Summary
- Sci-fi movies need a killer ending to be truly memorable and stand out from the rest.
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Planet of the Apes, and Snowpiercer offer shocking and enduring endings.
- Movies like Ex Machina, The Prestige, and Inception deliver unforgettable, compelling, and sometimes dark conclusions.
Sci-fi is one of the most creative and elaborate genres in film, and when the movies wrap up with an image that burns itself into your brain, it stays there. I am firmly of the opinion that sci-fi is one of the best and most versatile genres in cinema. It pairs well with a wide array of other genres and sub-genres, and it provides space to explore virtually anything, descending to the darkest themes in horror, or the heights of hopeful fiction.
However, for a sci-fi movie to really stand out and remain memorable, it needs to nail the ending. A movie has the potential to be fun and successful with enough marketing and hype, but to make it into the annals of history, it needs to have a killer ending. Whether this comes in a cruel twist of fate, or if the entire movie was barreling towards a specific outcome, but it seemed too risky to follow through, there are some movies that manage to push the boundaries and create an enduring ending through shock and awe.
10 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
In 1978, well before my time, sci-fi had already been established as one of the most exciting and engaging spaces in film. Stories about aliens, technology, space, and different periods of time allowed for a great deal of freedom of expression from creatives. While these kinds of stories had existed for many years in novels, films were starting to get to a point where they could adapt these ideas to a high standard.
And that is exactly what happened with 1978’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Based on the 1955 novel of the same name, and becoming the second adaptation after the 1956 version, this film became the definitive quiet alien invasion story. The dark atmosphere and struggles that hang over the characters throughout the film is masterfully crafted, and in the movie’s final moments, it passes that unease over to the audience to take home.
Related
10 Incredible Sci-Fi Movies That Are More Science Than Fiction
Sci-fi movies often push the limits of plausibility, leaning more into fiction. However, some films showcase more accurate elements.
9 Planet of the Apes
Another classic sci-fi from 10 years earlier has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years with the rebooted film franchise. However, in 1968, when the first Planet of the Apes movie came out, the ending provided a shocking twist that secured its position as one of the greats. Having watched this movie years later, it is practically common knowledge that the twist ending reveals the planet to be Earth, but the story is compelling enough to make it appear otherwise prior to that reveal.
When astronauts become stranded in space, it is nearly impossible to guess where in the vast blackness of space they could have ended up. However, the world where Taylor, Landon and Dodge wake up from their hibernation appears to be only vaguely similar to ours. Add to this, the dominant species being apes, and it is no wonder why the ending hits so incredibly hard as it does.
8 Snowpiercer
Snowpiercer ends on a marginally more hopeful note. With the Earth in a global ice age, the few survivors have moved onto a perpetually moving train to evade the coldsnap. However, things on the train are not equal and fair, and the people in the worst conditions rise up against those living off their hard work and poverty.
In the film’s final moments, the hero of the story, Curtis (Chris Evans), sets events in motion for the train to blow up, and he chooses to protect two of the innocent children on board, sacrificing his own body. As if the intense image of these children being saved by two charred bodies wasn’t enough, when they exit the now derailed train, they see that life does exist outside the train, which means there is hope for the future. However, everyone apart from these two kids is now dead.
Related
10 Tech Inventions In Sci-Fi Movies That Will Probably Be Real Soon
Though the inventions in sci-fi movies might seem a long way away, the predictions of past films have already come true, and new ones are coming.
7 Ex Machina
Ex Machina is a film that came out in 2014, but feels like it fits perfectly into a 2024 story about AI and human-machine relationships. I remember watching the film and being blown away by the stunning visuals and the moral dilemmas being presented, but despite Ava the robot’s questionable intentions, the film is convincing in having her appear as though her emotions are genuine.
The film then plays with this concept of giving the machine humanity, and making the audience, myself included, feel empathy towards them. However, writer and director Alex Garland hammers home the inhumanity of the machine in the end. Despite convincing Caleb of her romantic feelings towards him, Ava uses his emotions against him, trapping him in her place and fleeing in the helicopter that was intended for him.
6 The Prestige
The Prestige is easily one of my favorite films of all time, and that is down to the incredible direction from Christopher Nolan, the powerful performances of Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale (twice over), and the extraordinary ending. From start to finish, the movie is a performative act. It outlines this clearly, establishing its own similarity to a magic trick in its three parts, which all combine and conclude with prestige.
