A.I: The far-future coda has nothing to do with aliens. They are highly evolved mechas (compare their physiology to the Cybertronics logos earlier in the film), trying to learn about mankind – their creators – who have died out. The archaeological dig recovers David, a “living” mecha artifact who has had direct experience with humans. Imagine what we’d be like if we found a living person who had direct experience with God?

There’s a lot of great ideas and questions in that ending – in what is one of the best films of the last decade.

Totally agree with you on Hancock. It annoyed me so much when it turned half way through into some love story that I turned it off and didn’t finish it. Its doubling annoying because it was really good to see everyone getting pissed off with all the damage. Oh well…

I think that’s pretty much King’s shtick. He likes to mix the mundane narrative with supernatural elements. I haven’t really read much of his books though.

Some supernatural elements or overtones I can stomach, like the bad guy in the Stand (he was able to turn into a crow or a raven or something… I think he was pretty much the incarnation of Satan) and the whole thing had a lot of allegorical feeling. That I don’t mind. It just pushes it too far when, in the space of a few minutes and without precedent:

The bad guy starts shooting magic missiles
The hand of God arrives on scene
and the bad guy quite literally transforms into a demon in denim.

Although to be fair I think that last one may have happened earlier on in the film too.

Just feels like a sudden slap in the face to have a 6 hour film (The Stand is looooong) get to the final half hour without doing any of this crazy stuff, then suddenly pop it all out in 15 minutes flat (leaving 15 minutes for a happy ending of course)

Same deal with Children of the Corn – the whole movie goes by without anything explicitly supernatural, just some damn creepy kids, religious overtones and absolutely masterful suspense-building, then 15 minutes from the end, interjected into what felt like it was about to be a perfectly good resolution you get this tacked on…

The previous creepy-leader kid turns into some kind of superhuman zombie thing and starts talking in a deep demon-voice (voice not pictured)
The attack of the killer corn snares the outsider guy because he’s trying to make with the cleansing flame
And then… you have to see it really, screenshots don’t do it justice, but a big demonic pain-face comes out of the cornfield on a mushroom cloud.

Separate links to the images made my comment look spammy… how annoying. Here’s a flickr link http://www.flickr.com/photos/34062714@N02/

Feel honoured – I made that account purely for this post.

[quote comment=”11154″]Whatever.
Will Smith, Will Smith, Will Smith.
[/quote]

I have to agree that after I watched Hancock, I tried so hard to find a redeeming quality in its conclusion, but to no avail. But I think the lure for many is the whole “Will-Smith-anomenon”…did you know there are rumors circulating already about Smith playing Barack Obama?

Perhaps you should avoid at all costs “Seven Pounds” (the weight of the organs Smith’s character will donate) because of 1) another “messiah clause” like that of I am legend and Hancock; 2) another bad ending.

I just noticed some typos. Please forgive me, I’m on an iPhone.

:D

@ThirstyMurphy: The alternate ending was originally posted here. I think it is included on the DVD’s.

Re: Linux – yeah, a large percentage of my readers consists of Linux users. I’m sort of proud of that fact. :) There are some Mac users here too though.

I’ve seen both Hancock and I Am Legend. To me, Hancock would’ve been a good movie if it had a more meaningful explanation and ending. Besides, the moon shouldn’t be miraculously colored pink by Will Smith. As for I AmLwgend, I really actually enjoyed the movie, perhaps because I am, of course, a lazy American and I’d much rather be spoon-fed than actually pick up a book. That said, I think the movie would’ve been much more mentionable if it did have the twist ending. I haven’t seen the leaked alternate ending unless it’s the one that was on the two disk set or some such nonsense. Anyway, I might’ve actually payed for it, which I seldom do, if they chose to go with the book.

I really enjoyed that sentence about painting themselves into a corner then going to lunch….is it me, or am I nearly the only one without Linux?

[quote comment=”11149″]
In both cases it felt like they’d painted themselves into a corner and some Friday after lunch decided “ah well, fuckit, magic happens and the story ends, that’s a wrap people”. Don’t know if it came from the source books, but if it did then I don’t know why King is so highly regarded. The Stand ended with an absolutely literal “deus ex machina” moment – God himself stepping in to fix things.[/quote]

Phew, I’m glad I’m not the only one who hates this in most of King’s work. Yes, the “deus ex machina” style isn’t rare for him – it’s right there in his books. I think it’s a pacing problem – many of his stories include subtle “weird stuff” happening to people (most of it’s in their heads) that actually manages to create a decent atmosphere, right until the end where the main character is revealed to have superpowers and starts practically hurling fireballs D&D-style (I’m exaggerating but not by much). It’s like he can’t create a good ending (mostly).

On the other hand it would probably be even worse if he started pulling the Neal Stephenson’s thing and published stories without endings, stopped without closure.

@Andrew J. Zimmerman: Well, that’s true for a lot of popular Hollywood actors out there. In fact, I would say that most of the top billed actors who fall into this category. The people who can actually act well, tend to get the quirky villain, oddball best friend, sidekick or comic relief roles because they are flexible enough to fill them. :P

That said, Will Smith’s one and only character sort was actually not a bad fit in Hancock.

Whatever.
Will Smith, Will Smith, Will Smith.

Hey, he’s playing the same character with a different name.
They had no potential to be great. They started with an actor that is not great.