It is a wide spread belief that movie sequels are never as good as the originals. Usually the sequel is only made because of the popularity of the original movie, which guarantees the following movie will rake in big bucks at the box office. Fortunately there are sequels out there that have proven this way of thinking wrong. These sequels are not only as good as the original movies, but a step above, ensuring a third movie will continue to earn our money. These are 5 sequels that have beaten the odds and surpassed the originals.
The first Spider-Man was surprisingly successful and well done, even if Kirsten Dunst was about the worst Mary Jane possible. Tobey Maguire was believable as the titular wall crawler, and it was an overall enjoyable movie. Then the sequel came, and what a sequel it was. The Green Goblin was replaced with the tormented Dr. Otto Octavius, AKA Dr. Octopus, who puts on a great performance. In the sequel Peter Parker struggles to accept the fact that his powers as Spider-Man put a tremendous burden on him and those around him. That’s pretty deep for a comic book movie, which made Spider-Man 2 vastly superior to the original.
The first Back to the Future movie was entertaining. The sequel built upon the comedy in the original, but also added in some murder and a set of guidelines for time travel. It was quite obvious that this sequel was not rushed out just to make some money, as the stories between all three of the Back to the Future movies intertwine beautifully. When the second installment ended in a cliffhanger, everyone knew that they had to see the third.
Terminator was a great movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger was terrifying as a single minded killing machine. Then the sequel came and flipped things upside down. Arnold was once again a killing machine, but this time he was on our side. That should mean instant victory, but a new Terminator was created that was practically indestructible. Terminator 2 played out this conflict perfectly, and also had some great special effects. James Cameron truly was a master of the sci-fi action movie back in the day.
The first Star Wars was good, but the second installment in the series is when all the back stories really started to get fleshed out. Not only do we get to meet Lando Calrissian, the only black man in the galaxy, but we see Han Solo frozen in carbonite and Darth Vader’s relationship to Luke and Leia is revealed. He’s their dad. I’d have said spoiler alert, but everyone already knows that. Look into your heart, you know this to be true. This is the movie that proved space operas are the best movie genre ever.
Once again we have a comic book movie sequel that was better than the already good sequel. Batman Begins was a great reboot for the series, and got to the dark and gritty soul of Batman before it became cliche. Then The Dark Knight showed up and blew us away. Let’s be honest, Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker is what made this movie. That was one of the best performances ever. The movie itself, with Batman’s internal struggle to do what’s best for his city, and the rise and fall of Harvey Dent, was amazingly written and acted. The third film in the franchise will have a hard time stacking up to this.
