There’s nothing that Hollywood loves greater than sequels, as a majority of the best grossing movies of all-time are related to some type of pre-existing franchise. There’s all the time room for sequels to enhance upon their predecessors and succeed on their very own deserves; beloved sequels like The Godfather: Half II and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King have been met with unanimous reward, and each received the Academy Award for Finest Image.
Sadly, there are numerous situations through which sequels do nothing greater than repeat what their predecessor did. Whereas it is vitally unusual for filmmakers to attempt to make a nasty film, it does get very irritating for cinephiles when it looks like studios haven’t any motivation for making a sequel apart from to earn money. Listed here are ten film sequels that have been carbon copies of the unique.
10 ‘Die Laborious 2: Die Tougher’ (1990)
Directed by Renny Harlin
Die Laborious 2: Die Tougher had the tough job of residing as much as the success of the unique Die Laborious, which had been immediately hailed as one of many biggest motion movies of all-time. Whereas audiences have been clearly concerned with seeing Bruce Willis return to play the function of John McClane, Die Laborious 2: Die Tougher merely took the primary movie’s premise and set it on a airplane throughout Christmas.
Die Laborious 2: Die Tougher wasn’t even the most effective movie with the “ Die Laborious on a airplane” premise, as each Air Drive One and Con Air did the identical story in a way more entertaining manner. Though Die Laborious 2: Die Tougher was hardly the worst installment within the franchise, twentieth Century Fox fortunately wisened up with the third installment, Die Laborious With a Vengeance, which basically turned the collection right into a buddy cop journey co-starring Samuel L. Jackson.
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9 ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ (2018)
Directed by Rob Marshall
Mary Poppins Returns was the lengthy anticipated try at revitalizing considered one of Disney’s most beloved live-action titles, with Emily Blunt taking over the function that had received Julie Andrews the Academy Award for Finest Actress. Though it’s technically a sequel, as Mary Poppins is returning to assist the older model of Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw), the storyline is just about an identical to the primary movie.
Blunt performs some very spectacular stunts and nails her efficiency, however there isn’t something in Mary Poppins Returns that the unique movie didn’t do higher. The usage of animated segments was notably odd; whereas the approach of mixing reside motion and animation was groundbreaking when the unique movie was launched, it felt very out-of-touch when the sequel was launched a number of many years later. A enjoyable cameo by Dick Van Dyke wasn’t sufficient to make Mary Poppins Returns really feel distinct in its personal proper.
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8 ‘Jurassic World’ (2015)
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
Jurassic World was technically the fourth movie within the Jurassic Park franchise, however it was the primary installment because the authentic to happen when the park itself was really operational. Whereas the idea itself was intriguing, Jurassic World fails to acknowledge that the entire characters who’re working the brand new park ought to have already realized their lesson by now.
The poor writing is admittedly evident in Jurassic World, because the movie constantly tries to remake moments from the primary movie (such because the reveal of the T-Rex) with out constructing as much as them correctly. The poor characterization can also be an actual subject, as Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard haven’t any chemistry when in comparison with how wonderful Sam Neill and Laura Dern have been collectively within the authentic movie from 1993. Though Colin Trevorrow tried to make use of the enduring John Williams rating once more, it had not one of the similar magic.
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7 ‘Friday the thirteenth: Half II’ (1981)
Directed by Steve Miner
Friday the thirteenth: Half II really delivered on the premise that was promised by the primary Friday the thirteenth, because it lastly confirmed Jason Voorhees being the killer at Camp Crystal Lake. Though the primary movie had a stunning plot twist that exposed that Jason’s mom was the true killer, the second installment set Jason up as the primary villain for what would turn out to be one of many longest operating franchises within the historical past of the horror style.
Friday the thirteenth: Half II is definitely extra entertaining than the primary movie, because it ditches most of the lengthy, cliche-ridden moments of exposition in favor of some extra inventive kills. Though the characters are largely spinoff, Friday the thirteenth: Half II does nail the darkish coming-of-age side of the franchise that has helped to distinguish it from Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Road.
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6 ‘Dwelling Alone 2: Misplaced in New York’ (1993)
Directed by Christopher Columbus
Dwelling Alone 2: Misplaced in New York defied the logic of the primary movie, because the decision that Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) finds together with his dysfunctional household on the finish of the unique Dwelling Alone is just about ignored once they depart him behind as soon as extra. Regardless of the choice to set the movie within the Large Apple, Dwelling Alone 2: Misplaced in New York performs on the identical jokes about Kevin having to outwit the Moist Bandits as his dad and mom attempt to seek for him.
