I was trying to think of a franchise of movies that didn't run on too long so that the final entry didn't feel like a step down from the ones before it. For the life of me, I couldn't. Going over all the movies I can remember seeing that had more than one sequel, I can't remember any where the last part was the best or at least as good as its predecessors. The only ones I can think of people describing that way are the third Lord of the Rings movie, and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (which is kind of just a 'loose' sequel, isn't it?) which I've never seen. Thinking back to ones I have seen... "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" My favourite of the first three, but I understand why people think it's a step down because it's very derivative of the first Indiana Jones movie. And of course now that it has a sequel, no one thinks that series ended well (and it may continue to reek in the future). "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" Again, I haven't seen its sequel, but this one was already one sequel too many and the follow-up doesn't sound like it justified continuing the story further. "Back to the Future III" Cute, but not as original and enthralling as the first or as impressively surreal and weird as the second. Not horrible, but doesn't feel that necessary either. "Alien 3" After watching "Aliens" again, I no longer think it's as good or better than the original "Alien", but I can see why others may. Not this one, though. And "Resurrection" is another I haven't seen but have heard lots of bad things about. "The Matrix Revolutions" I was dying to see what happened after "Reloaded" ended, but word of mouth on it was so bad that I never did and still don't care. "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" Like the Alien series, my favourite is the first, but I see a lot of great things in the second and can understand why others might prefer it. I thought this one was lame, though. "Army of Darkness" This has some great moments of comedic violence and some awesomely cool dialog, but the second time I saw it, I realized how ridiculous it is. It has a lot of fun special effects and a hilarious performance from Bruce Campbell, but there's no way it's as innovative and clever as "Evil Dead II". "Batman & Robin"/"Superman IV" The quintessential examples of franchise destroyers. Killed their franchises for 8 and 19 (!) years, respectively (or perhaps that should be 'shamefully'). "X-Men: The Last Stand" X2 was an undeniable improvement over the first X-Men movie and remains my favourite superhero/comic book movie. Changing writers and directors for the sequel kept it from being the powerfully resonant concluding chapter it was set up to be, leaving us with a rather limp trilogy finale instead. Other sequels (some I've seen, some I haven't) that I know or have heard just couldn't 'leave well enough alone': "The Godfather Part III", "The Evening Star (sequel to "Terms of Endearment"), "Return of the Jedi/Star Wars Prequels", "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation", "Rocky II" (although "Rocky Balboa" was a nice capper to that series, it felt very unnecessary), "Rambo - First Blood Part 2", "Clerks II", "Live Free or Die Hard", "Ocean's Thirteen", "Ghostbusters II", "Predator 2", "Seed of Chucky", "Halloween II", "The Exorcist II", "Lethal Weapon 4", "Beverley Hills Cop III", "Robocop III", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time", "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle", "Another 48 Hrs.", "Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows", "Death Wish V", and "Blues Brothers 2000". I don't count the "Bourne" and "Muppet" series, because there might be sequels upcoming. I don't count "Star Trek: Nemesis" because the franchise it stopped dead for a few years has recovered since. People can probably mention a few sequels I've forgotten, which proves just what an incredible number there have been. I'm asking everyone to pick which unnecessary sequel from a few in the above lists they think was least offensively bad. I would include "Army of Darkness", except I know that despite what I said it would make voting too easy. I dare you to choose one of the other ones. I didn't include "Batman and Robin" and "Superman IV" because I know everyone hates them and the Batman franchise is still going (while the state of the Superman franchise is up in the air). It remains to be seen what happens with the latest Spider-Man and Batman sequels...I really hope they break the curse.
Well, I saw the third Van Wilder movie on TV a few days ago (a prequel) and it's the last one with no "In Development"s listed on IMDB. It's probably the best sequel I've ever seen. Here's something I wrote about it:
I actually wasn't thinking of direct-to-DVD or TV movie sequels, but that's an interesting choice. Reminds me of "American Wedding", which I thought was pretty good and definitely better than "American Pie 2".
