Top Ten Underrated
Movie Sequels
With Dawn of the Planet of the Apes hitting
theaters next week, I’m going to be looking at ten sequels I think are better
than most people give them credit for. I’m going to be ranking them based on
how much I personally enjoy them, rather than based on their reviews and how
the majority of other cinemaphiles feel about them.
10. Predator 2 (1990)
9. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Everyone always says Gremlins
2 is inferior to the original. By no means is it as classic as the first
film, which remains one of the best comedy-horror-Christmas films ever, but Gremlins 2 isn’t just a by the numbers
sequel. The first question that always gets asked is: how could they let this
happen again? How could they get the poor Mogwai Gizmo all wet then feed the
resulting offspring after midnight? Well, it happens, and the disaster that
occurs as a result is even more off the wall than last time. With the first
film, it was a mixture of dark and light humour, and it was obvious that director
Joe Dante loved the Looney Tunes. This is made even clearer here, as the tone
shifts to a more comedic/cartoony feel, and the slapstick gags are more
abundant. For some who enjoyed the lighter side of the first Gremlins, this was a plus, but to
others, it was a step backwards. I personally didn’t mind that things were
taken a step further, as I feel all sequels should strive to do so. The self
awareness and increased pop culture references are welcome, and it makes for a
fun sequel—definitely not inferior to the original, but not as classic. 
8. Ghostbusters II (1989)
Ghostbusters II is
certainly not as original or classic as the first film, but it gets a bad rep
for being just more of the same. Why people didn’t
want just more of the same is beyond me. I know I just said sequels should
try to be different and take things a step further, and I stand by that, but to
me, Ghostbusters is always about the
four of them—Peter, Raymond, Egon, and Winston—just saving New York from the
next big bad ghost that shows up. In the first film, it was hilarious and mind
blowing to see them take on the enormous Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. How could
they top that? Well in this one, they take control of the Statue of Liberty and
walk it through the city. Is it as great as Stay Puft from the first one? Of
course not, but it’s an appropriate step up that both hearkens back to the
first film and makes it new. How could you not love that if you loved the first
one? And there’s more than just walking statues to enjoy. How about a river of
goo running through the sewers, or more of the hilarious dialogue from all four
Ghostbusters, especially Peter Venkman (Bill Murray)? It could have been more,
but Ghostbusters II is still an
entertaining sequel.
7. Batman Forever (1995)
After Tim Burton stepped down as director following 1992’s Batman Returns, his sequel to 1989’s Batman, Joel Schumacher came in for the
third film in the franchise, which also saw Michael Keaton replaced by Val
Kilmer as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Although Schumacher was responsible for the abysmal
fourth film Batman and Robin—one of
the worst superhero films of all time—Batman
Forever is actually not as bad as everyone says. Kilmer is good as Batman,
the addition of Chris O’Donnell as Robin is nowhere near as silly as it could
have been (or eventually became), but most of all, Jim Carrey as The Riddler is
nothing short of brilliant. The movie definitely has some negative aspects,
such as Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face and a less Burton-esque feel to it than the
previous films, but Batman Forever offers
some fun action, entertaining characters, and overall is a satisfying Batman sequel, especially if you compare
it to the film that followed and destroyed the franchise...
6. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
I hear nothing but absolute hatred by fans for this
threequel. The first two X-Men films,
directed by Bryan Singer, are definitely superior to The Last Stand in pretty much every way, but was The Last Stand really so terrible?
Director Brett Ratner took over for Singer, and although he has directed some shoddy
films and received lots of backlash from the media, I don’t think he’s that bad
of a director. I loved Red Dragon, a
prequel to Silence of the Lambs and
remake of Manhunter. X-Men: The Last Stand has lots to offer.
Fans were angry that main characters like Jean Grey and Professor X got killed
off. Wait, didn’t Jean Grey supposedly get killed off in X2? Why wasn’t everyone mad about it then? I found it genuinely
surprising that the movie had the balls to kill off main characters like that,
and I thought it only made the stakes higher and the whole thing more exciting.
The final battle actually felt like a last stand, so in those regards it lived
up to the title. Even though I loved X-Men:
Days of Future Past, I’m disappointed they didn’t do a direct follow this
one up and explain some of the things that happened, but now it doesn’t seem to
matter since the film has basically been rendered obsolete by the new timeline.
Still, The Last Stand felt like a
firm end to the original X-Men
trilogy, and although it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t complete crap either. 
5. Scream 4 (2011)
I love the first Scream
film, written by Kevin Williamson and directed by horror legend Wes Craven.
