Mad Ramblings of a Movie Geek 05.21.08: Sequels

Posted by Jordan Bruns on 05.21.2008

Part 1 of 2...

Welcome everyone to this week's edition of Mad Ramblings of a Movie Geek! I have always believed that one's personal opinion of a movie has no bearing on the quality of the movie itself. For instance, there are movies that I don't particularly care for that are still good movies. I also have a long list of guilty pleasures, movies that I love that I know are terrible movies. You want some examples? Maybe in a future issue.

On the other hand, the same can be said for sequels. No matter how many crappy Police Academy sequels there are, you know when one comes on TV you watch it… at least until you find something better on. If nothing else you watch to see if it's a pre or post-Guttenberg installment. However, if you own the entire series on DVD I am not judging you, as long as you have a better explanation than "I like it when Michael Winslow makes those funny sounds."

This week I am presenting my faithful audience (do I even have one outside of my friends?) with some sequels that are not only exceptionally good, but in some cases better than the original. I'm not talking about the ones that were "OK" or "pretty good for a sequel". I mean the ones that aren't just solid follow-ups or conclusions, but also good movies in and of themselves, which can be judged independently from their own predecessors or follow-ups. Let me lay a few ground rules first. The Star Wars movies don't count. They were conceived as a trilogy from jump street, so Empire and Jedi aren't sequels. The other three were prequels, so they're out as well. The same goes for Lord of the Rings. Any trilogy that was not originally conceived as such still qualifies. Sequels to superhero movies are also exempt, because I could easily do a whole column just devoted to those, given the sheer amount of them. Anything else is fair game.

This is not a "best of" list or any kind of list at all, really. Lists are organized and/or clearly categorized. You will find no such organization here. The movies will not be ranked and will be discussed in random order.

The Godfather Part II




It is impossible to talk about sequels without mentioning this one. This, along with its predecessor, makes for what is arguably the greatest six and a half hours ever committed to film. In its list of the 100 Greatest Movies Ever Made, Entertainment Weekly referred to Part II as "the greatest parenthesis ever put on a film." I can think of no better way to describe it, as it is less a direct sequel and more an extension of the first one. In essence, trying to compare The Godfather to The Godfather Part II would be akin to trying to compare The Godfather to itself. This is a remarkable feat, since Part II is so different cinematically from the first one. Its flashback structure allows it to serve as a stand-alone film, yet it still feels as if the first film only tells half the story. In the hands of anyone other than Francis Ford Coppola, a sequel to The Godfather probably would have been a disaster. But with both Coppola and Mario Puzo (he wrote the book, in case you don't know) returning to continue the Corleone family saga, it became a masterpiece. As for the third one, I don't think it's the utter disaster that a lot of fans claim, it's really just an unnecessary epilogue- an OK follow-up to two superb films. It's kind of fitting that this was the first sequel to include Part II in the title, because it literally is Part II of The Godfather.

My Mad Ramblings
The destruction of Michael Corleone's humanity continues! The idealistic war hero who loved his family but wanted no part in their dirty business was drawn in by circumstance. By the end of the first film, he had become a more ruthless mob boss than his father could have ever aspired to be. By the end of the second, he's a complete monster, and he knows it too, judging from the chilling final shot. That's not the only thing that makes this a solid follow-up. Additional screen time for other key characters, namely Fredo and Tom Hagen, is a factor as well, as is the appearance of Robert De Niro in his Oscar-winning turn as young Vito, easily holding his own against Marlon Brando's Oscar-winning turn as older Vito in the first one. Another bonus is the first film role for famed acting teacher Lee Strasberg, as well as Fredo's involvement in a key plot point. Ahh, Fredo, you poor bastard, you were so weak and stupid.

And it's so much darker than its predecessor, but in a good way. Coppola masterfully contrasts the romanticism of the first one with the unmerciful tragedy of the second. For make no mistake, this is a tragedy of Greek proportions. At the end of the film Michael is still alive, but he's been punished in more ways than he could have possibly imagined.

