Author: Simon Braund
Edited By: David Reddish
Broadly speaking, moviemakers can approach movie sequels in one of two ways: either a welcome opportunity to savor the antics of beloved characters in a fresh setting or a cynical ploy to milk a cash cow until its udders give out or filmgoers develop lactose intolerance.
So why do audiences endure so many awful movie sequels? Repetition plays a part, as does stretching material too thin, subbing in “alternate” (i.e., inferior) talent, waning creative momentum, and the whole cow/udder/intolerance thing.
Occasionally though, movie sequels escape the shadow of their forebears, pinpointing what made the original tick and refashioning it into something sparkling and new. In the limited sphere of honorable sequels, it not unusual for a down-the-line franchise entry to top a mediocre #2 or #3.
Some (as the list below shows) even go the extra mile, thumbing their noses at the law of diminishing returns to best the original itself.
The Godfather Part 2 (1974)
The elemental brilliance of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather lay in transforming novelist Mario Puzo’s overwrought mafia potboiler into an epic family drama. The film’s story wrestled with the big issues of power and corruption while keeping the sensationalism and mob-movie clichés firmly on the down-low.
Freed entirely from the source novel (although Puzo co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola) Part 2 expands the saga’s scope in all directions, introducing a deadly rift within the family as the Corleone empire branches out into the powder keg of pre-revolution Cuba. It also juxtaposes the narrative arcs and inverse moral imperatives that drive Don Corleone’s rise to power in turn-of-the-century New York with his heir Michael’s descent into paranoid megalomania in 1950s Nevada.
Toy Stoy 3 (2010)
There’s nothing wrong with Toy Story 2; it’s funny, clever, and moving. It would’ve cruised onto this list if not for Toy Story 3, which is even funnier, cleverer, and intensely moving.
Saved from straight-to-DVD ignominy by Pixar honcho John Lassiter taking the reins at Disney Animation, it finds Woody, Buzz, and the gang abandoned at a sinister daycare center when Andy leaves for college. Determined to escape, they embark on their most ingeniously plotted and perilous adventure.
Things get so hairy that at a certain point, viewers truly believe the end for the toys is at hand. And with no foreknowledge of the (wholly unnecessary) fourth installment, it makes perfect, terrible sense. It’s a devastating moment, bringing home just how emotionally attached audiences become to these characters. Call it one of the most astonishing movie sequels ever.
Aliens (1986)
How to follow Ridley Scott’s faultless haunted-house-in-space flick? More of the same would be most filmmakers’ M.O.
James Cameron, however, is not “most” filmmakers, and nor have tense claustrophobic thrillers ever fit his sensibility. But still, the Terminator director’s decision to make his Alien follow-up an unabashed action extravaganza – as sprawling and cacophonous as Alien was downbeat and self-contained – counts as a stroke of genius.
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Boris Karloff reprises his iconic role as the Monster in this strange and wonderful sequel to James Whale’s seminal 1931 Frankenstein. Here, he brings yet more pathos to the unfortunate creature, cruelly spurned even by the mate who was literally made for him.
Elsa Lanchester cuts almost as iconic a figure as “the bride,” her ear-piercing shriek when first laying eyes on her betrothed a classic moment in horror history.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Episode IV is where everything began, the wellspring for every element in the vast and ever-expanding Star Wars Universe. But the follow-up outranks it. Darker, leaner, more emotionally engaging, the saga takes hold here.
Attracting mixed reviews on release, critics now rightly regard it as a masterpiece. Empire not only introduced Yoda, Lando Calrissian, and Boba Fett (not counting the SW Holiday Special, and why would anyone?), but also features the awe-inspiring Battle of Hoth, arguably the finest action sequence in the entire franchise, and Vader delivers his shattering revelation to Luke.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
Once asked by a journalist whether he’d ever heard the phrase “less is more,” James Cameron roared back: “More is always more, and too much is never enough!” (or words to that effect).
A sensory onslaught of cutting-edge digital effects and jaw-dropping old-school action – including the preposterously ambitious truck/Harley chase sequence in the dried-up bed of the L.A. river – T2 makes that maxim flesh.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins sequel set the superhero movie on a new footing. A hard-edged crime drama with a satirical, political backdrop, its portrayal of the Caped Crusader as a flawed human being. In the sequel, Nolan’s Batman became a dispenser of brutal vigilante justice rather than a sainted avenging angel, and the director mined the ambiguity of the character more than any screen version – even Nolan’s own – had dared to do before.
The comic-book movie came of age with The Dark Knight – and that’s without even mentioning Heath Ledger’s definitive turn as The Joker, a one-man tour-de-force that steals the show even in this company.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Described as a “Cathedral” of a movie by Harrison Ford himself, Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner sequel is, indeed, something miraculous: a film that fully evokes the spirit of its forebear, matching, if not outstripping it in both visual beauty and philosophical complexity.
Call it one of the best sci-fi movies of the century.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Star Trek The Motion Picture might’ve set the bar low, but even so, Khan smashes it thanks to a stronger storyline, a sharper script, and an unforgettable performance from Ricardo Montalban as the genetically engineered warlord of the title.
