Great cliffhangers are much more common in TV than they are in movies, but there are still a few unforgettable examples that elevated their movies. Since a cliffhanger is usually designed to get audiences excited for the next chapter, movie franchises have a better chance at pulling them off. However, standalone movies can often use cliffhangers to pose an ambiguous question right at the end.

Whether they are standalone movies or part of a big franchise, movies with good cliffhangers ensure that they have memorable endings. These endings naturally inspire audiences to debate what might happen next, even if the filmmakers have no intention of revealing this secret. With the best cliffhangers, they can live long in the memory even after their sequels have resolved the dramatic tension.

10

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Thanos Snaps His Fingers, Wiping Out Half Of All Life In The Universe

The MCU has so many interconnected movies that it’s uniquely positioned to deliver great cliffhangers. Each post-credits scene from Phase One shows Nick Fury putting together the Avengers, with Iron Man and Captain America: The First Avenger delivering particularly exciting cliffhangers. The heroes finally get some time to relax in the post-credits scene of 2012’s The Avengers, where they eat some shawarma together, but the MCU had more cliffhangers in store.

Arguably the best cliffhanger in the MCU came in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. The Avengers teamed up with the Guardians of the Galaxy and practically every other superhero in existence to stop Thanos, but in the end, they are unsuccessful. Thanos’ snap wipes out half of all life in existence, and one-by-one, the MCU’s greatest heroes are turned to dust. This is a huge shock, and it sets up Avengers: Endgame perfectly.

9

Back To The Future Part II (1989)

Marty Receives A Telegram From Doc, Calling Him Back To 1885

Back to the Future ends with a fun cliffhanger, as Doc Brown suddenly reappears in the DeLorean to tell Marty that his children are in danger in the future. This shifts the focus from Marty’s genesis to his legacy. After that particular crisis is dealt with, Back to the Future Part II ends with a cliffhanger that’s much bolder and unpredictable. Doc’s DeLorean is struck by lightning, and a courier arrives with a message from Doc, trapped in 1885.

Back to the Future Part II‘s unexpected cliffhanger is perfectly in keeping with the trilogy’s zany humor. Since Part II and Part III were filmed back-to-back, audiences knew that they wouldn’t have as long to wait for the next chapter. This meant that Part II had license to throw something completely unusual at them. Few movie franchises could pull off such a bizarre ending, claiming that the next movie would be a Western, apropos of nothing, but Back to the Future makes it work.

8

Inception (2010)

Cobb Doesn’t Know If He’s Still Dreaming

Christopher Nolan’s movies usually end with a bang, although not always a cliffhanger. The Dark Knight ends with Batman on the run, and Memento shows Leonard with a new mission. Nolan’s best and most enduring cliffhanger, however, is in Inception. The spinning top, used by Cobb to understand if he is dreaming or awake in the real world, wobbles almost imperceptibly before Nolan cuts to black.

While Inception‘s ambiguous ending obviously raises the question of whether Cobb is still dreaming, he chooses not to look at the result. Cobb decides that an objective understanding of reality is not as important to him as what he can feel and experience. Inception leaves a few clues to fuel the debate, and it’s human nature to want a definitive answer, but the point of this cliffhanger is that there is no resolution.

7

Before Sunset (2004)

Jesse Accepts That He’s Going To Miss His Flight

Romance movies don’t tend to have cliffhangers, but Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy has two of them. Before Sunrise, the first in the trilogy, ends with Jesse and Céline agreeing to return to the same spot six months later, but the movie ends before Linklater reveals if the two lovers stick to their vow. Before Sunset provided some closure to that particular mystery nine years later, but it ends with a similar cliffhanger.

Before Sunset opens with Jesse reading his novel based on the events of Before Sunrise, and three journalists in the audience debate whether the characters will ever meet again. After Jesse and Céline share another day together, just their second in a decade, it becomes clear that Jesse has resigned himself to missing his flight home to his family. Before Sunset‘s cliffhanger ending is loaded with higher stakes than Before Sunrise, because the relationship between the two characters has evolved from a summer fling into a potentially life-altering relationship.

6

Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Tom Receives A Phone Call As He Gets Ready To Dispose Of The Guns

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a quintessential Guy Ritchie movie, with a large cast of scheming British gangsters tangled up in a complex criminal plot. Despite Ritchie’s elaborate narrative, similar to Snatch and The Gentlemen in that regard, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels ends with a brilliantly simple cliffhanger. This moment of calmness makes the decision all the more excruciating.