Lethal Weapon 2




Before anyone dismisses my choice to include this here by saying it's "just an action movie," remember what it was that made the first one so popular. It was one of the first "buddy cop" movies, but even when that concept was still relatively hip and fresh, Lethal Weapon still managed to turn it on its side, by pairing a suicidal, recently widowed, borderline-psychotic cop with a stable family man who just celebrated his 50th birthday. It turns out they both served in Vietnam, where crazy ass Riggs was in the Special Forces. As it turns out, so was their nemesis, Mr. Joshua. Does anyone else think Gary Busey is just playing himself in these roles? The sequel introduces Joe Pesci's Leo Getz, and pits Riggs and Murtaugh against a gang of South African drug smugglers hiding behind Diplomatic Immunity. This is not just a good sequel, it's the best movie in the whole series, and one of the best of the genre as well.

My Mad Ramblings
What I've always thought made this series work so well was the intense camaraderie between Riggs and Murtaugh, which was virtually non-existent in the first movie, since they didn't really start to like each other until the end. Their bond has strengthened by the time the second one begins. The Murtaughs have become Riggs' surrogate family, and have given the lonely widower a reason to live again. The famous bomb-on-the toilet scene is one of the movie's best. Although the utter absurdity of the situation is played for laughs, it's also an extremely poignant and telling scene, albeit with extreme subtlety in its execution. I just can't help it, I'm a sucker for sequels that put the protagonists in an "anything can happen" environment. Riggs' new love interest is killed, he finds out how his wife really died, several of Riggs and Murtaugh's police colleagues are also wiped out, and Riggs himself is nearly killed in the climax. Actually, in the original script, Riggs did die, but the ending was changed to leave the door open for future sequels. In reality, though, that would have been all she wrote for Martin Riggs. I mean, he got shot like 50 times- surely one of those bullets would have hit a vital organ. But, alas, not in Hollywood…

As hard as it is to make a good sequel, it's even harder to make a good sequel in the action genre. Lethal Weapon 2 is an exception to this rule. Another genre that has produced a lot of crappy sequels is the horror genre, but I have found an exception to that as well…

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors




Wes Craven never intended for A Nightmare on Elm Street to become a franchise. His original ending would have revealed that the entire movie was one long nightmare. However, Robert Shaye, head of New Line Cinema at the time, wanted a twist ending that would leave the door open for a sequel. Both endings were shot but the twist ending was used, and Craven refused to be involved with the first sequel. He returned to the series for Dream Warriors, which he co-wrote with like a million other people. He agreed to return because he wanted to end the series once and for all. His original idea was similar to New Nightmare, with Freddy Krueger invading the real world and terrorizing the cast of the new Elm Street movie. This idea was rejected at the time, but maybe it was for the best because the final product is the franchise's best movie. At this time Freddy was still menacing and scary and not nearly as prone to wisecracks. The deaths were not yet cartoonish and campy. This was no doubt due to Craven's involvement in the creative process. Dream Warriors pretty much ignores the previous outing, Freddy's Revenge, and serves as the true follow-up to the 1984 hit, with the original heroine returning as well. The franchise went downhill after this one- by the next one the audiences actually began cheering for Freddy, probably because they made the protagonists so dull that there was nobody else to get behind. In this one we have characters who are sympathetic and interesting.

My Mad Ramblings
The mental institution setting is brilliant. The Elm street teens are kept on lock down and eventually given a nightly sedation. They are powerless against both their dreams and the charred demon that wreaks havoc upon them. But it turns out that in their dreams they all have special abilities that can help them to overcome their nemesis. Now that's how you make a horror movie, folks. What a ballsy move by Craven to kill off Nancy at the end- at the time it was almost unheard of to kill the main heroine of a horror franchise- nowadays there's usually a different one in each movie. Waiting until the very end to do the deed was another bonus, as at first it appears that Krueger has been vanquished but he re-emerges in a rather creative matter, and STAB. Dream Warriors also introduces Kincaid: "KRUEGER! PUSSAY!" Too bad he didn't make it past the first reel of Part 4.

