Impressive, Unnecessary, & Disappointing sequels
There are some movies that you love so much, that when it finally ends, you feel a bit upset. I get this feeling a lot. But when I hear that a sequel is in the works sometimes I get excited, but the problem is will the sequel deliver? Will it be as good as the original? Sequels usually leave you with one of these thoughts, “Damn, that was awesome!” or “Geez, that wasn’t great” or “Was that movie really necessary?” Sequels will always be made as they are guaranteed to make money, even though most sequels aren’t great, fans will still watch the movie hoping for something spectacular. In this blog post I will discuss the three different types of sequels you will probably have encountered.
Disappointing sequels
Picture this, you finish watching a movie you really enjoy, you wait for the pre announced sequel to release which you have high expectations for. You know it may not be as good as the first movie but you hope that at least it’s an enjoyable movie. Remembering all the good parts from the previous movie, you finally watch the highly anticipated sequel, the one you have patiently been waiting a year or more for, but it doesn’t meet expectations and leaves you feeling unsatisfied. Yep, that feeling sucks! These are disappointing sequels; they are not as good as the first movie but not too bad that you regret seeing the film. They will receive decent ratings however they don’t meet your expectations and are just average at best but still tolerable to watch. If the difference in quality between the disappointing sequel and the original movie is a lot, it makes it difficult to watch the sequel as you will just be remembering how excellent the first movie was. An example of a disappointing sequel is Spiderman 3 for me it wasn’t awful, but was nowhere near as good as the two previous movies.
Unnecessary sequels
The first movie is released; it’s good and does well at the box office. A few years later, out of the blues a sequel is announced, as creating a sequel to an existing movie is easier than creating an original movie. Fans will definitely go to see it as they loved the first movie so much, so it’s guaranteed to be a box-office hit. Therefore the movie gets huge hype, releases a good-looking trailer containing all the good parts from the movie and compels you to watch it. The fans see it and it’s just a waste of time, it would have been better if the movie wasn’t even created. The movie snatches our money and we are left with a bad taste in our mouths. These are unnecessary sequels they are sometimes released years after the original and are only made to make more money or because the actors aren’t currently filming anything so they decide to create a sequel. Unnecessary sequels are annoying as they are so bad that they tarnish the excellence of the original movie. They typically try too hard to be as good or as funny as the first movie but it fails and basically ends up as being a parody of its own original movie. An example of an unnecessary sequel is Dumb and Dumber Too it was unfunny, attempted to repeat jokes from the first movie and was just plain awful.
Impressive sequels
Not all sequels are bad, some sequels surprise you and turn out to be better than the original movie, which is not easy to accomplish. For a sequel to be good it mustn’t be rushed and requires a well-written script, be able to move the story forward, a slightly different plot from the first movie and should try to avoid replicating cool scenes or dialogue from the original film. A bigger budget and cast are not necessary to create a great sequel. A sequel doesn’t have to be better than the first film to be good, it just has to meet expectations and if it does this successfully you have a great sequel. Impressive sequels are rare but are a treat to watch they move the story to another level; they add more character depth and overall are entertaining to watch. Having a great sequel opens the door to create a third movie which people are actually willing to watch rather than feeling forced to watch it as they have already seen the previous movies. An example of an impressive sequel is 22 Jump Street it surpassed my expectations, I found it funnier than the first movie and more entertaining.
Most sequels rarely meet expectations, but why do we still watch them? Probably because we loved the first movie so much we are willing to pay and sit through an unbearable, money making sequel to see the beloved characters from the first movie. I enjoyed the movie Zoolander and I’m still excited to watch the sequel regardless of the many negative reviews. I probably won’t enjoy it as much as the first film, but I feel like I still have to watch it.
Since this is a blog post about sequels, look out for the sequels to this blog post where I will be listing movies which had sequels better than the original and movies with disappointing & unnecessary sequels.
