Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, and Blade Runner 2049 would be my picks.
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The Two Towers?
I won’t go so far as to say this is better than Terminator 2, but Gremlins 2 is such a great sequel. Some people are turned off by the zaniness, but I love how it’s basically a parody of unnecessary sequels and that they just swung for the fences with it.
This is 40 as sequel to knocked up.
Aliens
The correct answer. The perfect duology.
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
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
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.
Game over, man
I was about to say no, but you convinced me. They’re both phenomenal.
Mad max 1 was a revenge cop story nobody watched outside Australia
Mad max 2 was the apocalyptic Mad max everybody know
The Empire Strikes Back
The Dark Knight
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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Empire Strikes Back.
And if you’re into “it’s so bad it wraps around and becomes hilarious” films, Troll 2.
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.
Wrath of Khan
Shrek 2
You know what, thread closed. What a perfect movie.