Wrath of Khan improved so much on its lackluster predecessor that it not only ensured the future of the big-screen franchise but probably saved the TV show, too. It paved the way for the rich bounty of spin-offs and reboots that followed. Very much a case of Khan-do!
Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
Less a second chapter in the Evil Dead trilogy and more than an embellished remake, writer-director Sam Raimi’s demented horror-comedy ramps up both elements to fever pitch and beyond.
The movie keeps the ultra-gory gags coming thick and fast, each one topping the last.
“There are horror movies,” wrote Hal Boedeker in The Miami Herald. “And then there is this thing.”
Batman Returns (1992)
Gotham goes full gothic in Tim Burton’s macabre follow-up to 1989’s Batman.
With Michael Keaton’s ever-underrated Caped Crusader takes on Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, a feline femme fatale in spray-on latex, and Danny DeVito’s vile yet oddly sympathetic Penguin–a more rounded and satisfying villain than Jack Nicholson’s pantomime Joker.
Paddington 2 (2017)
Every bit as charming and fun as the original, Paddington’s second bite at the cinematic marmalade sandwich has an ace up its sleeve. He is Hugh Grant, leaning hard into his post-heartthrob sleazeball persona as washed-up-matinee-idol-turned-camp-as-Christmas-baddie Phoenix Buchanan.
Featuring outstanding plot and physical comedy our ursine hero gets falsely accused of stealing a priceless artefact intended as a gift for Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday. “The Godfather Part II of Peruvian bear movies,” as The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern put it.
Mad Max: The Road Warrior (1981)
Throwing conventional notions of plot, character, and movie sequels to the wind, writer-director George Miller takes the best auto-destruct bits of 1979’s Mad Max, injects them with a man-sized dose of steroids.
That Miller’s terrific 2015 reboot, Max Max: Fury Road, owes more to The Road Warrior than the original speaks volumes.
Before Midnight (2013)
The third installment of Richard Linklater’s decades-spanning romantic two-header finds Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) in a chatty and contemplative mood, this time amid the visual splendor of Greece.
As with its predecessors – 1995’s Before Sunrise, and 2004’s Before Sunset – the actors deliver superb performances and the dialogue rings uncomfortably true.
The undertow of melancholy and regret that only develops after a relationship has been around the block a few times sets Midnight apart from other movie sequels. Taken together, Linklater’s trilogy constitutes a masterpiece, but this is the heartrending cherry on the cake.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
The later Mission: Impossible movie sequels (Rogue Nation, Fallout, Dead Reckoning, et al.) are all ingeniously well-plotted, action-packed, and paced at breakneck velocity.
Still, Ghost Protocol stands out if only for the scenes in Dubai of Tom Cruise clinging to the outside of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and a stringent test of one’s mettle even on the right side of the glass. Call it one of the tensest, most brilliantly staged and executed set-pieces in modern cinema.
After the Thin Man (1936)
Cocktail-swilling society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles are as urbanely amusing as ever in this sparkling murder-mystery follow-up to 1934’s The Thin Man.
It doesn’t improve on the original, but only because nobody can improve perfection.
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Another case of third time’s a charm, Paul Greengrass’ film sees everything right about the Bourne series coalesce. Criticized at the time for perceived over-use of “shaky-cam,” rapid-fire editing, and the staging of the action (particularly the bruising, staccato fight scenes) it nevertheless changed the game forever.
The film also boasts a strong contender for the best car chase ever committed to celluloid.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
A non-stop parade of eye-popping set-pieces, Sam Raimi’s superb sequel earns its stripes for a perfectly judged balancing act, placing equal emphasis on Peter Parker’s irksome private life (he’s failing at college, he can’t get a date) and the workaday pressures of adolescent superherodom.
In the first rank of modern comic-book movies, Spidey 2 feels all the more precious in light of Raimi’s overstuffed crash-and-burn third installment.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
By the time Sergio Leone got around to this, the third in his seminal Dollars Trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns, he had honed his signature style to a point just shy of self-parody.
The longueurs are longer, the close-ups closer, the stylization more extreme, and the tension, especially in the climactic three-way Mexican stand-off, more agonizing. The overall effect, enhanced by Ennio Morricone’s haunting score, replete with whistling, yodeling, and ricocheting gunfire, feels gloriously immersive.
The Color of Money (1986)
Martin Scorsese’s follow-up to 1961’s The Hustler finds pool shark Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) thirty years on from his glory days, looking to get back in action by mentoring a cocky upstart (Tom Cruise) in whom he sees much of his younger self.
If not Scorsese’s best film, Money nevertheless makes a prime example of a long-distance sequel. It views the same underworld of gamblers, hustlers, and lowlifes as the original through its own contemporary lens. The performances from Cruise, Newman (bagging his only Best Actor Oscar), and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are superb, the camerawork restless and inventive, and the action on the tables mesmerizing, even for viewers that wouldn’t know a nine-ball from a nine-inch nail.
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This post was previously published on Wealth of Geeks.
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