Silly Sequels

johnny_ultimate

In light of the recent idiotic news that someone greenlit a sequel to Donnie Darko, what do y'all think are the stupidest, most foolish sequels ever produced? Some that spring to mind instantly:

Pirates of the Carribean / The Matrix: two films in which the film-makers seemingly forgot the charm of the originals and instead created needlessly complex and messy stories. Reloaded and Dead Man's Chest did the job OK, but the second sequels to arrive hadn't a clue where they were off to... The Matrix in particular turned into a turgid, standard blockbuster losing all of the originality of part one in a sea of dodgy CGI.

Battle Royale 2: Pretty much an insult to the first one. Storyline felt liked a forced effort just to get them back on an island somewhere, and overall lacked the subtle intelligence that made the first so terrific.

Ring 2: Seems like popular Japanese franchises don't fare well in the sequel stakes. Another silly, overblown follow up to a story that really didn't need any following up. At least Ring 0 was watchable, although I'd struggle to call it a horror film!

The third entry in any major superhero franchise: A bizarre rule that has yet to be broken. Emo Spidey? Ratner's X-Men anti-climax? That Batman with Val Kilmer (which still wasn't the lowest the franchise would sink)?

Karl Hungus

Frankly, sequels can be as bad as remakes sometimes.

Galvasean

Most things with the number 3 in the title. Jurassic Park 3 still haunts my dreams. Say what you want about the second one, at least it was vaguely coherent.

List of threequels that never made the grade (feel free to ad to/disagree):

Beverly Hills Cop 3
Blade Trinity
Godfather Part 3
Highlander III: The Sorcerer
Infernal Affairs III
Jaws 3
Jurassic Park 3
Land Before Time III
Lethal Weapon 3
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (good, but a bit of a step down)
Matrix Revelations
Pirates 3
Rush Hour 3 (hey, I liked it.. pity I'm rare in that line of thinking.)
Scary Movie 3
Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (well, not exactly butchering a classic..)
Shrek 3
Spider-Man 3
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (still a good movie, just a bit of a step down)
Star Wars Episode III (although better than I+II, not very good overall)
Terminator 3
X-Men 3: The Last Stand

Sure there are a few exceptions (that prove the rule), but by and large the number 3 is cursed.

Karl Hungus

Surprised you didn't include Scream 3 in that list, Galvasean.

johnny_ultimate

Yeah 'threequels' (urgg... feel dirty typing that word :pac:) are often pretty dreadful. Think thats when the ideas run out and they just start milking the franchise for all its worth. Back to the Future 3 and The Last Crusade are the only two that pop into my head as great ones actually (barring proper trilogies, of course e.g. Three Colours, Lord of the Rings and so on).

monkeyfudge

Highlander 2 is probably the worst sequel of all time.

Setting it in the future and making all your main characters aliens exiled from another planet? What were they thinking?

Then there are sequels to very well known films and you've probably never seen the sequel as it wasn't very good.

Rocky Horror Picture Show and Spinal Tap both had sequels. I know I've never seen them.

Nolanger

Richard III

PWEI

Galvasean wrote: »

Most things with the number 3 in the title. Jurassic Park 3 still haunts my dreams. Say what you want about the second one, at least it was vaguely coherent.

List of threequels that never made the grade (feel free to ad to/disagree):

Beverly Hills Cop 3
Blade Trinity
Godfather Part 3
Highlander III: The Sorcerer
Infernal Affairs III
Jaws 3
Jurassic Park 3
Land Before Time III
Lethal Weapon 3
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (good, but a bit of a step down)
Matrix Revelations
Pirates 3
Rush Hour 3 (hey, I liked it.. pity I'm rare in that line of thinking.)
Scary Movie 3
Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (well, not exactly butchering a classic..)
Shrek 3
Spider-Man 3
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (still a good movie, just a bit of a step down)
Star Wars Episode III (although better than I+II, not very good overall)
Terminator 3
X-Men 3: The Last Stand

Sure there are a few exceptions (that prove the rule), but by and large the number 3 is cursed.

