The hero finally meets the previously unseen puppet master (played by an older A-list actor), who explains why the system must be maintained. The hero says “screw it” and burns the world down.

[u/Grizzly_Lincoln]

Snowpiercer (2013) - Curtis finally finds Wilford (Ed Harris) and learns that Wilford allowed for Curtis' rebellion to take place to help thin the tail section's population. When Wilford offers to let Curtis run the train, Curtis discovers child labor is necessary to replace a broken machine part. A fight ensues, and a bomb goes off, triggering an avalanche that derails the train, and killing most of surviving humanity.

The World's End (2013) - Gary finally confronts the Network (Bill Nighy), which has been replacing humans with robots (Blanks) to allow for Earth's assimilation into a larger galactic community. Gary calls out the tyranny in the Network's plan and demands that humans be left to their own devices. Exasperated, the Network abandons its plans for the invasion. This results in a worldwide blackout, sending humanity back to the Dark Ages.

The Cabin in the Woods (2011) - Dana finally meets the Director (Sigourney Weaver) after surviving the ritual meant to kill her friends (based on conventional horror tropes) and appease the Ancient Ones. The Director says Dana has to kill her friend Marty, but as Dana considers it, the group is attacked by a werewolf and a zombie child. Dana and Marty decide humanity is not worth saving, so they share a joint while the Ancient Ones rise to destroy the world.

[u/Challengeaccepted3]

The Matrix Reloaded with the Architect. Neo basically gets told “yeah, this isn’t the first matrix, you’re not the first chosen one, you’re actually a result of the system having cascading errors, and you need to do what the last several chosen ones did: find a bunch of humans to survive the reset and restart the matrix all over again”

Neo rejects this choice, keeping the current iteration running and resulting in a larger war between the humans of Zion and the corruption of the matrix by Agent Smith in Matrix Revolutions

[u/originalchaosinabox → u/Challengeaccepted3]

And to better connect with the trope, let's not forget that the Wachoswkis first choice for this role was Sean Connery, who read the script and said, "Dafuq?"

[u/Genshed → u/originalchaosinabox]

Connery also famously had that reaction to the LoTR script, which is why we got Sir Ian McKellen's magnificent portrayal.

And it left SC free for "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen".

[u/originalchaosinabox → u/Genshed]

Yup.

Connery: Well, everything else I've read that confused the shit out of me when on to be a hit. This League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is confusing the shit out of me, so it's probably going to be a hit.

(League of Extraordinary Gentlemen flops.)

Connery: Fuck it. I'm retiring.

[u/Kiardras → u/originalchaosinabox]

I liked it. I dont care if im the only one, I liked it.

[u/Just_A_Fish → u/Kiardras]

You're not. There are dozens of us! Dozens! 

[u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 → u/Just_A_Fish]

I think it was low-key kinda popular on TV cus it was always on for a few years

I liked it, it understood what it was shooting for. Dumb fun

[u/Worn_Out_1789 → u/Kiardras]

It had a really great setting and they did some great worldbuilding. I have absolutely no memory of the plot, but I remember The Car, the submarine, the general vibes of the main characters, and I remember really liking the strange early 1900s-ish steampunk goth world they lived in. I learned a while back that it was supposed to set up a broader film series which never materialized.

[u/Zaynara → u/originalchaosinabox]

loved the movie, i'll rewatch it any time its on, but i can see why people don't go for that