Most din't get the point of the ending

Rating: 9/10 (22 February 2010)

I feel that most of the reviews here have one common message: solid idea, good plot overall, WORST ENDING EVER! I used to share the same feelings, but after I carefully chewed over it again and after reading one review written in Chinese, I think I can't help but agree that most people are missing the point of the ending. The following is mostly based on that particular review I read.
First of all, vengeance was never (merely) Clyde's intention. Just like he said himself in the movie, "No Nick, I had 10 years of vengeance, if that's what I wanted....no I could have slaughtered you or your family anytime I wanted!" Getting this part straight is essential to understanding the film. Many people are hugely let down by the ending because Nick didn't die, but why does Nick have to die? It's because in our view, all this is about Clyde's vengeance. Well, it's not.
So, what else could it be? It's about war, a war that Clyde's launching against the entire corrupted justice system (whether or not it IS corrupted for efficiency sake is another topic), against everyone who is a part of it. So the next question is, why didn't Nick die? He was the one most directly responsible for it. The answer to this might be a little harder to pull together, but most likely, not only did Nick not have to die (since this is not about vengeance), most likely it was also Clyde's intention to keep Nick alive. As he said it towards the end of the movie, "Maybe I wasn't such a bad teacher after all." What was the lesson that he was trying to teach Nick? That he "doesn't make deals with murderers anymore". An expensive lesson indeed, at the expense of many lives. But that was the whole point of Clyde's campaign, he wants Nick to see what he sees, he's trying to educate, to make a point, to teach a bloody lesson that won't be forgotten. The ultimate objective of his campaign is to change Nick, so that he would live on and go back to who he used to be, the righteous district attorney who would NOT sacrifice justice for efficiency.