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I saw another comment that spurred my thinking. There are (how many?) sequels in the Terminator series that have only been increasingly worse all because Terminator 2 was so good.
The same goes for Star Wars. Empire Strikes Back is a damn good movie by any measure. I’m confident none of the Star Wars movies since have managed to even come close, and I’d even say the only ones really worth watching are the first, the second, and the immediate prequel (Rogue One)
Hate on Michael Bay and his Transformers movies all you want, but there is only one movie with more robots that turn into more things than cars, more explosions, more ridiculous destruction, more awesomeness, more movie than 2007’s Transformers, and that movie is Transformers: Age of Extinction.
A giant robot that turns into a semi-truck painted with red flames, wielding a sword while riding on the back of another giant robot that turns into a flame-breathing T-rex robot. It’s unparalleled in the stupid dumb action movie genre.
I may say unlike the movies, Terminator Zero Series is very good!. It is animated, but story telling is sooo good there.
I wouldn’t say they are better, per se, but these are some sequels I think are on the same level, when compared to the original film in the series:
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Austin Powers 2
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Die Hard With a Vengeance
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Operation Condor 2
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Back to the Future Part 3
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Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
This one right here, officer.
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Hot shots! Part deux.
Mad max 1 was a revenge cop story nobody watched outside Australia
Mad max 2 was the apocalyptic Mad max everybody know
I qualify a good sequel as a movie that can be enjoyed without having to watch the previous. Not that the previous isn’t important, just not required.
Terminator 2 clearly fits into this category. As do a lot of sequels. Here is my short list:
- Terminator 2
- The Dark Knight
- Finding Dory
- Toy Story 2
- Spider Man 2 (Toby Maguire)
Do Casino Royal or Rogue One count for anyone?
cars 2. Nothing better than a spy movie where the protagonist is literally a car
- Empire Strikes Back
- Star Trek II
Nailed it! I’d add Aliens, not as a better movie, but as a worthy sequel.
Aliens
The correct answer. The perfect duology.
Game over, man
While I do not think that Aliens was a bad film at all, I kinda wish it wasn’t a sequel to Alien. It’s a completely different film, far more action-oriented
Then again my view is probably significantly coloured by the fact that I enjoyed the first one a lot more
You don’t have the fear of the Alien and the tension from Ripley without the first movie… in my view, but yes it is a totally didn’t feeling movie otherwise.
That’s one of the reasons it’s so good. Alien is perfect space horror. Aliens doesn’t try to match it but tells a different kind of story with some of the same characters.
I think that’s the fun of the movie. It’s not trying to recapture the suspense or tension of the original. It’s a natural evolution in a world of monsters. In the first movie, the crew are just people trying to survive on a ship in space with a terrifying novel threat. Any other monster movie sequel, they find new victims and run it back, but the characters in Aliens react as one should to a new threat. Gear up and go at them with soldiers and weapons.
It’s still terrifying because you and they know what lurks in the wet shadows. They are prepared to fight it which is why it’s an action movie, but it’s still very much an Alien sequel.
Oh I agree that it is an Alien sequel, I’m just saying I wish it hadn’t been. For me, it kinda cuts down on the dread that the xenomorph can create when there are dozens of them charging into a hail of automated machine gun fire and getting slaughtered.
I don’t think that they actually executed it very well, but I am far more keen on the ideas brought about in Prometheus and Covenant. That’s what I personally want out of Alien sequels. Just ideally with, like… a second look over the script. By anyone.
The same could be said about terminator 2
I’m not sure about that, actually. There’s a similar power dynamic involved — Arnie’s terminator is unstoppable compared to Kyle Reese, but then the T-1000 is unstoppable compared to Arnie. Worse, it can now be anyone in almost any scene
Terminator 3, on the other hand…
It’s a completely different film, far more action-oriented
Terminator 2 is tonally almost completely different from 1. 1’s soul is much more a horror movie, complete with a damsel in distress and a heavily uncanny villain. 2 had every chance to lean into that sense of unease, but really doesn’t explore that uncomfortable emotion despite the T-1000 being much more threatening on paper.
I’ll take your word for it; it has been a long time since I’ve watched either of them, so my memory of the tone is probably not on the money
I was about to say no, but you convinced me. They’re both phenomenal.
The Empire Strikes Back
The Dark Knight
Wrath of Khan
Empire Strikes Back.
And if you’re into “it’s so bad it wraps around and becomes hilarious” films, Troll 2.
Bending the rules a bit here. I know it is not a true sequel, but it’s part of a trilogy. Hot Fuzz is better than Shaun of the Dead. Also, except for the second film, I think the Mission Impossible series just gets better with every entry.
I know it is not a true sequel, but it’s part of a trilogy. Hot Fuzz is better than Shaun of the Dead.
I think we’ll have to agree to disagree here.
Why do you think Hot Fuzz is better? Not arguing, I love both movies! I had never thought to compare the two
Shaun of the Dead is on my “perfect films” list but I’m sure it’s at least in part because of its context in my life.
I just think the joke ratio is a lot higher and they’re all excellent jokes as well. Plus there’s tons of little moments which you can pick up on multiple viewings.
Shaun is still a great film, I just think they got better with Fuzz.
Not OP. I think that Fuzz just got more budget and looks less campy than Shaun due to that and stylistic choices, but I love both equally and I don’t think filming Shaun like Fuzz would make it better. HF packs action and SotD shines in it’s long shots when we see parts of it’s storytelling in the background, they both have different vibes and the way they are filmed and edited serves them well.
Ed Wright and their shared cast are so talented they could’ve made anything a cult classic, even an omegaverse\Twilight crossover where Simon Pegg, haphazardly tanned to look like Jacob (pre-RenEsme lock-in), struggles to find a match with a vampire omega and joins the Edward\Bella story only to steal Edward; Nick Frost serves as his werewolf bro giving the least useful advices Simon blindly follows; also it’s suburbs of London and the soundtrack is full of hair metal for some reason.
Shit, now this idea would haunt me for years.
For a while, Mission Impossible kept getting better, but Dead Reckoning was absolute dog water and it killed all my interest in the franchise forever.
I liked MI2 better than MI:III
it’s been a while since I’ve seen them, so I can’t really remember why.
About two years ago, I watched all six, as there were then, over the course of a couple of weeks. For me, the second film stands out as being the weakest.
I think I need to watch Dead Reckoning (formerly part 1) again as I was slightly disappointed seeing that.
I think Dead Reckoning is a good, and poignant, concept, but I think it suffers from weak writing.
It suffered a bit from the same issue as the video game Uncharted 3, where they wrote the action set pieces first, then wrote the story to fit them together. I’m not sure if that’s what happened in the writing of Dead Reckoning, but that’s how it felt.
Overall I still liked it, and look forward to the next one, but it isn’t as strong as the previous 3 films.
