3. Ariadne - Inception
By the time Nolan got the free pass from Warner Bros. to make Inception he carried with him a lot more clout in the industry and thus wasn't as constrained as he was with Batman Begins. But while his ways of doling out exposition were more hidden this time, they were far from invisible. Inceptions labyrinthine plot, with constant misdirection and a downplayed twist, coupled with a myriad of original concepts looked a hard pill for a multiplex audience to swallow. Enter Ariadne. On an objective level her character serves absolutely no purpose to the plot. She may fill the role of the architect of the dream levels, but thats an abstract position that has little presence in the action of the films central reverse-heist. Instead, her key purpose is to periodically ask questions about the shared dreaming concept so audiences would be kept up to speed without having to suffer a massive exposition dump. What makes Ariadne annoying is that the reason for her existence becomes increasingly obvious the more you rewatch the film; she's the only character who doesn't become more interesting. Thankfully, she doesn't directly affect the film in any negative way thanks to Nolan using her only when necessary; we never feel shes asking too much. Once a point's been made it won't be repeated, which leads to much of the confusion among the less attentive audience members.