Sequels that improved on the original

[EnzoHonda]

The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2). I actually like the first one more, but the second is generally considered the best of the series. "Push me, shove you! Oh yeah, says who?"

acually road warrior was first and mad max beyond the thunderdome was second (mad max was terrible)

As a recovering Mad Max addict, I'll have to correct you.

The series started with Mad Max. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079501/
Then came Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior in North America) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082694/
Then came Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089530/

They screwed around with the titles for different regions, so it can get confusing.

Yes, Beyond Thunderdome is crap. It makes The Godfather Part III look like a fantastic piece of film-making genius. The original movie, while having lots of cheese and low-buget issues, still amazes me. It's the type of movie I'd love to make. Cars and violence.

 

[Rath709]

Aliens, Terminator 2, and Godfather 2 are all ones previously mentioned that I agree with.

I don't know if it's fair to say Wrath Of Khan was a "better" film than the preceding "The Motion Picture", as they are totally different kinds of films. I know Star Trek 1 is often thought of as one of the weaker in the series, but on repeat viewings it actually becomes clear that it's a very cerebral and questioning piece about the meaning and nature of existence and life itself, while Wrath Of Khan is a militaristic piece fuelled by character study.

Dark Knight wasn't a patch on Begins. I have never known such an unjustifiably over-hyped film. Meanwhile, Batman Returns was better than the first Tim Burton Batman film.

 

[Captain Wes]

The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2). I actually like the first one more, but the second is generally considered the best of the series. "Push me, shove you! Oh yeah, says who?"

acually road warrior was first and mad max beyond the thunderdome was second (mad max was terrible)

As a recovering Mad Max addict, I'll have to correct you.

The series started with Mad Max. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079501/
Then came Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior in North America) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082694/
Then came Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089530/

They screwed around with the titles for different regions, so it can get confusing.

Yes, Beyond Thunderdome is crap. It makes The Godfather Part III look like a fantastic piece of film-making genius. The original movie, while having lots of cheese and low-buget issues, still amazes me. It's the type of movie I'd love to make. Cars and violence.

guess I fucked up, sorry

 

[OuroborosChoked]

Don't forget about The Dark Knight- vast improvement on Batman Begins (even though it didn't have Liam Neeson in it......Oh well.....)

I'll disagree with that. I loved Batman Begins, most of my love for The Dark Knight was solely based on hype. The second time I saw it I was much less enthused by it.

I suppose I'll respect your argument, Shivari. Probably the main reason I liked The Dark Knight better than its predecessor was that it had a more complex plot and more black humor than Batman Begins.

Hype was a large part, I agree.......But I still loved it the second time I saw it......

The second time I just couldn't get over how illogical the plot was. Hell, even the first time everyone I went with was like "Yeah, one of those boats would've been in flames in seconds if it were real." And the Joker's whole plan to get into jail but then escape as Batman went to save Harvey and the girl who he had no chemistry with? That's way too convoluted for my tastes and would never work. Basically, without Heath Ledger that movie would've been average.

I'd put this in spoilers or something, but it's like talking about the ending to the 7th Harry Potter book at this point. Everyone read it already. Ahh, the good old times of reading that book in less than two days.

Ah ha! A way to justify my digression! The sequels to the first Harry Potter were much better.

Yeah, the plot had more holes than Metal Gear Solid's, but the acting was stunning. Heath Ledger's Joker was incredible. Michael Caine stole every scene he was in. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Aaron Eckhart were good in their roles, too. Granted, Christian Bale basically pulled a Keanu Reeves...

 

[Mister Benoit]

Ghost Busters 2 is pretty awesome, I'd say it's on par with the first one anyways.

I like Kingdom Hearts: Chain of memories better than both KH1 and KH2.

Evil Dead 2 for sure, but the first one is a really good horror movie.

Cant believe I forgot this:

Pokemon Gold and Silver, they went so way up and beyond Pokemon R/B/Y it was awesome. I mean common you had morning, day and night, it followed the 7 days of the week and you collected all 16 badges and could go back to the Kanto, it was great.

Regarding The Dark Knight, I enjoyed it the first time around but after I re watched it, everything felt way over acted. Everyone always had a damn long monologue trying to show how intense they were before they did anything, it was a good movie but meh, shouldn't have watched it again. One good thing that came out of The Dark Knight though was that they got rid of Katie Holmes.

 

[Anarchemitis]

Lord of the Rings. Or was it the fact that they were all awesome?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

basically the middle part of every trilogy.

