Worst2First: My Top Ten Best Twist Endings in Film

Worst2First: 

My Top Ten Best Twist Endings in Film

What makes films great is the stories they tell.  Sometimes they're cut-and-dry, straightforward and linear, and that's alright.  Then there's other films that take your mind for a ride, traverses the many twists and turns that ends in a spectacular finish that you never saw coming.

Here are my personal top ten best twist endings in film, worst2first...

**THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!
I WILL BE SPOILING THE ENDING FOR THESE FILMS!

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THEM YET, 

DO NOT READ AHEAD!!!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!**

Alright, you have been adequately warned.

#10

Atonement

In the film, there's a relationship blossoming between Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie (James McAvoy), but Cecilia's younger sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan) becomes jealous and concocts a story, sending Robbie to prison and eventually into World War II.  The two lovers are able to reconnect, and seemingly live a happy life.  In the end, it turns out that Robbie actually died in the war, and Cecilia died in a bombing in London.  Briony - who is now older and an acclaimed author - made up the entire story of Cecilia and Robbie reconnecting and wrote a book about it, as a way to repent - or atone - for her earlier sin.

#9

Saw

Before flying off the rails after the second film, "Saw" was a fresh, new take on horror, introducing the subgenre of torture porn to the horror theme.  The story was fresh, new, and exciting, and included a very intriguing twist.  Two men are chained in a room, with a dead man in the center.  However, in the end, it turns out the "dead man" wasn't actually dead, but in reality was the killer known as Jigsaw, who wanted to see firsthand if the players would play by his rules.

#8

 The Others

Beautifully shot, wonderfully acted and extremely well-written, this Gothic horror movie features Nicole Kidman as a mother who is trying to protect her children from a ghost in their home.  We're drawn to them, their story, and their plight...and then the big twist.  We find out that Kidman and her children are actually the ghosts, and the living human inhabitants of the house are trying to get them out.  It was a twist out of left field and expertly crafted.

#7

The Prestige

Christopher Nolan (whose name will be mentioned again later) is one of the foremost revolutionary directors of our time.  In "The Prestige," he pits Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale - two dueling magicians - against each other in order to achieve the greatest magic trick ever.  As it turns out, the audience is the one tricked, and well treated, as it's revealed that Bale's character has a twin brother, and Jackman's character has multiple clones of himself that he keeps killing off after each trick.

#6

The Planet of the Apes

When three astronauts are marooned on a strange alien planet where apes rule man, you'd think there couldn't be a bigger twist.  However, when Charlton Heston's character reaches freedom, he discovers the Statue of Liberty, and learns that this planet of the apes is actually his home planet of Earth.  He then utters the now famous line: "You blew it up!  Damn you!  God damn you all to hell!"  It was a fascinating twist that cemented the film as one of the most prolific films in a generation.

#5

Memento

In one of Christopher Nolan's earliest films, "Memento" features Guy Pierce playing Leonard, who suffers from a rare form of memory loss, who tries to uncover who killed his wife.  He can't remember events that happened fifteen minutes ago, and tattoos himself with clues to what happened.  It turns out that his wife survived the home invasion, and Leonard was the one who accidentally killed her later.

#4

The Usual Suspects

Kevin Spacey plays Roger Kint, a con man with cerebral palsy who is one of two witnesses left alive after the infamous killer Keyser Soze murdered several people on a ship.  The police don't suspect him, and after he leaves the truth is revealed: Kint had been faking his cerebral palsy, and was actually Keyser Soze.  It was a mind-bending film that earned Spacey an Academy Award for his performance, and is still heralded to this day.

#3

Fight Club

Edgard Norton plays the narrator, a man who is chronically depressed and suffering from insomnia, who meets Tyler Durden - played by Brad Pitt - who introduces him to a whole new world of excitement and danger.  Together, the two men form a Fight Club - a group of men who let out their aggression by participating in underground fight clubs - and also cause carnage and mayhem in the town.  In the end, it turns out that the narrator also suffers from dissociative identity disorder, and both he and Tyler Durden are the same person.

#2

The Sixth Sense

M. Night Shyamalan is well-known for his crafty, cerebral films that include a huge twist, and his first major film - "The Sixth Sense" - started it all.  Nominated for a staggering six Oscars, the film stars Haley Joel Osment as a young boy who has a sixth sense - he can see dead people.  Child psychologist Dr. Crowe (played by Bruce Willis) tries to help him understand the abilities he has, but it all comes to a jarring climax.  It turns out that Dr. Crowe is one of the dead people the young boy sees.

#1

The Empire Strikes Back

George Lucas's space opera "Star Wars" will forever be one of the most iconic films in cinematic history, and it's the second (technically, the fifth) film that cemented it in film history.  The story is that of ultimate good versus ultimate evil, and the climax involves Luke Skywalker fighting the evil Darth Vader.  After Vader takes out Luke's arm, he makes the now classic proclamation: "I am your father."  During a time where the Internet didn't exist and word only spread by word of mouth, this was a monumental twist that no one saw coming, and to this day is the biggest twist in any film in history.