As I joked earlier in the week, some pharmaceutical company could make a lot of coin by inventing a cure for sequelitis. The summer whirlwind of movie sequels starts today with the opening of Spider-Man 3, prompting this movie geek to ask, can a sequel ever surpass -- or be as good -- as the original? For my money, The Godfather, Part II and Aliens gave me more than the first installment. And there are many who'd argue that Spidey 2 was better than the first. Sequels are popular -- more than ever, it seems, this summer, with Shrek the Third, Die Hard 4, Ocean's 13 -- for many reasons. Principally, they are cash cows that arrive with a high recognition factor and tend to make more money than the prior installment. In the best of all possible worlds, like episodic television, they permit us to see characters we like meet new challenges. My gripe with most of this summer's sequels is that they promise to be more special-effects-driven than character-driven. I hope I'm wrong. But with certain franchises -- Matrix and Star Wars come to mind, the longer the franchise ran, the lower my interest. What do you think of Spidey 3? And what are your nominations for sequels that were more satisfying than the original?
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Sequelitis
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Carrie Rickey has been The Philadelphia Inquirer’s film critic for 21 years. She has reviewed films as diverse as “Water” and “The Waterboy,” profiled celebrities from Lillian Gish to Will Smith, and reported on technological beakthroughs from the video revolution to the rise of movies on demand. Her reviews are syndicated nationwide and she is a regular contributor to Entertainment Weekly, MSNBC and NPR. Rickey’s essays appear in numerous anthologies, including “The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll,” “The American Century,” and the Library of America’s “American Movie Critics.”
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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on May 3, 2007 2:51 PM.
The previous post in this blog was "Shift Happens": The most mind-opening doc since "An Inconvenient Truth"?.
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Comments (19)
The first Star Trek movie was the worst in that whole franchise. Death of Spock was light-years better. How about Silence of the Lambs for surpassing the original?
Posted by Peter | May 4, 2007 12:15 PM
Posted on May 4, 2007 12:15
The first Star Trek movie was the worst in that whole franchise. Death of Spock was light-years better. How about Silence of the Lambs for surpassing the original?
Posted by Peter | May 4, 2007 12:18 PM
Posted on May 4, 2007 12:18
I don't think Manhunter counts as the first in a series including "Silence of the Lambs." Like you, I think "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" was light years -- all puns intended -- better than "The Star Trek Movie." Loved Ricardo Montalban prosthetic six-pack!
Posted by Carrie | May 4, 2007 12:39 PM
Posted on May 4, 2007 12:39
I think a case could be made for Superman II being better than the original.
Star Trek II was the best of the series.
The Empire Strikes Back was at least the equal of Star Wars.
I enjoyed Spider-man 2 more than the first.
Posted by Paul L. | May 4, 2007 4:53 PM
Posted on May 4, 2007 16:53
Empire Strikes Back is the best the original Star Wars Trilogy.
Posted by Mike | May 4, 2007 5:57 PM
Posted on May 4, 2007 17:57
Everybody knows that Rocky 5 was the best of the whole series. I mean it's just common sense. Caddyshack II was awesome as well.
Posted by Bob Jones | May 4, 2007 7:29 PM
Posted on May 4, 2007 19:29
Posted by MX West | May 5, 2007 9:53 AM
Posted on May 5, 2007 09:53
Star Trek 4 was a lot of fun too... Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn is pretty cool even if it might not be a true sequel but we're talking Raimi here... Aliens was pretty good but 20 some years later I find that I enjoy the original Alien a little more.... DAWN OF THE DEAD!!! (1979) is one hell of a sequel that took the zombie franchise to the whole new level where it stays today-- 28 Weeks Later is a summer big release... Romero's Land of the Dead was a major summer release a few years ago and is a pretty good movie; if I remember right, Romero is an editor and Land of the Dead moves pretty quickly, I liked it. Scorcese's Color of Money is a very good film too....
Posted by gerald clough | May 5, 2007 9:11 PM
Posted on May 5, 2007 21:11
> What do you think of Spidey 3?
With great money spent, comes great responsibility to make a great movie.
As for superior sequels: How about the 2nd Mad Max movie Road Warrior as better than the first?
Note to Peter:
you think the 1st Star Trek movie was the worst? I nominate Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. It's so bad, the next one should have been called Star Trek VI: The Apology
Posted by Adam | May 5, 2007 10:24 PM
Posted on May 5, 2007 22:24
Gerald,
Love Star Trek IV, the one with the whales and the Enterprise crew wandering around San Francisco. Hadn't thought of The Color of Money as a sequel, but I guess it is. Still, think "The Hustler" is the more enduring film.
Adam,
How right you are about Star Trek V.
Posted by Carrie | May 5, 2007 10:39 PM
Posted on May 5, 2007 22:39
X-Men 2
Empire Strikes Back
Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness
Posted by Anonymous | May 6, 2007 6:06 PM
Posted on May 6, 2007 18:06
There were some Star Trek clunkers. Wasn't there one with Shatner fighting Sting? Also really dreadful was the one where they go to the center of the galaxy on some search for God Himself, and this God is such a fraud, some Klingdon ship just blasts the Being to bits ... and ruins any hope of a smart ending.
How about the best Bond movie? Goldfinger was better than Dr. No, no?
Posted by Peter | May 7, 2007 8:52 AM
Posted on May 7, 2007 08:52
I would have to list Godfather II, Aliens, Empire Strikes Back, Pirates of The Caribean "Dead Man's Chest", and Star Trek II:Wrath of Khan. I don't know if you would consider this a sequal, but I prefered Mallrats to Clerks.
Posted by Tony | May 7, 2007 2:09 PM
Posted on May 7, 2007 14:09
sister act 2:back in the habit was 100% better than the original
Posted by nettie | May 7, 2007 3:33 PM
Posted on May 7, 2007 15:33
I don't know if they really count as sequels, but the second and third "Lord of the Rings" movies were better than the first, in my view.
The second Batman, "Batman Returns" was better than the first (with Jack Nicholson chewing up the scenery), though neither have held up well with time, and the recent remake, "Batman Begins" was better than either of them.
Star Trek V: All time worst Star Trek, by far,and maybe the worst sequel ever made.
Godfather 2 and Road Warrior: Superior sequels.
Aliens and Spider Man 2 I thought were about equal to the first in their respective series. The interesting thing about Alien and Aliens is that they are 2 totally different movies, so even though they belong to the same series, they are almost like comparing apples and oranges. One is an all out action movie, the other almost like a haunted house movie in space.
Posted by Geoff | May 7, 2007 5:18 PM
Posted on May 7, 2007 17:18
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Toy Story 2
The Road Warrior
Bride of Frankenstein?
Posted by Adam B. | May 7, 2007 5:40 PM
Posted on May 7, 2007 17:40
Geoff is right, the LOTR films progressively get better, tho I always think of them as one movie. I like both the original Frankenstein and The Bride of so much that I'm not taking sides,.
Posted by Carrie | May 7, 2007 10:19 PM
Posted on May 7, 2007 22:19
x-men 2 was definitely better than the first.
Posted by janine | May 8, 2007 12:12 PM
Posted on May 8, 2007 12:12
For my experience X-Men II was a better plot, better action and higher stakes than the first. Wasn't too sold on Number 3 though...
Wasn't the second (and third for that matter) Die Hard better than the first?
Posted by michael | May 25, 2007 9:14 PM
Posted on May 25, 2007 21:14