Back to the Future Part II




A sequel was the furthest thing from Robert Zemeckis' mind when he made Back to the Future. By his own admission, had he intended for a sequel to be made, he "wouldn't have put the girlfriend in the car with them." This created plotting problems in the sequels. Also, the "To Be Continued" at the end of the first movie was added for the VHS and TV versions, and removed from the DVD release.Back to the Future Part II is largely responsible for creating the trend of shooting back-to-back sequels and creating a "retroactive trilogy." The Matrix and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises followed suit (albeit many years later). What's most interesting about this particular sequel is that, although he appears in several scenes, Crispin Glover was not part of the cast. He demanded too much money and was replaced by Jefferey Weissman, whose face was kept concealed so as to not reveal the "secret." The 1955 scenes with Glover as George McFly were scenes from the original superimposed over the 1955 scenes shot for Part II. Glover sued Universal for unauthorized use of his likeness, but the lawsuit was settled out of court. It is unknown how much money Glover received from this settlement.

My Mad Ramblings
A lot of people were disappointed by this one, but I am not one of them. To me this is the better of the two sequels, and my personal favorite of the series. Nothing against Part III, I just felt like it dragged a bit towards the end. What I really love about Part II is not only the fact that we see a satiric version of the future, but it's also the only movie in the series that really shows the consequences of time travel. The nightmarish alternate timeline is what turned some viewers off, but it's what I love most. Marty's dad is dead, his mom's married to Biff, Biff has become one of the richest men in the country, and poor old Marty is stuck in some Swiss Boarding School…oh, yeah, and Doc Brown's in the loony bin… and it was Biff who killed George McFly… and apparently Mr. Strickland became some sort of commando after the high school burned down. "Eat lead, slackers!" – Easily the best line in the movie.

I do have two small complaints, however. First of all, where the hell did Griff come from? Biff had no son or daughter in 1985, and yet he has a teenage grandson thirty years later. Seems like lazy writing to me. They should have made him a nephew who bore a strong resemblance, or something like that. Also, I think the deliberate cliffhanger would have worked better if they hadn't tacked on a trailer for Part III at the end of it. The audience should have been left wondering what would happen in the next movie instead of being shown scenes from it. Other than these minor annoyances, Back to the Future Part II is a strong follow-up to a modern day classic. I know. The term "modern day classic" is a bit of an oxymoron, if not an outright paradox. Wait a minute, a paradox?! Isn't that one of those things that could destroy the universe? Great Scott!

Clerks II




Any movie fan knows how groundbreaking the first Clerks was. Love it or hate it, it made a huge impact on the independent film scene (not nearly as much as Pulp Fiction, but apples to oranges) and put Kevin Smith's name on the map. But let's forget all that crap about how shooting it in black and white was an "artistic decision." He shot it in black and white because it was cheaper. Don't believe me, look it up. I promise you that's what you'll find out. After developing a huge cult following and turning Jay and Silent Bob into cultural icons, why would Kevin Smith revisit Dante and Randal? Was he selling out, as many have asserted? Was he trying to alienate his fans by making a sequel, knowing full well the stigma attached to the mere idea of sequels? Well, according to him, he thought it would be fun to see where the characters would be ten years later.

My Mad Ramblings
I, too, was on the fence about this one until I saw the movie. Plus, since Smith did the Clerks cartoon and included Dante and Randal in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, in retrospect it only seems fitting that he would properly conclude their story by making another movie about them. Is it as sharp, witty, and insightful as the original? Yes, but in a different way. Now in their mid-thirties, Dante and Randal are older, but not much wiser. Randal's indignation has morphed into a sort of self-righteous complacency, and Dante is all too eager to leave life in the slow lane behind him. The only problem is that their respective attitudes are exactly what‘s been holding them back in life, a fact with which they must both come to terms before they can move on. Randal's constant harassment of the sheltered Elias is great, and there is also a hilarious scene that features some insightful commentary on racism. The idea of a newly sober Jay and Silent Bob as born-again Christians who still sling dope and cause mischief is priceless, but I don't think it could work outside of this movie.

Wow, I'm closing in on 3000 words. That makes this my longest column yet! Well, I really can't think of any other sequels that fit the criteria for this issue. I suppose I could come up with some, but I'd be stretching it. So, this seems like a good stopping point for this week. Join me next week for Part 2, where I will discuss some sequels that are just downright terrible. As usual, feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions, comments, or feedback.

Until next time…