We were talking about this at work and most nominations were shot down.
First up was Next Friday. I liked Friday. It was funny and true in the way funny movies can show truth without making it hurt too much. I even liked the slightly preachy end. Next Friday was not so preachy, which is it was “nominated”. It wasn’t anywhere near as good, in my opinion.
The second Godfather got many votes. But since I’ve never seen either one, I couldn’t comment.
Then somebody mentioned Rush Hour 2 (can you tell it was mostly guys making these nominations?) I guess it’s a good sequel, since you can replace alternate scenes from the original with ones from 2 and no one would be able to tell the difference. Which doesn’t make it better in my eyes. Just the same.
Everyone agreed with me on Aliens. They took a dark, creepy horror movie and made it into an action movie with monsters. Now, some would say that isn’t an improvement-- but I love a good action movie. Especially movies were women get to kick ass and not run around screaming and getting into trouble (one of my favorite movies of all time is The Long Kiss Goodnight with Geena Davis and Samuel L Jackson— why didn’t that movie do better?)
Then we ran out of ideas. Sequels really suck, don’t they? But there has got to be more than these, right?
“The Road Warrior,” sequel to “Mad Max.” Some claim “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome,” was better still than “The Road Warrior,” a rare feat.
“The Godfather: Part II” was NOT better than the first movie; I don’t care what anyone says. It was about as well made, that is all. Without Brando’s classic presence, it had no chance of being better than the first film.
[hijack]
Watching Mad Max 3 was a strange experience. I’ve played and finished Fallout 2, and loved it. It takes a LOT of it’s setting from Max so I kept recognizing things even though I hadn’t seen the movie before. Example: every weapon Max pulls out when he has to disarm is a weapon from Fallout.
I still find Batman Returns better than the first Batman. I realize that I may find myself in a minority here, but c’mon: Catwoman! That great interplay between Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Keaton! And the side characters are doing a great job as well, in that lovely dark Burtonesque atmosphere.
BTW, I liked The Long Kiss Goodnight as well, but then, I like Geena Davis (plus it had Samuel L. Jackson in it, too). However, the movie was marred because the writer ran out of ideas somewhere two-third into the movie.
I’m sorry, but the correct answer to which Indiana Jones sequel is better than the original is: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Temple of Doom sucks monkey balls.
I’d agree with X2; I quite liked the first one but, as action/superhero films go, I didn’t think it had anything on the sequel.
I’m on the fence with Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Terminator isn’t a film that really requires a sequel and, IMO, to make one detracts from the tight, self-contained nature of the original film. Like all sequels it has to expand on its own mythology; on the Terminator, the war against the machines, and John Connor, and this takes away from the sheer drive of the first one, where all you need to know is that a killer robot from the future has come to terminate you and he’s well-nigh unstoppable.
But on the other hand, Terminator 2 does work on its own terms, as an epic action/sci-fi film. I dunno if I’d call it better; it’s just different.
On the whole, I’d say that most films that aren’t planned as part of a series don’t require sequels and they’ll generally not be much good.
I’d like to enter for consideration Shane and Pale Rider which are less sequels than remakes on the same basic plot line and character mix.
Both of these are fine Westerns. Both have great casts. Shane was a ground-breaking Western in the days when maybe High Noon and a few others (some say Stagecoach but I just don’t see it) were exploring the “adult Western.”
Pale Rider was less ground-breaking. How could it be? Many fine “adult Westerns” intervened. But if I had the choice of which to keep in my collection, I’d opt for Pale Rider in spite of the fact that Jack Palance was a much heavier heavy than John Russell.
Didn’t they do this in Scream 2? That was not a better sequel.
The Empire Strikes Back (already mentioned).
Don’t know if this counts, but The Silence of the Lambs is, in a way, a sequel to Manhunter, based on the Thomas Harris book Red Dragon (from which we got the more recent Red Dragon movie).
And y’all are NUTS! Raiders of the Lost Ark is the best Indiana Jones movie. You can argue about which is second-best if you’d like.
I definitely think that Last Crusade is the best of the Indiana Jones series and one of the very best action films I have ever seen. But Temple of Doom was a horrible film.
IMO Godfather 2 is superior to 1 because of its larger scope both in time and place.
Attack of the Clones wasn’t that great a film but it was clearly superior to Phantom Menace.
Empire Strikes Back was a better made film than Star Wars, though I enjoyed Star Wars more.
Aliens was better than Alien.
Terminator 2 was better than the original.
X Men 2 was better than the original.
Sorry for you Temple of Doom lovers, but it was easily the worst of the three Indiana Jones movies by a large margin.
