Some sequels work, others kill the franchise. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at five risk-taking sequels that worked… and five others that delivered a fatal dose of franchise fatigue.
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00:00 "Sometimes to love someone, you gotta be a stranger."
00:06 Welcome to MissMojo, and today we're looking at 5 risk-taking sequels that worked,
00:11 and 5 others that delivered a fatal ghost of franchise fatigue.
00:15 "Enough monkey business. We've got work to do."
00:20 Number 5. Killed the franchise, Alien 3
00:25 "What's this 85 thing?"
00:29 "A couple of us sneaked a look at his personnel file the day he arrived. It's his IQ."
00:33 Aliens did everything a sequel should, not only expanding upon the world,
00:38 but also expanding upon the characters. Newcomers like Bishop,
00:41 Hicks, and Newt added deeper layers to protagonist Ellen Ripley.
00:45 "Newt? I like that. I'm Ripley. It's nice to meet you."
00:52 We were eager to see how Ripley's dynamics with her companions would be broadened in Alien 3.
00:57 Alas, David Fincher's directorial debut commits a cardinal sequel sin,
01:03 undoing the previous film's happy ending only a few minutes in.
01:06 To get past this enormous hurdle, the rest of Alien 3 would have to be exceptional.
01:12 Unfortunately, the studio's interference and script issues are on full display
01:16 in an all-round unpleasant sequel, doing Ripley dirty from start to finish.
01:21 "Attracted."
01:22 "In what way?"
01:25 "In that way."
01:30 Hollywood keeps trying to resurrect the franchise,
01:32 but any goodwill died with the characters we loved.
01:36 5. Worked - Before Sunset
01:39 "You can never replace anyone. What is lost is lost."
01:43 Before Sunrise ends with Jesse and Celine parting ways,
01:47 leaving us to wonder if they'll reunite in six months as planned.
01:50 It was a perfectly open-ended conclusion that seemingly didn't need to continue,
01:54 until we saw Before Sunset. Instead of six months,
01:57 Jesse and Celine reconnect almost a decade later. They pick up where they left off as if no time
02:02 passed. "Well, your book has been published. That's a pretty big deal, and you've been
02:06 all around Europe with it. Are you enjoying every minute of it?" "Not really." "Not really?"
02:12 Of course, time has passed, with both taking on new commitments since they last met.
02:17 Nevertheless, the two remain drawn to each other, unwilling to let go this time.
02:21 "Baby, you are gonna miss that plane." "I know."
02:27 Their natural chemistry, coupled with Richard Linklater's fly-on-a-wall direction,
02:33 preserves the spirit of the 1995 film while taking these characters to more mature places.
02:39 It was a relationship worth further exploring in Before Midnight.
02:43 4. Killed the Franchise - Terminator Genisys
02:47 After Rise of the Machines set us up for the disappointment of Salvation,
02:51 Genisys tried winning fans back by revisiting the franchise's roots.
02:55 "His name is John Connor, and he changed everything."
03:00 Resetting the timeline was a risky move, but it worked in X-Men. It could have worked here, too,
03:08 especially with Arnold Schwarzenegger back. Despite Arnold's best efforts,
03:12 the T-800 appears rusty in a sequel that suffers from miscasting,
03:16 a PG-13 rating, and baffling character choices.
03:20 "It is nice to meet you. Are you kidding me?"
03:25 "I've been trying to teach him to blend in. I know it needs work."
03:31 The film constantly bates us with empty nostalgia while dumping on everything the series stands for.
03:37 What was supposed to commence a new trilogy was instead lowered into a vat of molten steel,
03:42 this time with a thumbs-down. While it wasn't the last Terminator movie,
03:47 it was the point when everyone said, "I'm done with you now."
03:50 "It was over. Skynet was gone. And now one road has become many."
03:57 4. Worked - Top Gun Maverick
04:01 "Today we'll start with what you only think you know.
04:04 You show me what you're made of."
