Thegun's 50 Worst Sequels Ever Made (#15)

[TalismanRing]

6 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Upon my rewatch, I decided I LIKED the "I don't like sand" scene.  

 

One of the few times Christensen actually nailed the more vulnerable side of Anakin without sounding whiny. Also showed two INCREDIBLY sheltered and dysfunctional people trying to figure out how to court, and failing miserably.  Looked at through the lens that it was supposed to be awkward, I decided I quite enjoyed it.

 

Anakin is supposed to sound like he's reciting lines in a language he doesn't understand?  

 

It's not just this scene it's every scene.  He's dreadful and Lucas doesn't help him as a director or writer.

[Porthos]

1 minute ago, Baumer loves Oogieloves said:

Agreed @Porthos

 

That scene gets so much flak for being awkward and silly, but as you said, Anakin is awkward.  He has no idea what to say to Padme, no idea how to be romantic, no idea how to express what he's feeling so he says something stupid.  This is well written by Lucas because he nails what it's like to be young and inexperienced and in love.  You never come across as a Romeo, you end up doing exactly what Anakin does in that scene.  

 

What sealed it for me being intentional is that Padme is just as awkward and sheltered as Anakin, just in a different way.  She may have a cool and collected exterior, by deign of being a politcian all her life. But when it comes to actual personal stuff?  Well, she was never allowed to be a kid/teenager where she could work out that sort of thing.  So she isn't able to handle the creepo stalker 'person she has feelings toward that she doesn't want to admit to herself' as well as she'd like.

 

But, as said, probably not the thread for me to go into this in detail.

[Porthos]

7 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

 

 

The problem is the scene comes off as them trying to act well and actually romantic but ending up stiff, unnatural, and forced rather than coming off as a deliberate design of awkwardness.

 

So, I disagree on that score.

 

5 minutes ago, TalismanRing said:

 

Anakin is supposed to sound like he's reciting lines in a language he doesn't understand?  

 

It's not just this scene it's every scene.  He's dreadful and Lucas doesn't help him as a director or writer.

 

*shrug*

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge fan of Christensen's acting.  It's a bit too uneven for my tastes (at times, such as when he's paired with McGregor, it's excellent; other times, more than a bit forced [he said to be polite]).  But it's certainly not a death sentence for my enjoyment of the films.

 

Could the performance been much better?  Sure.  But it's not bad enough to sink the film, IMO.

Edited August 27, 2016 by Porthos

[baumer]

7 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

 

 

The problem is the scene comes off as them trying to act well and actually romantic but ending up stiff, unnatural, and forced rather than coming off as a deliberate design of awkwardness.

 

So, I disagree on that score.

 

But that's why it works so well.  He is unnatural and forced.  He literally has no idea how to be or what to say.  He's always in control as a JEDI, but has not idea what to say or do when it comes to expressing how he feels.

[baumer]

Anyway, enough about Clones....at least for me.  

[Gopher]

Love this idea. This list can be subjective on interpretation alone. I would feel compelled to rank a disappointing sequel to a great movie over a terrible sequel to a whatever film (like I'm sure Godfather 3 is 'better' than a lot of stuff that won't make this list but it sure won't feel better). There's a lot to unpack with what a sequel means to someone. 

[DAR]

I certainly don't want to jump thegun, but a few of my picks

 

Hangover 2

Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions

Amazing Spider-Man 2

Caddyshack 2(a film whose very existence I question)

[The Stingray]

Jason Takes Manhattan is bad, but I would argue Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X are even worse.

 

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare and Halloween 8: Trick or Treat, Motherfucker! are some other horror movies worthy of being on the list.
 

[junkshop36]

1 hour ago, DAR said:

I certainly don't want to jump thegun, but a few of my picks

 

Hangover 2

Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions

Amazing Spider-Man 2

Caddyshack 2(a film whose very existence I question)

 

Hangover 2 was ok for me

 

Agree about the two Matrix sequels

 

TASM 2 was mediocre 

 

Caddyshack 2 is an abomination of cinema!! Horrible, horrible movie 

Edited August 27, 2016 by junkshop36

[Thegun]

No one has said a film that at least hasn't been considered yet.  That's awesome!  Though I think 50 was too small.  I think there about 75 or so that are pretty atrocious depending on the criteria.

[Thegun]

46. Return to Oz (1985)

 

Boy this is a turd, that most regular people tend to forget even exists.  The original is in many cases the standard for what is a classic, and how to make a fantasy film.  This film is just plain ugly from start to finish, and even traumatized the few children (including myself) that were unfortunate enough to watch it.  I watched it recently in 2015 to go back and see maybe I missed an underrated film in the vein of Legend or The Neverending Story and you know what it does indeed have "I can't believe this was even fucking considered" kind of luster to it.  But this is a major drop in quality in almost every capacity. Disney and Company should have known better.  An awful experiment with effects that hold up worse than a far superior film released nearly 45 years earlier.  Perhaps that is the film's biggest fault.  Cinema had just frankly changed too much from the late 30s to the mid 80s. Even the acting of the heroes of the film is questionable at best.  You can't even consider it a sequel really, but I think it does deserve to eek on here. One film is the considered an achievement for all of cinema.  The sequel like it or not, is simply a trivia answer. But what do you expect when you cast the creepy girl from the Craft and the Waterboy as the new Dorothy.

