It just finished watching the first two Terminator films, and yet again I was terrifically impressed by Linda Hamilton as Sara Connor. She had what might be considered an unfair advantage over many other actors playing the same role in a sequel – seven years to mature as an actress (and a MILF) between films. Still, she was quite credible as a party girl in the first movie, and I thought she was just phenomenal in the second. She grew into this tough sexy woman – she seemed worthy of her fate as the mother of the savior of humankind.
Honestly, I don’t thnk she could have simple acted out this character growth had the two films been shot simultaneously or in a very short time period. Nevertheless, she was just about perfect in both roles, as one woman who over time grew into another.
Karloff’s Frankenstein Monster- originally just a grunting, animalistic, unintentional child-killer, he becomes in BRIDE a speaking, praying, caring, lonely and at the end suicidal altruist.
Of course, he loses that all when seen again in SON.
The character El Mariachi from the film El Mariachi and it’s sequel Desperado.
Wide-eyed and innocent in the first movie, bad-ass action hero in the second (and third).
Now, here’s an example where the actor was changed from the first movie to the sequel. I really don’t think we’d have bought Antonio Banderas in the first movie: you look at Antonio Banderas and know not to mess with him, whereas Carlos Gallardo was quiet and unassuming.
What I think was so great about the first movie was that El Mariachi played by Carlos Gallardo was a character who was unwittingly thrown into a world of violence. In his youth and innocence the viewer, and his adversaries, assume him to be weak and not up to the task. The character adapts in a “ya gotta do what ya gotta do” kind of a way becoming the man he needs to be in order to deal with the violence around him.
I think it would have been much more interesting to see the same actor show the hardened person that the character had to become. In casting Antonio Banderas, who looks like an action hero, the character became a cartoon and lost all depth.
. . . but, I think it fits the OP. Major growth for the character from one film to the next (he even grew from being Mexican to being Spanish somehow).
It’s questionable how much growth there is, but the OP reminded me of Before Sunrise/Sunset. There really was no way to make a sequel other than by waiting ten years in between the two.
Skipping Die Harder, I think Bruce Willis’ character goes through negative growth between the Die Hard and Die Hard with a Vengeance movies, but then has an even more impressive positive growth between Die Hard with a Vengeance and Live Free or Die Hard.
But I think panamajack’s answer (Before Sunrise/Sunset is also very good.
I’m not sure she grows all that much between those two movies. Yes, she suffers a lot - but she was tough as nails pretty much from the first scene in Alien.
Well, if we’re taking it in that sort of vein, I’d like to nominate Linda Blair’s Regan from The Exorcist and its sequel.
But yeah, Sarah Conner was who immediately popped in to my mind upon reading the thread title. I still remember when she made her first appearance in T2, and I’m like :eek:…:o…:)!*
The Queen alien in Aliens was small enough to fit in the elevator and the landing gear of the dropship. The Queen in Alien Vs. Predator was about twice the size and very impressive (best part of that movie IMHO). But I’m pretty sure there was a significant age difference between the two.
Yep. Whiny teenager who touches everything in Part IV, maturing in V and frankly has a lot better insight into himself and what must be done in VI than Yoda or Obi Ghost Kenobi.
Another for Jar Jar Binks, CGI character. Originally a character so shallow, stupid, clumsey and stereotyped in the first movie that we wanted the destruction of both him and his creator. By the third movie he had calmed the fuck down so much we realized it was just his creator who was responsible for ruining Star Wars.
Best one ever: “Fast Eddy” Felson, played in both films by Paul Newman: The Hustler (1961), The Color of Money (1986). Also nominated for an Academy Award both times.
The reason it can’t be beat? Fast Eddy goes through 5 growth stages: First, he’s an overconfident punk. Then, he matures as a person and a pool player, only to have his career ended before it really began by the guys he beat. Fourth, Jaded and broken, he becomes a modern day bootlegger and backs other pool hustlers. Finally, he finds himself again, matures, and decides to return to his dream of being the greatest pool player ever.