MovieChat Forums > Savages (2012) Discussion > This is the first great film I've seen w...

This is the first great film I've seen with a HORRIBLE ENDING!!

posted 12 years ago by DukeTogo84
111 replies | jump to latest

I've avoided taking the plunge and signing up for this website because honestly, it's a bit of a mess.

After watching Savages last night, I felt like I needed to let my anger out in a forum that actually discusses the topic which is the basis of my my anger.

Savages. Oh, Savages.

As I was sitting through the movie, I was thinking to myself that what I was seeing here was something that I loved, something that was great. I was in love with the characters, the music, everything.

Benicio Tel Toro and John Travolta were great. Everything was going perfectly. It looked like the movie was going to end. As the character lay dying I honestly thought "This might be the best movie I've seen in quite some time. I loved nearly every minute of it"

Then something so stupid happened. Something any filmmaker with any respect would go out of their way to avoid. The "it's a dream scenario". My heart sank, but I thought, "ok, maybe the second go around might even better" even though I thought the first go around was great. No. I litterally thought I was watching an episode of the Miami Vice. Was I watching an Oliver Stone Movie, or bad TV?

It honestly felt like a cartoon ending to something that was great. As I was leaving the theater I told my friend that I don't think I have ever been more disappointed in a films ending before.

You get crap endings, with crap films. I honestly can not think of a time where I watched a great film with a terrible ending. It just didn't make a lick of sense. Why did something like this happen?

I wish I could get my money back, or get rid of the feeling of disgust out of my throat. When I woke up this morning I still felt angry. I still felt like I was suckered out of my time and money.

I felt like I was robbed.

This has honestly got to me the biggest dissappointment in my film watching life. Oliver Stone has lost what he once had by compromising with a studio for a fairy tale ending.

This was a gritty film. Not an episode of One Tree Hill. Thanks Oliver Stone, for making me loose faith in the film making process.

[–] scorpion-52 12 years ago

How is the ending a "fairy tale" when rapist Lado gets away at the end? You and I must have a VERY different definition of a "fairy tale" if you actually believe that, if it was a fairy tale then Lado would've been either killed or sent to prison and taken the fall for Elena instead of the other way around.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] raginfanz 12 years ago

I disagree. This is only your opinion. There is no absolute in the matter, theorists such as Propp and Todorov have written whole theories studied by ages on this very matter, I am not sure you are qualified to make such a statement.

[–] cheapseo8 12 years ago

I agree, the movie rocked and then it ended in such a way that took back every cool thing about this movie..ughh well at least it was entertaining at times

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] george_aslf 12 years ago

Nobody gives a *beep* about Lado escaping here. The second version of the ending just sucked while the first one was incredible. Period.

[–] rabksaj 12 years ago

agreed

[–] Psychedelics8 11 years ago

Yes, the ending took the risk of a 'not a happy ending' and did it so well, making it a pulp fiction vibe you know, when the cool guys die and everything is bloody and hardcore, but then they made it so gay i was like "aahh noo *beep* that *beep* in the theater. hahaha

[–] bkmobley 12 years ago

Be honest here, even though you hated the ending please tell me you still loved the film. I loved it even with ending but its stupid how people on this board just destroy the movie they said they were really loving just because of the ending.

[–] DukeTogo84 12 years ago

The ending of a film is a big part how a film is percieved. You can't call a film great if it has a horrible ending.

The film was great. Amazing even, until the very end. The end was quite the sucker punch.

Everything leading up to the end was very well done. The ending however, ruined everything that came before it.

[–] Hater_Is_Here 12 years ago

"The ending of a film is a big part how a film is percieved. You can't call a film great if it has a horrible ending....The film was great."

Huh. How about that......

"Your best player thinks he's a pirate!"

[–] LFoggy 12 years ago

It's the last part of the film, the defining moments, where the themes, narrative and character are resolved. If that's terrible, what's the point in investing in the film ever again, no pay off means waste of time.

[–] BeOneOfUs 10 years ago

"The ending of a film is a big part how a film is percieved. You can't call a film great if it has a horrible ending....The film was great."

Huh. How about that......

Hahaha! I saw that too.

