What's Next" starring Vuong So Nhien and Thua Loi is one of the historical films that has been of interest recently. The work is not considered a "bad ending", but many viewers believe that the final part has been cut many important details, making the film's pace rushed. In the television version, after the story in the ancient setting closes, the film quickly moves to modernity and only spends a few minutes recounting the meeting of Truong Tam and Vuong Thuy Hoa.
Meanwhile, the original is considered to be more in-depth. In the original, the characters Dữu Vãn Âm and Hạ Hầu Đạm spent longer together in ancient times, then Hạ Hầu Đạm passed away, and Vãn Âm ascended the throne as the female emperor. This line is omitted in the film, reducing the climax of character development. In addition, the original also builds on the fact that Truong Tam, after returning to modern times, still carries old memories, once hesitating whether to find Vuong Thuy Hoa again or not, and then silently waiting for a fateful meeting. These emotional echo details also do not appear on screen, making many viewers feel regretful.
Not only "What's Next", many other Chinese films have also fallen into the situation of "elephant's head, mouse's tail". "Tinh Lac Ngung Thanh Duong" starring Tran Tinh Huc and Ly Lan Dich was praised for her acting and emotional lines, but the ending caused controversy when the fates of the characters were resolved quite quickly, making viewers disappointed. Similarly, "Kieu Gia Giach Nhi Nu" starring Bach Vu and Tong To Nhi once achieved high scores, but later was considered to have drifted into a tragic plot, lacking coherent rhythm, reducing the weight of the ending.
In the historical drama genre, "Phu Dao" with Duong Mich and Nguyen Kinh Thien once attracted attention thanks to the coverage of the cast, but the last two episodes were commented on being handled hastily, many important knots were not fully exploited. "Sở kiều truyện" by Trieu Le Dinh and Lam Canh Tan is also a typical case when the story stopped in the midst of a climax, causing audiences to wait many years but still have no commensurate continuation.
Some other works such as "Thương lan quyết" (Ngu Thư Hân, Vương Hạc Đệ), "Điền canh kỷ" (Tăng Thuấn Hy, Điền Hi Vi), "Tiểu nữ hoa bất khí" (Lâm Y Thần, Trương Bân Bân) or "Vi hữu ám hương lai" (Châu Dã, Vương Tinh Việt) also caused controversy about the ending. The common point of these films is that the first part creates attraction thanks to new ideas or good acting, but later it is increasingly difficult to maintain the storytelling rhythm, making the ending hasty or unconvincing.
According to observers, the causes often come from time pressure, content censorship or script changes during production. When climax is not adequately handled, viewers can easily feel that the long-running viewing journey becomes incomplete, although the overall film still has many bright spots.
