A movie lives and dies by the quality of its ending, regardless of how good or bad its first hour or so may be. There have been many decent movies that have been elevated to greatness by a strong ending.

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However, in these movies' cases, their conclusions and closing moments ruined what could've been amazing stories. While these movies weren't completely ruined by their endings, their true potential was unfortunately held back by conclusions that either contradicted what was thematically set up or were made to satisfy viewers instead of challenging them.

Spoilers for various movies ahead!

10 DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story Ditched A Daring Ending For A Generic One

MeShell Restrains White In DodgeBall A True Underdog Story

The thing about Rawson Marshall Thurber's sports movie spoof DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story is that its entire existence is a joke. Everything from dodgeball being a legitimate sport to Peter and White's boyish rivalry is hilariously difficult to take seriously, which is what makes Peter's earnest and sincere victory in the end so jarring.

After lampooning the clichéd underdog story, DodgeBall's ending contradicted its previous cynicism. In truth, the original ending where White won was replaced after test audiences' rejections. Though this led to a fun post-credits scene where White scolded viewers for the change, DodgeBall still pulled its last punch when it shouldn't have.

9 10 Cloverfield Lane Suddenly Switched To Another Genre In Its Last Act

The Alien Ship Attacks In 10 Cloverfield Lane

Part of what made the reception to Dan Trachtenberg's 10 Cloverfield Lane so divisive was that the otherwise tense and expertly made feature-length bottle episode closed with a very polarizing ending. In brief, Michelle's imprisonment in Howard's bunker ended with her escaping, only to find herself in the middle of an alien invasion.

10 Cloverfield Lane's last act was basically a short action movie, which felt misplaced in a claustrophobic psychological thriller. What's more, this ending spoon-fed all the answers to the initial mysteries. Though Trachtenberg always intended for the movie to end with an alien invasion, the way it was handled lacked any nuance and tension.

8 Wonder Woman's Final Battle Traded Moral Complexity For Action

Ares Dons His Armor In Wonder Woman

Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman is praised for many things, chief among them being how it all but saved the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and gave Diana the cinematic treatment she deserved. But if there's something fans would consider to be an otherwise great movie's flaw, it's a final battle that felt generic and out of place.

After learning that World War I wasn't Ares' master plan but an unfortunate symptom of man's ego and greed, Wonder Woman punched Ares in the exact kind of special effects-heavy finale that most superhero movies resort to. A war movie as morally gray as Wonder Woman deserved a more thoughtful and unique ending than this.

7 Superman: The Movie's Ending Still Doesn't Make Sense Today

Superman Rewinds Time In Superman The Movie

Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie is such a beloved work of art that fans and critics willingly ignore how weirdly nonsensical and wish-fulfilling its ending is. Just when it seemed that Superman would have to face the harsh reality that he can't save everyone, he flew around the planet so fast that he rewound time and saved Lois Lane.

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While a Deus Ex Machina as left-field as this is actually faithful to Superman's campy Golden and Silver Age days, it was never built up to within the movie, nor was it explained by the sequels. The fact that the movie's adoring viewers are willing to forgive such a bizarre ending is a testament to how much of a timeless classic Superman: The Movie is.

6 Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Ended The Series With A Whimper

Harry Ron And Hermione Send Their Kids Off In Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2

It's impossible to deny the impact that the Harry Potter movies left on pop culture, and the hype surrounding David Yates' two-part finale perfectly encapsulated this moment in time. Deathly Hallows: Part 2 delivered everything from an epic final battle for the wizarding world's future and the conclusion to characters' arcs, but it fell short in the epilogue.

After the war's end, Deathly Hallows: Part 2 cut to 19 years later, showing Harry, Ron, and Hermione sending their kids to Hogwarts. The epilogue barely lasted five minutes and was over as soon as it began. While this is fairly text-accurate, the movie should've taken some liberties to give these beloved characters a longer and more meaningful farewell.

5 Old's Intrigue & Mystery Were Undone By An Exposition Dump

Warren And Warren Employees As Seen In Old

For better and for worse, Old's first two-thirds was a classic M. Night Shyamalan movie. Like Shyamalan's previous works, Old had a simple but effectively creepy premise — here, a beach that rapidly aged its visitors — that built up to a big twist ending. However, Old ended on a predictable and obvious note, which is uncharacteristic of Shyamalan.

As it turns out, the beach was an illegal testing ground used by an amoral pharmaceutical company. This was revealed in a third act that felt more like an infomercial than a thriller's natural conclusion. It's worth noting that Old's ending was made specifically for the movie. The original graphic novel had a better and more ambiguous conclusion.

4 The Game's Simple Solution Is A Disservice To Its Complexity

Conrad Reveals The Punchline In The Game

As expected of a David Fincher movie, The Game was an engrossing feature-length mind game filled with unpredictable twists and turns. This was true at least for the movie's first two-thirds, since the last act revealed that Nicholas van Orton's descent into paranoia and second-guessing was a ridiculously expensive birthday prank.

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When the ending is taken into account, it's almost impossible to buy that the prior life-or-death situations and trickery were orchestrated so perfectly by CRS and Nicholas' brother, Conrad. Despite a poor ending and Fincher's own admission that the conclusion could've been better, The Game is still a well-directed thriller with a solid first two acts.

3 Suicide Club Devolved Into Obtuse Philosophizing In Its Resolution

Mitsuko Learns The Truth In Suicide Club

After Suicide Club opened with an unforgettably harrowing mass suicide in a train station, it seemed impossible for this morbid yet hypnotic ride to stop. The movie's mystery focused on the cause and source of the mass suicides, and it did a good job of building up dread and fear for what was ultimately a borderline nonsensical solution.

Suicide Club ended with Mitsuko — the girlfriend of a suicide victim — meeting the titular club's ringleaders: a group of kids in an auditorium who literally explained the movie's life-affirming themes to her in unison. This ending is equal parts audacious, frustrating, and pretentious, and it derailed an otherwise creepy and surreal psychological thriller.

2 Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark Arrived At The Worst Possible Thematic Conclusions

Ramon Leaves For Enlistment In Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

As far as adaptations of short story collections go, André Øvredal's Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark was one of the better examples of how it can be done. The movie seamlessly tied six of the books' most famous stories to Stella and her friends' coming-of-age arcs, only for everything to fall apart in an emotionally confused ending.

After building inescapable dread, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark undermined its own stakes by revealing that nobody actually died, and they can be saved in a sequel. Worse, it ended with Ramon choosing to enlist in the Vietnam War to prove his manhood after the movie depicted the war (and all war, in general) as inhuman and unjust.

1 Frozen II Preserved A Historically Unjust Status Quo After Deconstructing It

Elsa Saves Arendelle In Frozen II

After Frozen deconstructed true love and the typical fairy tale, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee's sequel went one step further by going after the genre's historical implications and roots. Instead of simply giving Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff another musical adventure, Frozen II forced them to confront the kingdom of Arendelle's dark imperial past.

However, when Anna concluded that Arendelle — a symbol of oppression to the Northuldra built on blood and lies — must be destroyed, Elsa saved it. Frozen II's choices to uphold the status quo while making some platitudes about reconciliation ring hollow after the equally family-friendly Thor: Ragnarok had the same conflict and themes, but committed to Asgard's destruction.

NEXT: 9 Times Frozen II Proved It Was A Perfect Sequel