What are the most underrated sequels in movie history?

[Darth_Pazuzu]

Carry and Jones were great as the Riddler and Two Face.

What exactly did you find great about Jones as Two-Face?

He wasn't honest to the character, and basically attempted to clone Nicholson's performance as The Joker.

It was lousy and dishonest. No better than if Jones had been playing Batman and acted in exactly the same manner - Batman isn't The Joker.

And neither is Two-Face.

Personally, I kind of felt that Tommy Lee Jones' performance as Two-Face was an even more exaggerated extension of his performance as the prison warden Dwight McCluskey, in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers!

I would also like to add another one to the eight I've already listed above:
9. Hostel Part II (Eli Roth; 2007)

 

[Mr Light]

I like Search for Spock, it's just missing a good villain. The ennui over Spock's death and the gang going renegade to steal the Enterprise from Starfleet is all great stuff; it's just the third act with Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon that's lame.

FF2 is definitely MUCH better than the first one, but I'd hesitate to call it particularly good. Galactus is a space tornado?!

 

[ToddPence]

American Graffitti II

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

I personally liked Gremlins 2

 

[Fedaykin]

I agree with the OP about Godfather 3-on most counts. The story was a bit complicated but good, Pacino was great, and the ending is truly tragic-Michael reaping what he sows. But Sofia Coppola is not Ok, not mediocre-but bad. I know it must be difficult acting with Pacino, but good god. The scene where she's asking her father if her foundation is a front for his illegal crap...just horrendous acting. That's what sunk that ship in most people's eyes.

Also an above poster mentioned 2010-couldn't agree more. Love it, love the grittier asthetic...plus it has 100 percent more Scheider than 2001.

 

[TedShatner10]

I like Search for Spock, it's just missing a good villain. The ennui over Spock's death and the gang going renegade to steal the Enterprise from Starfleet is all great stuff; it's just the third act with Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon that's lame.

I always liked Christopher Lloyd but he was no Khan, while his Klingon warlord character was written more like a Romulan officer. Also we had Kirk's Enterprise blowing up.

 

[Kira Nerys]

I have yet to find a movie that equalled the first.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997; Steven Spielberg)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984; Steven Spielberg)

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003; Jonathan Mostow)

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999; George Lucas)

Land of the Dead (2005; George A. Romero)

 

[Goliath]

1. Exorcist II: The Heretic (John Boorman; 1977)

You know--I finally watched that, the other day--partly because you spoke so highly of it. And I thought it was one of the worst movies I'd ever seen--worse even than Dominion and Exorcist: The Beginning.

If the DVD of Exorcist II wasn't part of a set, I'd throw it in the garbage: I'll certainly never watch it again.

So, the way I see it, you owe me two hours of my life.

I'll take a cheque.

 

[Pingfah]

Exorcist II is indeed an absolutely bloody awful movie. Dominion was better I thought, but still went rapidly downhill in the second half. It was doing OK up to then. Didn't watch The Beginning.

I think that Exorcist III was the best of the sequels I have seen.

 

[Goliath]

I think that Exorcist III was the best of the sequels I have seen.

Me too.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Exorcist II is indeed an absolutely bloody awful movie. Dominion was better I thought, but still went rapidly downhill in the second half. It was doing OK up to then. Didn't watch The Beginning.

I think that Exorcist III was the best of the sequels I have seen.

I'm quoting you just because I love your avatar!

I think Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey is great, and gets derided just because it isn't the first one.

 

[Aragorn]

Here's an interesting thought from Roger Ebert -- he said that all of the Indiana Jones movies as they are, whichever one had been the first movie would've been hailed as the best.

 

[exodus]

Here's an interesting thought from Roger Ebert -- he said that all of the Indiana Jones movies as they are, whichever one had been the first movie would've been hailed as the best.

I guess because it was the first, it the one we judge the others by. So what's he saying is: it's the best because it set the standard.

I get it.

 

[Luckyflux]

2Fast2Furious

I liked the first F&F, and I liked this one too!

 

[Darth_Pazuzu]

1. Exorcist II: The Heretic (John Boorman; 1977)

You know--I finally watched that, the other day--partly because you spoke so highly of it. And I thought it was one of the worst movies I'd ever seen--worse even than Dominion and Exorcist: The Beginning.

If the DVD of Exorcist II wasn't part of a set, I'd throw it in the garbage: I'll certainly never watch it again.

So, the way I see it, you owe me two hours of my life.

I'll take a cheque.

Hey, what can I say? I'm terribly sorry.

What exactly about it did you find so awful? I mean, granted, some of the performances feel tentative and awkward, like the actors aren't quite sure how to deliver the (admittedly iffy) dialogue. And it's true, the names "Pazuzu" and "Kokumo" tend to be repeated a lot more than necessary, and admittedly those are names which don't exactly possess a great deal of...well, gravitas (in spite of the fact that I personally like the name Pazuzu - obviously!).

I'm personally a huge fan of The Heretic's director, John Boorman - the man responsible for cinematic classics such as Deliverance (1972), Excalibur (1981) and Hope And Glory (1987). The problem was that most people who go to see this movie are judging it by the same criteria they use to judge William Friedkin's original 1973 The Exorcist, and find it drastically inadequate. In Boorman's own words "I guess I didn't throw enough Christians to the lions!"

If anyone finds The Heretic to be a bit flaky, that probably has something to do with the fact that during filming, Boorman came down with a really whoppingly bad case of San Joaquin Valley fever (I believe) and at one point had to be hospitalized! And the script kept going through all sorts of rewrites and mutations, which never exactly help matters in any case...