Tom leans over a bridge in London, ready to dump the shotguns into the river, but with his phone ringing as his associates try desperately to tell him that the guns are worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Ritchie cuts to black before he reveals what Tom does next. The gang probably deserve no reward, but it’s hard not to root for them, and hope that Tom places the guns down safely before answering his phone.

5

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)

John Runs For His Life After Being Declared Excommunicado

John Wick tells a perfectly self-contained story. There is no cliffhanger that necessitates a sequel, but there are just enough unanswered mysteries to make Chapter 2 work. However, it’s the second movie in the franchise which sets up a longer arc for John. John Wick: Chapter 2 ends with John being declared “excommunicado”. Scores of assassins watch him as he begins to run, setting up a thrilling sequel.

The John Wick franchise is growing even larger, but it’s hard to imagine this would have been possible without the cliffhanger at the end of Chapter 2. Fans would already want to return for more stylish, groundbreaking action scenes, but Chapter 2 gave the franchise a much more urgent narrative. Fortunately, Chapter 3 – Parabellum delivered on the promise of this cliffhanger.

4

The Thing (1982)

MacReady & Childs Suspect Each Other Of Being The Alien

The Thing follows a group of scientists at an Antarctic research station who gradually turn against one another when they discover a shape-shifting alien in their midst. In the end, only two men survive, but they know that their prospects don’t look good. As they each suspect the other of being the alien, they sit and share one last drink together as the station burns right beside them.

The Thing‘s ending captures the paranoia and mistrust of the movie. If MacReady and Childs believed each other, there’s a chance they could figure out a way to survive long enough for help to arrive. Instead, they choose to keep a distrustful eye on one another as death draws in. The Thing never reveals which of the two men is the alien, but it’s also possible that neither of them are.

3

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Bill Reveals That The Bride’s Daughter Is Alive

Quentin Tarantino considers Kill Bill to be one movie split into two volumes. To ensure that his audience can keep up the same pace, he bridges the gap between the two volumes with a remarkable cliffhanger that leads directly into the next. After finally defeating O-Ren Ishii and the Crazy 88, the Bride leaves Sofie alive to send a message to Bill, who reveals that the Bride’s daughter is still alive.

This cliffhanger returns to the reason why the Bride began her revenge crusade in the first place, but the twist makes her mission more important than pure, righteous retribution. Suddenly, the Bride has someone other than herself to fight for, and this raises the stakes for Kill Bill: Vol 2. The Kill Bill movies are relatively light on plot, but Tarantino injects just enough emotion to lend tension to his action sequences.

2

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Han Solo Is Trapped In Carbonite & Luke Finds Out The Truth About Darth Vader

After the happy ending of the first Star Wars movie, the franchise’s first sequel shook things up with a cliffhanger that proved Luke and his allies would not have it so easy the second time around. After Luke discovers that Darth Vader is his father, and has his hand cut off in the process, he watches Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian flying off to retrieve Han Solo, who has been frozen in carbonite and delivered to Jabba the Hutt.

This is a moment of defeat for Luke that teaches him the gravity of his situation. The cliffhanger also carries a genuine sense of jeopardy, since the heroes seem more vulnerable than they ever did before. By combining this dramatic personal story with the ongoing galactic conflict, the original Star Wars trilogy sets up a show-stopping final chapter. Star Wars also delivers a brilliant cliffhanger in The Force Awakens, as Luke reappears for the first time in decades as the resistance’s last hope.

1

The Italian Job (1969)

The Getaway Bus Hangs Off The Side Of A Mountain Road

One of Michael Caine’s earliest hits, The Italian Job uses every ounce of his rough cockney charm to tell the story of a group of British louts who pull a daring heist in Turin. The Italian Job remains one of the best heist movies ever, and the iconic ending has only added to its enduring appeal, with audiences debating what happens next. Interestingly, this ending comes out of nowhere, but that doesn’t make it any less appealing.

The Italian Job ends with a literal cliffhanger, as the gang’s getaway bus slides over the edge of a twisting mountain road. With the weight of the gold pulling the back end toward the abyss, Charlie Croker tells the group that he has a “great idea”. What this idea is, and whether it works, isn’t shown. This open ending has sparked plenty of theories and debates over the years, but there will never be a definitive answer.