Lets get one thing straight – The Godfather is not the greatest movie ever made, nor is The Godfather II the greatest sequel ever made. A lot of film buffs will disagree with me but sorry it’s true. I just wanted to get that out of the way first.
People say that sequels are never as good as the first movie but that’s not what this article is about. But it just so happens that the sequels below in my list actually are superior to the original….so those people are wrong. This does not take anything away from the original films because they are also classics in their own right.
The Front-Runners:
For me the title of the best sequel ever made is between 3 movies: Aliens, Terminator 2 and The Dark Knight.
Aliens (1986)
When Ridley Scott’s Alien came out in 1979 it changed Sci-Fi movies forever. It was an instant classic and was loved by so many. So when a young, inexperienced James Cameron was given the job of writing and directing it’s sequel, what could he do that would make it different from the original. Easy – he made it bigger, louder and more exciting, the complete opposite of the first one. Alien is like a slow burning horror movie whereas Aliens is an all-out action movie with marines, pulse-rifles, face-huggers, loads of Aliens and a huge pissed off Queen. What else could you ask for in a movie?
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
I’m not sure what it is about Terminator 2 but it fills me with nostalgia. Every time I watch it or see certain scenes it brings back so many good memories. Maybe it’s because when I was younger me and a close friend would watch it several times a year at sleepovers at his house. In fact we have made a pact to go see Terminator Genisys (the 5th Terminator film) together in the cinema in July in the hope that they can resurrect a dead franchise. I grew up watching these types of movies and I couldn’t be more grateful. Terminator 2 is easily in my Top 5 movies of all time. This is another movie that James Cameron was at the helm of. He again had the burdensome task of making a sequel to a Sci-Fi classic, but this time that classic was his own creation. He did what he did with Aliens – made it bigger, louder, more exciting…..and better. James Cameron must surely be the king of sequels – can’t wait to see what he does with Avatar 2!
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Dark Knight is the follow up to 2005’s Batman Begins. For me Batman Begins is the 2nd best of Nolan’s epic trilogy and is very underrated in a market now saturated with mediocre comic book film’s. But the sequel is even better. I remember going to see The Dark Knight in the cinema. The guys working there were dressed as The Joker, make-up and all – it was a cool touch. It was one of the very few times I have came out of the cinema so excited about what I had just witnessed. I had to go see it again to make sure I wasn’t dreaming and that it was really that good….and it was! It isn’t really your typical comic book movie, it’s more like an epic crime drama in the same vein as Michael Mann’s Heat (1995), except Batman is Al Pacino and The Joker is Robert De Niro. The Dark Knight also gave us one of the greatest movie villains of all time in Heath Ledger’s Oscar winning performance as The Joker. For me this is the best comic book movie ever made and even with Marvel and DC Comics’ 5 year plans to release like a 100 more movies, I don’t think it will ever be surpassed. (It’s the best super hero movie but not my favorite, that title belongs to M Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable (2000))
And the winner is….
I can’t choose which one of these films is the greatest sequel ever made. I always say choosing your favorite film is like choosing your favorite child. I don’t actually have any children but I imagine it would be hard to choose. Lets just say it’s between these 3 and leave it at that!
If you have any suggestions for the best sequel ever made please don’t be afraid to add it into the comments section at the bottom of the page.
People are probably reading this wondering where classics such as Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade and LOTR Return of the King are. They were not considered for this list because they are not actually sequels – they are what we call threequels. A threequel is defined as the third film in a series; a second sequel if you will. Maybe i’ll do a ‘Best Threequel Ever Made’ article in the future.
I will leave you with this interesting discussion scene from Scream 2 (1997). But remember what I said in the first paragraph of this article!
Movies & More 