10 Movie Characters Who Should Never Have Died
How not to do character story telling.
Big Hollywood movies have a tendency to remind audiences that they don't care about anyone's feelings or favourite characters. An individual can be as likeable and resourceful as they like, but that all accounts for very little when the screenwriter's curse comes calling.
The history of cinema is littered with examples of characters who have become fan favourites during their time on screen, but have met their untimely demise either through one crucial out-of-character mistake, or simply a series of circumstances conspiring against them. Character deaths have far too often become the crutch used by movies to add some drama and stakes to their plot, which only makes these exits all the more sour to watch.
Sometimes its the result of an overly-ambitious director or screenwriter, sometimes it's a poor execution of an idea that might have, at one point, had some weight, but every time a character goes out when everyone knows they shouldn't, it takes the shine off even a behemoth of a blockbuster.
So, from well-crafted likeable additions to the cast, to some seriously cool heroes, here's to all the characters across history that have bowed out before their time..
10. Padme Amidala - Star Wars
Queen/Senator Padme Amidala was introduced in the first two Star Wars prequels as being a strong-willed and independent beacon of hope in the Republic, more than able to hold her own against her enemies across the Galaxy.
But whilst Revenge of the Sith might be the best film in the prequel trilogy, it gives viewers the very worst of Padme. Her first scene in the movie delivers the crucial plot of her pregnancy, but after that she is reduced to just a handful of scenes in the background. The fearlessness and bravery that made her one of the most likeable characters in the saga is pretty much gone, and her shoehorning at the showdown on Mustafar feels very out of place.
Finding herself on the wrong end of an Anakin Skywalker force choke, Padme is taken to a medical facility on Polis Massa and gives birth to two babies, Luke and Leia. Obi-Wan Kenobi is then told by a medical droid that, although physically she is fit and healthy, they are beginning to lose her.
It's a poetic moment that Padme loses the will to live at the exact moment Anakin is reborn as Darth Vader, but it really doesn't make too much in the way of sense.