The chase scene in the second one was one of the all time great chase scenes, but yes, I agree with you. We can go ahead and get Godfather III and Back to the Future III out of the way. GF3 is widely regarded as one of the worst sequels of all time. The story wasn't very compelling, the writing fell off, and honestly, is was just way too long after GF2. BttF3 was just silly. Sure, it was interesting that they checked out the old west and all that, but it felt more like they were trying to rake in the last little bit of cash they could, rather than put out a quality movie.
I second Chater with The Matrix sequels. Focus: Jurassic Park 2 and 3. First of all, any time you make a sequel 5+ years after the original, it's not going to be nearly as good. Granted, the Lost World starred Goldblum, which is always a plus, but both sequels missed out on why the original was so great. The dialogue and special effects in the first movie were incredible. The minimal amounts of CGI made the dinosaurs seem lifelike and kept the movie pure. In the 2nd and 3rd movies, the storyline was subbed out for more action scenes and one-liners, making the movies more like cheesy action flicks that were made to make money at the box office.
The fourth Indiana Jones is a given. Why Aliens?! Why Shia LeBoeuf (probably misspelled, my bad)? And while on the topic of turd acrtors, why use Justin Long in Live Free or Die Hard?! We all know McClane is a bad ass, but come on, fighting a fucking Harrier jet?! Die Hard 2: Die Harder remains one of my favorite movies, though, as well as one of my favorite titles to a movie. Oh, and Quantum of Solace. Maddox put it best, but basically it had the least threatening bad guy of all the Bond films with one of the weakest plots of them all. I really liked Casino Royale, too. Lastly, and I am gonna catch so much shit for this, the Dark Night. Now, let me explain. One of my biggest peeves is when shows/sequels replace actors but keep the same characters. Like Maggie Gylenhaal (also probably misspelled) taking over Katie Holmes. I hate Katie Holmes also, but replacing her with Maggie is like replacing a pile of shit with seven piles of shit. The movie itself was a masterpiece, with many skilled actors and actresses, plus it was filmed in my home town of the most part, but the only thing I hate more than god damn maggie gyylenhaal is replacing fucking actors in sequels. One thing that really pissed me off was when they changed the little kid who played Rita's son in Dexter between the first and second season. Such a minor role, and I'm sure most people didn't notice, but fuck them for doing that anyways. Please don't red dot me for this one once the rep points are established! Clearly, I have a problem.
The Neverending Story. That movie is one of my all-time favourites, and they had to go and tarnish it with the fourteen (or however many there were) sequels in an attempt to get as much money out of it as possible. It did not need to have the concept of Fantasia explored, and I would have been perfectly content to imagine that Bastian was doing whatever he felt like without involving me in the process. Thank God no one's had the audacity to touch The Princess Bride.
I know this will be contentious but Alien. Don’t get me wrong, Aliens is a great film, possibly one of the best sequels of all time but it turned one of the most powerfully horrific movies of my youth ( Alien ) into a franchise and undermined the emotional investment I had in that movie. I’d go with all the nightmare on elm street sequels too. I remember not being able to walk past a copy of the original in the video shop without practically pissing my pants with fear at the concept. 10 years later turns out the protagonist is a psychotic game show host. Fun ? yeah scary ? no. I like scary movies. Alien and Nightmare were both fucking terrifying until their sequels turned up.
I am of the belief that the vast majority of sequels are unnecessary. If a movie tells a compelling story, than it is not needed. (The exceptions of course are movies that need more movies to resolve a story arc, ie Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the like.) The Hangover 2 is an example. What the fuck can you do to make a funny story with the characters? Another bachelor party? Come on. Sequels are nothing more than a grab for cash by following up on a popular title.
The motherfucking Caddyshack 2 just made me so severely upset. The first one was one of the all-time greatest comedies, ever. The second one was an abomination that was made just to capitalize on the success of the first. Chevy Chase became a parody of himself, and seeing Dan Aykroyd attempt to play a character reminiscent to that of Bill Murray's Carl Spackler was embarassing. The plot was stupid, the acting was horrendous, and there was no Rodney Dangerfield. They should have left well-enough alone. Fuck Caddyshack 2.
Blues Brothers 2000. No elaboration necessary. Voodoo. An orphan. Blues Traveler. WTF? Belushi must be rolling in his grave. It was on TNT the other night. But I opted for Murder She Wrote.
Cruel Intentions 2. For whatever reasons I fully enjoy the first*, so much so I own it. The second was miserable to watch. I didn't even make through the entire thing. *Hey, I own Clueless too and, I watch it. Bite me.
Anyone ever catch The Sandlot 2? No one? That's shocking. The movie had THE EXACT SAME PLOT as the original save a couple of things. One, there were GIRLS, Duhn duhn DUHHHHN! Two, the Babe Ruth signed baseball was exchanged for, wait for it, a prototype scale model of the space shuttle!!!!! Holy shit I can hear you all getting hot in the pants for this. Three, the movie lacked any sort of childhood wonder that the first film had. The worst part was when the rehashed dog chase scene at the end occurred, the hero strapped on Nike's and chucked his PF Flyers, then half way through the scene the music score dropped out and it sounded like they finished it on a Casio do it yourself keyboard. I didn't even bother reading the synopsis of the third Sandlot film that was a direct to video as well. What makes it even worse, and a lot of sequels worse in my mind, is that the original writer/director of the first one came back to do the second one and still managed to fuck it all up. So much for staying true to their original visions. Two sequels I am curious about but still think they'll suck compared to the originals are Donnie Darko 2 and the Waiting sequel. Anyone seen either?