Even when it known as for a big suspension of disbelief, Dwelling Alone 2: Misplaced in New York remains to be a Christmas traditional in its personal proper, as Culkin as soon as once more provides a really charismatic efficiency. It was clearly Culkin’s work that made the franchise so particular, as the next sequels that recast Kevin with completely different actors as Kevin have been disregarded as being full failures.
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5 ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ (2016)
Directed by Roland Emmerich
Independence Day: Resurgence is a sequel that felt twenty years too late, as Roland Emmerich tried to use the logic of a Nineteen Nineties catastrophe film to modern-day. Though Jeff Golblum and Invoice Pullman did return to reprise their roles from the primary movie, Independence Day: Resurgence tried to get audiences invested in a brand new era of younger heroes performed by Maika Monroe, Jessie T. Usher, and Liam Hemsworth.
Though it could have discovered a second life on streaming, Independence Day: Resurgence is a joyless slog that lacks the whimsical sense of journey that had solidified its predecessor as a science fiction traditional. Emmerich has definitely had a blended observe file within the years since Independence Day, however the full failure of Independence Day: Resurgence with each critics and audiences prompt that any success that the primary movie had was kind of a fluke.
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4 ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ (2009)
Directed by Michael Bay
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was eviscerated by critics like Roger Ebert, who felt that the movie lacked any of the attraction that that they had appreciated within the authentic Transformers from 2007. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen explored the invention of one other “Macguffin” that each the Autobots and Decepticons have been combating over, which for some motive required Sam Witwicky (Shia Labeouf) to as soon as once more crew up with Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen introduced again Megatron as soon as once more out of laziness, but in addition inserted plenty of crass humor that merely felt misplaced. Whereas the primary Transformers movie had a couple of jokes that felt like they might have crossed the road of excellent style, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen felt prefer it was intentionally making an attempt to offend its viewers with racially insensitive humor and characters.
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3 ‘Escape from L.A.’ (1997)
Directed by John Carpenter
Escape from L.A. is the one sequel to a John Carpenter movie that he really directed, as he was by no means concerned within the sequels to Halloween or The Factor. Though Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) had narrowly survived the occasions of Escape From New York, the sequel discovered him as soon as once more working for the President of america on a secret mission, which this time despatched him to the criminally overrun “Metropolis of Angels.”
Whereas it can definitely not win any factors for originality, Escape from L.A. is definitely fairly entertaining as a result of Carpenter is so proficient at worldbuilding and hinting at extra critical socio-political themes. Though for probably the most half the plot factors from the primary movie are utterly reiterated, Escape from L.A. does embody a really stunning ending that just about dominated out the opportunity of a 3rd installments ever present.
Escape from LA
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2 ‘Crank 2: Excessive Voltage’ (2009)
Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor
Crank 2: Excessive Voltage needed to prime the ridiculous mayhem of the primary Crank movie, which was heralded as an prompt cult traditional for its over-the-top motion and darkly comedic sensibilities. Whereas the story as soon as once more sees Jason Statham’s Chev Chelios making an attempt to cease the bomb strapped to his chest from detonating by making an attempt to maintain his coronary heart price up, the sequel will get to be even wilder, with an ending that ranks among the many weirdest moments within the historical past of motion cinema.
The Crank franchise has remained thrilling due to its means to escalate, and Crank 2: Excessive Voltage definitely takes every thing that followers appreciated concerning the first movie and amplifies it to the intense. Whereas there’s definitely room for a 3rd installment within the collection to choose up with Chev on one other journey, it must work very onerous to enhance upon the second movie.
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1 ‘Desperado’ (1995)
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Desperado served as a free remake of Robert Rodriquez’s debut function El Mariachi, with Antonio Banderas taking over the function of a mysterious gunslinger who fights infamous gangsters. Though it’s a pretty easy reboot of the primary movie, Desperado is taken into account to be the second entry in Rodrguez’s “Mexico Trilogy,” which concluded with As soon as Upon A Time In Mexico in 2003.
There’s not a lot originality in Desperado, however Rodriguez definitely nailed the motion, with some harmful stunt scenes that reduce corners when it got here to security.Desperado succeeded by that includes a few of the cheeky humor that had been omitted of El Mariachi, and definitely helped introduce Banderas because the motion star of a brand new era. Banderas would return to play comparable swashbuckling heroes to the one which he performed in Desperado within the Masks of Zorro and Puss in Boots franchises.
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