04:08 Top Gun is a definitive '80s movie. That said, parts of the 1986 original are a product of the
04:15 time, which can range from enjoyably corny to borderline comedic. Few were clamoring for a
04:21 sequel over 30 years later, and with the pandemic alienating theatergoers, streamers were circling
04:26 like vultures. Tom Cruise remained adamant that Maverick needed to be witnessed on the big screen.
04:32 He couldn't have been more right, and not just because Maverick made over $1 billion.
04:36 "Working as a team, you have to shoot me down or else."
04:40 "Or else what, sir?"
04:41 "Or else I shoot back."
04:43 Beyond the immersive aerial sequences, this sequel's meaningful themes of redemption,
04:48 passing the torch, and starting anew added to the communal experience of watching a movie in
04:53 the theater. What could have been a pointless throwback instead looked to the past, present,
04:58 and future in unexpected ways.
05:00 "I'll change my mind, your love is fine. Goodness gracious, great balls of iron. Kiss me, baby."
05:11 3. Killed the Franchise - Superman IV The Quest for Peace
05:16 Superman IV is a sequel so infamous that the name alone makes people cringe, whether they've seen
05:21 the film or not. But hey, what do you expect from a superhero movie that came out in 1987?
05:27 Are you kidding us?
05:28 "Superman, the subject of our newest exhibit, has graciously donated a strand of his hair
05:33 to the museum, so we can all have the fun of seeing how strong he really is."
05:37 How did we go from the triumph of Richard Donner's original classic to this in less than a decade?
05:43 Granted, The Quest for Peace had a smaller budget than the first three films, but that's no excuse
05:48 for poor storytelling. The emotional gravitas of being Superman is gone, now solely relying on camp.
05:54 "Oh, here, here."
05:55 "No, sir, fireball, see, fireball!"
05:58 "What? Uh, no pain, no gain?"
06:01 The goofier tone is only made more awkward due to the serious subject matter
06:05 concerning nuclear war. Although Superman lived on in time, Christopher Reeve deserved a proper
06:12 final flight.
06:13 "As it always was, on the brink, with good fighting evil. See you in 20."
06:17 3. Worked - Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan
06:25 "There's a man out there I haven't seen in 15 years. He was trying to kill me."
06:29 After three seasons on TV, the USS Enterprise crew continued their adventures on the silver
06:35 screen. While Robert Wise brought a cinematic touch to Star Trek The Motion Picture, the film
06:40 felt more like Stanley Kubrick than Gene Roddenberry. Wrath of Khan was the Star Trek movie
06:46 fans had been waiting for, putting the focus back on the characters with the return of Captain Kirk's
06:51 most formidable adversary.
06:53 "I deprive your ship of power, and when I swing around, I mean to deprive you of your life.
06:58 But I wanted you to know first who it was who had beaten you."
07:05 Despite costing less than half of the first film, this sequel maintains the same visual quality,
07:10 even featuring some then-revolutionary CG effects. It's the film's themes of aging and death that
07:16 leave a lasting impression, though.
07:18 "I told them her death takes place in the shadow of new life. She's not really dead if we find a
07:23 way to remember her."
07:24 "What is that?"
07:26 "Star Trek II."
07:27 "Wrath of Khan!"
07:28 It's still the gold standard for Star Trek, and a textbook definition of a sequel that improves
07:34 upon its predecessor.
07:35 Number 2. Killed the franchise - Batman and Robin
07:39 Are we the only one who thinks Joel Schumacher's Batman movies should have switched titles?
07:44 "How are we supposed to work together if you won't trust me?"
07:46 "How indeed."
07:51 His initial outing should have been called "Batman and Robin" because that's when the
07:57 dynamic duo first teamed up. His second film should have been called "Batman Forever"
08:01 for hilarious irony. Batman is forever, but his face-off against Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy
08:07 killed this incarnation of the franchise.
08:10 "Why not send Junior home early? I've got some wild oats to sow."