Grease and Dirty Dancing. Grease 2 Hey, here’s an idea: This time let’s make the female lead a Greaser and the male lead an Aussie-accented Prep, cast it with a whole new slew of 30 year olds that can’t pass for high schoolers or act, replace the classic Rock and Roll with a canned pop-ish soundtrack and…and…a school luau (because those happen all the time) for the grand finish! Yep. Before The Fonz jumped the shark; Michael jumped the inflatable wading pool. Dirty Dancing: Something Silly About Cuba and Salsa It has been written: Thou shall not sequel the most perfectest movie ever made. The responsible parties are all going to hell. Or Idaho. Or something else equally terrifically horrible.
Honestly, I don't even care if it's replacing an actor in a sequel or not (which also bugs me), just never use Maggie Gylenhaal for anything ever. Seriously, the woman looks like Droopy the Dog. Regardless of her quality as an actress, I honestly think she's probably the ugliest woman in Hollywood. Even though I absolutely loved The Dark Knight, I was infuriated by every scene she was in because she's so fucking ugly.
In the other thread, someone mentioned Fletch. Fletch is a wonderful comedy, so chock full of hilarity that you have to watch it over and over. Fletch 2 was godawful. Watching that was one of the first times I felt truly violated by a sequel. Chevy Chase reminds me about movies where the sequels are inconsistent. Vacation was of course quite excellent. European Vacation...well, I only enjoy it for nostalgia reasons - I was living in Germany when it came out and my parents and I enjoyed how hilariously bad it was. But then you have Christmas Vacation, which almost surpassed the first movie. Meanwhile Vegas Vacation deserves to die a slow painful death.
Terminator 3 and 4. T3: "Let's remake T2 without the genius behind it and throw in tons of cheesiness and a hot villain!" T4: No James Cameron, No Arnold, Christian Bale's shitty over the top Batman voice, and a lame, lame attempt at putting Arnold in it with a body double. Fucking awful. I'm really just bitter because The Terminator is my all time favorite movie.
I have to agree with the previous posters who mentioned the Matrix. Focus: Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3. Basing a movie off of a ride at Disneyland is ballsy to say the least. They pulled it off, it was a great movie with a great story, acting, and fun to watch. They should have left it alone. What really annoyed me was they kept recycling jokes from the first one. I can understand one or two, but it got ridiculous. Anti-Focus: Terminator 2 This has to be one of the best sequels ever made. I think it was great, was that it was able to stand up as its own movie. Usually when a trilogy is made the second is more like a placeholder and resolves nothing and leaves you frustrated. Since a trilogy wasn't planned out, each movie was on its own. Unfortunately, T2 made too much money which led to the travesty which became T3.
This is kind of off topic, but I get more pissed off at shitty remakes than I do at shitty sequels. The day the earth stood still. Manchurian candidate. Planet of the apes. And the worst one ever, Psycho. There are a lot of people in Hollywood. You'd think some of them could come up with a fresh idea instead of simply remaking a classic movie. These movies are classics for a reason dipshit, they're nearly perfect. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that putting Keanu Reeves as the lead in a classic movie remake is a recipe for disaster. More on focus, but not quite: Every Hannibal movie after The Silence Of The Lambs. That movie kicked so much ass. Then came Hannibal. Then came Red Dragon. Then came Hannibal Rising. It's basically at the point where a Hannibal movie is inadvertently parodying itself. What a fucking joke. Now I'm good and pissed off. Thanks assholes
First off, this post is about straight-to-video movies, those still count, right? I hate almost all of the animated Disney movie sequels that ever came out (yes, Disney animated films, I am an adult, and I don't care). Toy Story 2 was good, but there was never a need to make 2 more Lion Kings, Aladdins, Little Mermaids, etc... Even worse are the sequels to the old Disney classics. I never saw Cinderella 2 and 3, but really, to come out with a sequel to a classic tale 52 years later? No thanks. I think the problem is that the originals were all (well, almost all) so good, that a sequel can't even compare. Also, all the movies end so perfectly, with everything working out for the main character(s), there is no need for a second movie. They just aren't as good. Also, I like Jurassic Park 3, but number 2 can probably be forgotten.
The worst sequel I have ever seen was the Ring 2. Jesus, that movie was the worst; especially when I REALLY enjoyed the first one. I'm sitting there with my girl, and we're thinking out loud to each other "would it surprise you if the credits just popped up right now?" (or ANY point in the movie for that matter) followed by "They'd better soon because I want to break this bottle of wine and stab myself neck because of this shitshow."
Donnie Darko. Oh boy Donnie Darko needed a sequel like a hole in the head Lets take a cult classic with a really jumbled and obscure plot, ignore the creators wishes, rehire none of the writing or directorial cast, and make a sequel just trying really hard to apply to the OMG SCENE youth who might resemble some of the fanbase of the original five to seven years ago. S. Darko is such a terrible movie on its own, but when you compare it to what it's supposed to be succeeding it's just... no.
Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows was completely stupid and unnessescary. Very little to do with the original film except for the blair witch and her house, and was shot in the styel of an actual movie, rather than a pseudo-documentary. It had many one redeeming quality, there were tits in it.