime refusing to deal with LETTING GO. Costner passed the torch and then he went into the ocean, the only place he felt alive.

And you call this stupid storytelling?!? It may not be the happy ending we all wished and hoped for, but with Costner's character, it was the only way it could have ended.

[–] tyshimah3 9 years ago

Hmm...I love this line:
"Costner also focused on the dead, not the living. He told Kutcher he only counted the ones he couldn't save, when he should have focused on the living as well as his own personal life."
YES! I totally agree.

The storytelling in this movie was so great. I enjoyed every minute of it and I really like watching this movie.

"Do you even remember what you came here to find?"

[–] DianneBellmont 8 years ago

Norway,

I'm with you. You understood the meaning of this film.
As for the original poster, if you are a screenplay writer, you should consider proofreading. "I" is capitalized. Maybe you might actually SELL a screenplay and see it developed.

--Dianne Bellmont, Manitou of the Lakes and published author.

*The Manitou is in and will take your calls now.
🐈  

[–] DianneBellmont 8 years ago

PS--

Justice, you suggested that the pilot lower the helicopter? Do you know what a massive wave can do to a chopper? It can water-log the machine, tip it "just so" and cause the propeller blades to hit the water (and of course, they would lose the entire crew).

*The Manitou is in and will take your calls now.
🐈  

[–] Drooch (5333) 5 years ago

You make a good case but I don’t buy it - the movie took pains to show how Costner was such a hero because he ‘never let go’ - like when he ‘held on with his fingertips for 20 minutes.’

At the end, he was ready to sacrifice himself, but the twist was that Kutcher had learned from his mentor and years of ‘never letting go’ would now be reciprocated as Kutcher now ironically held Costner by his fingertips.

The fact that this was the original ending proves this was the thinking all along, but they decided to kill him off instead for ‘more emotional impact’ according to imdb trivia.

Costner had the epiphany about submerging his wife and made peace with her, to have him go through this ordeal... and then kill him off seems needlessly punishing. Is Kutcher supposed to ‘let go’ of the people he’s supposed to be rescuing..? Sorry, doesn’t make sense.

[–] d-wate27 8 years ago

I'm not sure exactly what changed between the original vs alternate ending. I do know that the version I saw (theatrical release) was a disappointing ending to me. They made this big deal out of how Ashton Kutcher's character could make a real difference, save people who might not otherwise make it, and he chucks it all because the power of boners is stronger. I'm sorry but the life of a hero is a lonely one. I worked in EMS for years, I pulled a lot of long hours and was single nearly my entire career. I dated a fellow EMT for a while, but relationships with people outside the emergency services family only lasted weeks at best. I'm not saying I was a hero, although some patients and their families did call me one, but I know the lonely life you sign up for when you put your life on the line for others. To me, the ending where he walks into the school and gets the girl was a major let down. Sure Goldfish could work in Louisiana, but that's not where you need the best. A better ending would have been the girl coming to him. Just my thoughts.