Except for the matrix

And Alien

Thats not a trilogy.

Hey, you changed your picture.

Well...Hitchhikers then. That's a trilogy

And yeah...I thought the reaching glove was better.

 

[Lord Krunk]

Pokemon Gold and Silver, they went so way up and beyond Pokemon R/B/Y it was awesome. I mean common you had morning, day and night, it followed the 7 days of the week and you collected all 16 badges and could go back to the Kanto, it was great.

I agree. Too bad they didn't do that with its sequels.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

And as for Highlander...well...stop at the first one already.

 

[maxusy3k]

Batman Returns, yo.

 

[NeedAUserName]

Ocean's 13 was actually pretty good

You could argue it was a prequel, and that Oceans 12 was the sequel (and awful)

How? I may have missed something huge, but 13 happens after all the stuff from 12, which is why you have Toulour (that is exceedingly incorrect spelling) and the mention of Isabelle and all that...

edit: And I agree, Ocean's 12 was shit. Also, Vanguard1219, I acknowledge your skill. Also well played.

Oceans 12 was the sequel to Oceans 11

 

[N.K]

The Dark Knight is an obvious choice, but then again they had gotten the origin story (which was done well in Batman Begins) out of the way which made more room for Batmania. It also had a better villain, though I wish there would have been more Two-Face screentime, I'm almost sure I think Aaron Eckhart did better as Harvey Dent/Two-Face than Heath Ledger did as the Joker.

I think Star Wars: The Empire strikes back improved on Star Wars. TESP explained the Force, the Rebellion, the Empire, Darth Vader, the Emperor and pretty much all of the Star Wars universe much more then the original. It helped me understand the first movie and the Star Wars universe much better.

Agreed, The Empire Strikes Back is definetly my favourite Star Wars film.

 

[IndieRocker]

What about books? I think most of Terry Pratchett's later work in the Discworld series is far better than his earliest stuff. In my opinion the series doesn't really start to pick up until Equal Rites. (Then again, Granny Weatherwax is one of my favorite characters by far.)

One good way to measure who is a genuinely creative person and who is a hack is that a creative person's work continually improves as they stretch themselves into new areas of increasingly difficult endeavor. A hack may tell a good story once or twice but the well of their ability dries up very quickly and they are left endlessly parroting themselves. Of course, there are many, many mixtures between these extremes. Art of any kind is a demanding discipline and it's so very easy to let yourself slip when other things intrude.

What about Spiderman 2? I also thought the second Fantastic Four movie was better than the first, but since neither were especially good that wasn't so difficult.

Apart from the fantastic 4 bit I totally agree, 'Witches Abroad' is by favourite Pratchett book and thats like the tenth one

 

[IndieRocker]

Don't forget about The Dark Knight- vast improvement on Batman Begins (even though it didn't have Liam Neeson in it......Oh well.....)

I'll disagree with that. I loved Batman Begins, most of my love for The Dark Knight was solely based on hype. The second time I saw it I was much less enthused by it.

I suppose I'll respect your argument, Shivari. Probably the main reason I liked The Dark Knight better than its predecessor was that it had a more complex plot and more black humor than Batman Begins.

Hype was a large part, I agree.......But I still loved it the second time I saw it......

The second time I just couldn't get over how illogical the plot was. Hell, even the first time everyone I went with was like "Yeah, one of those boats would've been in flames in seconds if it were real." And the Joker's whole plan to get into jail but then escape as Batman went to save Harvey and the girl who he had no chemistry with? That's way too convoluted for my tastes and would never work. Basically, without Heath Ledger that movie would've been average.

I'd put this in spoilers or something, but it's like talking about the ending to the 7th Harry Potter book at this point. Everyone read it already. Ahh, the good old times of reading that book in less than two days.

Ah ha! A way to justify my digression! The sequels to the first Harry Potter were much better.

Yeah, the plot had more holes than Metal Gear Solid's, but the acting was stunning. Heath Ledger's Joker was incredible. Michael Caine stole every scene he was in. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Aaron Eckhart were good in their roles, too. Granted, Christian Bale basically pulled a Keanu Reeves...

Is Christian Bale suppost to speak woerdly as batman p.s The Dark Knight is better than batman begins because it is more realistic.

 

[Jharry5]

Godfather Part 2,
Aliens,
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,
Terminator 2 (the third was just awful though),
and of course The Dark Knight!

 

[Phillosophic]

Police story 2 & Kill Bill Vol 2?