The 10 Best Movie Twist Endings of the Decade
Our cornucopia of decade's end lists continues now with the Twist List: The best twist-endings and third-act mindf*cks from the last ten years. They're the cherries on your Manoj sundae, and they're after the jump.
10. Identity (2003)
The set-up: A group of ten strangers are stranded at a Nevada motel during a thunderstorm. Meanwhile, a psychopath awaits trial at a mental institution.
The twist: The strangers are all multiple personalities of the psychopath, each being killed off in his mind by the true homicidal personality: Timmy York, a quiet boy who had faked his own death earlier.
9. The Departed (2006)
The set-up: Irish-Catholic Boston boy Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is raised by mobster Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) to become a mole in the Massachusetts State Police. Meanwhile a force graduate (Leonardo DiCaprio) is convinced to become an undercover agent infiltrating Costello's inner circle.
The twist: Having executed a seemingly perfect crime with no witnesses, Sullivan returns home expecting to find his psychiatrist girlfriend Madolyn. Instead, Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) is waiting for him, and puts a bullet in his head.
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Comments
Seth are you high?!! You HAVE to be to like 'The Village' a not only godawful movie but cog on the ever growing wheel of M. Night's roll to mediocrity. He has been sucking big fat donkey balls of late so I get where the praise comes from. That goes TRIPLE for 'High Tension' a plot twist so dumb Forrest Gump would challenge it. I could forgive it was a rip-off of some other films but that plot twist was not only STUPID BUT MADE ZERO SENSE. We're supposed to believe a 108 pound woman can push a dresser and decapitate someone. Plus why we she be hurt in a car accident if there were no 'real killer' to crash into her and cause one in the first place. Just dumb.
I'm on board The Village hatred train! That "twist" was so amazing, I was only able to figure it out about ten minutes into the movie!! The Departed isn't really a twist ending; a twist requires you to question things you saw before. Markie Mark being mobbed up would have been a twist, this was just a shock, nothing more. And when half of a movie is really just a different movie tacked onto the movie you were previously watching (Mulholland Drive), that's not a twist either.
What happened to the sixth sense? that movie had the best plot twist, and it was such a great plot twist that no one gave away the ending. No one spoke of the ending of this movie, including radio disc jockeys, television movie critics, and movie goers. The sixth Sense should have been number one. Bye the way... who made up this list?
i got the twist for the sixth sense right away, it is pretty obvious. there are hints from the start, like how no one but the boy talks to him. I think the village has the best twist of any movie i have seen. or the lottery for a short film
The Sixth Sense was released in 1999.
Seriously people, read the headline! Its for the last decade - 200-2009 - so Seven, Fight Club, Shawshank, Usual Suspects are all from the 90s, don't count!
That said, I liked the list. Shouldnt have read it though, as STILL haven't seen the Orphanage, and now know the ending - but that's my fault, still wanna see it... And I reckon the twists you have here are good, even if the films themselves (The Village, Identity) don't always prove to be as good as first hoped. All except for Haute Tension. A brilliant film that has the worst ending possibly ever. Agreed, it isnt a good twist ending if it makes EVERYTHING that has happened before null and void. It really defies imagination at how dumb it is. Sorry Seth, bad call on that one.
Looking at a few others' suggestions - Id agree with the Mist, gutting. Oldboy also. And The Descent. But I reckon Saw is the glaring omission here, especially in light of the movies you have shown. It may not be the best film - but that final reveal was a great way to cap off the movie. If only it had stopped there...
Sixth Sense - also of the 90s...
I agree with the person who added "The Skeleton Key". I did NOT see that ending coming at all.
HP and Half Blood Prince - Snape's revelation? (Nice twist for those that don't read the books!)
I'm surprised Donnie Darko hasn't been mentioned as well.
But Snape's revelation is utterly meaningless. So he's the Half-Blood Prince. So what? What does that even mean? How is it relevant to the story?
Please don't cite the book. It needs to be present in the film.
Cool list, Memento is in my top 3 all time favorite movies! But I have to disagree with your assessment that, "Leonard accidentally killed his wife... " I don't believe that was ever actually confirmed either by what we are shown or by Nolan. That is what Teddy TOLD Leonard, but it is left up to the viewer as to whether you believe him or not.
the orphan...
Damn! Rick Rolled again!!!!
Planet of the Apes (1968), the original, is probably one of the most brilliant twists of all time.
a beautiful mind is one movie with a great plot twist, not in the ending part though
I like 3, 2, and 1. The rest weren't that great.
I'm with you there. And I'd move Identity up the list. Nobody saw that coming!
I think it's just a commentary on the movies of that decade that even films with "twists" you could predict ten minutes into the movie (The Village) or ones with wretched third acts (The Departed) or ones which never made any sense in the first place (Mulholland Drive) make this top ten list. I think I would have to follow suit and add Saw to this list. The "dead" guy getting up at the end made everyone at my showing crap their pants!
Ahhhhhh Ma GaaaaD !! What a RICK ROLL !!!
shutter island 😉
NO Way!!!! THE MIST has to be the movie with the most twisted and wicked ending.....I was like WTF!!!! on watching the end..!!!
and completely different from the original story. I wonder if it was ok with Stephen King.
where th fuck is VANILLA SKY
This is why Movieline sucks. The Departed? Gone Baby, Gone? And the Village, a groan-inducing turd if there ever was one. This article blew. The writing, the research, Movieline has gone south. I will not be reading it again.
The uninvited had an amazing plot twist too
Hey how could you even forget about The Mist !!!!.. the most craziest twisted mind f***ing endings ever !!! .. what a crap list !
not really. read the stephen king story. what's with the naughty words? makes you look like you're jr high.
HA! jokes on you, i like this song:)
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Great List, it would have been great if you had listed them out in a single page. Check out my Top Movies with Twist Endings - http://tad.co.in/?p=481
THE ORPHAN AND MARTYRS
how was rick A a surprise?
they already listed the top 10...what else were you expecting?
Such a bad list except few movies where is The Sixth Sense.
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