Part of what makes the film so satisfying is because this framing as a magic trick is perfect for Nolan’s style. Having created intricate stories that work from the end backwards, Nolan knows, perhaps more than any other working director today, how to make a good ending. And when the secret of Angier’s “Transported Man” is finally revealed, it creates a perfect link to the start of the film, in a way that is both twisted and clever.
Related
10 Amazing Sci-Fi Movie Crews Without A Single Bad Character
From Star Trek to Guardians of the Galaxy, lovable space crews are a popular sci-fi trope, because they allow for an ensemble of colorful characters.
5 Inception
Another Nolan picture, Inception, is one of the best movies of the 2010s. The story revolves around the idea of being able to implant and nudge ideas within a person’s mind. However, in order to properly insert the idea in a way that feels like the individual thought it up themselves, those incepting the idea would need to go deep into the subconscious. The idea and execution were, once again, absolutely top-notch. However, as the story progresses and more is revealed about Cobb’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) character and his late wife, things get dark.
Mal, Cobb’s deceased wife, died in an incident years earlier, which in true Nolan fashion appears at the start of the film. But, it isn’t until much later that Cobb reveals he was the first one to successfully incept an idea, and it was the one that led to his wife’s suicide. At the end of everything, though, Cobb chooses to live a life with his children, free of the burden of what is or is not real, leaving that spinning top in a way that still haunts me and many others.
4 Avengers: Infinity War
Superhero movies are typically pretty low stakes. Despite the action heating up and the heroes being on a mission to save the world, it’s almost guaranteed that they will win, the villain is defeated, and the world is safe. However, when Joe and Anthony Russo released Avengers: Infinity War in 2018, one year before the second part of that concluding chapter of the Infinity Saga, it completely subverted expectations.
Not only did the heroes lose the fight against the terrifying titan Thanos, but that loss resulted in half of all life in the universe turning to dust. Despite the film being in two parts, the reality of many of the world’s mightiest heroes, and the rest of all life disappearing was shocking. Of course, the heroes found their way back in Endgame, but, the intense emotion that Infinity War left in its wake was visceral.
Related
10 Movies That Perfectly Blend Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Movies like Star Wars and Dune are commonly considered sci-fi, but they incorporate elements of fantasy as well. Here are other great examples.
3 A.I. Artificial Intelligence
In 2001, a very different AI story was being explored by the incredible Steven Spielberg. A.I. Artificial Intelligence explored the potential for an artificial child to fill the void in parents’ lives after the loss of their own natural child. Unlike the robots and AIs that exist today, David (Haley Joel Osment) is capable of experiencing love, and when he is assigned to Monica and Henry Swinton, he quickly bonds with them.
However, when their real son recovers from his rare illness, David’s place in the family becomes less sure. The movie is an emotional and heart-wrenching exploration of the separation of a robot with a heart and no home from the only people he loves. However divisive the ending may be, there is no doubt that it packs an emotional punch with David being given memories of a false final day with his beloved Monica, before going offline forever.
2 A Clockwork Orange
In 1971, Stanley Kubrick delivered A Clockwork Orange, shortly after his most widely celebrated success with 2001: A Space Odyssey. Despite both films being praised for their endings, A Clockwork Orange provides a more chilling and disturbing ending than 2001. In this sci-fi dystopian story, a young man named Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) is cured of his ultra violent behaviors.
Although the film goes to great lengths to expose the depths of his depravity, the intense and torturous treatments provided to cure him, and his eventual freedom as a reformed member of society, the ending takes an unexpected turn. As Alex appears to be truly a changed boy, with great prospects for his future, the film leaves the audience with a bitter and terrifying reality. Alex isn’t really cured.
Related
10 Movies That Perfectly Blend Sci-Fi & Horror
Few movies utilize aspects of only one genre in their stories, and some of the best sci-fi films include elements of horror and suspense.
1 The Mist
Of course, this list could not be complete without the addition of Frank Darabont’s incredible adaptation of Stephen King’s popular novella, The Mist. This sci-fi horror has one of the most haunting endings in all cinema. After a mysterious mist descends over Earth and hostile alien creatures, people are forced to pursue whatever means possible to survive. David Drayton, along with his eight-year-old son and three other survivors reach the end of the line as they try to outrun the invaders and survive the mist.
But, when the car runs out of gas, and the life they all formerly knew is utterly devastated and gone, David chooses to do the kind, but difficult thing, by shooting the others to save them from a slow painful death. However, moments later, the mist disappears, and the army arrives to rescue him. The agony of David’s pained screams as he realizes the weight of what he has just done makes this one of the most haunting and disturbing endings in cinema.