Superior Sequels

I can't believe this hasn't been discussed, but after running several searches I was unable to find anything so here goes.

On my way to work today I started thinking about sequels (probably b/c my son is watching Toy Story 2 at least twice per day). Granted, most sequels suck and should never have been made, but there is that rare exception where the sequel actually exceeds the original film. Which sequels do you feel fall into that category?

Here's a few to get everyone started:

Empire Strikes Back
Toy Story 2
Godfather II
Aliens
Legend of the Drunkmaster
Kill Bill: Vol 2 (I hesitate to include it b/c I know it was supposed to be one film, but the fact remains it is a seperate entity).
Evil Dead 2
Shrek 2
Dawn of the Dead
Terminator 2
From Russia with Love
Road Warrior
ARMOR OF GOD 2

I'd best get back to work now... Discuss amongst yourselves

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My Top 100 favorite movies.

what does everyone think about the ring 2? it was very different to the original, strange, and it kept a few loose ends, but i like it.

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There are at least a couple longer threads on the subject, HERE and HERE.

But those are each two or three years old, and seeing as there are at least a dozen sequels released every year now, I suppose it's just as well to start another thread on the subject.




BEST: AS GOOD AS IF NOT BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL
The Godfather Part II
The Bride of Frankenstein
The Empire Strikes Back
Aliens
A Shot in the Dark
After the Thin Man
The Drowning Pool
Toy Story 2
Evil Dead 2
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
The Road Warrior
Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade
The Bourne Supremacy
Ocean's 12
X-Men 2: X-Men United


WORST: MY GOD...WHY?!?
Jaws: The Revenge
Caddyshack II
The Exorcist II: Heretic
Highlander 2: The Quickening
Men in Black II
Batman & Robin
Batman Forever
Alien: Resurrection
Jaws 3-D
Conan the Destroyer
The Sting II
Fletch Lives
The Blues Brothers 2000
The Godfather Part III
The Dead Pool
Rocky V
Escape from L.A.
Grease 2
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
Poltergeist III
Superman III
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace




NOT UP TO THE ORIGINAL, BUT VASTLY UNDERRATED
The Two Jakes
The Color of Money
Airplane II: The Sequel
Back to the Future III
Magnum Force
The Exorcist III: Legion
Dawn of the Dead

GENERALLY OVERRATED
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Return of the Jedi
Babe: Pig in the City
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
Spider-Man 2

WATCHABLE, BUT STILL VERY DISAPPOINTING
Ghostbusters 2
Beverly Hills Cop 2
2010: The Year We Make Contact
They Call Me Mister Tibbs!
Alien3
Another 48 Hrs.
Back to the Future II
Fright Night 2
Cocoon: The Return
Die Hard 2
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Ensign Pulver
The French Connection II
Hannibal
The Jewl of the Nile
Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom
Once Upon A Time in Mexico

WHY EVEN FU*KING BOTHER?/SHOULD HAVE BEEN STRAIGHT TO VIDEO (IF AT ALL)
Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles
Beverly Hills Cop III
Arthur 2: On the Rocks
City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
Futureworld
Shrek 2
The Odd Couple II
The Return of the Musketeers
U.S. Marshals
Men in Black II
Bad Boys II
Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
The Santa Clause 2

SPECIAL MENTION FOR SHEER BRILLIANCE IN CONCEPT & EXECUTION
Seven Plus Seven
21 Up
28 Up
35 Up
42 Up

MOST ILLOGICAL TITLES
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
*should be I Still Know What You Did the Summer Before Last
or You Remember, Like, Two Summers Ago? Well I Do, and I Know What You Did Back Then, Little Missy (and don't they sell T-Shirts in your size?)
Rambo III
*originally there was First Blood, then came Rambo: First Blood Part II. The next film, following that progressive logic, should have been Rambo II: First Blood Part III

BEST TITLE TO MAKE FUN OF
Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Well, Holden has said it all, again. Not much to add here, except I think Alien is still the better flick. Same with The Terminator, the second one is cool, but it just isn't as good as the first, IMO. Ill also add:

Star Trek II - The Wrah of Kahn : Not that it's hard to top the first flick, which I do find watchable, but Wrath is great sci-fi piece.

