On 6/21/07, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
They don't spoil good stories. Shawshank Redemption, Citizen Kane, Fight Club, three examples of movies which were *better* the second time around.
Sure, but would the first time have been better had you been simply told the ending? Watching a film a second time and watching it for the first time having been told the ending are very different things.
I don't know, for those three movies I think I would have enjoyed the first time of watching them more if I was told the ending. Definitely more if I was given full details about the story including the ending. And I'll add what I consider a bad movie into the mix too. The Sixth Sense. I knew there was a surprise ending when I saw that movie, but wasn't told what it was. I spent the majority of the movie *knowing* the fact which was supposed to be revealed in the end, but wasn't sure whether or not that was supposed to be the surprise. It wound up being an absolutely horrible experience, though it might have been a decent experience if I didn't know the ending *and* I didn't know that there was a surprise ending at all.
Of course, I'm only one person. Your mileage may vary.