A Format of Conclusions That’s Getting Old? *SPOILERS*

A look at similarities between some recent franchise conclusions.

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By andrew991116 - 7/25/2012

So I watched TDKR. Loved it. But I did notice one flaw. Let’s go over some of the recent franchise conclusions: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1&2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and The Dark Knight Rises.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1&2 (Conclusion to the Harry Potter franchise.)

Simple Plot:
The trio flees from Voldemort into the wilderness. Ron gets separated with the other 2 because of an argument. Ron returns to rescue Harry, destroying a Hocrux. Death Eaters take control of Hog Warts. Voldemort obtains the elder wand. Trio returns to Hog Warts. The trio & other good guys fight bad guys. Elder Wand kills Voldemort. Happily ever after.
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Conclusion to the Transformers franchise. I hope.)

Simple Plot:
Autobots tries to locate pillars on the moon. Sentinel Prime betrays the Autobots and joins the Decepticons. Decepticons army summoned to earth w/pillars. Humans blame the Autobots. Autobots are sent out to space and supposedly killed. More Decepticons come. They take control of Chicago. Sam arrives to Chicago, finding the Autobots alive. Autobots & humans fight the Decepticons. Megatron killed. Happily ever after.
3. The Dark Knight Rises (conclusion to The Dark Knight Trilogy)

Simple Plot (I’ll try to reveal as little spoilers as I can): Bruce returns as Batman. He fights Bane in the sewer. Batman put into prison. Bane obtains a nuclear bomb. Bane takes control of Gotham. Cops are trapped underground w/ the mayor dead and the “Banearchists” rising. Batman returns to Gotham to fight Bane with Catwoman & rescued cops. Bane dies from the batpod. Batman supposedly dies from the explosion. Alfred sees Bruce & Selina in a café. Happily ever after.

You see what’s wrong here? All of the plots are similar!
1. The despair.
HPatDH: Ron leaves the trio.
TDotM: Autobots die.
TDKR: Cops trapped underground w/ the mayor dead and the “Banearchists” rising
2. Heroes return after leaving.
HPatDH: Ron
TDotM: Autobots
TDKR: Batman
3. Villains taking control of good guy’s home.
HPatDH: Hog Warts
TDotM: Chicago
TDKR: Gotham
4. Large Group VS. Large Group.
HPatDH: Students and teachers VS Death Eaters & Voldemort.
TDotM: Autobots & humans VS Decepticons
TDKR: Batman, Catwoman &cops VS Bane, League of Shadows, & “Banearchists”
5. Bad guys die.
HpatDH: Voldemort
TDotM: Megatron
TDKR: Bane and the surprise villain (yeah, it’s very surprising)
6. Happy ending.
HpatDH: trio married
TDotM: Decepticons defeated
TDKR: Bruce lives

I enjoyed the three movies, but this problem will have to be fixed in the future with other conclusions.
Sorry if there are mistakes.
Thank you for reading!

