10 Great Subplots In Bad Recent Movies

The sequel to 2014's Godzilla reboot is so wildly overstuffed with awful human characters and their stamina-sucking dramatic subplots, but there's a single one that stands out among the lot.

Monarch scientist Dr. Ishirō Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) has the only human character arc during the film that's both memorable and satisfying.

After spending most of both movies stood on the sidelines watching the chaos and periodically dropping cool one-liners like "Let them fight," he ends up basically saving the world at the end of this film. At the cost of his life, admittedly.

With Godzilla incapacitated by the U.S. Navy's prototype weapon, King Ghidorah is free to rampage across Earth unimpeded, until it's decided to detonate a nuclear weapon in Godzilla's lair to speed up his natural recovery process.

A human being has to be present to detonate the warhead, and Serizawa volunteers, resulting in the single genuinely poignant scene in the film.

Serizawa has a touching moment with Godzilla, bidding him farewell and finally detonating the nuke. The blast instantly obliterates Serizawa but restores Godzilla's vitality and eventually allows him to save Earth from Ghidorah.

As much as King of the Monsters was such an infuriating let-down on so many levels, this subplot here was human drama done right.