X-Men 3 wasn't bad at all.I actually thought it was better than the first one which I wasn't a big fan of because it wasted far too much time introducing all the characters.I really liked Star Wars episode 3 also,much better than episodes 1 and 2.Sure the dialogue was pretty cheesy but what do you expect from Lucas.Back To the Future 3,Indy 3,Rocky 3 all decent films.

Mint Sauce

look whos talking too, and look whos talking now

:eek::eek:

monkeyfudge

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Back to the Future 3 and The Last Crusade are the only two that pop into my head as great ones actually (barring proper trilogies, of course e.g. Three Colours, Lord of the Rings and so on).

Well Back to the Future 3 was filmed back to back with Back to the Future 2, that's how you have the clip with all the scenes from 3 at the end of 2. So things would have been pretty well planned.

I always thought Temple of Doom was pretty much muck though.

speedboatchase

MI:3 and Episode 3 are the exception to the rule, series where the third installment was the best of their respective trilogies.

In terms of unncessary sequels however, Pirates didn't need to be a trilogy at all (bar money of course) as everything was wrapped up in one film and Depp's charm couldnt cross over 3 films. As for Reloaded - who wanted Zion to look like THAT?! And they used machines + Morpheus gave the worst speech in movie history.

If you look at another thread on this page, Anchorman 2 could be another example of most completely unecessary sequels ever.

Eirebear

monkeyfudge wrote: »

Rocky Horror Picture Show and Spinal Tap both had sequels.

:eek: Rocky Horror Picture Show 2?!?! :eek:

monkeyfudge

Eirebear wrote: »

:eek: Rocky Horror Picture Show 2?!?! :eek:

Yep... It was called Shock Treatment... I've never seen it though... I don't think I've ever met anyone who has...

pixelburp

Galvasean wrote: »

List of threequels that never made the grade (feel free to ad to/disagree):

...
Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (well, not exactly butchering a classic..)

Whoah whoah whoah, Shark Attack 3 is a classic! Or at least very much a "so bad it's good" kind of classic.

kowloon

Theres quite a few moneygrabbing episodes out there, I hope Indy 4 doesn't become one of them. The sequel to Cube was dreadful, not sure how many people liked the original though.
Then theres the films that are rewritten scripts altered to make them into sequels. Apparently Die hard 3 was originally a lethal weapon (hence Samuel L Jacksons character). There are plenty of bad examples.

cooperguy

kowloon wrote: »

Theres quite a few moneygrabbing episodes out there, I hope Indy 4 doesn't become one of them. The sequel to Cube was dreadful, not sure how many people liked the original though.
Then theres the films that are rewritten scripts altered to make them into sequels. Apparently Die hard 3 was originally a lethal weapon (hence Samuel L Jacksons character). There are plenty of bad examples.

Really!!! Thats actually an interesting fact!!

JangoFett

After Watching X-Men I have to say X-Men 3 is pretty directorially bad.

If it was Singer I KNOW in my bones it would have been better

gordon_gekko

all the lethal weapon sequels were poor

mel gibson was no longer crazy in them

robby^5

I thaught Return of the King was the worst of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

For one, its far too long, Its an ordeal to actually sit down and watch that film. Regardless of what people have said, I thaught the special effects were absolutely awful at some points, where you could see what was CGI and what was a model very distinctly. Dodgy acting all around really from those hobbits.

Also, talk about worst ending(s(s(s))) to a franchise ever.

stereoroid

robby^5 wrote: »

I thaught the special effects were absolutely awful at some points, where you could see what was CGI and what was a model very distinctly. Dodgy acting all around really from those hobbits.

Also, talk about worst ending(s(s(s))) to a franchise ever.

The LoTR films were not a "franchise", and parts 2 and 3 were not sequels. They were three parts of the same story, filmed at the same time, but released in three parts. Did you see Return Of The King in the cinema, or the extended version on DVD? If you saw CGI flaws in the cinema version, I'm not surprised, there was a helluva rush to get it out on time. They redid a lot of the CGI for the extended edition DVDs.

What about Speed 2: Cruise Control? That was pretty silly... as was Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. I think Sandra Bullock is cured of Sequels by now!