08:17 George Clooney would agree. After Tim Burton evolved the franchise, this ill-fated final
08:22 curtain saw Batman devolve to his 60s phase. That could have been fun if the film went all-in,
08:27 but the higher budget and attempts at drama make for an awkward and kind of boring film.
08:33 Arnold Schwarzenegger is the only one having a good time.
08:36 "What are you, about a 50 big and tall?"
08:39 "No, I always go a size smaller. Makes me look slimmer."
08:43 Number 2. Worked - Blade Runner 2049
08:47 "I'm only two. One and zero."
08:54 "Half as much, but twice as elegant, sweetheart."
08:58 The idea of making a Blade Runner sequel 35 years later, with Ridley Scott only executive
09:03 producing and Harrison Ford's role reduced, sounded blasphemous. When you have Denis Villeneuve in
09:09 the director's chair and Ryan Gosling as the lead, though, the result is a follow-up that
09:14 honors the original while, in some aspects, surpassing it. It functions as both a standalone
09:20 sequel and a second chapter in Rick Deckard's story, keeping us guessing even after the credits
09:26 roll. "Why? What am I to you?"
09:31 Villeneuve delivers a masterpiece of neo-noir that's haunting yet engrossing,
09:40 drawing us in with every spellbinding set piece. Like its predecessor, Blade Runner 2049 wasn't a
09:47 financial success, but generations will remember it as one of the great sci-fi films, not to mention
09:53 one of the best sequels. "Make it one for my baby.
09:57 One more for the road." Number 1. Killed the Franchise - Jaws The Revenge
10:08 "Take the wheel." "No, I can't."
10:11 "Sure you can." "No, I mean, I don't know how."
10:13 "Yep, nobody does till they learn."
10:15 Jaws gave birth to the summer movie season. Jaws 2 arguably gave birth to disappointing
10:20 summer sequels. That wasn't enough to kill the franchise, nor was a detour to SeaWorld.
10:25 The series officially jumped the shark with Jaws The Revenge, however.
10:28 "It's only a shark, a great big beautiful shark. You two are making it into something it's not.
10:32 And it's ours." Who's getting revenge? The shark,
10:36 who's apparently the son of the great white that Brody blew up in the first film. We assume the
10:41 original shark's father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate would have pursued
10:46 vengeance. Thankfully, there wouldn't be a Jaws 5 after this ridiculous sequel, which is too silly
10:51 to be taken seriously, yet not entertainingly bad enough to be an unintentional comedy. If the
10:57 original Jaws was a production nightmare, then this sequel is just a nightmare.
11:02 "Ahh! Stay out! Stay out! Stay out! Somebody do something!"
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11:28 1. Worked - Mad Max Fury Road
11:31 "Do you think there's still somebody out there? Sending shoves?"
11:36 "Who knows? Those are the planes of silence."
11:41 For the longest time, The Road Warrior was considered the definitive Mad Max movie,
11:46 thanks in part to its climactic car chase. Fast forward to 2015, George Miller made that
11:52 set piece look like a dress rehearsal with Fury Road. What seems like an extended action sequence
11:57 on the surface is truly an exercise in visual storytelling that ranges from mind-blowing to
12:03 poetic. This isn't only conveyed through the awe-inspiring practical stunt work
12:07 and apocalyptically beautiful production values, but through the driven characters.
12:11 "You're an old man's battle fodder, killing everyone and everything!"
12:15 "We're not to blame!"
12:16 "Then who killed the world?!"
12:22 This is just as much Furiosa's movie, with Charlize Theron giving a commanding performance,
12:27 as a woman who'll venture to Hell and back again. It's a sequel that builds upon everything that
12:32 came before, reaching heights we didn't know existed without ever looking down.
12:37 "I was awaited in Bethel. They were calling my name.
12:40 I should be walking with the Immortals, not visiting with the heroes full-time."
12:45 What do you think are the best and worst sequels? Let us know in the comments.
12:49 "What is your third favorite movie of all time?"
12:52 "Tarrington 2."
12:57 "What?!"
12:58 Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo,
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13:06 [Music]