[–] boige12 12 years ago

Agreed http://www.cinebasher.com/2012/07/oliver-stone-revisits-his-roots.html

[–] freefall_wthout_a_parachute 10 years ago

yeah, the ending ruined it for me too. they should have just ended it without the whole "this is what really happened" thing. as soon as that happened i was annoyed. and the movie really did have potential. it kept my attention, i was enjoying it... but the end was dumb as hell.. and i still don't quite get if they all separated or if the 3 of them were together in the end? or if the girl was by herself and the 2 guys were on their own. oh well.

[–] arbino-man 12 years ago

Duke: Hey buddy! You are not alone with your thoughts. Check out my other thread where I put down over a HUNDRED (Yes a hundred) reviews that had a problem with the ending.

Scorpion: Lado wasn't the head cheese. Elena was the one who ordered him around. He wanted out of the business. Again, no other cartel will hire a snitch so if anything he's going to have to look over his shoulder. Azul won't ever trust him as Lado might eventually betray him. Lado is out of the business and getting closer to his family. So yeah, it is a happy ending.

You know you're in a fairy tale when everyone has a happy ending. (Ok maybe not Elena)

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] ofuoku71 12 years ago

BTW, welcome to IMDb, Duke!

[–] Hater_Is_Here 12 years ago

"The real ending (the bad ending) was totally boring, cliche, and unrealistic."

exactly! It would have been way more realistic and less cliche for 1 lover to die and thus cause 2 of them to commit suicide so they can all die together.....

But a DEA drug bust??? Who ever heard of such a thing???????!!!!!!

"Your best player thinks he's a pirate!"

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] FilmMuscle 11 years ago

Uh yes, it would've been much better and yes, it would've been way less cliche than a typical Hollywood ending. What are you talking about?

"When Gotham is ashes, you have my permission to die"-Bane

[–] Gypsyartist2 12 years ago

I have read that it is usual for moviemakers to make multiple endings for a movie. Then before release, they decide which one they want to use. It looked to me like they just couldnt make up their mind which one, so they used both. The first ending was too much like "Butch Cassidy" and/or "Bonnie & Clyde" and the second one to soft. Its a shame they couldnt have done a combination of both. Maybe just the girl getting away - or her and only one of the guys. I loved the film and thought it was extremely well done. In fact, best movie I have seen in quite awhile - a diamond in the rough among action heroes and cartoon movies this summer. (ugh)

[–] QTKeet 12 years ago

It looked to me like they just couldnt make up their mind which one, so they used both.

Its a shame they couldnt have done a combination of both.

Yeah nothing some brilliant writing couldn't have fixed. Instead of the slap-in-the-audiences'-face ending that we're given.

...like what's the DEA even doing at a hostage exchange? Wouldn't it make more sense if drugs and money were involved? Isn't that the idea of a bust? To catch them in the act of buying/selling drugs? Wouldn't all those snipers/lookouts noticed a bunch of cars and helicopters approaching?

I didn't mind that Dennis ends up a hero, he kinda was a sucker. Lado HAD to die, I mean you don't make a villian like this guy and get the audience all worked up only to let him slip away.

In fact, if it weren't for the campfire scene, I wasn't even sure if the three protagonists end up together. The tone of O's narrative made it almost sound like they went their separate ways. Some happy ending. Christ, I wanna see them all happy and laughing and enjoying their lives... otherwise they might as well be dead. Oh yeah, the hippie made a water system for that African village, I changed my mind, the ending is awesome!

No, the ending ALMOST ruined the entire movie. It was very anti-climactic. Maybe that's what a wargasm feels like.

So it must be up to us to decide which ending we like, or just make it up ourselves since the movie wasn't really that firm about it. Maybe that's the point, it doesn't really end, or there's no good or bad ending, or you make your own ending in life. Sometimes people get what they deserve, sometimes they don't, sometimes.... ah F it... I should just read the book...

Anyone wanna tell me how the book ends?

[–] arbino-man 12 years ago

Book ending is exactly the same as the first ending with all of them dying.

[–] arbino-man 12 years ago

The ending of No Country For Old Men actually worked within the context of the film.

[–] IceboxMovies 12 years ago

It is not a fairy tale ending.

The most evil person in the movie, Lado, gets away scot-free. Dennis, the bad "good guy", is rewarded, and Elena, the good "villain", is punished.

O., Ben and Chon are all forced to flee from society forever.

I don't know entirely what to think of the ending -- the ending of Winslow's book was much more visceral, methinks -- but I think Stone's trying to make a point that sometimes, tragic stories don't have romantic Shakespearean tragedy endings. Sometimes, they end anti-climatically, with the good guys disgraced and the bad guys rewarded.

