I might be an atypical movie watcher, but I don't feel this way. The point of the antagonist is to give the protagonist something to struggle against. If the struggle is portrayed well, I don't care if there's never any "payoff". Maybe I don't have the right definition of these terms. I'm thinking X-Files, where for years Mulder is chasing shadowy alien conspiracies and it works, because it's not about seeing them and who they really are, but what it does to him. In fact when there is a payoff, it's a huge let down because all the tension is gone.