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Some stories are so fantastic they spawn entire sub-genre spin-offs, break Hollywood genre curses, and amass their own financially successful franchises. It’s telling, though, that outside of franchises carefully planned from the beginning, most sequels pale in comparison to their predecessors. Some rely on more spectacle, others turn to complex politics and deeper dives into lore, to their stories’ detriment.
Reboots, re-makes, sequels, prequels, all owing their existence to one or two fantastic films, can lose sight of what made audiences connect with the original story and what made those originals such enduring classics today.
‘Jurassic Park’ (1993)
Jurassic Park and the book it’s based on accomplished what many dinosaur movies before, and since, have fell short of – and it’s not actually about the dinos themselves. The practical, tangible effects, rousing John Williams score, and the bonus of being something never seen before all certainly helped. The meat of what makes Jurassic Park, so special is the message it has and the sense of wonder of seeing living, breathing dinos in the modern world.
In the words of Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum), “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Later sequels take these animals and make monster movies, losing a sense of adventure and the moral questions the original poses, ironically becoming what Malcom had criticized.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl’ (2003)
No one expected a pirate movie based on a theme park ride would become what it is today, the first of a still-ongoing series that rejuvenated the ‘pirate’ genre. Before Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, the genre was considered a box office curse, with many films incredibly campy and silly. Compared to its own sequels, Black Pearl did two things incredibly well: Keeping Jack a side character, and keeping the story small.
Johnny Depp’s performance as Jack Sparrow is fantastic, but the character was at his best supporting the protagonists. At World’s End attempts to tackle a world-spanning pirate revolution, bringing in complicated relationships, overstuffed lore, and politics into a franchise that started as a simple, but clever, high seas adventure.
‘Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)
At the time of its release, Empire Strikes Back was not the beloved sequel it is today, now often ranking high as one of the best sequels of all time. Empire succeeds where, for better or for worse, the recent Sequel trilogy has left fans incredibly divisive, while also subverting expectations as the follow-up to a fantastically straightforward, space-fantasy story.
Empire, compared to the scope of the Prequels and Sequels, has a very simple story and leaves all its time to rich character development and drama. There is no rushed fetch quest, complicated politics, or too many characters to get invested in. Empire also has some of the best music to come out of the Star Wars franchise, and, of course, one of the greatest plot twists of all time.
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ (2014)
A film a few rare franchises can ever hope to pull off, DoFP brings in both the original 2000s cast and the reboot cast for a movie that was the franchise’s last high point (excluding 2017’s Logan). The original X-Men movie and X2 are well-loved in their own right, but after The Last Stand’s disappointment, DoFP had the difficult task of not only making a good sequel to the well-received First Class, but also juggling a sizable cast with Professor X and Magneto played by two very different actors.
X-Men movies are at their best when they don’t rely on empty spectacle and crazy visual effects, as seen in Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. Excellent acting brings out the best in its main actors, with solid arcs, not too many plot holes to fill, and intense stakes.
‘Transformers’ (2007)
Michael Bay’s Transformers movies have their highs and their lows, with some of the best scores, direction, and visual effects in modern movies. 2007’s live adaptation isn’t the greatest offering of the franchise as a whole, but compared to its grandiose sequels filled with plot holes, contradictions, and confusing character arcs, Transformers remains a solid story.
Part of that is due to the simplicity of the story and a sense of wonder. When the Autobots arrive, they feel like titans. Optimus feels eons old and war-weary, a real character instead of a plot device. It also helps that the human characters are mostly endearing and serve a purpose, instead of being obnoxious filler that take away from the robots everyone watches these movies to see.
‘Men in Black’ (1997)
Where other sequels tend to try and up the ante of their predecessors with bigger, flashier set pieces and stakes, Men in Black’s sequels keep telling the same story over and over again, each time less and less impressive as the original. One of the best parts of Men in Black is the rapport of Will Smith’s Agent J and Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K, a tried and true buddy cop movie done exceptionally well.
The sequels do everything they can to disrupt that relationship and take time away from the movie about aliens for less interesting subplots. Men in Black also features a wonderfully disgusting alien with a simple but effective motivation, leaving plenty of room for character growth.
‘Despicable Me’ (2010)
At one time, Despicable Me’s Minions were background entities, barely characters and instead cute, funny running gags. The movie, akin to Megamind and Wreck-it Ralph explores a villainous protagonist who are ‘bad guys’ but not bad guys. Gru (Steve Carell) only adopts three orphans as part of a plot to steal the moon, and over the course of the movie, admits to himself that he’s grown to care about them enough to adopt them.
Despicable Me 2 is a perfectly serviceable sequel, but the Minion movies tend to lack the heart of the first, coasting entirely on the popularity of the minions themselves to sell tickets. While that hardly makes them terrible films, they are a far cry from what Despicable Me once was.
‘Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981)
Indiana Jones’ original films are equally entertaining, sleuthing adventure stories, each distinct with their locations and McGuffins. The Last Crusade is excellent in its own right, compared to Temple of Doom and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. One of Raider’s best elements is the character of Marion (Karen Allen), both a damsel in distress and a badass, independent woman who goes toe to toe with Indy (Harrison Ford) the entire movie.
The other best elements are, of course, the nail-biting action scenes its sequels never match. The car chase with Indy on horseback, the race to find Marion’s basket in the marketplace, and the fight on the airstrip are all iconic. The image of Indy and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) raising the Ark is one burned into Hollywood history alongside all of Raider’s infamous one-liners.
‘The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King’ (2003)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy in its entirety was, originally, one massive book that was then split into the titles audiences know today. The existence of Peter Jackson’s adaptation as a whole is lightning in a bottle, but Return of the King sticks a magnificent landing that eludes even the best franchises – and it has all the Oscars to prove it.
The Hobbit trilogy’s biggest mistake is being a ‘trilogy’ in the first place, based entirely off a single children’s book. Lord of the Rings uses visual effects and spectacular set pieces where necessary, narrowing down the books’ complex world building and story into a filmable script. Fantasy contemporaries tend to focus on either grit and war and not what the heart of fantasy is about: Escapism, hope, and wonder.
‘The Matrix’ (1999)
The Matrix spawned more than a film franchise, inviting millions of fans to ask themselves – red pill or blue? The idea of ‘glitches in the matrix’ is a household term, posing the debate of the merits of considering a false reality. Beyond the cultural impact of the movie, The Matrix features the first ever ‘bullet time’ slow-motion fight scenes dozens of other movies have since copied and paid homage to, and plenty of one-liners to go around.
The Matrix didn’t need more movies. Its sequels tend to eat their own tails, with bigger action that errs on the side of being gimmicky and an impressively droning monologue in The Matrix: Reloaded. None capture the magnitude of the first, it’s just that good.
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