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22 Comments

	Kalel219 - 7/25/2012, 4:03 AM Login to report abuse Ehhh, there are worse things. And really, it's the end of all the stories, The stakes have to be highed eg Heros died, huge fights between good and evil
	jessepostal - 7/25/2012, 5:05 AM Login to report abuse There are tons of movies with this formula, they fall and rise, and it's always the same formula. When Bruce was trying to escape the pit u knew he wasn't gonna make it the first two times because e didn't learn the "plot point" yet. It seems like a lot of sequels follow this outline. Spiderman 2, iron man 2, all the ones you mentioned,etc
	MoonDoggyX - 7/25/2012, 5:16 AM Login to report abuse You're graspong aT straws here, buddy... The same pattern could be said for lord of the rings. And what u have described is the pattern for the last 2 transformers films... You do have one good point, though. They all involve the hero being presumed dead... In harry potter, harry is the one who is apparently killed in the woods... The autobots are apparently dead... And in TDKR bane looks to have killed batman... Like kale said above, its just the stakes being raised. Escalation. And these were the grand finales. Kind of like a fireworks show...
	AgentZero - 7/25/2012, 5:21 AM Login to report abuse Pointless article ! So now you're gonna tell me that it's a flaw that the bad guy is always defeated in these types of movies ? Nitpicker!!!
	MoonDoggyX - 7/25/2012, 5:27 AM Login to report abuse ...and did you really just fault these movies for having happy endings??? Lol. I get what you're saying about patters and simularities but it has to happen. Western culture has a handful of stories has a handfull of stories that have been passed down in one form or the other for eons. Some from the bible, some folktales, etc, etc, and these kind of become the core of modern storytelling. For example, the story of the soldier sent to kill turning around and helping the people he was sent to destroy. That is the basis for Last of the Mohicans, The Last Samurai, Avatar, Equalibrium and in some ways Iron Man 1. The hero presumed dead and then riding in to save the day is another one of these stories...
	Advocate - 7/25/2012, 6:12 AM Login to report abuse While the above comments are a strong defense of this necessary "evil" in plots unfolding, I do see where you're coming from. There is an urgency to alter the "formula" in a way that doesn't show predictability as much. Now, of course not everything in a film will be at the same level on Inception in regards to how to piece together everything. It could be as ordinary as the pages of a comic book. But I think the formula is the actual existence of a trilogy. Nolan said this would be the last Batman film he directs so naturally it had to have this wrapping up of sorts, in spite of Batman's mythology lasting far longer than 3 films. Harry Potter is an iffy supposition because I believe the sole purpose for splitting the two movies (aside from being able to tell a more detailed story) was to devote the last film to this "basic" idea. However, Harry Potter has the most bittersweet ending of all. Plus it doesn't follow the trilogy formula. A great amount of the good guys die in Harry Potter. Sure, the main protagonists may live on to have children as the epilogue presents, but who's to say those children don't have their own adventures? Yes, JK Rowling said she won't write anymore, but the story is suspended in some possible future. So based on those HP observations, I'd say it doesn't follow the same path as tDKR and TDotM.
	95 - 7/25/2012, 7:01 AM Login to report abuse It's Hollywood's winning formula. You know about the three-act structure, don't you? And like everyone else said: these endings aren't bad.
	BarnaclePete - 7/25/2012, 7:17 AM Login to report abuse I just like that you are trying to say that Transformers and The Dark Knight Rises are similar.
	mawilli4 - 7/25/2012, 7:19 AM Login to report abuse I can't believe anyone who likes HP and uses "Hog Warts", it's "Hogwarts." Did you not read the books first? 10 million times better than the movies, though they were good!
	BarnaclePete - 7/25/2012, 7:26 AM Login to report abuse I can't believe someone is complaining about how to spell a fictional magic school.
	MoonDoggyX - 7/25/2012, 7:38 AM Login to report abuse ^^HAHA! Well played, sir!^^
	NOLANITE - 7/25/2012, 12:21 PM Login to report abuse COOL STORY BRO! Nice way trying to compare all three movies as if theyre the same. 1. Harry Potter was a money hungry franchise that shuffled through directors like Kim "The Skank" Kardashian goes through boyfiends. Good Franchise but worth crap. You knew Harry Potter was going to win. it was inevitable. 2. Transformers also a money hungry franchise. Director didnt make it for the sake of a trilogy, he made it for the big check he was receiving, and the story just sucked. The autobots were also slated to win at all costs. 3. The Batman trilogy was a success as the director wanted to tell his story on a character. The Bad guy did win and obviously Batman had to come back. He did "DIE" technically. So it isnt even close to the other movies you so called brought up. Oh and Nolan didnt do his part three for the money, he chose to end his story. That is all.
