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.
"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.
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