Let's face it, movie sequels are a huge risk in terms of keeping the integrity of the original film alive. Sequels need to capture the magic of the first film while making improvements on it at the same time, a tall order. A lot of sequels suck, just look at most comedy and horror sequels, yet some are able to go above and beyond their predecessor. I'm limiting my list to be the exact second movie in the series which means you won't see
Toy Story 3 or
Return of the Jedi on this list. This was on of the hardest lists I've had to make, not so much as narrowing it down to 10 films but the actual ordering of the list was incredibly difficult.
HONORABLE MENTIONS As always there a few films that miss the cut even though they are great movies but looking at this list, it'd be hard to take one off to put one of these on so here's a few honorable mentions:
Aliens,
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,
Captain America: The Winter Soldier,
22 Jump Street and
American Pie 2
10. X2: X-Men United - X-Men 2 was probably the first superhero movie that had some dark themes to it throughout the film. It expanded on the 2000 original and was able to make a good superhero drama with characters you really care about. We're in an era now where every superhero movie is intense, dark and overall pretty serious in tone (with a few exceptions); this film is their grandfather.
9. Rocky II - Rocky is the epitome of American, from his seemingly always underdog status to his will to never give up. This series is honestly one of the best out there and to my shame I never watched until last year and
Rocky II is quite possibly the best one. It builds off of the original and were able to not only advance the story in a logical way but were able to advance these characters in a way that most movies can't do. The ending of
Rocky II also has a fantastic pay off built up over the course of the movie and the movie before it and is wholly satisfying.
8. Saw II - The only horror film on this list but it truly deserves it. Some say that had the
Saw series ended after the third film that it would be one of the best horror trilogies ever but, Hollywood is greedy. Regardless,
Saw II takes all of the greatness of the first and exploded it, going from two people playing his game to eight. It takes the psychological aspect of the game and makes it so these people almost destroy themselves before the game is even over. This is one of my favorite horror movies ever and clearly one of the best sequels.
7. Spider-Man 2 - Annnndddd back to superheroes.
Spider-Man 2 for a long time was my go to film when someone asked for an example of a sequel that's better than the original. This movie has a fantastic villain in Dr. Octopus, a great inner struggle within Peter Parker and some awesome fight scenes. You'd be hard pressed to find a movie that makes such good improvements over its predecessor. This is one of the best superhero films ever made, period.
6. Terminator 2: Judgement Day - When I first saw
The Terminator a few years back, I was expecting a little bit more or at least a little different than what I got. When I first saw
T2 a couple days afterward I had realized this was the movie I had been expecting. This is as damn near perfect of a sci-fi movie as you can get not to mention it may be the most badass movie of all time, it's the definition of cool. The CGI is incredibly stepped up from the original which is expected as there was 7 years between the films and it holds up decently well here in 2015. The villain is absolutely ruthless and is only outmatched in badassness by Arnold himself.
5. Toy Story 2 -
Toy Story is in the running for my favorite trilogy of all time and in my opinion, the 2nd installment is reasonably overlooked compared to
Toy Story and
Toy Story 3.
Toy Story 2 brings in new characters who are a welcome addition to the crew while still keeping the original characters much involved and still loved. This is Pixar at its best which is surprising because for me, their sequels is where they falter a little bit. This movie captures the magic of the original all over again and makes for a fantastic film.
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - One of the best trilogies of all time gets an installment that does everything right, from the drama, the action sequences and don't even get me started on the Battle of Helm's Deep which is one of my favorite battle scenes from the entire trilogy. The film is not just a bridge from
Fellowship of the Ring to
Return of the King, it's an essential piece to the story and Peter Jackson was able to make a film that perfectly advanced the story and the characters and is even a good standalone film.
3. The Godfather, Part II - Some may say it's blasphemy for this not to be everyone's favorite sequel of all time but, for me, there are two better. That being said, there's no denying the greatness of a three hour plus masterpiece. The loss of Marlon Brando did nothing to hurt the film instead opting for the prequel route and the casting of Robert De Niro in the role of Vito Corleone. While this was near the beginning of a young De Niro's career it's easy to tell that he was a big reason why this movie is as good as it is. This is not to take anything away from Al Pacino or Robert DuVall's performances but instead help praise them because their performances were so good. It's hard to describe this movie as it's almost so good it's hard to say why, it's a film that everyone should see and I don't say that lightly.
2. The Dark Knight - Man, superhero movies are killing this list right now but seriously this is movie is outrageously good. It's less of a superhero film and more of a great drama/action film that happens to have Batman in it. This is the movie that we will look back on in years to come as the film that changed superhero movies forever and made audiences and critics alike take them seriously. Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and company really transformed this film into something bigger than just a movie. What I love about this trilogy is that each film is a great standalone film, all 3 have a beginning, middle and end, none of which take 5 minutes out to set up the next film. Nolan was able to crate a unique universe and a unique experience where Batman isn't a superhero in the traditional sense, he's a realistic figure in a realistic world. This is one of my favorite movies ever and it will forever be the truest Batman movie to me.
1. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - Yes, it's the fifth in the series BUT, it was the second film made and everything I've been able to find from when the film was first released has no sign of calling it episode 5 back in 1980, so for me and 98% of the world, this is the true sequel in the
Star Wars franchise. I know I've said it a few times in this list already but this is seriously one of the best movies ever, between the great reveal toward the end and everything before it are the definition of excellence. I don't see how you can like film and not like this movie, alright I guess I can see it if you hate sci-fi but you see my point. This movie stepped up the game so much that it deserves its own class in film schools. I can't explain the greatness of this film because it's inexplicable, you just have to watch it for yourself.