"What I don't understand is how we're going to stay alive this winter."

[–] DonnerParty808 12 years ago

The movie definitely breaks the convention of the bad guy being punished and the good guy being rewarded...I can dig breaking conventions, but the way the film wrapped everything up in this case just did not work for me. Not only did I hate how everything ended, but the fact that it was all mentioned as foot notes through narration made it worse. Bad ending on top of bad deliver...

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[–] DonnerParty808 12 years ago

Try The Book of Eli...a movie I consider fantastic with one of the worst endings...

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[–] zombie23-783-256161 12 years ago

I feel like any Oliver Stone movie, you are searching for what he is trying to say.

(In My Humble Opinion)

This movie was about our society. It is about the fact that we consider ourselves such an evolved species and yet we are deep down just savages. I feel that the whole movie is trying to tell us about how we should abhor violence. We shouldn't sit there in the theater blood thirsty. I feel like almost all of the violence in the movie showed that someone being killed is still someones: daughter, father, mother, etc...

It just really felt like Oliver Stone went out of his way to show us how savage we are as an audience. I felt like at the very end when "O" describes the definition of the word Savages, it is pretty well gift wrapped for us that we are being called this word. The ending that everyone seems to hate...that just makes me wonder. I mean first you have a violent blood soaked ending. That seems to be the ending most people want. Then they rewind and give a more subtle ending. Well honestly (and this is just conjecture) this really seems to me that Oliver Stone was giving us the bird on that scene. As if to say, "Haha, you guys wanted this violent and bloody ending but no, I'm not going to feed your need for this...maybe you should learn to dislike violence a bit and realize that a human life is actually worth something to someone out there and we should not love this type of violence."

I say all of this with respect to those who truly like to think about these things. I could be wrong, but I truly enjoyed this movie while looking at it through this lens.

[–] QTKeet 12 years ago

As if to say, "Haha, you guys wanted this violent and bloody ending but no, I'm not going to feed your need for this...maybe you should learn to dislike violence a bit and realize that a human life is actually worth something to someone out there and we should not love this type of violence."

Well said. I don't think this movie was glamorizing violence. Oliver Stone must have known this and here he's showing consequences for that violence.

With most movies like this I'd just say to myself "oh well, that guy was a drug dealer anyway" to justify some character's death. It wasn't as easy to do in this movie.

So yeah this film had me questioning my morals, how did I feel about Lado getting away? Is he any less human than the other characters? I could point out weaknesses in all the characters in this movie because they weren't perfect and that makes them more meaningful.

..but uh, yeah... kids.. if you're reading this, stay out of gangs. It's not worth it.

[–] kimshare3000 12 years ago

Totally !!

Plus the "imagined" end definitely felt like a cliché shakesperian tale. ROmeo and Juliet much ?!! god...
I didn't like the movie that much (too violent, blake lively is just annoying) but I really appreciated that the end was respectful of the audience. And at least was more realistic than the whole movie.

And yeah those days, people are just sucking for it, sex, blood and drugs....lame.

[–] tempedevil 12 years ago

Sorry, but the best movie to have a crap ending has to be Heat. That movie should have ended the moment that De Niro turns and runs away from Pacino without the girl. But apparently they had to go with the typical "good guy wins" ending. I still love that movie, but when I watch it I make sure to stop it right after he rabbits.

By the way, has anyone read the Savages book by Winslow? If so, was this faithful to the ending in the book or was this a case of Stone taking liberties with that ending?

[–] arbino-man 12 years ago

Heat had an amazing ending, and The Book of Eli's ending could use some work, but it was still pretty good.

[–] IceboxMovies 12 years ago

By the way, has anyone read the Savages book by Winslow? If so, was this faithful to the ending in the book or was this a case of Stone taking liberties with that ending?

Winslow's book ends with Elena having Lado shot by her bodyguards after the hostages have been traded (because Lado's wife sold him out to her as the informer), and then there's a big gunfight in which the Mexican bodyguards are all killed, O. walks over and shoots Elena dead, and then O. and Chon cradle Ben as he dies from his wounds.

So what Stone basically did was turn up the juice on Winslow's original ending, and then reverse back and offer an ending of his own.

"What I don't understand is how we're going to stay alive this winter."