I love this movie. Second best Indy movie. Awesome ending, but it was basically the same story as the first two movies. There could've been a lot more to this movie than being yet another chase movie, but they played it safe, even with the unconventional ending. I like all three movies, but the first one was the only one with heart. Don't like the last two alien movies. Don't like what this movie did with Newt and Hicks. I enjoyed both sequels, but they were extremely underwhelming. I don't remember this movie but I know I saw it. Underrated in some aspects, but overrated in others (mainly from the unconditional Campbell/Raimi cult following lovers). Well duh! It was all about money for Fox. They just wanted the movie made and made right then, even if it meant showing Bryan Singer the door (because of Superman), even if they had to go with a pedestrian director like Brett Ratner. Of course, it made a ton of money, so the quality of this crappy film is of no consequence. Also, Godfather III is a good movie. Just not in the same room with I and II. Plus what everyone remembers is Coppola's crappy acting.
As you note, it's no longer a "last sequel", but it's certainly better than the actual final sequel (so far, that is). It may be my favourite of the Indy movies. A bit underrated... I'd say it was mostly average, but the kickass ending upped it to "decent" in my book. I haven't seen it in so long, but I recall finding it a little boring in places, but admittedly, the Western is not my favourite genre, so the foray into such territory didn't exactly appeal to me greatly. I didn't hate it though -- I should give it another try one of these days. Criminally underrated... Well-crafted and well-acted; a solid film despite the studio interference. Again, not an actual "last sequel" -- that one (Resurrection), however, does stink. I was underwhelmed with Reloaded, and this one sadly left me with similar feelings. Ah well, we still have the original. Uhhh... I thought Tina Turner was actually pretty good in this. Beyond that... meh. Love it -- just so much goddamn fun. And quotable ("This is my BOOMSTICK!"). I don't even really remember Superman IV. I wish I could say the same for Batman & Robin -- truly dreadful. Considering it's a Brett Ratner film, it could have been worse. It's definitely of lower quality than the previous two films, and there are a few too many stupid moments, but at least I didn't feel like gouging my eyeballs out after seeing it. I think I prefer it to Spider-Man 3, for whatever that's worth. As for some of the other films you mentioned, I actually like Live Free or Die Hard, so that's the one I voted for in the poll (I prefer it to Die Hard 2, at any rate). I also enjoy Predator 2, almost as much as the original. Beyond that, out of the ones I've seen of the others you listed, yeah, most of them suck.
No, they're not all bad. The Bourne Ultimatum (for the time being, it's the final film and certainly acts a conclusive film), Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End (my favorite of the trilogy), Back to the Future III (again, my favorite of the trilogy), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, Predator 2, and Ghostbusters 2 are all wonderful films.
I think Rocky Balboa and Rambo each had decent final installments, although it looks like Rambo 5 is on its way. --Ted
Army of Darkness...bad? What? That's one of my favorite films, and I think easily the best of the three Evil Dead films.
I'm with sidious in that I think GF3 is a very underrated movie and GF2 is kind of an overrated movie. It's a great made movie, but I thought kind of an unnecessary film and a little over the top. I also thought of American Weddings as a pretty good movie, but that may have a lot to do with the fact that I so had a crush on Alyson Hannigan in that film. I didn't care for X-Men 2 that much so 3 looked pretty good(but not great) in comparison. Alien Resurrection looks like it could have been a really good movie,and a lot of people associated with say they had a good movie while they were making it, just not when it was finished. I honestly don't know why, but none of the Indiana Jones films other than Raiders really made an impact on me. I've seen Raiders like 20 times and all the rest of them combined like 4 times.
This thread is an art film free zone But thanks for reminding me of a trilogy I really need to check out.
i like BTTF 3, X-3, Spidey 3, Pirates 3, T3, IJ&TKOTCS and Matrix 3. i tell you what though, Return of the King was pants. 27 different fucking endings!
Of the list of options I voted Live Free Or Die Hard, which is the best of the sequels. But then, I reckon Indiana Jones &tKotCS is the best Indy sequel as well. X Men 3 I'd put on about the same level as X2. Mad Max 3 is pretty good Lethal Weapon 4 is better than LW3, though LW2 is still best
I enjoy Live Free or Die Hard more than I like Die Hard 2 so I voted for that one. I also enjoyed Rocky Balboa and Rambo 4 or whatever the fuck it was called. If you count the Prequels as their own series I'd say Revenge of the Sith is the best of those 3 films....Ironic considering I think Return of the Jedi is the weakest of the original trilogy.