What movie puts the protagonist through the absolute ringer for it to all pay off in the end?

  • fckreddit@lemmy.ml
    23·
    2 years ago

    In my opinion, V for Vendetta. What Evie Hammond was put through was inexcusable, but I feel like it was worth it in the end.

  • Hubi@feddit.de
    15·
    2 years ago

    Dredd (2012) would be somewhere at the top of my list. I don’t think there are too many movies nowadays that have such a classic “mission accomplished”-style ending.

  • aCosmicWave@lemm.ee
    12·
    2 years ago

    Vanilla Sky! It’s a mind bending movie about a lucky man’s life that many of us could only dream of. That life quickly turns into a waking nightmare when the man’s jealous lover takes her own life with him inside the moving car. His nightmare of a life then melds into an actual dream. That dream then slowly transforms into a nightmare. All the while the main character doesn’t know what is real and what isn’t.

    This all leads to an absolutely spectacular cathartic release for the main character when he finally understands what’s happened to him in the last 10 minutes of the film.

    Did I mention it was mind bending? One of my favorite movies by far.

    • BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee
      2·
      2 years ago

      i watched the original Spanish (Spain) version, that was fucking incredible. I would totally check that out too as Penelope Cruz is also in that one. It is called Abre Los Ojos

    • DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.comEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Wow - I’ve never heard this take on Vanilla Sky. My only recollection of it was how bored we all were when we first tried to watch it. Didn’t it get panned by the critics?

  • godot@beehaw.org
    5·
    2 years ago

    In big budget movies, protagonists facing unambiguous conflict and getting a clear, concise victory peaked in the 80s and early 90s. A lot of the other movies mentioned in this topic (V for Vendetta, Dredd 2012) have serious throwback vibes. Smaller movies usually have murkier conflict.

    For a given value of, “through the ringer,” Karate Kid is my answer. It’s extremely easy to empathize with both Daniel and Mr Miyagi. I appreciate some movies that absolutely destroy the protagonist, but their larger than life troubles are more difficult to empathize with earnestly. Aliens fits well, too, the oppression of a faceless corporation may be heavier now than it was even on release. The Top Gun movies fit pretty well as long as you watched the original a long time ago.

  • SeverianWolf@beehaw.org
    5·
    2 years ago

    Training Day, a movie about a rookie cop who gets paired with a corrupt senior on his first day who manipulates him from the beginning. ''I should have been a fireman"

    Gattaca. I am not sure if you can call it an absolute ringer, but it does feel all the hard work pays off in the end.

    • UsernameLost@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      2 years ago

      Agreed on Training Day.

      I totally forgot about Gattaca, I watched that in school in like 6th grade. Fantastic movie

      • SeverianWolf@beehaw.orgEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        ''You know what i learned today? I’m not like you."

        You can have an Ethan Hawke catharsis marathon.

  • Talose@lemmy.zipEnglish
    5·
    2 years ago

    Wristcutters

    The main characters go to a hell/purgatory specifically for people who’ve committed suicide, where no one can smile. It’s not a very action-y movie, but it’s one of my favorites. Also, it has Shannyn Sossamon from A Knight’s Tale, so that’s a plus

  • Wage_slave@lemmy.ml
    5·
    2 years ago

    Seven or Man on Fire. Not what you’d call happy endings, but the movies would be ruined any other way.

    Except for in Seven, if it ended in a blast of colored smoke for a gender reveal gift box. That could have been very touching. /s