This guy was in the movie just long enough to give the viewers as many plot details as we needed in order to understand the rest of the movie, and was immediately killed when he was done. He is a perfect example of a character who swoops in, tells the main characters, "You are clones, there is no island, you should go find the other you's, here is some money and some train tickets, and I am out of here." Boom! Dead. Thanks for the exposition James! You can watch the clip here.
Without Danny, why would Tom Cruise have a need to explain all of the inner workings of pre-crime? The ethics, the logistics, the pre-cogs, the flaws? There would be no exposition without Danny coming in to ask tons of questions. Good thing he was there too, or else we might have had to guess what was going on! Watch part of it here.
Sector 7 guy pretty much appears out of nowhere in the movie, and disappears as quickly as he came. He pops up to explain to us that there are alien robots, we have known about them for years, we have Megatron in the Hoover Dam, and we have harnessed their technology and figured out how to make machines evil. Thanks Sector 7 guy! And after Sector 7 guy explained himself, we never saw him again.
#4 Parker Selfridge - Avatar
Parker is the rich, snobby, greedy, owner/CEO? of the company wanting to blow up the home tree and harvest the "unobtainium" on Pandora in Avatar. How do we know this? Because he told us! Where would we be as viewers without Parker telling us the whole reason they are on the planet establishing relationships, creating Avatars, and learning their language? He lays it out on the line for us, and when he isn't explaining the plot for us, he is playing golf at the base! Watch it here.
Caesar is a very entertaining and funny character, but he also gives us a whole lot of exposition and explanation in the Hunger Games. This is probably because it is hard to portray all the inner feelings and thoughts Katniss had in the books on screen. So, Flickerman gets to the heart of it for us through his in depth interviews and explanations. Not only does he interview the main characters, but he gives commentary throughout the movie on what is happening. You can see part of it here.
#6 Arthur - Inception
Out of everyone on the list, this one is probably the most necessary, as Inception without a narrator would probably be too difficult to follow. But, he is still in the movie primarily to offer us plot details, exposition, and explanations on how the physics of the dream world works. Half of this movie is Arthur explaining to other characters, particularly Ellen Page, how it all works, and what is going to happen.
This character's only responsibility in this whole movie was to explain the game of poker they were playing step by step. Without him, we would have no idea what was going on. And, if it wasn't him, it would have had to be someone else. Check it out here.
Albert is the final answer to all of the questions Jason Bourne has had throughout the movies. It is as though he has been waiting in that room for years, and has just not been able to wait to tell both Jason and the viewers all the answers to the juicy questions we have had throughout the trilogy. Check it out here.
Ian is in this movie to explain chaos theory, explain that life will find a way, talk about how it is a terrible idea to make dinosaurs, that they will most likely escape and kill people, and basically discuss the overall ethics of the entire thing. That doesn't mean he isn't a great character, but he is greatly an expositional character. Check it out here.
What other characters are mainly in movies to explain the plot? Who did we miss? Let us know and like us at www.facebook.com/simplefilmcritics!