9 Annoying Movie Characters That Only Existed To Explain The Plot

8. Jennifer Dugan - Spider-Man 3

Spiderman When people want to target Sam Raimi€™s Spider-Man trilogy they tend to go for the Power Ranger Green Goblin, emo Peter or the butler who keeps his mouth shut until the plot commands him to. While the latter is an awkwardly placed example suitable for this list, there€™s something much riper for ridiculing in the final film. All four Spider-Man films we've got so far have been injected a sense of New York pride, with the citizens of the Big Apple as invested in Spidey€™s antics as Peter Parker. While it was perfectly suitable in the first film given how soon after 9/11 it was released, as the series progressed it became increasingly grating; the train sequence in Spider-Man 2 was silly, but the third€™s use of this ongoing trope was something else. When Spider-Man falls into the obvious trap set by Sandman and Venom it€™s accompanied by gasps from the onlooking crowd and ongoing commentary from news reporter Jennifer Dugan, who through her terrible rapport with the news€™ show€™s anchorman dully explains exactly what€™s happening in an attempt to make it more serious. It€™s the sheer bluntness of these lines, ruining any tension the scene may have had, that always bother me when I watch this. Having a Spidey beat up become a spectator event seemed to trivialise the whole thing. Didn't know that this could be the end of Spider-Man? Worried New York wouldn't care? Don€™t worry; rolling news is here to save the day.
Contributor
Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.