In my opinion, very few movies that have become ‘franchises’ have had sequels worthy of the originals. In a VERY few cases there have been sequels that have been better than the originals or at least equal but I think these are few and far between. As a Star Wars fan, the original ‘ A New Hope’ is still my favourite, but I do concede that ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ is a stronger movie. I’d like a ‘do over’ of the original set of sequels (‘Phantom Menace’, ‘Attack of the Clones’, Revenge of the Sith’) but I doubt that will happen in my lifetime. The newer movies have all exceeded my expectations, but honestly this seems to be the only franchise that does it for me. Ghostbusters is a far superior movie to Ghostbusters 2 (though I did enjoy 2016’s ‘Answer The Call’ quite a bit), Back to the Future is the best of the trilogy (please don’t remake this or try to put out a fourth, PLEASE!), Die Hard, the ultimate Christmas movie, is far better than any of the sequels…the list goes on. One franchise that does seem to get better, or at least stay as good is the John Wick franchise. Who knew Keanu Reeves would become an awesome action star?! I haven’t seen the third one yet but I’m told it is easily as good as the second, which I found to be just as good as the first.
Today I was treated to an interesting trailer. For me, Stallone has a really good track record with sequels. All of the Expendables movies were quite good and Rocky I-IV were great movies but could have stopped there though. The same goes with the Rambo series. ‘First Blood’ was an excellent movie and had a LOT to say about the Vietnam War, the treatment of Veterans and, to a degree, the treatment of people with mental health issues. ‘Rambo: First Blood Part II’ was also a great movie, but was a completely different animal. It could have been a stand alone movie, completely separate from the first. The third one…was terrible and could be completely ignored as far as I’m concerned. Stallone has resurrected John Rambo one more time (hopefully the final time) for a movie called ‘Last Blood’. I’ve posted the trailer below, and honestly it looks like it could be a great action movie. I will definitely check it out when it’s released!
What about you, are there sequels that you think are better than, or as good as, the originals? Sequels that should have never been made? Let me know in the comments!
