10 Movie Twists That Have Lost Their Impact Over The Years

Summary

• Major plot twists can lose their impact over time due to endless copycats and spoilers.
• Memorable twists from iconic films like Star Wars and Fight Club have been copied many times, lessening their original impact.
• Despite the widespread use of classic twist endings in modern cinema, the influence of groundbreaking films like Psycho and The Wizard of Oz remains significant.

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A well-executed plot twist can take a movie to the next level, but the best twists can lose their impact over the years as countless other movies try to copy them. Unfortunately, bad plot twists are far more common than good ones. This means that when a movie comes up with a fresh and exciting idea, it inevitably spawns scores of copycats that never quite recapture the magic of the original.

A good plot twist can reframe everything that has happened up to that point, and audiences can never see the movie in the same way as soon as the twist has been revealed. Some great movies are worth watching again after the twist has already been revealed, just to see if there are any little clues to pick up on. This is what allows movies to remain interesting long after their twists have become common knowledge and been relentlessly imitated.

This article contains spoilers for Psycho, The Sixth Sense, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Planet of the Apes, Fight Club, The Wizard of Oz, Se7en, Up, Citizen Kane and Murder on the Orient Express.

Related
10 Biggest Movie Plot Twists You Should Never Spoil For Someone

A major twist that is revealed late in a film, warping the events that went before for the viewer should be preserved for new audiences to enjoy.

10 Psycho (1960)

Norman was the killer all along

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Psycho
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Director Alfred Hitchcock Release Date September 8, 1960 Cast Janet Leigh , Martin Balsam , Anthony Perkins , John Gavin , Vera Miles

Alfred Hitchcock is one of film’s great masters of the plot twist, and Psycho has two massive reversals. The first still holds up today. Even though Marion’s death in the shower is a famous image, it’s still a shocking moment when Hitchcock kills off his main character halfway through the movie. The second twist, which eventually reveals shy and mild-mannered Norman Bates to be the killer, is less powerful.

Because so many characters have taken inspiration from Norman since 1960, he is the perfect archetype of an unsettling wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Norman is now seen as an iconic movie villain, so it’s impossible to see Psycho for the first time and not anticipate the ending. Also, because so many characters have taken inspiration from Norman since 1960, he is the perfect archetype of an unsettling wolf in sheep’s clothing. Hitchcock’s low-angled shots and Anthony Perkins’ quietly disturbing performance telegraph his murderous instincts. Psycho is still one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies, despite its big twist being spoiled.

9 The Sixth Sense (1999)

Malcolm is dead

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The Sixth Sense
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Director M. Night Shyamalan Release Date August 6, 1999 Cast Bruce Willis , Toni Collette , Haley Joel Osment , Olivia Williams , Donnie Wahlberg

The Sixth Sense delivered an incredibly famous twist at the end. It helped shape M. Night Shyamalan’s reputation as a trickster, and to a certain extent, it’s also partially responsible for the abundance of twists in mysteries and thrillers since its release. Everyone knows that there’s a twist in The Sixth Sense, and most people also know exactly what the twist is, but this doesn’t completely spoil the movie.

Everyone knows that there’s a twist in The Sixth Sense, and most people also know exactly what the twist is, but this doesn’t completely spoil the movie.

The idea that one of the main characters could be dead has been copied many times since The Sixth Sense. Before then, it scarcely seemed like a possibility, and this is what helps make the reveal so powerful. Fans have come to expect twists from Shyamalan’s movies, and this is true of similar movies by other directors. The Sixth Sense has had a huge impact, and the punch of its twist is considerably weaker now.

8 Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father

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Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
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Director Irvin Kershner Release Date May 21, 1980 Cast Mark Hamill , Harrison Ford , Carrie Fisher , Frank Oz , Billy Dee Williams , Anthony Daniels , Kenny Baker , David Prowse , Peter Mayhew , James Earl Jones

It’s hard to quantify the impact of Empire‘s big reveal that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father, because this fact is so famous that even people who don’t know Star Wars can still quote, or misquote, the twist. The Star Wars franchise hasn’t tried to maintain the power of this twist either, and the entire prequel trilogy goes into detail about Vader’s backstory as Anakin Skywalker.

