r/flicks • u/KaleidoArachnid • 1d ago
General Discussion Times when movies became known for having infamous plot twists Spoiler
Lately something that stuck out to me was how a movie franchise or saga is doing relatively well for the most part as fans love the series, up until a particular revelation comes out of nowhere as the franchise becomes infamous for throwing in such a bizarre twist.
Some examples of the trope are Star Wars Episode 1 with the revelation about the force as it was such a cheap way to explain how the Force works, and another example is the Android moment from Austin Powers.
I don’t know if the Austin Powers one counts well due to the series being a silly spy movie series, but if I remember correctly, the series got a bit of flack from fans of the original movie due to how the second entry basically revealed how the main character’s romantic interest was a machine the whole time as it was a really bizarre revelation that came out of nowhere. (I mean that’s just my take)
Anyway, I just wanted to basically discuss infamous cases of movie franchises that became known for a particular revelation as I find the trope interesting in ways that are hard to explain as one more example I would like to share is the death of a major character in Rocky 4.
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u/Chrono_Convoy 1d ago
When the two shoes match stride
Usual Suspects
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u/Ok-Concert-6475 1d ago
I always thought this was a stellar way of revealing the plot twist.
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u/KaleidoArachnid 1d ago
Sorry let me rephrase it, you mentioned the Usual Suspects as I was wondering what the movie was about to get an idea of what made it so infamous.
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u/notanotherkrazychik 1d ago
Armen Tamzarian.
And this was the era of good simpsons episodes so the real Seymour Skinner storyline kinda threw us fans for a loop.
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u/Time_Possibility4683 1d ago
Spectre, for Cristoph Waltz's character being revealed to be Blofeld, and Bond's adoptive brother. Star Trek Into Darkness, for Benedict Cumberbatch being Khan despite pre-release denials by JJ Abhrams.
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u/ArmyDry2797 1d ago
I was so mad about him being Khan. The movie could have been so much better if they had just played him straight rather than making him Khan and coming out with a 6 issue comic book series to explain why he was Khan. Abrams plays real fast and loose with Star Trek even with it being an 'alternate universe'. He's not very good at understanding the implications of his own plot points and how those will effect the broader world of star trek and thus future story lines.
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u/CMRestler Film Critic 1d ago
The somehow Palpatine returned twist still feels like they skipped an entire movie worth of explanation.
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u/KaleidoArachnid 1d ago edited 1d ago
It’s such a weird revelation that feels very out of place.
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u/joeappearsmissing 1d ago
The fact that they put the “how” in fucking Fortnite of all places…
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u/KaleidoArachnid 1d ago
Pardon me because I was wondering what you meant when you said that plot point was used in Fortnite.
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u/KingJacobyaropa 1d ago
The village was a big one for me growing up and that was the first sign of trouble for M.Night. I know it has its fans but that's the first movie I can remember a good amount of people being disappointed with.
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u/Awingbestwing 1d ago
What got me was, like, half a year before it came out I read an interview with him in a screenwriting magazine where he said that was the original ending but scrapped it because it was dumb and then…
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u/ELMUNECODETACOMA 1d ago
It wasn't the first SIGN of trouble. There had been plenty of SIGNS that Shyamalan was losing the plot at least a couple years before "The Village". If that was the first SIGN of trouble you saw, you missed a number of SIGNS that were plainly out there. You could say that the SIGNS were all over the place.
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u/wizardwithgussets 1d ago
I knew the twist in the first scene. He lingered waaaaaaay too long on the dates of that headstone
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u/DamaxXIV 1d ago
Another comment section on reddit not knowing the difference between famous and infamous.
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u/KaleidoArachnid 1d ago
I mean, I just wanted to discuss cases of revelations that hampered the legacy of a movie franchise
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u/DamaxXIV 1d ago
Yeah it's not you, moreso people mentioning twists that have no negative connotation.
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u/SwingOne9199 1d ago
That midichlorian thing in Phantom Menace still bothers me sometimes. The Force used to be this mystical energy that anyone could connect to with enough training, then suddenly it's about having enough microscopic bugs in your blood. took something spiritual and turned it into biology class.
The Austin Powers fembot twist I actually thought was funny but I get why people hated it. You spend the whole first movie watching these two build something and then the sequel just goes "nah she was a robot lol." Felt like the writers didn't know what to do with her character so they hit the reset button in the dumbest way possible.
Rocky 4 is interesting case because that death actually made the series better in my opinion. Gave Rocky real motivation beyond just being the underdog again. sometimes a twist that sounds cheap on paper ends up working because of how the rest of the movie handles it.
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u/Financial_Cheetah875 1d ago
The midichlorian was there as a plot device to give the Jedi strong motivation to free Anakin and train him.
And by your logic, you’re saying anyone could become a Jedi if they were trained. So Han Solo could use the Force if someone just taught him? I don’t think so.
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u/KaleidoArachnid 1d ago
Yeah the Fembot thing is most interesting to me for how it came out of nowhere, but I can see how the death scene in Rocky 4 worked.
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u/Beginning-Abalone-58 1d ago
For Austin Powers, I believe, it was due to contract negotions with the actor not working out caused the writers to deal with it that way
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u/TheKodachromeMethod 1d ago
Not a franchise, but I remember the filmmakers (and critics) begging people not to give away the twist in The Crying Game.
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u/Financial_Cheetah875 1d ago
For Star Wars, Empire would be the better example. That twist was a pivot point for the franchise.
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