Get Reel: the thrill of the unpredictable

I have a couple of friends who refuse to watch films that don't have happy endings. One of them is so insistent about this that she scours movie reviews and articles for information about the films' climaxes - which the rest of us would deem major spoilers - and only after she finds the assurance she seeks will she check out these offerings.

While I don't always want a film to end with, say, everyone dead or left in an unfortunate state, I feel that the very possibility of things not going according to plan for the good guys and gals helps make a film interesting.

Put another way, I like elements of unpredictability and surprise in a film. Not knowing if a hero, his wife (or, for equal opportunity, a heroine and her significant other), any children in the picture, and so on, will survive until the end adds a modicum of tension to scenes in which they look to be in grave danger.

By the same token, I appreciate those romantic films with love triangles made up of characters that all have winning points, making it difficult to figure out who is going to end up with whom.

Although Johnnie To Kei-fung is best known for his crime dramas, the Milkyway Image doyen has directed two popular romances where the lead female character has two pretty close to equally attractive men wooing her.

In Needing You ... (2000), the eccentric but lovable office lady played by Sammi Cheng Sau-man has her pick of either her nice boss or a cute-looking billionaire computer genius. But because the former was played by superstar singer-actor Andy Lau Tak-wah, it was a no-brainer for many viewers who she would eventually plump for.

In contrast, it was more difficult to figure out which handsome suitor the mainland financier (Gao Yuanyuan) in Don't Go Breaking My Heart (2011) would end up with: the boyish financial wizard played by Louis Koo Tin-lok or the talented architect portrayed by Daniel Wu Yin-cho.

I will say, though, that I agreed with the female protagonist's ultimate choice of Mr Right. In any case, I can also imagine that it would be many a woman's fantasy come true to have not just one but two of those alluring men in romantic pursuit of - and needing - them.