I think the problem with Exorcist II: The Heretic is not that it's necessarily a bad film, but that it's an undisciplined film. Pauline Kael probably put it best when she said in a mini-review of the film: "It probably has enough visual imagination for ten movies, but what it lacks is judgment - the first casualty of the moviemaking obsession."

In my humble opinion, The Heretic, as erratic and eccentric a film as it is, is ultimately a thing of warped beauty, a smudged masterpiece - and I'll defend it to the death for as long as I live!

 

[propita]

1. Exorcist II: The Heretic (John Boorman; 1977)

You know--I finally watched that, the other day--partly because you spoke so highly of it. And I thought it was one of the worst movies I'd ever seen--worse even than Dominion and Exorcist: The Beginning.

If the DVD of Exorcist II wasn't part of a set, I'd throw it in the garbage: I'll certainly never watch it again.

So, the way I see it, you owe me two hours of my life.

I'll take a cheque.

Hey, what can I say? I'm terribly sorry.

What exactly about it did you find so awful? I mean, granted, some of the performances feel tentative and awkward, like the actors aren't quite sure how to deliver the (admittedly iffy) dialogue. And it's true, the names "Pazuzu" and "Kokumo" tend to be repeated a lot more than necessary, and admittedly those are names which don't exactly possess a great deal of...well, gravitas (in spite of the fact that I personally like the name Pazuzu - obviously!).

I'm personally a huge fan of The Heretic's director, John Boorman - the man responsible for cinematic classics such as Deliverance (1972), Excalibur (1981) and Hope And Glory (1987). The problem was that most people who go to see this movie are judging it by the same criteria they use to judge William Friedkin's original 1973 The Exorcist, and find it drastically inadequate. In Boorman's own words "I guess I didn't throw enough Christians to the lions!"

If anyone finds The Heretic to be a bit flaky, that probably has something to do with the fact that during filming, Boorman came down with a really whoppingly bad case of San Joaquin Valley fever (I believe) and at one point had to be hospitalized! And the script kept going through all sorts of rewrites and mutations, which never exactly help matters in any case...

I think the problem with Exorcist II: The Heretic is not that it's necessarily a bad film, but that it's an undisciplined film. Pauline Kael probably put it best when she said in a mini-review of the film: "It probably has enough visual imagination for ten movies, but what it lacks is judgment - the first casualty of the moviemaking obsession."

In my humble opinion, The Heretic, as erratic and eccentric a film as it is, is ultimately a thing of warped beauty, a smudged masterpiece - and I'll defend it to the death for as long as I live!

Well, obviously you like Exorcist II: The Heretic, Darth Pazuzu.

I've seen it. Didn't like it. The acting by all the leads seemed rather stilted--frankly, I had seen Linda Blair act better, even if that's not saying all that much. But, everyone's entitled to like a movie few others appreciate. So...go on enjoying it.

As for San Joaquin Valley Fever--was that filmed here (that is, in the San Joaquin Valley, where I live)? I didn't know that. I've been here 8 years and visited a few times a year for 10 years before that. I don't think I've gotten it--yet. Supposedly, if one stays here long enough, one will come down with it to a mild or extreme extent.

 

[kipron]

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997; Steven Spielberg)

I was going to suggest this as well.

It doesn't capture the `wonder' of the original, but tbh I think it was supposed to be more cynical anyway.

(JP III was not my cup of tea at all).

 

[captcalhoun]

Predator 2
2 Fast 2 Furious
Matrix sequels
Pirates sequels
X-3

 

[DigificWriter]

Here's some:

- The Mummy Returns (I thought it captured all the fun and spirit of the first without being an exact re-tread; the addition of the Scorpion King [who is a really interesting character, IMO] really helps in that regard)

- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (before KotCS came along, this was my favorite of the Indy films, although it's not as 'high-quality' as either Raiders or Crusade)

- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (from my experience, this one is the most underrated of all the SW films; even TPM - which is also quite underrated - tends to be rated higher amongst die-hard SW fans than RotJ)

- Jurassic Park 3 (not as good as the first, but infinitely better than The Lost World, which took a huge dip in quality after it turned into a glorified Godzilla clone)

- Spider-Man 3 (yes, it suffers a bit from villain overload, but it's still a pretty good movie nonetheless)

- Batman Forever (this film tends to be lumped into 'suckitude land' with its ghastly follow-up "Batman and Robin", but it's actually not that bad of a film; although the tone is lighter and there's some disjointedness, it does work pretty good as a follow-up to Burton's two films)

- Both Pirates sequels (I like DMC a little better overall than AWE, but they're still both great films)

- Batman Returns (I've never understood why people rag on this film; personally, I thought it was a great follow-up to Burton's 'Batman', and his and Danny DeVito's interpretation of the Penguin really fits well with the mythos of who Batman is and what he does; the BR version of the character is certainly no more 'out there' than some of the villains that have appeared in other iterations of the Batman universe; neither is Burton's Catwoman, for that matter)

- Aladdin and the King of Thieves (even though this movie would've been better if they'd incorporated Mozenrath into it, it's still a decent film, and a good follow-up to both the first Aladdin and The Return of Jafar, which I also happen to think is a tad bit underrated)

- Toy Story 2 (although it's missing some of the charm and wittiness of the first film, TS2 is just as engaging, and introduces us to some more great characters like Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete)

- The Rescuers Down Under