It’s the perfect blend of parody and tribute and laughs and scares. I remember first
seeing Scream when I was fairly
young, and I only saw one of the sequels, Scream
2, which I thought sucked the first time I saw it. But after a few years
went by, I decided to give the other sequels a shot and did a Scream marathon. The first one remains
the best, and I enjoyed the second one a lot more the second time around,
though it’s still inferior to the first. Scream
3, which wasn’t written by Kevin Williamson, was definitely a sub-par
sequel. Though still somewhat clever and fun, it became too similar to what Scream originally was spoofing. By the
time I reached Scream 4, I was
screamed out. But lo and behold, Scream 4,
which came out eleven years after the third one and had Williamson return as
screenwriter, was the best sequel of them all. In a day and age where horror
films largely suck, Scream 4 was
genuinely surprising, scary, and featured everything that made the first one
great. A new talented cast and fresh twist boosted this sequel to heights I did
not expect, and made for one hell of a fourth film—probably one of the best
fourth films in a franchise ever.
4. Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
I mentioned this film in my top ten list of sequels better
than or on par with the original. I also mentioned it was an underrated sequel,
so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it found its way onto this list. I can
kind of understand why this film, the third in the Die Hard series, wasn’t wholly loved by all. It features some
preposterous stunts and I’m pretty sure there are several scenarios where John
McLane would have definitely died. But what about the fourth film, Live Free or Die Hard? The action in
that one was taken even further, and McLane was practically the Terminator! No
one had a problem with how over the top the fourth film was, so why was the
third one underappreciated? It’s not like it was boring or repetitive or
copying the first Die Hard, like Die Hard 2 did. It’s not like it had
annoying side characters, like in the fourth film. Samuel L. Jackson was great
as McLane’s new side kick, and having them run around New York trying to figure
out the villain’s riddles was extremely entertaining. If you enjoyed the first Die Hard, I don’t see how you couldn’t
enjoy this entry in the series.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
(2006)
When I first saw Pirates
of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, I was blown away, and it
remains one of my favourite action films of the past decade. The follow up, Dead Man’s Chest, was an even bigger hit
financially than the first film, but it received much lower ratings. What made
the first film so great was the enthralling action sequences, with pirates
fighting other cursed pirates, as well as the great visual effects and
elaborate set designs. But of course, the highlight is Johnny Depp as the
unforgettable Captain Jack Sparrow. So why didn’t people like the second film?
It was darker, Jack Sparrow was running scared for much of the film, and the
pacing was sluggish at times. Was everyone just asleep when the Kraken showed
up? The scene where it first attacks a ship is one of the greatest action
scenes of all four films! And what about Davy Jones as the main villain? He’s
twice as intimidating as Barbossa was in the first movie. And remember Jones’
crew of sea creature-encrusted slaves, and the scene where Jack is kidnapped by
island natives, and the part where Will bargains Jones with his life...see,
there was lots of awesome stuff in Dead
Man’s Chest. No, it wasn’t as fresh or funny as Curse of the Black Pearl, but it was a much bigger, bolder, and
better sequel than most pundits claimed.
2. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Maybe I’m just a Jurassic
Park/dinosaur aficionado, but Steven Spielberg’s sequel to his mega hit Jurassic Park is criminally underrated.
What did everyone love so much about the first film? Obviously, it was seeing
dinosaurs that looked real and alive and terrifying and fascinating all at
once, and seeing them chase down the ill-equipped humans. Yes, the plot of the
first Jurassic Park was also very
ingenious and creative, but the sequel was never trying to be more inventive
than its predecessor. In fact, Michael Crichton’s novel, The Lost World, took inspiration from Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel of
the same name, and featured an uncharted land ruled by dinosaurs. The Lost World: Jurassic Park can almost
be classified as a remake of The Lost
World as much as a sequel to Jurassic
Park. The human characters aren’t as engaging as before, but it’s nice to
see Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) return as the main character. The dinosaurs,
which we’re all the most eager to see, look bigger and better than ever, and
they get a lot more screen time. The action is grander, and as a whole it’s an
exciting adventure. It might feel like an obligatory sequel, but honestly, I
couldn’t have imagined a much better way to follow up an already incredible
film.
1. Back to the Future Part II (1989)
A lot of people cite Back
to the Future Part III as one of the most underrated sequels ever, and
while I do agree with that statement, I think it’s Part II that deserves more praise. Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, Back to the Future Part III has a 73 %
rating, while Back to the Future Part II only
has 64 %. Part III is better than it
often gets credit for, but it does start going off in new directions that don’t
always feel right, such as introducing the character of Clara and making Doc
fall in love with her. But Part II
has elements that will be forever associated with the title Back to the Future, such as the Hover
Board, and that wasn’t even in the original! Following the proper three act,
three film trilogy structure, Part II was
appropriately the darkest chapter of the franchise, but that didn’t stop it
from being a blast. The aforementioned Hover Board and all the antics Marty
McFly has with it are exciting and hilarious, plus the future gags are creative
and fun, and the increasingly complicated plot keeps you guessing. It’s hard to
determine what sequel I think is most underrated, but I love Back to the Future Part II, and while
it’s not as classic as the original, it’s still better than the third and good
enough that I always feel like watching it after the first Back to the Future ends. Gremlins 2, Lost World, and Batman Forever posters from http://en.wikipedia.org
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