If the author just left off the period at the end of "Harold Crick was dead" then yes, there would have been a grammatical error but he would have lived and no change would be needed.
shareEditors would have added the period anyway
shareWhen I got to that point, I was sure this would be the end. It would have left the viewer with the book still a master-ship, the author's humanity intact and Harold both noble and alive. It would also have avoided the slightly sappy ending narration which for me didn't fit the mood of the movie up to this point.
p.s. It does not need to be a grammatical error just a partially open ending:
".. Realized that the man was dead"
"Harold Crick was de"
"It does not need to be a grammatical error just a partially open ending:"
Leaving out punctuation is erroneous grammar, so what do you want? You can't just twist reality to your liking like this writer seemed to be able to do. You either use correct punctuation, or you create a grammatical error, you can't have it both ways
See how it looks? Urgh.