	andrew991116 - 7/25/2012, 1:39 PM Login to report abuse I'm not unhappy with the happy endings, but I would've prefered if Bruce died in TDKR. Way more heroic.
	JokerFanHAhaHA - 7/25/2012, 2:23 PM Login to report abuse Am I the one who's going to say it? Ok You DO know Harry Potter was a book right? They kind of HAD to go that way in the movie. Cause. It was in the book.
	MoonDoggyX - 7/25/2012, 3:48 PM Login to report abuse @andrew991116 - No way, dude. It would have been way more cliche'd... lol...
	DarkGrifter - 7/25/2012, 4:25 PM Login to report abuse I did feel as though TDKR's ending was very predictable, however it carried so much more weight and emotion compared to other films with similar plot structure's and endings. Probably because this was the last of Nolan's trilogy, the stakes just felt a lot higher and this was a character that we had become a lot more emotionally engaged with.
	mawilli4 - 7/25/2012, 5:04 PM Login to report abuse why is someone complaining about grammar? oh, well because it helps get jobs, etc. and I couldn't comment on the entire article being bullshit unless I started a new one.
	mawilli4 - 7/25/2012, 5:07 PM Login to report abuse @MoonDoggy how would it be cliched? what successful franchise has ever killed the main character? none come to mind. yes, it happens in books and video games, but I was hoping Nolan would have the balls to do it.
	MoonDoggyX - 7/25/2012, 10:28 PM Login to report abuse The matrix... Gladiator... Troy... Star trek: nemesis... Man on fire... V for vendetta... Armageddon... Titanic... Terminator 2... Saving private ryan... Phenomenon... Romeo and juliet... Everysince tdkr was announced, people suspected nolan of killing batman because that was the only ending that a lot of people could imagine having enough emotional punch to it. I for one am glad that nolan had the balls NOT to kill bruce. Nolan stayed true to the theme of his movies. In the first movie he overcame his fear and found bravery. In the last movie he overcame his pain and found hope. Full circle. To me, bruce literally and emotionally rising out of the dark had more impact than him dying ever could.
	andrew991116 - 7/26/2012, 2:30 AM Login to report abuse @MoonDoggyX: But Bruce did said everybody could be a hero. He also said that Batman is meant to be a symbol. That to me means that he became Batman to inspire everyone to be heroes (of course, that didn't work out in TDK). In the end of TDKR, Gordon showed a statue of Batman to the public. That made Batman a symbol, a symbol that will inspire people years later. If Batman survived the explosion, it would not have as much emotional impact than him dying. In my theater, a lot of people cried when Alfred was talking during the funeral. He did rise, he did save Gotham even though that we know that he has a chance of dying in the explosion.
	MoonDoggyX - 7/26/2012, 5:49 AM Login to report abuse Excalibur... I am legend... Jeepers creepers... Lol... That's the beauty of the ending of tdkr, my friend. Batman DID die, in more ways than one. Not only does the public think that the man is dead, but the dark part of bruce that needs to be batman is gone, also. It started at the beginning of the film when alfred said that he wishes that bruce had left all of his pain behind and started a new life. Then there was batman and bane's fight in the sewer... In the dark...where bane says that bruce only adopted the dark and it is not his. Bane was born in the dark, ben in the dark all of his life and the darkness is his. Bane was not only talking about literal darkness here, but emotional. Later, after being beaten broken by bane, bruce finds the strength to climb out of the "pit"(darkness) only by discovering hope and the will to live. The prison doctor really drove this part of the movie home. Prettymuch suming up that bruce could only make that jumt if his life depended on it and he wanted to live. Bruce could not make the jump as long as he was willing to accept his death. Bats and bame rounnd 2 took place on the steps of city hall in the middle of the day... In the light... Again, this had double meaning. Batman was able to defeat bane this time because of his will to survive and he had embraced the light... How wouldb bruce wayne dying after all of ths make any sense...?
	jjk2814 - 7/26/2012, 6:17 PM Login to report abuse I thought this was going to be an article about how every movie ends with a giant blue light being shot up in the air for some reason.

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