Thursday, May 01, 2008

FILM: Iron Man + Harold & Kumar Post-credits Scene

Ever since I saw Constantine in 2005, I've been aware of the post-credit scene. That would be the scene that "secretly" occurs after every single name of the cast and crew has rolled past on screen at the end. I was beyond pissed off when I discovered a day after seeing Constantine in theaters that the character Shia Labeouf plays appears in a post-credit scene hovering above his own grave donning wings and yellow eyes while Keanu Reeves' characters pays homage to his brave little warrior. Such a scene implies that either there'll be a sequel and/or that Shia's character replaced the arch angel played by Tilda Swinton, who was struck down by God after her betrayal. But if the ticket buyers had no idea it was going to happen, how could they possibly get the whole story?

The same goes for the post-credit scene for X-Men 3, in which an unidentified man in a hospital bed awakens after what seems like a long, deep slumber and says, "Hello, Moira" to the woman sitting diligently beside him. This would seem pointless without the foreknowledge that Phoenix had killed Professor Xavier, giving comic lovers everywhere the notion that he used his mind-control abilities to transport himself to another body and survive. Plus, the character Moira is well-known to X-Men-enthusiasts as a genetic mutation specialist and Xavier's former fiance. You'd think that would be crucial info for moviegoers.

So I've written all of this to say that you might want to stick around past the credits for Iron Man if you want to catch the Samuel L. Jackson cameo as Nick Fury, and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay if you want to see...a miracle happen--I don't want to spoil it for you as it was already spoiled for me by Wikipedia.

And in case I've suddenly worried you and you're wondering what other post-credit scenes you've missed out on, Wikipedia has a pretty good list of the tradition which seems to have started back in 1963 with From Russia with Love, which was just like a "To be continued..." kind of clip, and 1978's Superman film, which showed where the sequel would lead. Apparently there are also post-credit scenes for Napoleon Dynamite where someone gets married, Daredevil where Bullseye is shown in a full-body cast, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets where Lockhart is shown pre-amnesia, and The Matrix Reloaded which had a trailer for the sequel.

So park your butt in the seat and pass the time reminiscing about your favorite moments till the post-credit scene pops up. What's the rush? You don't really have to pee that bad do you?

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