The Five Worst Sequels Ever!!!
5. Rocky V
Ok, I put this one at 5 only because the numbers matched up (Rocky 5…5th place). Lets be honest, this piece could easily be number 1. It’s terrible. Personally, up until then, I think the series kept getting better and better. He loses, he wins, he defends, he fights some gigantic international guy…then he gets brain damage? What happened mate?
But there is a bright spot…Rocky 6 cannot be any worse. (unless he decides to fight Martians but I think that’s an improvement)
4. The Matrix Revolutions
I love the original Matrix and unlike most everyone else apparently, I thought the second one was pretty good too. Sure, the dance scene was weird and sometimes I just got annoyed that Neo would fight for 15 minutes only to fly away when he could have saved the trouble. But the F/X scenes were INCREDIBLE and I thought the story continued decently from the first one.
However, the third one was just so bad it was a sin. Not only do the good guys die, but the movie focuses more on people we never heard about then the principal characters. I still think the Wachowski brothers are teetering on the edge between brilliant (matrix, V for Vendetta) and insane (Matrix Revolutions) but this was definitely the low point of their careers.
3. Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
The (original) Star Wars series included some of the best movies in history. It redefined the way movies were made by combing stunning special effects with a classic good versus evil story all told against a lavishly rich metaphorical background.
Yet when George Lucas decided to release the prequels, he fell into a trap. He went ahead and invested all his time in the f/x portion of the movie at the expense of the deep story. Further, he sold the soul of the series to toy makers with his ridiculous and annoying Jar Jar Binks. Gone were the poignant moments and complex character development and in its place was a predictable and clich�©d movie that would have gone down in flames if it had not been preceded by the Star Wars name.
2. Exorcist II
The Exorcist to me is one of the all time classic movies. It may be slightly aged today but it was the movie that spawned every famous demon possession movie of the modern age. Not only that, it represents one of the few movies in Hollywood that is based on a true story AND follows Biblical scripture fairly accurately. Finally, their are scenes from that movie that will remain in American culture for generations to come (does anyone really remember what the girl looked like at the beginning? All we remember is her horribly disgusting face spinning in circles).
However, if the original is the work of the devil, the sequel is the work of some emo punk. It takes the first movie and tries to copy its success but fails miserably…it takes out what made the first movie so brilliant and leaves in what might have detracted from the first one. Essentially, this movie represents a “how to” for anyone looking to screw up a sequel.
1. Dumb and Dumberer
I don’t have to say anything about this. The title says it all. But its number 1 for a reason. Dumb and Dumber is not a great movie in the classical sense. It will never win academy awards and it will never be put on display as “quality cinema.”
On the other hand, is there anyone in American that doesn’t like the original? I mean, even my parents (who hate fart jokes) thought the first one was hilarious. And to cash in on this, the filmmakers hired two impersonators to try to hoodwink the American public into forking over there kids milk money for a chance to catch that “lightening in a bottle” feeling once again.
Well, they failed and I hope this serves every director and producer in Hollywood a lesson. Movie magic isn’t cheap and cannot be bought for a $7 ticket. Movie magic comes along once in a life time and when it does, it should not be bastardized simply to pad bank accounts. If and when Hollywood learns this lesson, films will once again regain there hold on the public’s imagination.
