Sometimes a movie’s sequel just can’t live up to the expectations set by the original. However, audiences and critics can miss the mark and underrate otherwise awesome sequels by simply misunderstanding their relationship to the original film. Here are fifteen woefully underrated movie sequels.
Crank 2: High Voltage
Jason Statham returns in this Crank sequel with even more high-octane action. This time, Chev Chelios has a faulty electric heart that he needs to keep powered up at all times, leading to some truly outlandish action set pieces. Watching Jason Statham stride through a whirlwind of dramatic scenarios as his ever-dwindling battery burns down is a uniquely thrilling time at the movies.
Doctor Sleep
Kubrick’s vision of The Shining is the one more people know, but it’s not faithful to the Stephen King book. Doctor Sleep threaded the needle by being a sequel to both, using some clever narrative tricks to appease fans of the King book and the Kubrick film simultaneously.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Look, The Lost World isn’t as good as the first Jurassic Park. But, then again, most movies aren’t even as good as The Lost World, so don’t compare it to a piece of nearly perfect cinema, okay? Enjoy it on its own merits for what it is and you’ll have a great time with this underrated sequel.
Iron Man 2
For whatever reason, a lot of fans act like Iron Man 2 is the worst one. But they’re missing a few things. For one, Rhodey in the War Machine suit rules. For another, Whiplash cutting a Formula 1 car in half with his whips is peak cinema. Finally, who doesn’t love watching Mickey Rourke do a weird fake Russian accent while verbally sparring with Sam Rockwell?
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The first three Pirates movies are all-timers, that’s for sure. But don’t write off On Stranger Tides just because it was a bit of a box office stinker. This is a fun pirate movie that pulls back the scope from the epic Davy Jones-battling focus of the previous duology and pays more attention to Jack Sparrow and the little world-building details that make these movies so cool.
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Guillermo del Toro’s two Hellboy movies are an iconic take on the character, but a lot of people overlook the second entry in favor of the first. The Golden Army is a somewhat wilder, looser film with a more complex antagonist and a somewhat brighter tone than its predecessor. It’s also completely awesome and should have been the second of many films in this franchise.
The Cloverfield Paradox
The Cloverfield franchise has a bad habit of slapping its name on unrelated scripts and leaving fans to puzzle out what makes the resulting movie a Cloverfield. That’s still kind of in play with The Cloverfield Paradox, a fun sci-fi horror outing with a genuinely strange ending that was divisive precisely because it tried to tie the franchise together with some multiversal shenanigans.
Blade Runner 2049
The Ryan Gosling-led sequel to the 80s classic Blade Runner is a very different film than the Harrison Ford outing. It’s slower, more methodical, and perhaps even a bit more existential. It’s also phenomenal in ways that the weird backlash against it forgot to mention. Give it a try, it’s a great movie.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The fourth Indiana Jones movie isn’t half as bad as people like to pretend it is. It’s leagues better than The Dial of Destiny and, yes, it’s even a stronger movie than Temple of Doom. If you don’t believe me, go watch Kate Capshaw yelling at Indy about stuff for a few minutes and tell me Temple is still good.
Clerks II
Clerks II hasn’t aged well in some regards. Some of the dialogue is pretty rough by today’s standards, which can be hard for some viewers to excuse. However, if you can get past that, it’s one of Kevin Smith’s most emotionally-charged movies. It’s also got some of the franchise’s funniest gags.
Escape from LA
Kurt Russel returns as Snake Plisskin in the notably lighter, funnier sequel to Escape from New York. That more joke-heavy tone might have been a knock against the movie when it was released, but it gives the whole thing a B-movie energy that perfectly blends with Russel’s stoic, understated performance.
Quantum of Solace
Quantum of Solace is a very interesting Bond movie due to the ways it deconstructs the Bond mythology that’s served the franchise for decades. This made it somewhat controversial among fans when it came out, but it’s been reevaluated as being a great entry in the wider franchise in the years since it was released.
Babe: Pig in the City
Don’t give George Miller the reins to a movie and expect him to not put in some pulse-pounding action scenes. And yes, that goes for the Babe sequel, too. Believe it or not, some people were actually upset about some surprisingly intense action set pieces in this farm animal sequel. Apparently, youngsters didn’t like the idea of their cuddly talking animal pals being in peril. The movie rules, though.
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28 Weeks Later
28 Days Later is a masterpiece of horror fiction. Basically, if you like The Walking Dead, thank 28 Days, because Robert Kirkman just lifted the premise for his comic directly from this movie. Its sequel, 28 Weeks Later, isn’t as immediately visceral or gripping as its predecessor, but it’s still an awesome horror movie that you need to see if you like zombie fiction.
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Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
The Last Jedi is the very best of the Star Wars movies, and that’s not an exaggeration. It interrogates the Jedi’s relationship with the Force, reestablishes what it means to fight for the Light Side, and gives us our best character study of Luke and his relationship with Kylo Ren in the entire franchise. It’s genuinely phenomenal storytelling that undoes everything that didn’t work in the prequels while setting up the franchise as a myth that can continue for a long, long time.
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