A good sequel picks up where the previous film left off, continuing the story and expanding the world.
So, a happy moment becomes a sad one.
A character youve rooted for is chucked away.
That sort of thing.
Fortunately, its a rare phenomena that were talking about.
Certainly the presentation of the film had an authenticity to it, that made it all feel real.
The problem was, nobody told the team behind the dreadful sequel.
Blair Witch 2: Book Of Shadowspresents the first film as a fake.
A fake that has put the town of Burkittsville on the map.
Its a bold approach certainly, but it also never works.
And so when things start going wrong, this is but one reason why you dont really care.
Much has been written on the muddled mess thatAlien 3became.
The result is a fascinating mess, but a mess nonetheless.
Both characters two brilliantly rounded characters, remember were simply knocked off in their sleep.
Not so: Hicks death was confirmed on a computer screen.
It makes rewatches ofAliensno less brilliant, certainly, but that last act just a little futile, narrative-wise.
Alien 3, for all its problems, at least built tosomething.
She died, so that we may live.
Her story had come to a natural end.
A few board meetings later, and it was all change.
There are certainly merits toAlien: Resurrection, of course.
Compared to theAlien Vs Predatorfilms that followed, its close to a masterpiece.
The original movie had seen the end of The Immortals, had seen Connor MacLeod become mortal.
As we were told lots and lots and lots of times, there can be only one.
And by the end ofHighlander, that had been made perfectly clear.
To everyone but those involved withHighlander II, anyway.
Because there couldnt always be one now.
In fact, there were two.
It nearly manages it, too.
It was uplifting cinema, with some of the most sage movie dialogue you could want to hear.
And yetRocky V, in its opening scenes, took away some of that victory.
ButRocky Vfollowed battles with Clubber Lang, Hulk Hogan and Ivan Drago.
It seemed a bit weird to get a fit of normality and real life consequence at this stage.
Thats a bit more like it.
Muppets Most Wanted
This is only a mild one, but its still worth noting.
It was the ending that the Muppets deserve.
Shes not entirely unscathed by her ordeal, but shes alive.
But in the original UK cut?
Sarah never made it out of the caves.
That ending the better ending!
is totally negated by the existence of the daft sequel.
[Sarah Dobbs]
Also:TheresHalloween: Resurrection, which undermined the generally funHalloween: H20.
Ignored for the purposes of this article:Crank 2.
