The Least Surprising Plot Twists That Everyone Saw Coming
While a stunning third-act reveal can elevate an okay movie to a borderline classic, obvious plot twists can turn a solid movie into a complete joke. It’s not always easy for writers to come up with plot twists that resonate with audiences or even make sense within the larger narrative. There’s a fine line between something that feels like a ripoff, original, or can be seen coming from a mile away.
In an attempt to avoid revelations that lack logical coherence, filmmakers will often play it safe; putting major clues to a reveal right in front of the viewer’s face, making the twists obvious even for those watching a film for the first time. In hindsight, the build-up appears blatant and glaringly obvious. With that in mind, here are the least surprising plot twists that everyone saw coming.
1
Superman’s Ressurection In ‘Justice League’
Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
When Henry Cavill’s Superman perished in Batman v Superman, it had next to no impact on the audience since no one believed the Man of Steel wasn’t coming back for 2017’s Justice League.
While the how and why of Cavill’s return was changed from Zack Snyder’s original vision, Superman’s resurrection seemed to be a perfunctory afterthought or a minor side quest for the League on the way to a bigger fight. Even if everyone knew it was coming, Justice League could’ve done much to make his return a little more original and a little less Pet Sematary.
- Actors: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Amy Adams, Ezra Miller
- Released: 2017
- Directed by: Zack Snyder
Photo: New Line Cinema
The 1940s love story of The Notebook is framed as a story read by an elderly man, Duke, to a fellow patient at a modern-day nursing home. As the audience becomes as infatuated and frustrated with Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams’s characters as they are with each other, the film returns to the elderly couple from the beginning.
Turns out, Duke is actually an older Noah and the patient he’s reading to is Allie. She suffers from dementia in her old age, and she no longer remembers their epic romance. The jumps through time (as well as the character’s ages) make this twist less than earth-shattering, but it doesn’t make the story any less of a tear-jerker.
- Actors: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands, James Marsden
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Nick Cassavetes
David Pretends To Be Walter At The End Of ‘Alien: Covenant’
Photo: 20th Century Fox
Michael Fassbender plays the androids David and Walter in Alien: Covenant. Throughout the film, David begins to despise humanity while Walter aligns himself with it. It’s worth noting that Walter is missing a hand (and sports an American accent) and David’s accent is English. In Alien: Covenant’s third act, the two androids fight, but the viewer doesn’t get to see who won. All we know is an android that talks like Walter and is missing a hand emerges from the cave and reunites with the other characters as they escape the planet.
Once the two remaining humans go into cryostasis, it’s revealed that David has been posing as Walter and now has control of the ship. The End. Now, you could argue the obviousness of this “twist” is really just dramatic irony, but the pointed decision to not show the end of the fight basically points a big arrow that Walter didn’t make it out.
- Actors: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir
- Released: 2017
- Directed by: Ridley Scott
Photo: 20th Century Fox
Phone Booth follows Colin Farrell’s character as he’s held hostage in a phone booth by a sniper who torments him over the phone with his past sins/missteps. The audience doesn’t see the man who’s on the other end of the line, but the voice is unmistakably Kiefer Sutherland’s. Near the film’s end, the cops appear to find the caller with his wrists slashed in a hotel room, but the culprit turns out to be the nondescript pizza guy that appeared earlier in the film.
The final twist comes in the form of the realization that the real caller took out the pizza guy and framed him. Since we hear Sutherland’s voice the entire movie, it’s obvious that the pizza guy who perishes isn’t the real culprit, especially because his voice earlier in the movie sounds nothing like the voice we listen to the rest of the time.
- Actors: Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker, Radha Mitchell, Katie Holmes
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Joel Schumacher
-
Will Smith’s Character Is A Bright In ‘Bright’
Photo: Netflix
In the fantasy world of David Ayer’s Bright, the only beings (usually elves) who can wield magic wands without perishing are called Brights. Two police officers, Will Smith’s human Daryl Ward and Joel Edgerton’s orc Nick Jakoby spend the film protecting a young elf and a wand that the film’s villains want in order to resurrect the Dark Lord.
Prophecies aside, Smith is essentially the movie’s main character, so of course, he is revealed as a Bright in the movie’s climax – just in time to save the day. It would’ve been more surprising if Edgerton’s character turned out to be a Bright (although not by much).
Tom Is Dead In ‘Last Christmas’
Photo: Universal Pictures
A handful of things made Last Christmas’ twist obvious to everyone, even those who hadn’t seen the film. Based on the Wham! holiday hit “Last Christmas,” the film follows Emilia Clarke’s Kate as she gets to know a man named Tom played by Henry Golding. Throughout the film, Tom teaches Kate to be kind to others and live life to the fullest; he acts stranger and stranger until we learn that the previous year Kate had a heart transplant and Tom was the donor – last Christmas, Tom gave her his heart. He’s dead.
If the song’s lyrics didn’t give this away, then the trailer did by showing Tom exclusively interacting with Kate and featuring her trip to the hospital.
