The movie Chinatown, when it was finished, gave me a feeling very similar to the feeling I got when the movie The Mist ended. Both were utter despair, lack of justice, completely horrifying endings. In Chinatown Jake (Jack Nicholson) leads the police and Noah Cross (John Huston) to Evelyn Mulray (Faye Dunaway) who is trying to escape with her daughter/sister. She ends up being shot, and the evil rapist/dirty father Noah takes the innocent daughter/granddaughter away. Everything is twisted and nothing turns out ok in the least. In The Mist the movie ends with a desperate act; in hearing the so-thought sounds of their own death coming upon them, David (Thomas Jane) with only four bullets lets his son, potential love interest, and two elderly members of their town have the 'priviledge' of being shot, thinking that he'll be killed soon by a monster/mist thing. However; the noises turn out to be a rescue crew of army people, leaving David to emotionally wither away in the regret of killing four people.
Yuck.
As Chinatown and The Mist both ended, I couldn't help but think... why? I would like to know why directors/writers/whoever think that having the most pessimistic ending EVER would make someone pleased with the movie. If it's to make the audience realize that dang they have it off pretty nice, it doesn't work. If anything it makes you get into the head of the person who is forced to live with lies and horrors for the rest of their lives.
