When a movie ends, and the credits roll, it usually means the story is over, with the plot and conflicts resolved. But not always. Instead, some movies end on a cliffhanger with unanswered questions. Some cliffhanger endings set up later films in a franchise, like in John Wick. Others blur the lines between reality, dreams, and memory, leaving characters and audiences alike unsure as to what happened, like in Total Recall or Inception.
Cliffhanger endings are sometimes dismissed as cop-outs, leaving audiences frustrated with the lack of closure. Others, though, display skillful writing and serve as examples of how effective a well-executed cliffhanger can be.
The following article contains spoilers for the movies discussed.
10 'The Italian Job' (1969)
Criminal Charlie Croker leads a group in stealing $4 million in gold bullion. Although they succeed, their getaway bus veers out of control.
The Italian Job ends on a literal cliffhanger, with the bus teetering precariously over a cliff as the heavy bullion slides towards the back, threatening to pull the bus down. With their fortune just out of reach — again, literally — Croker (Michael Caine insists he has a great solution, but the audience doesn't get to see it. It's easy to imagine Croker trying in vain to save themselves and the bullion, and it's an entertaining ending to a fun heist movie.
9 'John Wick 2' (2017)
The first John Wick film followed the titular assassin (played by Keanu Reeves) seeking revenge after his puppy, given to him by his late wife, was killed. The second film begins days later, with Wick dragged back into the criminal underworld to return a favor for Santino D'Antonio, who wants his sister killed. Despite these orders and the fact that she kills herself rather than be killed by Wick, D'Antonio seeks revenge. After Wick fights off assassins sent after him, he seeks revenge and kills D'Antonio in the Continental Hotel, breaking one of the underground's most important rules. As a result, Wick is declared "excommunicado," with a hefty bounty placed on his life. Owner Winston intervenes, buying Wick a one-hour head start.
John Wick 2 shows the depths of the franchise's criminal world, and its size becomes apparent — and more menacing — in the final scenes. Wick and Winston meet in a busy park, and with a simple signal from Winston, everyone freezes, letting Wick know he's not surrounded by innocent people but rather other assassins. As the clock starts ticking on his final hour, tension builds while cell phones ring all around him. As more and more phones ring, Wick moves from a walk into a full run, escaping the park...for now.
8 'The Dark Knight Rises' (2012)
As the final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises sees Batman (Christian Bale) face off with Bane (Tom Hardy). In the end, Bruce Wayne is presumed dead but is really enjoying some downtime in Florence with Selina Kyle. In the meantime, he has left a bag for Gotham police officer John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) — real name Robin — the contents of which lead to the location of the Batcave.
Bruce Wayne left Gotham for a life of peace, but that doesn’t mean it’s abandoned — the film’s final shot perfectly sets up a future with Robin at the helm. It’s a fitting sendoff for Wayne while still teasing Gotham has another hero to turn to.
7 'Primer' (2004)
Two scientist friends accidentally discover a method of time travel. They initially use it to make money, then begin to change other aspects of their life. They're careful at first, but things go wrong, leading to alternate timelines, multiple versions of themselves, and the disintegration of their friendship.
Time travel takes a physical toll, the long-term effects of which are unknown. More importantly, though, the men have very different plans at the movie's end — one wants to thwart the discovery altogether, while the other is building an even larger version of the time machine. Whether either succeeds is unknown.
6 'American Psycho' (2000)
Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a young professional by day and a brutal serial killer by night. Over the course of American Psycho, Bateman descends into madness, questioning his own reality.
American Psycho's commentary on consumerism blurs the lines between reality and fantasy. Bateman may not have killed anyone at all — it could be in his head. The movie is peppered with hints to this effect, from his lawyer telling him one of his victims isn’t dead to the bodies he’s accumulated simply disappearing. Still, though, Bateman — and the audience — isn’t sure. Is it that no one sees what Bateman is doing, or do they not care?
5 'Blade Runner' (1982)
Based on a Philip K. Dick novel, Blade Runner follows bounty hunter Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford). He is tasked with the execution of replicants, humanoids nearly indistinguishable from humans who may not even know they're replicants, thanks to fake memories. One group is on Earth illegally to meet their creator and confront him about their four-year lifespan. In the process, Deckard falls for a replicant named Rachael (Sean Young), and his humanity is called into question.
Blade Runner deals with what it means to be human. If replicants have human experiences, even human memories, how different are they, really? There are hints throughout the movie that Deckard is a replicant, and it's not just this that remains unknown. Although he and Rachael leave together, they don't know how much time they'll have.
4 'The Thing' (1982)
In The Thing, a team of researchers in Antarctica is attacked by a shapeshifting alien. With the possibility that it could be any of them, the team becomes paranoid and distrustful as they're killed one by one until two are left.
The men, MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Childs (Keith David), don't trust each other, and for good reason. But as the research station burns around them, they're left with few options, and the most likely scenario is they'll freeze to death. "Why don't we just wait here for a little while, see what happens?" MacReady says, leaving their fates and identities a mystery in a fitting ending that builds on the film's themes of isolation and paranoia.
3 '28 Weeks Later' (2007)
The sequel to 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later depicts London teeming with people infected with the Rage Virus. Two kids, Tammy and Andy, sneak out of the safe zone to retrieve family mementos, a dangerous choice that doesn't go as planned. As more and more infected make London increasingly unsafe, the kids are airlifted out.
But happy endings are hard to come by in horror. In a scene 28 days later, the helicopter is abandoned as someone pleads for help over its radio. An infected horde runs through the streets toward the Eiffel Tower, revealing the virus spread to mainland Europe. While it's possible the group survived, their fates are unknown, and the final scenes bring the movie to a close on an appropriately chaotic, hopeless note.
2 'Total Recall' (1990)
After dreaming about Mars, construction worker Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) visits a company specializing in implanting false memories: they feel real, giving the customer the illusion that they've had an actual experience. Quaid chooses a package that gives him memories of being a secret agent tasked with saving Mars, and he becomes convinced the scenario is real.
As another Philip K. Dick adaptation, it's no surprise Total Recall also deals with memory, reality, and the blurred lines between them. The movie's main events directly mirror the package Quaid chose and can be interpreted as his very convincing dream. Quaid himself is convinced he was never given the fake memories and that he is, in fact, a secret agent--but again, this is also exactly what Rekall aims to do. Rather than uncovering secrets about his identity, Quaid might be getting his money's worth.
1 'Inception' (2010)
Inception's Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a criminal working in corporate espionage by using dream-sharing technology, and he has the ability to layer dreams within dreams. Moving between dreams and reality can get confusing, so Cobb carries a totem, a top. If it spins indefinitely, he's in a dream. If it stops, he's in the real world. He is hired to accomplish the difficult task of planting an idea in someone's subconscious. When he succeeds, his status as a criminal is cleared, allowing him to return to his home and children.
When Cobb makes it home, he spins the top, watching as though the experience is too good to be real. But his attention is drawn to his children. As he focuses on them, the top keeps spinning, wobbling slightly, and the film ends without revealing if it falls. But for Cobb, it doesn't matter. He's exactly where he wants to be. If it feels real, does it matter if it isn't?