When it comes to twist endings, I think there are three things that are necessary to justify them.
First, the ending has to evolve logically from the story. That is, when you go back and look at the movie the second time, you can see where the careful director and screenwriter have laid the groundwork for the twist. Think of the Sixth Sense. We may not have seen the ending coming, but the evidence for it was there, in retrospect.
Second, the ending has to be internally consistent with the logic of the movie.
Third, and most importantly, the ending has to resonate backwards into the story, offering some insight into the characters and the story that makes you understand the story better with repeat watchings. This is perhaps the hardest thing for a trick ending to do.
David Gale violates all of these precepts. ALL of them. SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER Most egregiously, the trick ending - the final tape Winslet gets is absolutely inconsistent with the entire movie. Kevin Spacey's character goes to the trouble of killing someone, framing himself, getting executed, creating a tape that exonerates him for someone to find right after he dies, AND THEN SENDS A TAPE UNDERCUTTING ALL THIS TO A REPORTER? Horse hockey. The sole reason for that tape to be sent to Winslet is so the movie makers can make us sit on a cinematic whoopee cushion. END SPOILER END SPOILER END SPOILER Not only is it a cheap trick, it is a stupid one. Any screenwriter worth spitting on if they were on fire should be able to come up with a way for us to realize that the whole thing was a set up without resorting to such an obvious trick that is an insult to our intelligence.
The ending also is not prepared for us previously in the movie, anywhere. It does not arise naturally from any of the characters, there are no real clues scattered for us to have missed. It is just tacked on at the end.
And, of course, it adds nothing to the movie. Until the end, the movie was a decent, if overly strident, movie about an issue: the death penalty. I am not one for message movies, and am ambivalent on the issue, but the movie was not - until the end. What does that ending say about the message that the movie was sending in the first hour and forty five minutes? Nothing, except that the movie makers don't care about the issue they tried to get you to care about.
The stridency of the movie prior to the twist is the result of a mediocre script and by the numbers direction. Even before the end, this was at best a 6. But with that ending....
A contemptible movie. I'd give this a 1, except for the Kate Winslet rule. She's an actress I love watching, and is one of those rare performers where their mere presence in a movie keeps it from being totally worthless for me. Also, Spacey is very good as usual; the ending is not his fault.
So, I'll give this a 4 for the acting. But it is awful.
First, the ending has to evolve logically from the story. That is, when you go back and look at the movie the second time, you can see where the careful director and screenwriter have laid the groundwork for the twist. Think of the Sixth Sense. We may not have seen the ending coming, but the evidence for it was there, in retrospect.
Second, the ending has to be internally consistent with the logic of the movie.
Third, and most importantly, the ending has to resonate backwards into the story, offering some insight into the characters and the story that makes you understand the story better with repeat watchings. This is perhaps the hardest thing for a trick ending to do.
David Gale violates all of these precepts. ALL of them. SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER Most egregiously, the trick ending - the final tape Winslet gets is absolutely inconsistent with the entire movie. Kevin Spacey's character goes to the trouble of killing someone, framing himself, getting executed, creating a tape that exonerates him for someone to find right after he dies, AND THEN SENDS A TAPE UNDERCUTTING ALL THIS TO A REPORTER? Horse hockey. The sole reason for that tape to be sent to Winslet is so the movie makers can make us sit on a cinematic whoopee cushion. END SPOILER END SPOILER END SPOILER Not only is it a cheap trick, it is a stupid one. Any screenwriter worth spitting on if they were on fire should be able to come up with a way for us to realize that the whole thing was a set up without resorting to such an obvious trick that is an insult to our intelligence.
The ending also is not prepared for us previously in the movie, anywhere. It does not arise naturally from any of the characters, there are no real clues scattered for us to have missed. It is just tacked on at the end.
And, of course, it adds nothing to the movie. Until the end, the movie was a decent, if overly strident, movie about an issue: the death penalty. I am not one for message movies, and am ambivalent on the issue, but the movie was not - until the end. What does that ending say about the message that the movie was sending in the first hour and forty five minutes? Nothing, except that the movie makers don't care about the issue they tried to get you to care about.
The stridency of the movie prior to the twist is the result of a mediocre script and by the numbers direction. Even before the end, this was at best a 6. But with that ending....
A contemptible movie. I'd give this a 1, except for the Kate Winslet rule. She's an actress I love watching, and is one of those rare performers where their mere presence in a movie keeps it from being totally worthless for me. Also, Spacey is very good as usual; the ending is not his fault.
So, I'll give this a 4 for the acting. But it is awful.