Matrix Revolutions
The third installment of the Matrix saga ends with Neo sacrificing himself to allow the robots to use him to defeat Agent Smith. However, Agent Smith is supposedly part of the machine, which makes Neo’s decision confusing. Thankfully, we have the answer.
While Agent Smith is part of the machine, he also wants to take over the real world. By sacrificing himself and becoming a martyr, Neo creates a sense of peace between man and machine. He dies, but the robot leader is able to use his body to destroy all the clones. It’s not the happiest ending, but it works.
Citizen Kane
At the end of Citizen Kane , the audience finds out that Kane had a childhood sled named Rosebud. That one reveal is one of the central mysteries of the movie, so the discovery that it is just a simple sled is somewhat underwhelming.
However, the sled does play a purpose. It shows that, underneath his viciousness, Citizen Kane always had a human side. His cherished childhood toy represents the softness inside of him and a past he’s still holding onto, no matter what.
Silent Hill
Silent Hill exists in a universe that includes both our world and a creepy otherworld filled with monsters. The two worlds are separated by a sort of mist, which is at first confined to the town of Silent Hill. At the end of the film, however, when Rose and Sharon return home after defeating Alessa, the fog follows them.
The reason that Sharon and Rose can no longer escape is that Alessa now lives on in Sharon and other characters. The director explained this dichotomy, noting that Alessa is like the town itself – full of different dimensions.
Blade Runner
The ultimate question sitting on everyone’s tongue at the end of Blade Runner is whether or not Rick Deckard himself is a replicant. The answer, it seems, would be yes. In the final scene, Deckard finds an origami uniform left for him by Eduardo Gaff.
Earlier in the film, Deckard dreamed about a unicorn. The only way Gaff could have made that connection and supplied an origami unicorn is if the dream itself was implanted into Deckard. Since Gaff knows the contents of Deckard’s private dreams, Deckard must be a replicant.
Vanilla Sky
While some movie endings are a little too ambiguous, Vanilla Sky director Cameron Crowe has complained that his ending wasn’t vague enough. The film follows Tom Cruise’s character, who suffers a terrible experience that leaves him horribly disfigured.
As the movie progresses, we learn that Cruise’s character is actually in a dream. In the end, he can choose to live the dream again, or he can fall off a building and wake himself up. The final scene is Cruise opening his eyes, showing that he chose to live in the real world rather than existing in his fantasy.