Movie endings, they’re usually pretty straight forward right? Everything pays off, the main characters learn something, and our heroes ride off into the sunset. Sometimes though, we don’t get the typical ending from a movie, we get something much more nuanced, complex and open ended. The kind of endings that leave things up in the air for all of us to debate and theorize on until we’re blue in the face. With Movie Endings Explained, we aim to delve into some of the more ambiguous and mysterious endings to films that have left audiences scratching their heads for years, and to attempt to explain them. In most cases, a definitive answer isn’t really there, so we definitely want to hear from YOU on how you interpret the various endings we’ll be discussing with this series.
In this edition we’re taking a look at Cameron Crowe‘s 2001 film VANILLA SKY, a dreamy psychological thriller starring Tom Cruise. Told almost entirely in flashback, the film centers around Cruise’s character David Ames telling his life story to court psychologist Dr. McCabe (played by Kurt Russell) after he’s been charged with murder. In the flashbacks, he’s Tom Cruise, as you would expect, but in the interrogation room he wears a prosthetic mask over his face. The mystery deepens and unravels as the film reaches its big tiwst. In this video we take a look at what happens at the end of VANILLA SKY, the theories that have grown over the years about its final twist, and if the recently released alternate ending offers any more explanation!