Karl Hungus

robby^5 wrote: »

I thaught Return of the King was the worst of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

For one, its far too long, Its an ordeal to actually sit down and watch that film. Regardless of what people have said, I thaught the special effects were absolutely awful at some points, where you could see what was CGI and what was a model very distinctly. Dodgy acting all around really from those hobbits.

Also, talk about worst ending(s(s(s))) to a franchise ever.

If anything it's far too short.

I'd agree that it was the weakest film of the 3, but because of the fact so much plot was left out, it focused too much on the battles, which are essential of course, but could really have done with a lot more plot.

MooseJam

Jaws the revenge, sharks don't have feelings people

pwd

x-men 3 was brilliant. They kill off the most irritating character from the first two films straight away.
Shrek 3 is very good too. Really underrated.
I agree with most of the others listed (any that I saw and can stil remember). Battle Royale 2 was unwatchable.
Some sequels are better than the first films. Superman 2 for example. And X-Men 3.
As for bad sequels, I'm surprised I haven't seen any Rocky or Rambo films mentioned. Saw should not have spawned sequels also, though I haven't seen 3 or 4.

robby^5

stereoroid wrote: »

The LoTR films were not a "franchise", and parts 2 and 3 were not sequels. They were three parts of the same story, filmed at the same time, but released in three parts.

Actually Lord of the Rings is a prime example of what a film franchise is, a planned one at that. Even more so now that the same team that made the original films are now making The Hobbit and another tie in.

All in all I think at the time people really over hyped the films, they were a good watch first time round, but not overly rewatchable not the masterpeices they've been paraded around as.

I feel like quoting Clerks II in saying that they were 3 films about walking.

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I'd agree that it was the weakest film of the 3, but because of the fact so much plot was left out, it focused too much on the battles, which are essential of course, but could really have done with a lot more plot.

I fully agree with them needing more plot, everything in the final film, every scene with dialogue felt like it was basically setting up the next visual shot or battle.

grames_bond

maybe ive missed something but no one has mentioned the movies that suffer from "jim carrey sequal syndrome" which is any sequal to a jim carrey movie that does not have jim carrey in it will be terrible (includes prequals) such as:

dumb and dumberer
son of the mask
evan almighty

JangoFett

I thought X-Men 2 and Spiderman 2 were the strongest of those franchises...so far, further sequels pending

The Die Hard Movies are solid. Even Die Hard 4, it kicks ass!!

LOTR, all of them excellent
Back To The Future, all Excellent!!

Galvasean

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Surprised you didn't include Scream 3 in that list, Galvasean.

Shame on me. I'm sure there's plenty more I missed.

Sherifu

The Matrix sequels don't exist. MmmmKay.

zuchum

gordon_gekko wrote: »

all the lethal weapon sequels were poor

mel gibson was no longer crazy in them

he compensated for that in real life i guess

Galvasean

Revised:

Beverly Hills Cop 3
Blade Trinity
Godfather Part 3
Highlander III: The Sorcerer
Infernal Affairs III
Jaws 3
Jurassic Park 3
Land Before Time III
Lethal Weapon 3
Look Whose Talking Now
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (good, but a bit of a step down)
Matrix Revelations
Mission Impossible 3
Pirates 3
Rush Hour 3 (hey, I liked it.. pity I'm rare in that line of thinking.)
Scary Movie 3
Scream 3
Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (well, not exactly butchering a classic..)
Shrek 3
Spider-Man 3
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (still a good movie, just a bit of a step down)
Star Wars Episode III (although better than I+II, not very good overall)
Terminator 3
X-Men 3: The Last Stand

Might update this semi-regularly...

kaimera

hang on, MI3 was a damn sight better than MI2.

harsh.

Roar

everyone seems to have forgotten weekend at bernie's 2, not a patch on the original

as for sequels that should be made, a sequel to the passion of the christ should me made, i'd love to see what happens after yer man became a t-1000 and holes in his body just repaired themselves at the end of the movie

johnny_ultimate

kaimera wrote: »

hang on, MI3 was a damn sight better than MI2.

harsh.