Darth Vader’s twist only works so well because Star Wars sets up the fact that Luke is seeking revenge for the murder of his father, something that similar twists fail to understand.

Many other movies have tried to recreate this twist, with mixed results. Star Wars itself tried to perform the same trick in the sequel trilogy, with Palpatine revealed to be Rey’s grandfather. This reveal wasn’t loaded with meaning and high stakes like the one in Empire, so it failed to replicate the impact. Darth Vader’s twist only works so well because Star Wars sets up the fact that Luke is seeking revenge for the murder of his father, something that similar twists fail to understand.

7 Planet Of The Apes (1968)

The planet is Earth

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Planet of the Apes (1968)
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Director Franklin J. Schaffner Release Date April 3, 1968 Cast Charlton Heston , Roddy McDowall , Kim Hunter , Maurice Evans , James Whitmore , James Daly , Linda Harrison , Robert Gunner

In the same way that Star Wars has spent several movies explaining its big twist, the Planet of the Apes prequels have gone into detail about how Earth became the domain of apes. The Planet of the Apes franchise is now on track toward an eventual remake of the 1968 original, as each movie reveals more about the ascent of apes and the descent of humanity. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes shows ape society beginning to harness electricity and agriculture.

In the same way that Star Wars has spent several movies explaining its big twist, the Planet of the Apes prequels have gone into detail about how Earth became the domain of apes.

Planet of the Apes is still worth rewatching despite its twist being spoiled, but doing so makes it seem a little more obvious than it first appeared. No planet other than Earth would have the same animals, vegetation, gravity and atmosphere. These details may have been easier to overlook in 1968, but no modern movie supposedly set on an alien planet would be allowed to get away with this without raising suspicion.

6 Fight Club (1999)

The Narrator is Tyler Durden

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Director David Fincher Release Date October 15, 1999 Cast Brad Pitt , Meat Loaf , Edward Norton , Jared Leto , Helena Bonham Carter

David Fincher’s Fight Club is already a brilliant movie before its big twist, so it doesn’t matter too much that everybody now knows that the Narrator is Tyler Durden. Fight Club‘s twist has been copied multiple times, so audiences these days are bound to be less surprised when a certain character turns out to be a creation of the protagonist’s psyche, especially when the character in question doesn’t fit with their surroundings.

Fight Club‘s imitators have rarely, if ever, come close to matching the power of the twist.

Fight Club is the type of movie that urges the audience to watch it all over again once the twist is revealed, so that they can see the breadcrumbs that David Fincher left on the trail. Fincher translates the twist from Chuck Palahniuk’s novel brilliantly. It may be too famous for its own good all these years later, but the reveal is still immensely satisfying. Fight Club‘s imitators have rarely, if ever, come close to matching the power of the twist.

5 The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

Dorothy was dreaming the entire time

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The Wizard of Oz

Director Victor Fleming Release Date August 25, 1939 Cast Margaret Hamilton , Jack Haley , Judy Garland , Bert Lahr , Ray Bolger

The Wizard of Oz opts for one of the most overused twists of all time, with Dorothy waking up to realize that she’s back in Kansas with her dog Toto by her side. This is usually seen as a cop-out that destroys the stakes and the themes of the entire story, but it somehow works quite well in The Wizard of Oz, as the important thing is that Dorothy has learned to appreciate the comforts of home.

Since The Wizard of Oz, countless movies and TV shows have used the “it was all a dream” twist, and it almost never works.

Since The Wizard of Oz, countless movies and TV shows have used the “it was all a dream” twist, and it almost never works. Many of these have directly parodied The Wizard of Oz, but the movie still works despite its lame twist. This is because the conflict is resolved just before Dorothy arrives back in Kansas. By wishing to be home, Dorothy learns her lesson and grows as a character. How she gets from Oz to Kansas is largely immaterial.

4 Up (2009)

Charles Muntz’s villain twist

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Up

Director Pete Docter Release Date June 11, 2009 Cast Ed Asner , Bob Peterson

The beginning of Up is remembered as one of Pixar’s mini-masterpieces, but before Carl and Ellie’s sprawling love story kicks into gear, a young Carl is seen in a movie theater watching newsreel footage of his hero, Charles Muntz. This sets the scene for a shocking villain twist, when the two men finally meet each other decades later, and Carl realizes that Muntz has become bitter and obsessive.

