What are some of your all time favourite film series that were utterly ruined by sequels? For bonus points, what would you have done differently? Or how would you have liked to have seen it gone?
For me:
1. Terminator series. Terminator 1 and 2 remain two of the all time great science fiction action films, but Terminator 3 broke the run. Terminator salvation set in on fire, and Terminator Genisys pissed on the ashes. Dark Fate had the bonus of having retconned the others and was a solid sci-fi action piece, but was still a far cry from the gloriousness of judgement day. The rehashing of the “single inspirational saviour inspiring humanity to rise from the ashes” was an absurd and lazy re-use of an old plot. Would’ve worked much better if the “saviour” was some sort of a nerdy coder, who in the future wrote a programme that infected and overwrote the core commands of the AI.
For the plot to really evolve, more advanced concepts such as the use of biological agents to eradicate humanity, rather than nuclear weapons and robots, would’ve made much more sense and evolved the franchise to be more relevant in the more technologically advanced understandings of the modern era. Getting proper directors and writers in could’ve led to the Terminator franchise being the definitive sci-fi lineage in modern cinematic history, instead it became a bit of a sad joke and nostalgia trip.
2. Predator series. Yes, there’s a theme developing here. Sci-fi action….. Predator is still, to this day, one of the best action and sci-fi films of all time. Its brilliance was in its simplicity. A film that had a traditional action arc but left the viewer with a heaping ton of unanswered questions. Questions that left you feeling intrigued and uneasy ages after the credits had rolled.
Predator 2 repeated the same formula but took us from a crack military unit in the formidable and isolated jungle, to LAPD detectives in gang war LA. We went from Arnie, armed to the teeth, using every piece of military training at his disposal, to Danny Glover and his magnum. Plus a wacky guest appearance from Gary Busey. The studio heaped garbage on garbage with Predators, which just tried to repeat the original formula, with little success, even having a portly Laurence Fishborne play a man who had been trapped with limited food for the best part of a decade. Maybe he had a thyroid disregulation?
Both AVP films continued the tradition of watering down a once brilliant piece of IP, although AVP looks like Citizen Kane next to its follow up AVP: Requiem. The Predator, whilst occasionally entertaining, just took a giant dump all over what was left of the credibility of the franchise. The shame is that, theoretically, Predators (or the Yautja) are some of the most interesting and complex Alien species in mainstream movie history. Their breeding and hunting of Xenomorph colonies for sport, and their potential socio-political motivations could make for fascinating viewing. Yet the franchise always returned to the same old tropes and just did so in worse and worse ways. This was likely a movie series best left alone after the original, only to be unearthed under the helm of a visionary sci-fi director like Denis Villeneuve, many years into the future.
I’ll leave it there for now and see what series and ideas my fellow caftards come up with.
For me:
1. Terminator series. Terminator 1 and 2 remain two of the all time great science fiction action films, but Terminator 3 broke the run. Terminator salvation set in on fire, and Terminator Genisys pissed on the ashes. Dark Fate had the bonus of having retconned the others and was a solid sci-fi action piece, but was still a far cry from the gloriousness of judgement day. The rehashing of the “single inspirational saviour inspiring humanity to rise from the ashes” was an absurd and lazy re-use of an old plot. Would’ve worked much better if the “saviour” was some sort of a nerdy coder, who in the future wrote a programme that infected and overwrote the core commands of the AI.
For the plot to really evolve, more advanced concepts such as the use of biological agents to eradicate humanity, rather than nuclear weapons and robots, would’ve made much more sense and evolved the franchise to be more relevant in the more technologically advanced understandings of the modern era. Getting proper directors and writers in could’ve led to the Terminator franchise being the definitive sci-fi lineage in modern cinematic history, instead it became a bit of a sad joke and nostalgia trip.
2. Predator series. Yes, there’s a theme developing here. Sci-fi action….. Predator is still, to this day, one of the best action and sci-fi films of all time. Its brilliance was in its simplicity. A film that had a traditional action arc but left the viewer with a heaping ton of unanswered questions. Questions that left you feeling intrigued and uneasy ages after the credits had rolled.
Predator 2 repeated the same formula but took us from a crack military unit in the formidable and isolated jungle, to LAPD detectives in gang war LA. We went from Arnie, armed to the teeth, using every piece of military training at his disposal, to Danny Glover and his magnum. Plus a wacky guest appearance from Gary Busey. The studio heaped garbage on garbage with Predators, which just tried to repeat the original formula, with little success, even having a portly Laurence Fishborne play a man who had been trapped with limited food for the best part of a decade. Maybe he had a thyroid disregulation?
Both AVP films continued the tradition of watering down a once brilliant piece of IP, although AVP looks like Citizen Kane next to its follow up AVP: Requiem. The Predator, whilst occasionally entertaining, just took a giant dump all over what was left of the credibility of the franchise. The shame is that, theoretically, Predators (or the Yautja) are some of the most interesting and complex Alien species in mainstream movie history. Their breeding and hunting of Xenomorph colonies for sport, and their potential socio-political motivations could make for fascinating viewing. Yet the franchise always returned to the same old tropes and just did so in worse and worse ways. This was likely a movie series best left alone after the original, only to be unearthed under the helm of a visionary sci-fi director like Denis Villeneuve, many years into the future.
I’ll leave it there for now and see what series and ideas my fellow caftards come up with.