Yeah that film gets a lot of unnecessary flak. I really enjoyed it though. As far as ridiculous action films go, it was a great two hours of entertainment. And didn't have any annoying John Woo doves flying through the air either.

Ocean's Thirteen is another second sequel worth mentioning. First sequel was a step or twelve too far, but they seemed to regain their stride for part 3. Still not up to the standard of the first, but a really fun and underrated film.

robby^5

I started hating Oceans Twelve the minute they introduced the holographic projections of a vase or something.

robby^5

Roar wrote: »

everyone seems to have forgotten weekend at bernie's 2, not a patch on the original

as for sequels that should be made, a sequel to the passion of the christ should me made, i'd love to see what happens after yer man became a t-1000 and holes in his body just repaired themselves at the end of the movie

I dunno the ending of the first film wasnt very believeable, there are just too many fantasy movies these days, they're flooding the market...

faceman

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I always thought Temple of Doom was pretty much muck though.

Funny that i somewhat agree. I wouldnt call it muck but it is very weak.

Galvasean

kaimera wrote: »

hang on, MI3 was a damn sight better than MI2.

harsh.

Although an improvement on 2, I still taught it was crap.

kaimera

I always thought Temple of Doom was pretty much muck though.

How did I miss this the first time?

For shame. Compared the tLC which was a rehased Raiders {Sean Connery or not, tLC is the weakest of the 3 atm}, Doom was a breath of fresh air.

Karl Hungus

I actually have to agree on Temple of Doom being pretty dire. I actually can't watch it any more, while I'd still watch the others repeatedly.

tok9

what the hell is wrong with some people.. lotr 3 was an excellent movie and even if some people think it was a step down it was still class. MI3 was a massive step up. die hard 3.. bourne ultimatum all good. To say that there is more poor trequels than there is sequels or originals is a bit harsh.

Rush hour 3 was funny too

The Artist

jaws jaws etc. has to be. it always come back with a deadlier shark nah! a smaller one!
Hellraiser
Austin powers
final destination
Ace ventura
when does friday the 13th ever finnish!
And The blair witch gets up my wicks!

Galvasean

davey180 wrote: »

Ace ventura

Hang on, I watched that on TV the other night. I think its every bit as funny as the 1st.

Galvasean

tok9 wrote: »

To say that there is more poor trequels than there is sequels or originals is a bit harsh.

I'm just saying most franchises really run out of steam by number 3.

The Artist

Galvasean wrote: »

Hang on, I watched that on TV the other night. I think its every bit as funny as the 1st.

i found it funny too but his silly antics gets a bit to far imo. Talking out of his bum im might say!

AckwelFoley

Jason X.

They should have stopped at 6.

The Artist

snyper wrote: »

Jason X.

They should have stopped at 6.

i think they made 11 films Jason x is the 10th afaik.Fredy and jason is the 11th.So 2 more would should be the last of it as it reaches 13!

Galvasean

davey180 wrote: »

i found it funny too but his silly antics gets a bit to far imo. Talking out of his bum im might say!

I don't believe he did that in the sequel..

The Artist

Galvasean wrote: »

I don't believe he did that in the sequel..

im sure jim carey did the arse talk in the 2 0f them?

stevenmu

Two more sequels to throw on the pile (we are burning these right?)

Starship Troopers 2, I don't know what to say about that film other than it sucked very very badly.

The Butterfly Effect 2, it's like they took the first film, made it worse in every possible way and shoved it onto a DVD

stevenmu

stevenmu wrote: »

Two more sequels to throw on the pile (we are burning these right?)

Starship Troopers 2, I don't know what to say about that film other than it sucked very very badly.

The Butterfly Effect 2, it's like they took the first film, made it worse in every possible way and shoved it onto a DVD

Well Starship Troopers 3 is out in afew weeks time and The Butterfly effect 3 is also coming soon, with rumours of a possible cinema release.

The Land Before Time - I mean, christ, when are those dinosaurs going to die. Land Before Time XIII

Other silly sequels have to be the Spiderman series. The first one was pretty damned good, the second was passable but then the third just lost it totally. Same thing with 28 Weeks Later, I thought.

However the best sequels have to be Aliens and Terminator 2.