Creating a sequel to any film, much less a beloved one, is never an easy science to calculate. Finding what was successful about the first is often a mystery because sequels that fail to capitalize on their originator’s success either fail to capture the same magic or lack reinvention to take the story further. The Hollywood machine doesn’t always create a film for the right reasons. Often, a sequel is a mere cash grab.
Time, of course, has forgiven certain films because the expectations to meet the original were not matched. With some space in between us, it’s easy to see what films fell by the wayside, especially since many of these films don’t have quite the reputation of what they succeeded. How could one follow upBack to The Future or TheGremlins or The Godfather? You can’t, but what does appear is that many of these sequels had something new to say.
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10 Predator 2
20th Century Fox
An ultra-violent, comic-book-like transplant from the jungle trappings of the original, Predator 2 did what most sequels fail to do when they go bigger. It captures the same feeling as it’s original, but imbues it with new sensibilities. Director Stephen Hopkins does just that by using the city of Los Angeles and creating a new prison for the characters to be trapped. Now, the Predator hurls from rooftops and takes on the gang wars that, while silly, provide plenty of action and satisfying gunplay; the film is always moving. Danny Glover steals the show as the mercenary cop who is driven to his manic, sweaty, and screaming endpoint as he takes on the intergalactic creature.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
9 The Wolverine
20th Century Studios
When James Mangold took over the beloved Wolverine character, he wanted to make an amalgamation of classic genre films. With the highly celebrated Logan, Mangold does what he’s done with many other films and turn the movie’s trappings into a Western. But, before that, he tackled another genre that is very much apiece with the Western and the classic tale of a Samurai. If you fire up the unrated cut, the film gets an immediate boost as The Wolverine turns into a bloody and epic tale of vengeance. As bodies drop in the snowy confines of Japans criminal underworld. A fiery and always boastful performance from Hugh Jackman anchors what’s a criminally underrated entry in the superhero canon.
8 The Two Jakes
Paramount Pictures
Making a sequel in the shadow of what’s considered one of the great American crime films of all time is no easy task. Two decades past its premiere, Jack Nicholson directed and teamed back up with original Chinatown scribe Robert Towne to make The Two Jakes. While the film rehashes the original subtext of Los Angeles as a town up for grabs and the nasty, cruel, corrupt practices of land barons who wish to grow their empire but to not as thrilling degrees, the film still has its merits. Nicholson’s fine eye for the beautiful vistas, and undercurrents of what makes old Hollywood magic, he delivers. Alongside a supporting performance as the other Jake from Harvey Keitel and gorgeous cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond, The Two Jakes stands underrated.
7 Mission: Impossible II
The mighty blockbuster franchise Tom Cruise has now used as a back-carer boost to his superstar bonafides, the Mission: Impossible series has gone under serious upheaval since 2011’s Ghost Protocol. A far cry from where the films are now, John Woo’s sole entry, Mission: Impossible II, in the franchise is high-kinetic, early 2000s slow-motion cheese at its finest. Starting with a hilarious opening where MI agent Hunt gets a self-destructing message from a pair of glasses to a high-octane motorcycle chase and explosive gunplay that plays to Woo’s directorial strengths, the film stands alone as a slept-on gem. One that plays to the strengths of the secret-spy gimmicks that Woo pries for melodrama, but also sets Cruise ablaze in some of the best set-pieces the series has constructed.
6 The Dark Knight Rises
Warner Bros.
Creating a film in the shadow of one of the greatest superhero films ever along with the death of one of its stars — Heath Ledger — is no easy task. Christopher Nolan’s fitting end to his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises does just that by raising the stakes on every level. Using the character of Bane, played in brooding brilliance with the brutality of a monster by Tom Hardy. Bane embarks on creating a criminal revolution, holding the entire city of Gotham hostage. Nolan takes Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne to the brink, fighting for his livelihood and soul as he tries to save Gotham and himself.
5 New Nightmare
New Line Cinema
Wes Craven’s return to his beloved dream stalker creation, New Nightmare was Craven deliciously being into the soul-sucking nature of the filmmaking industry with satirical glee and nasty horror violence. Showing the film as meshed with reality for a meta-textual commentary on art replicating life, Craven’s film shows the action becoming part of the nightmare they created. Sharpening tools he would later go on to use in the Scream franchise, New Nightmare evoked fantastical kills and a passionate narrative as Heather Langenkamp struggles to derive the difference between her realities.
4 The Exorcist III
Directed by the writer of the original novel that inspired the immediate sensation of The Exorcist, the first sequel to the hit film is considered a failure, but the third entry stands out above the others. While without the cultural resonance of the first, William Peter Blatty’s foray into the world of demonic possession is a haunting psychodrama of murderous obsession. The film stars the legendary George C. Scott as Lt. William Kinderman, a man who must battle the literal ghosts haunting his world and the horrors of his past. The emotional core melds beautifully with the terrifyingly cold corridors of hospitals and churches. The Exorcist III stands as not only an underrated film, but one of the great horror sequels ever made.
3 Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Warner Bros.
Joe Dante’s original critter comedy Gremlins is a classic of 80s pop cinema. While the original is beloved, its sequels get maligned or fall by the wayside when going over films of this particular era of 1980s America. What Gremlins 2: The New Batch does is take all that could go wrong with a sequel, overstuffs it with excess plot details and surface-level pleasures and jokes, but does so with thematic weight. Dante creates a feverish and Looney Tune-esque story, the film acts as a commentary on what’s wrong with sequels and the dread of the consumerism that drives their production and necessity. It’s a wonderfully goofy tale from Dante’s endless source of creativity.
2 Day of The Dead
United Film Distribution Company
The great auteur of the zombie film, George A. Romero does more than just bring out the undead, but finds ways to take the horror of being torn from flesh and funnel it into great philosophical questions about the psyche of America. In 1985, with Day of The Dead, Romero and legendary make-up artist Tom Savini created a gory, psychological nightmare that questioned the growing ires of the military-industrial complex under the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Using a team of scientists, civilians, and agitated military men, Romero showed an America at odds, as the people slowly combust long before the zombies come.
1 The Godfather: Part III
When you ask a person what they think of The Godfather: Part III, they most likely gasp and say something along the lines of, “Ah, not as good as the first two.” This is undeniably true. Creating a third film to wrap two of the greatest crime films ever made is a near-impossible task and one that would almost guarantee disappointment. But, in the wake of its release, what’s clear is that Francis Ford Coppola is in command of the craft, melding together the previous themes of corruption, power, family, and now mixing with the hierarchies of the church. Coppola created a sorrowful and mournful ending to cap a story predestined to end in tragedy. Al Pacino delivers a performance that has him borderline operatic, but subtle as well, as his final days in power are closing in on him. The failed reconciliation of the father on the steps of an opera house is one of the great endings that Coppola has concocted and a fitting coda to a life that will always catch you.
