MovieChat Forums > 1408 (2007) Discussion > The fourth act was unnecessary (spoilers...

The fourth act was unnecessary (spoilers)

posted 11 years ago by henrimaine
7 replies | jump to latest

By fourth act I mean taking John Cusack back to the room after he had apparently escaped the room earlier. I didn't like that the movie went back to the room because, frankly, everything that took place inside the room was rather boring.

The first act was good as a gradual build up, especially Samuel Jackson. The second act with Cusack in the room was typical horror stuff, which offered nothing original. But it was necessary as a prequel to the third act, when he wakes up on the beach and everything turns out to be a dream. The movie should have stopped with that. They could have added some additional stuff, possibly Cusack having nightmares about the room, but there was no need to take him back into the room. That messed the movie up completely.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] SolariS6 10 years ago

Completely agree and that killed an otherwise promising movie for me.

[–] rach69jez 10 years ago

I thought it was a great twist. To see him re-enter the room by the men bashing up the mail room was awesome. They best scence..in my opinion.

[–] StarryEyes1 10 years ago

I agree Rach. Terrific!!

[–] samgiannn 10 years ago

I was actually kinda mad that he got out of the room, and it was "all a dream". I was hoping he'd go back into the room, and for a second, I thought he actually got out. I liked how he got back into the room.

[–] acooper-155-739349 10 years ago

If this movie ended with his exit and this was all a dream, the movie would have been completely pointless. Also, the ultimate cliche. All this wasn't real, just a dream, oh well. What would the point have been? You had to go back to the room. It serves to further drive the insanity. Additionally, when the room resets itself, that was awesome too. There is also the factor of which ending you saw with the movie. The theatrical ending really packs a punch. But the ending at the cemetery with Olin really loses the movie for me. Unfortunately, I disagree that the movie should have ended as a dream..and as someone else pointed out, the destruction of the post office to reveal the room was brilliant.

[–] jmbwithcats 9 years ago

I thought it was perfect. It showed how the room kept breaking you down layer by layer, otherwise it makes no sense why the people would all opt to kill themselves in an effort to escape.

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