Between questionable actions in beloved romcoms and weird elf-dwarf love triangles, it’s hard to believe these subplots are in such celebrated movies.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 had an incredible run in theatres, made hundreds of millions of dollars, and fans and general audiences love it, but its human subplot was heavily criticized. The scenes went on for way too long, it ruined an otherwise great movie, and it’s hopefully dropped for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
The kids’ movie is far from the first film that would be so much better if it dropped an unnecessary subplot, and Redditors have tons of examples. Between crime dramas focusing too much on personal issues, questionable actions in beloved romcoms, and weird elf-dwarf love triangles, it’s hard to believe these subplots are in such celebrated movies.
A deleted user thinks an Amazing Spider-Man subplot ruined the otherwise great movie, noting, “It could have been improved by dropping the ‘What happened to Peter’s parents?'” While many would argue that the 2012 release is far from a great movie, the subplot was totally shoehorned in.
The sequel delves even deeper into the subplot, and while it might have been part of what ruined the franchise, the mystery surrounding Peter’s father will annoyingly never be satisfyingly wrapped up. The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was canceled not long after the underwhelming box office performance of the second movie. However, as Andrew Garfield was the MVP of Spider-Man: No Way Home, a lot of fans have a newfound interest in the Amazing Spider-Man series, and fans may finally get the third movie in the series.
Heat is one of the most intense cat-and-mouse chase thrillers and one of the greatest heist movies of all time, but after not having seen it for a while, it’s easy to forget just how long the movie is. At almost three hours long, the film includes so many subplots, many of which revolve around every character’s personal life.
When it comes to Detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino,) audiences have to sit through not only his toxic relationship with his wife but his relationship with his stepdaughter too. Truckturner5164 claims, “Al Pacino’s relationship woes with Diane Venora were definitely the weakest part of Heat and stopped it being even better than it is (which is still damn good).”
Again, like The Amazing Spider-Man, the polarizing reception of Star Wars: The Last Jedi proves that it isn’t the great movie that Neighborhood-Toughs thinks it is. But in the Redditor’s eyes, it was just one subplot that let the movie down. The user knows how much of a touchy subject it is, arguing, “Don’t make me regret mentioning Star Wars on the Internet you slathering heathens.”
The one subplot the Redditor refers to is the casino scene, which sees Finn gambling everything he has to escape the city. Not only is the scene completely pointless, but it attempts to be a commentary on capitalism that doesn’t amount to much. And it then ends with a goofy fathier-riding scene that feels more like a Star Wars parody than anything else.
Sc00terxcore1 is using the term ‘subplot’ rather broadly, as they simply refer to “Miranda Tate in Dark Knight Rises.” While the antagonist of the movie isn’t exactly a subplot, it’s easy to understand where the Reddit user is coming from.
If audiences didn’t know that Miranda Tate was Talia Al Ghul the whole time, her scenes throughout the movie seem rather redundant, and the big reveal at the end hardly seemed worth it and went down like a lead balloon. That’s part of why Rises is great until the final 10 minutes. And even Bruce Wayne putting so much trust in Miranda despite barely knowing much about her makes absolutely no sense.
Way before director Francis Ford Coppola reedited The Godfather Part III in 2020, he gave the 1979 Vietnam War epic, Apocalypse Now, the same treatment. Most of the footage cut out of the movie was edited back in to make Apocalypse Now: Redux, including a subplot surrounding a French plantation.
The director shot so many hours of footage during the rigorous and troubled production of the film, which is documented in the making-of movie Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse. A deleted user notes that the French plantation scenes specifically, “drags an otherwise excellent film down.” There’s a reason why it was edited out of the original version of the movie, and Coppola himself can be seen criticizing the footage in the documentary. It’s one of the many reasons why the Apocalypse Now theatrical cut is the best.
One of the great things about Mad Max: Fury Road is how it’s so minimal in the way it tells the story. Instead of copious amounts of exposition and dialogue, audiences are left to fill in the gaps, and the film’s mystique is what makes it so alluring. However, Fury Road becomes oddly detailed when it focuses on two secondary characters, the tone changes completely, and ironically, it slows the pace all the way down.
Buckar00_Banzai_ puts it best, stating, “I could have done without the Capable and Nux side bit in Fury Road.” There are moments in the movie where Capable, Immortan Joe’s wife, and Nux have philosophical and flirty discussions, and they’re the weirdest parts of the movie. And in a film where a masked man plays an electric guitar on a truck while people murder each other, that’s saying a lot.
Again, a deleted user is taking liberties with the term ‘subplot,’ as they explain, “Everything that wasn’t Gordon Gekko in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” ruined the movie. Arriving 23 years after the sensational and riveting original movie, the legacy sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps couldn’t quite reach the engaging level of its predecessor.
However, the one constantly great factor of the movie is Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas,) the money-hungry and sinister Wall Street broker. He’s easily the best thing about the movie, and Douglas plays a more grizzled version of him just as perfectly as he played him in the original. But outside of Gekko, the 2010 movie is one of the least exciting and dull films of the decade.
Where Peter Jackson is a master of storytelling and made all 201 minutes of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King feel quintessential, that wasn’t the case with the Hobbit series. Jmathtoo points to the “elf-dwarf love story in the Hobbit films. It was horrible and served no purpose other than to help stretch it into three films.”
The subplot wasn’t just a part of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, but it lingered around like a bad smell for all three movies. While romance was handled tastefully in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it seemed haphazardly thrown into The Hobbit simply so it can be a four-quadrant movie and help its success at the box office.
It seems like when any Michael Douglas-starring movie starts to focus on anything other than Michael Douglas, it starts to fall apart. Along with Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Redditors believe Falling Down features a bad subplot in an otherwise great movie.
Dove_of_Doom points to Sergeant Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall) investigating all of D-Fens’ (Douglas) crimes as the film’s big drawback. The Reddit user posits, “If they had stuck with Michael Douglas on his deranged odyssey, it would be a more tense and propulsive film.” But while Prendergast doesn’t really have all that much on the effect of the movie until the very closing moments, seeing him always one step behind makes for a great cat and mouse chase movie where the mouse doesn’t know he’s being chased.
Crazy Stupid Love is one of those rare romantic comedies that transcended its target audience and found even the most hardcore fans in people who aren’t generally interesting in the genre. It’s realistic, hilarious, and there’s so much chemistry between almost every character.
But as every character is entangled in some sort of relationship, there’s one that doesn’t quite sit well. Benmitchell92 claims that the Robbie and Jessica subplot keeps the film from being their favorite rom-com, noting, “Christ, the ending is just disturbing.” The user is referring to how Jessica, a 17-year-old babysitter, gives the 13-year-old Robbie an envelope full of her nude photos. In terms of the screenplay, it’s one of the most “what were you thinking?!” moments in an otherwise incredible film.
Currently residing in Madrid, Stephen Barker has been a staff writer at Screen Rant since 2020. Since graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University with a bachelor’s degree in Film, Television, and Cultural Studies in 2014, he has written for numerous movie and music websites. Stephen has been obsessed with movies since he first watched Jurassic Park on VHS, and with a deep interest in screenwriting, he loves 70s character-driven movies. But he’s just as much of a defender of Batman & Robin, The Fast and the Furious, and Small Soldiers. Visit Stephen‚Äôs personal blog, Quaranste, where he writes about guilty pleasure movies, his latest musical discoveries, and how he stays creative during global pandemics, or contact him directly: Quaranstine@gmail.com.
10 Subplots That Ruined An Otherwise Great Movie, According To Reddit – Screen Rant
