Good movie undercut by overly ambiguous ending

Rating: 6/10 (17 September 2007)

(Note: I'm trying to write this without giving anything away about the ending, but it may give something away anyway so I have marked it as a possible spoiler.) I was with this film up until the last 10 minutes. But the last 10 minutes made absolutely no sense to me. I am not a fan of "layered ambiguity" or "emotional complexity" or whatever was being sought in the ending. Because of uniformly strong performances, many viewers like me will have a lot invested in the climax of the final showdown. I'm not saying it had to go one way or another, but don't leave me trying to figure out what the hell just happened. (My friend and I came up with at least five possible interpretations.) So for that reason it cannot be an A or even a solid B. Has to be a B-minus. ... And don't make the ending inconsistent with the characters, which for at least one I think it very much was. We think we know what these men want: honor, redemption for Dan; freedom and power for Ben, and then in the last few acts of the movie all that came before is undercut? If you're telling me a story this good, don't cop out in the last few scenes and make it a no-resolution resolution. Everyone has to make choices: screenwriters as well as moviegoers. Methinks the poor conclusion came from movie-star ego (and I don't blame Christian Bale.)