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Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, and Blade Runner 2049 would be my picks.
Aliens
The correct answer. The perfect duology.
While I do not think that Aliens was a bad film at all, I kinda wish it wasn’t a sequel to Alien. It’s a completely different film, far more action-oriented
Then again my view is probably significantly coloured by the fact that I enjoyed the first one a lot more
That’s one of the reasons it’s so good. Alien is perfect space horror. Aliens doesn’t try to match it but tells a different kind of story with some of the same characters.
I think that’s the fun of the movie. It’s not trying to recapture the suspense or tension of the original. It’s a natural evolution in a world of monsters. In the first movie, the crew are just people trying to survive on a ship in space with a terrifying novel threat. Any other monster movie sequel, they find new victims and run it back, but the characters in Aliens react as one should to a new threat. Gear up and go at them with soldiers and weapons.
It’s still terrifying because you and they know what lurks in the wet shadows. They are prepared to fight it which is why it’s an action movie, but it’s still very much an Alien sequel.
Oh I agree that it is an Alien sequel, I’m just saying I wish it hadn’t been. For me, it kinda cuts down on the dread that the xenomorph can create when there are dozens of them charging into a hail of automated machine gun fire and getting slaughtered.
I don’t think that they actually executed it very well, but I am far more keen on the ideas brought about in Prometheus and Covenant. That’s what I personally want out of Alien sequels. Just ideally with, like… a second look over the script. By anyone.
The same could be said about terminator 2
I’m not sure about that, actually. There’s a similar power dynamic involved — Arnie’s terminator is unstoppable compared to Kyle Reese, but then the T-1000 is unstoppable compared to Arnie. Worse, it can now be anyone in almost any scene
Terminator 3, on the other hand…
It’s a completely different film, far more action-oriented
Terminator 2 is tonally almost completely different from 1. 1’s soul is much more a horror movie, complete with a damsel in distress and a heavily uncanny villain. 2 had every chance to lean into that sense of unease, but really doesn’t explore that uncomfortable emotion despite the T-1000 being much more threatening on paper.
I’ll take your word for it; it has been a long time since I’ve watched either of them, so my memory of the tone is probably not on the money
Which (IMHO) is the reason it works so well. The first movie can’t be topped because we’ve seen the Alien and the tension can’t be repeated (see: the later movies which try this same formula and fail). Aliens takes that and ramps it up in a different way to make the desperation of escaping with firepower on your side still nerve wracking!
The 3rd installment also takes a new twist and different approach but doesn’t succeed as well (I still found it enjoyable, and rewatch from time to time.
Everything since then has been a cash grab of hot garbage.
You don’t have the fear of the Alien and the tension from Ripley without the first movie… in my view, but yes it is a totally didn’t feeling movie otherwise.
Game over, man
I was about to say no, but you convinced me. They’re both phenomenal.
The Empire Strikes Back
The Dark Knight
Empire Strikes Back.
And if you’re into “it’s so bad it wraps around and becomes hilarious” films, Troll 2.
Mad max 1 was a revenge cop story nobody watched outside Australia
Mad max 2 was the apocalyptic Mad max everybody know
Shrek 2
You know what, thread closed. What a perfect movie.
The Two Towers?
I wouldn’t say they are better, per se, but these are some sequels I think are on the same level, when compared to the original film in the series:
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Austin Powers 2
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Die Hard With a Vengeance
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Operation Condor 2
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Back to the Future Part 3
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Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
This one right here, officer.
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Wrath of Khan
People who grew up with the original will probably flay me for this.
Bladerunner 2049 was a better movie than Bladerunner. It took everything that was great about the original and improved upon it.
The original is a masterpiece. That said, I loved the sequel and have rewatched it multiple times. However, I don’t know if it is because I love the film or just anything Ryan Gosling is in 🤤😅
Drive?
Didn’t catch that one. Any good?
Certainly my favourite Gosling film. It’s one of those movies with a lot of ambiance; if you watch it, don’t doomscroll at the same time.
The elevator scene is so beautiful.
if you watch it, don’t doomscroll at the same time.
It’s sad that you actually felt the need to tell people this in a movies community. What a time we live in.
Not everyone is a cinephile, and some people like watching movies in the background.
I can’t stand this attitude personally, and when I sit down to watch a movie with someone, I get annoyed when they don’t pause for getting a drink, or do something on their phones.
If it was a movie like Deadpool, I can tolerate it, people can listen to the jokes, but put their phones down during action.
Then there are movies which would be a downright mistake to become distracted. This is one of those movies IMO.
I don’t tolerate it at all, to be honest. I think it’s a complete joke how acceptable blatant phone addiction has become in society; a third of my sessions at the cinema have people using phones during the film now. There is no such thing as “watching in the background” - you’re either watching it or you’re not watching it. You can put a film on in the background but don’t tell me you watched it, because you didn’t. It’s such a widespread problem now that there has even been debate about whether some modern writers are instructed to dumb down their dialogue so that people who refuse to look up from their dopanime injector can follow the basic plot.