While this reveal had a big impact at the time, it has been cheapened in the following years by all the Pixar and Disney animated movies which have also had twist villains.

While this reveal had a big impact at the time, it has been cheapened in the following years by all the Pixar and Disney animated movies which have also had twist villains. Lotso in Toy Story 3, Evelyn in Incredibles 2, Ernesto in Coco, Dawn Bellwether in Zootopia, Hans in Frozen. The list of Disney villains who don’t reveal their intentions until late in the day has been growing and growing since Up, so audiences can see it coming now.

3 Se7en (1995)

John Doe planned on being captured

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Director David Fincher Release Date September 22, 1995 Cast Brad Pitt , gwyneth paltrow , John C. McGinley , Morgan Freeman , Kevin Spacey

Typical of many of David Fincher’s best thrillers, Se7en has a sumptuous twist toward the end, as Mills and Somerset’s investigation finally leads them to John Doe. Just as the two detectives think that they’ve put an end to his killing spree, the murderer reveals his ace in the hole. Mills’ wife’s head arrives in a box, and John Doe urges Mills to kill him as an act of retribution, thus fulfilling the final role of the seven deadly sins.

When two of the biggest blockbusters in history are using the same twist for their villains, it’s obviously become a little too predictable.

John Doe’s fiendish plan gives the detectives a false victory before revealing that his capture was intentional. This trope has been trotted out in plenty of movies since Se7en, so the originality of this plot point has faded slightly. The Joker allows himself to be captured in The Dark Knight, and Loki pulls a similar trick in The Avengers. When two of the biggest blockbusters in history are using the same twist for their villains, it’s obviously become a little too predictable.

2 Citizen Kane (1941)

Roseburd was the name of Charles’ sled

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Director Orson Welles Release Date April 17, 1941 Cast Orson Welles , Joseph Cotten , Dorothy Comingore , Agnes Moorehead , Ruth Warrick , Ray Collins

Citizen Kane begins with newsreel footage detailing Charles Kane’s death and the extravagance of his life. The mystery of the film hinges on the meaning of his final word “Rosebud,” as reporters set out to interview his closest associates to try to figure it out. Different characters posit their own theories about the word’s meaning, with some theorizing that it was the name of one of his mistresses or a horse he lost a big bet on.

This twist doesn’t have as much impact all these years later, but this is only because so many other movies have been inspired by this idea.

The reveal that “Rosebud” was the name of Charles’ beloved childhood sled highlights the damage that his traumatic childhood had on his entire life. Charles was essentially traded away from his parents as a young boy as his guardianship was transferred over to a rich industrialist. This twist doesn’t have as much impact all these years later, but this is only because so many other movies have been inspired by this idea. It’s now common to see a character grappling with events from their formative years, but this wouldn’t be as widespread without Orson Welles’ influential masterpiece.

1 Murder On The Orient Express (2017)

All the suspects colluded in the murder together

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Murder on the Orient Express

Director Kenneth Branagh Release Date November 10, 2017 Cast Michael Pena , Michelle Pfeiffer , Penelope Cruz , Daisy Ridley , Kenneth Branagh , Johnny Depp , Leslie Odom Jr. , judi dench , Josh Gad

Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot movies have brought new life to Agatha Christie’s famous Belgian detective, but they have still trotted out the same twists which have been seen in adaptations of her work for decades. Murder on the Orient Express was a bold choice to start off the franchise, because the entire narrative hinges on a reveal that is among the most famous literary twists ever.

Murder on the Orient Express was a bold choice to start off the franchise, because the entire narrative hinges on a reveal that is among the most famous literary twists ever.

In this case, Branagh’s first movie was already spoiled before it even opened in theaters, but it still pleased audiences with its performances and characterizations. Just like any adaptation of a well-known novel, Murder on the Orient Express is about much more than its surprising narrative. Branagh’s subsequent Poirot movies have also used some of Christie’s most famous stories, but he doesn’t try to reinvent them too much.

Source: https://www.lsu.edu.vn
Category: Entertainment