To Sequel or Not to Sequel?

With the latest announcement that Stephen King is penning the sequel to The Shinning, the “What If” scenario started up again in my brain.  I began thinking about would be sequels in the realm of cinema and sequels in general that have been a blessing and a curse.  I had this conversation with my brother one night last week.  We talked about some of the best sequels as well as some of the worst, what should never have been made into a sequel and what would make a curious follow-up

First off I am by no means a film expert, just a girl who loves movies and would like nothing more than to pen quite a few successful ones.  Also, as a side note, I play a pretty mean game of Scene It so the next time you are up for a round, be sure to have me on your team.

The Best of the Best

To start off with, it seems like by Hollywood’s standards, you can’t be successful unless you have a sequel.  In some of these cases, Hollywood bet right and the sequel outshines the original.  There is no way I can put it in any kind of order either.  I leave that up to you, there are just too many opinions out there. Great sequels are included in many trilogies Back to the Future, Terminator II, and Indiana Jones.  The movie that seems to always be at the top of everyone’s list in the sequel discussion is The Godfather Part II.  Having only seen Parts I & II once, I can’t really comment.  I whole heartily agree they are great films and Francis Ford Copola masterfully tells the story.  I really put it here only so I don’t wake up to a bloody horse head. 

A sequel I can write about and will have many agree with me would have to be Aliens.  Alien was good.  Aliens was better.  In the hands of James Cameron, the tension is that much more palpable and there seems to be even more at stake with young Newt in tow.  Who can forget Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in that film?  Ripley not only has to battle some of the most terrifying creatures created by Stan Wiston, but she still has to fight the system, this time flesh & blood in Paul Reiser’s Burke, not a crazy milk spewing android.

The Dark Knight, for me, has to be one of the best sequels.  Would the film have received as much interest as it did had Heath Ledger not pass away before it was released? That is open for debate, but it was his performance that made the film.  I remember many conversations where there was much skepticism of Ledger as the Joker…until the first pictures of him were leaked onto the Internet.  With his passing, the momentum grew and after watching his performance, no one questioned what kind of nightmare he had put himself into in order to pull off that character.  The acting is what made the sequel better than Batman Begins and I have a feeling from the talk going on with the third installment, better than The Dark Knight Rises.

Where, might you ask, have I placed The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Star Wars (the original trilogy, not the prequels)?  Personally, I can’t separate these films.  Sagas such as these are one film…with a very long intermission in between.

No Sequel, Please

Hopefully Hollywood has some sense not to make something as horrendous as Titanic II, but then again we do have Transforms 1, 2, & 3 and an order for another Green Lantern.  Some films are great on their own and to try and replicate that or build off of it would only taint what was originally offered to us.  In the literary world, the great Harper Lee wrote only one book, the masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird– also a great film that should never be remade. (Another discussion for a later date.)  Same effect goes for film in such cases in great achievement like Inception.  I’m kind of happy it ended the way it did.  Each individual was able to make his or her own conclusion…sometimes it is nice not to be force-fed an ending.  How about ET?  Can you imagine having ET coming back to Elliot as a grown man who has become cynical of the world and lost all belief in magic and things beyond our temporal Earth?  Seven?  Brad Pitt gets out of jail and commits a newly created eighth deadly sin?  But alas, in some cases the temptation is too great and we are exposed to sheer idiocy.

The Unmentionables

There are those films that producers push for the easy moneymaker that should never have been green lit.  Movies, such as my bother suggested, Weekend at Bernie’s II or Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey both go without saying.  So do films like any sequel to Final Destination…Final implies end, fin, done!  Some sequels have the promise of greatness found in building off of their predecessor, but are epic failures.  Indiana Jones had three great films and then came Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and that went the way of Jaws III and The Hangover II. 

Take for instances Jurassic Park II.  Coming off a highly successful first film—the book as usual was so much better (yet another discussion).  Jurassic Park was a terrific summer blockbuster.  I was obsessed all summer and into my 6^th grade year.  I wished scientists would make an amazing discovery and would recreate dinosaurs.  Alas, Hollywood did in the form of The Lost World: Jurassic Park.  It was a fairly decent film, not better than the first, but enjoyable.  But then it takes a horrible turn to the ridiculous when the dinos hit San Diego. The running joke all summer was my friends and I quoting in fake British accents “Are you there?”   The third installment made things a little better, but here is hopping with the advance in technology and Steven Spielberg can have another crack at it and the future Jurassic Park IV could be spectacular.

What If...

This leads me to the final part of our discussion.  Those great films that leave us just the teensiest bit curious of what would happen if Hollywood decided to make a sequel.  Don’t tell me that you aren’t in the least bit curious to see Mikey, Mouth, Data, Chunk and the rest of the Goonies (original cast please) reunite for another adventure…Goonies never say die!  Or what about the latest Robin Hood reboot with Marion and Robin living out in the forest with King John still needing to be dealt with?  What about the Incredibles?  I’m sure Pixar has something for the superhero family.

I leave it to you.  What are your thoughts about sequels?  Is our culture too sequel happy?  Should we leave well enough along?