Almost as certain as the summer following the spring, sequels are usually disappointing. The list of bad sequels runs as deep as the mighty river my friends. However, every once in a while a sequel comes out that not only meets the quality of the first film, but by far exceeds it.
I started thinking about this earlier when I saw The Chronicles of Riddick in the video store. I absolutely HATED Pitch Black. I thought it was pure garbage from start to finish. So imagine my surprise when I ended up not minding Riddick. Don’t get me wrong, Riddick isn’t exactly a great movie… but it was much better than it’s predecessor.
Some other films that for me fall under the category of sequels that clearly exceeded the originals are:
Toy Story 2 – I did enjoy Toy Story 1 quite a bit, but 2 just outdid it in almost every aspect for me. No contest to me which of the 2 was better.
Rush Hour 2 – I didn’t really like the first Rush Hour too much… I didn’t hate it, but didn’t dig it either. Rush Hour 2 had me howling the whole time despite the fact that I find Christ Tucker almost as annoying as the Scottish. :)
Blade 2 – The ending of the first Blade totally ruined the film for me. I was quite pleased to see Blade 2 realized all it was good for was hackin slashin fun…. and it delivered.
X-Men 2 – Ok, now some would say that the first X-Men was too good to fall into this category, and I agree… but I just think X-Men 2 was that much better. I’m nervous to see where it will go without Bryan Singer at the helm
Aliens – Ya ya I know. Many of you are swearing at me. But seriously, while the original Alien was kinda neat, and pretty scary, I would say it was a decent 6 out of 10. But holy smokes Aliens blew your socks off right from the opening frame. Still one of my favorite Sci-Fi flicks.
Ok, so that’s my little list for your approval. Agree? Disagree? Wht are some other good ones that belong on this list?