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you guys basicly said it all. Holden's list is great theres just a few that i dont agree with

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"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theater admission and the babysitter were worth it."
- Alfred Hitchcock

I would argue that The Color of Money is actually overrated... certainly not Oscar worthy. Also, Dawn of the Dead is considered a classic by many, not exactly a film I would consider underrated. Otherwise, nice list.

It only won a single Oscar, for Newman as Best Actor. And while Paul was strong as ever, it wasn't one of the best performances of his career and clearly the voters were swayed by the fact that he had somehow yet to win one (that The Verdict was released the same year as Gandhi was just bad luck). The only other nominations were for Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Richard Price's script and the set design. In the year when Platoon was the big winner, The Color of Money was hardly in serious contention for much of anything.

Even for the fact that he hadn't won yet, I wouldn't have voted for Newman that year. Bob Hoskins in Mona Lisa and Jimmy Woods in Salvador were more impressive among the nominees, and I think the absolute best of the year went unnaominated: Harrison Ford in The Mosquito Coast and Yves Montand in Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring.


In any event, what I was really addressing is how The Color of Money is veiwed as a sequel to The Hustler. Nobody would ever claim that it is in the same class as Rossen's original, nor should they, but what I was pointing out is that while it's no Hustler, it's a damn fine film in its own right - even though I'd rank it the least of Scorsese's films.

How about Final Destination 2? How the f*ck can there be more than one FINAL destination?

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

I find the first two really fun, but there never should have been a third.

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"Like all dreamers, Steven mistook disenchantment for truth."

I take it you mean Goldmember, seeing as The Spy Who Shagged Me was the second movie in the trilogy. But I completely agree with you otherwise. The third film was vastly inferior to its predecessors.

I absolutely agree with you. I actually enjoyed this one a lot.

These were the biggest eyebrowraisers in your list for me... Not saying necessarily that they suck, but I think both Alien and Raiders of the Lost Ark are superior to their sequels.

The biggest disappointment for me in recent years must have been The Matrix Reloaded. It's all a bit "jungian" though since I didn't expect it to affect me the way The Matrix did. And it didn't.

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

I was sorely disappointed with Be Cool as a sequel to get shorty but the sequel i was probably most impressed by was actually X2. The first one was good but nothing special and some characters had barely more than 3 lines. X2 was faster slicker and had real character storylines.

My fave sequel is Probably Batman returns, Catwoman and the penguin, most excellent. The ones after michael blew totally. What the hell George Clooney as Batman. Which bright spark in casting came up with that one?

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Undercoverlovers 100 REDUX

Great listings there.

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Nah, I can't blame the Cloonster. He has proven himself to be exceptional too many times on other projects. No, Joel Schumacher is the culprit as far as the last two Batman films are concerned. Anyone who attempts to transform Gotham City into japanese baroque deserves to work at Hardee's for the rest of their life...

oh dont get me wrong i think george is good, just totally wrong as batman.

Holden's list explains most of it but, why do people like Aliens? I mean it has Bill Paxton screaming "Game Over MAN!!"

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There are two types of people in this world: Those with guns and those to dig. . . You dig.

Ya, I just wonder. If he didn't have to perform using one of the worst scripts ever written (Batman and Robin), would he have been a better batman. I mean really, the family values theme of the film was just so...not Batman. I must rant a bit about Robin, as well... Robin, or Batgirl for that matter, are compromise Batman would never make. He is a solo, stealth vigilante. First, he would never put a child in danger, ever, no matter how many backflips they could do, and second, if he ever DID happen to make the compromise, why would he dress said vulnerable, young person in the two brightest colors of the spectrum and then go try to hide about the city with them.

"Here, boy. Put this on...Why is my suit black, you say?....Why, so I don't get my ass shot off in a city full of psychopathic clowns and crocodile men."

Before Sunset -my favorite sequel in a loooong time.

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Movies I Watched Last Week:
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004) ****
Drive Well, Sleep Carefully (Justin Mitchell, 2005) ****
Grilled (Jason Ensler, 2006) ****
An Inconvenient Truth (David Guggenheim, 2006) ****
The Family Stone (Thomas Bezucha, 2005) ***1/2
Rocky III (Sylvester Stallone, 1982) ***
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Ocean's 12?!?!?!?!??

better than the first ?!"?!?!?!?!?!?!?

impossible

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