Oh wow! I’ll have to give it a go then. ☺️
The first movie I saw with Gosling was Lars and the Real Girl. I didn’t get his appeal then, but I do now. I should watch that movie again because as weird as that movie is, I think his performance is stellar.
I agree wholly. He’s just so handsome and talented to boot.
Knife Guys™ is so freaking funny too.
Old school fan here, from the 80s. I’m just dandy with this take.
Probably never been more nervous about a sequel to a beloved movie. I was praying and praying, please god don’t let them fuck this up. But how could they possibly follow one of the top 5 most popular science fiction movies of all time?
Well, Villeneuve knocked it out the fucking park. I was sold from the first scene with Bautista. Sold. Enough call backs and fan service to put us in the world without being obvious and ingratiating. Damned fine line to walk.
Entire cast rocked out, too many props to write down. Yes, Leto was a little over-the-top, but he was supposed to be. Richest man in the world, totally disconnected from his humanity, and humans. And they got Olmos and Ford back! Perfect.
Got to see it with my ex-wife, no one else in the theater. What a grand experience. If it ever comes back to the big screen, I’ll not skip it.
Do you frequently go to the movies with your ex-wives?
I had never seen the original until right before watching the sequel. While I really appreciate the original, I had no real expectations from the sequel, but it still blew me away.
I honestly can’t say I’ve ever seen a better sequel. Especially not so long after the first one came out. It’s pretty amazing.
It is great.
I guess I will need to rewatch 2049 again (I’ve only seen it once, in the cinema at release). I’ve watched the original quite a few times since though and I’m increasingly of the opinion that it’s quite overrated and gets heavily carried by the visuals and the soundtrack, so I could see a case being made for the sequel being better.
The story / writing is pretty bold too. It’s nothing new by modern standards, but it was probably relatively novel in 1982.
The visuals and soundtrack are a major part of any movie. And yeah, the original rocks out on both.
Godfather 2
I won’t go so far as to say this is better than Terminator 2, but Gremlins 2 is such a great sequel. Some people are turned off by the zaniness, but I love how it’s basically a parody of unnecessary sequels and that they just swung for the fences with it.
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Bending the rules a bit here. I know it is not a true sequel, but it’s part of a trilogy. Hot Fuzz is better than Shaun of the Dead. Also, except for the second film, I think the Mission Impossible series just gets better with every entry.
Why do you think Hot Fuzz is better? Not arguing, I love both movies! I had never thought to compare the two
Shaun of the Dead is on my “perfect films” list but I’m sure it’s at least in part because of its context in my life.
I just think the joke ratio is a lot higher and they’re all excellent jokes as well. Plus there’s tons of little moments which you can pick up on multiple viewings.
Shaun is still a great film, I just think they got better with Fuzz.
Not OP. I think that Fuzz just got more budget and looks less campy than Shaun due to that and stylistic choices, but I love both equally and I don’t think filming Shaun like Fuzz would make it better. HF packs action and SotD shines in it’s long shots when we see parts of it’s storytelling in the background, they both have different vibes and the way they are filmed and edited serves them well.
Ed Wright and their shared cast are so talented they could’ve made anything a cult classic, even an omegaverse\Twilight crossover where Simon Pegg, haphazardly tanned to look like Jacob (pre-RenEsme lock-in), struggles to find a match with a vampire omega and joins the Edward\Bella story only to steal Edward; Nick Frost serves as his werewolf bro giving the least useful advices Simon blindly follows; also it’s suburbs of London and the soundtrack is full of hair metal for some reason.
Shit, now this idea would haunt me for years.
I know it is not a true sequel, but it’s part of a trilogy. Hot Fuzz is better than Shaun of the Dead.
I think we’ll have to agree to disagree here.
For a while, Mission Impossible kept getting better, but Dead Reckoning was absolute dog water and it killed all my interest in the franchise forever.
I liked MI2 better than MI:III
it’s been a while since I’ve seen them, so I can’t really remember why.
About two years ago, I watched all six, as there were then, over the course of a couple of weeks. For me, the second film stands out as being the weakest.
I think I need to watch Dead Reckoning (formerly part 1) again as I was slightly disappointed seeing that.
I think Dead Reckoning is a good, and poignant, concept, but I think it suffers from weak writing.
It suffered a bit from the same issue as the video game Uncharted 3, where they wrote the action set pieces first, then wrote the story to fit them together. I’m not sure if that’s what happened in the writing of Dead Reckoning, but that’s how it felt.
Overall I still liked it, and look forward to the next one, but it isn’t as strong as the previous 3 films.
