Scorpio Rising ending explained

What happens

The bikers ride to a race, and one rider dies in a crash. Anger cuts the accident against flashing police lights and images of authority and worship. The cult of speed and style, built up all film long, ends in death.

The last image

A blunt, ambiguous image of death, suggesting the pose carries on in a continuing cycle.

Two readings

1 · Logical consequenceThe crash is the natural result of the cult the film has been building.

2 · Neither praise nor blameAnger deliberately refuses to say whether this fascination with destruction is admired or condemned.

What it says

The death ends the film because glamour, worship and danger were tied together from the start. Anger leaves the cycle open, so you must decide whether you were watching the bikers or looking with them.