 

 

 

[Thegun]

45. The Fly II (1989)

 

This is a film that almost never made my list, but it just kept moving down and down.  It actually does a fairly decent job as an unnecessary sequel.  And to its credit it is quite gory and often times has some suspenseful moments. It simply cannot help the fact the highly superior film that came before it. It has some really awful acting, and holy shit some hilariously bad sequences.  But there are a few good moments that any horror fan might enjoy. This is a simple monster movie, with some great effects. But unfortunately has all the baggage that goes with such a film. Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis were future superstars that only helped the original.  Cronenberg becomes a legend with that film. Gone is the subtle drama and the many horrific moments came just from the performances of the original. It was as heartbreaking as it was scary.  I believe this would be the last film on this list that might get any faint praise from me, well because this should have been a truly awful film.   Instead it's inferior and just bad overall.

 

 

 

[Fancyarcher]

I actually think Return to Oz is a pretty solid sequel. It's certainly different from the original, and really can't hold a candle to it, but I think there's a lot to like about. The effects are actually great for the time, and most of the models and Matt-paintings still pretty good to this day even, it's got a great score, Fairuza Balk gives a pretty impressive performance for a ten year old (this was one of her first roles after all), and the nome king is a pretty swell villain as well. It's dark and probably too overly dark, but I actually like it when children's films try to be a little more disturbing then usual (it was actually quite common in the 80's too). It's not a great movie, and it suffers from some inconsistencies, but I wouldn't call it bad either.

 

Also while Return to Oz does act like a sequel to the original. It seems to be trying more to be faithful to the original Frank L. Baum novels, although it probably went overly dark even compared to those.

Edited August 27, 2016 by Daniel Dylan Davis

[Dementeleus]

RETURN TO OZ is pretty great. I might like it more than the original. I also think MATRIX: RELOADED is one of the best sequels in the last 20 years (admittedly with an incomplete conclusion that was bungled in REVOLUTIONS).

 

But JURASSIC WORLD is gonna make the list, right?

Right?

[Fancyarcher]

11 minutes ago, NuTella Lover of Sky Beams said:

RETURN TO OZ is pretty great. I might like it more than the original. I also think MATRIX: RELOADED is one of the best sequels in the last 20 years (admittedly with an incomplete conclusion that was bungled in REVOLUTIONS).

 

But JURASSIC WORLD is gonna make the list, right?

Right?

 

Probably not, but your solid sequel favorite TLW might show up on this list instead. If your lucky both it and JW might show-up. 

Edited August 27, 2016 by Daniel Dylan Davis

[Thegun]

44. Rambo III (1988)

 

This was the most expensive film of all time when released?  It was in the Guinness Book of World Records of all time as the most violent film of all time.  It's a Rambo movie starring Sylvester Stallone.  I should love this film.  Then why is it so bad? This is a poorly written film, with uninspired action scenes. And it is even more hilarious as the years have gone by.  It doesn't help matters that Hot Shots Part Deux parodies this film perfectly.  Even Stallone betrays his character he defined by having him and others have to spit out really bad one liners. Oh and nothing says hate my movie like "Add a helpless stupid boy subplot" This was Stallone's first brush with making really bad movies that seemed to be an endless period. What's even crazier is how much First Blood and First Blood Part II hold up.  And 2008's Rambo is just off the wall with it's violence.  Rambo III goes the super safe route, delivers nothing dramatic, and seeing things blow up and blood spurt from people is surprisingly boring if there is nothing good going on. A film that unfortunately gets used in sentences like "Hey it's not Stop or My Mom or will Shoot bad."  Oh and if you ever wanted to see a 20 minute Buzkashi sequence and an unlicensed stick fighting tournament, this is your film.

 

Best scene: Rambo attaches Glow sticks to his arrows.  Looks cool visually, but wouldn't that give away his position in a dark cave?

 

 

[Ethan Hunt]

23 minutes ago, Daniel Dylan Davis said:

 

Probably not, but your solid sequel favorite TLW might show up on this list instead. If your lucky both it and JW might show-up. 

Why would TLW show up. Its better than JP

[Porthos]

33 minutes ago, NuTella Lover of Sky Beams said:

RETURN TO OZ is pretty great. I might like it more than the original. I also think MATRIX: RELOADED is one of the best sequels in the last 20 years (admittedly with an incomplete conclusion that was bungled in REVOLUTIONS).

 

But JURASSIC WORLD is gonna make the list, right?

Right?

 

People thought I was annoyed when AotC made the list?  Well, gonna be grumpy if Reloaded does. Save one VERY unnecessary dive party scene, that was a GREAT film.  Still, not my list and I really appreciate @Thegun for going through the trouble of doing this.  At the very least it's driving a lot of conversation.

[Fancyarcher]

6 minutes ago, Ethan Hunt said:

Why would TLW show up. Its better than JP

 

I enjoy it myself, but it's a fairly disliked sequel, so it wouldn't surprise me if it showed-up on here. 

[CaptainJackSparrow]

TLW is one of my favorites, hoping it doesn't make it on here.