17 Sequels That Are Actually Better Than The Original Movies
This week, Reddit user u/Ulquiorr4_ posed the question, "What sequel, in your opinion, was genuinely better than the original?"
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The thread quickly went viral with over 22,000 comments! Here are some of the top-voted answers:
1.The Dark Knight
"The Dark Knight, to me, is a perfect superhero movie. Every line of dialogue and every scene in the movie matters. There’s no fluff. And if you dive into the Easter eggs, there are so many little nods to the comics and real life. Still one of my favorite movies."
"My single greatest theater experience ever."
2.The Rescuers Down Under
"It is pretty much the sole example of a Disney sequel being better than the original pre-2000s."
"I remember being a kid and not even realizing it was a sequel. I was a bit older when we ended up with a VHS copy of The Rescuers, and it was so dark and sad compared to Down Under."
3.Rush Hour 2
"Quite possibly one of the funniest movies of all time. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker were amazing together; you can tell they genuinely enjoyed working with each other."
"And the original was solid too. Goes to show how much Rush Hour 2 had to do to beat it!"
4.Thor: Ragnarok
"I LOVE that scene where Thor is describing how Loki turned into a snake, turned back into himself, said, 'Gaah,' and stabbed him. You can SEE Tom Hiddleston give up and laugh. I bet they had so much fun filming that movie. Additionally, 'get help' is hilarious and shows their brotherhood bond before all the drama of the first Avengers movie. All in all, Ragnarok is the best Thor movie, and Taika Waititi was a blessing to the MCU."
5.22 Jump Street
"I was surprised by how much I liked the first. When I went to see the second, I had low expectations. It blew me away."
"That was one of the funniest fucking films I ever saw in the theater. The first one is also hilarious, but 22 just improves upon everything. And nothing is as funny as Ice Cube's character finding out Schmidt hooked up with his daughter."
6.X-Men 2
"Wolverine became the biggest badass this time around, just straight up slaughtering fools. I had never seen that before in a superhero movie (though now it's pretty commonplace). But not only that, it was the first time superheroes genuinely used their powers in important and clever ways."
7.Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
"The final scene of Sister Act 2 is up there with the end of Dirty Dancing for me."
"Ms. Lauryn Hill makes most things better, to be honest."
8.Spider-Man 2
"Spider-Man is an almost perfect origin story, and SM2 still completely whoops its ass. I love every minute of that movie."
"The thing I loved about it the most was it wasn’t just about Spider-Man — it was about Peter Parker. We saw his inner struggle between who he wants to be, who he has to be, and who he really is. Not to mention all the amazing actors in the film too. [Sam] Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 is the best portrayal of the character of Spider-Man imo."
9.Shrek 2
"Improves on the original in every way and then some."
10.Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows
"In my opinion, Sherlock Holmes was brilliant, but Game of Shadows was a masterpiece. Everything from the brilliant writing to the sets to the chess themes throughout the movie, right up to chess match between Sherlock and Moriarty while their 'pieces' literally danced on a chess floor. At the same time, Moriarty manages to be like Sherlock's shadow (from a psychological point of view), every bit as brilliant as Sherlock, but way better with people. He even had his own twisted version of Watson!"
11.The Empire Strikes Back
"Easily the superior movie of the original trilogy."
12.Terminator 2: Judgment Day
"Part of what makes Terminator 2 such a great sequel has to do with the growth of the characters. Sarah Connor goes from a meek waiter to a badass soldier. Arnold goes from an evil killing machine to a vicious/cuddly father figure. And the actual baddy is upgraded by like 10 generations and literally could not have been even visually realized in a movie even a few years prior (and he still looks awesome today)! My point is that part of what makes T2 so awesome is that it followed T1. They are both great movies, and as far as I'm concerned, they are the only Terminator movies."
13.The Mummy Returns
"Took a really good movie and made it great."
14.Captain America: The Winter Soldier
“It pretty much set the tone for the MCU going forward, and as far as I’m concerned, it stands unmatched fight choreography-wise.”
15.Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
16.Bad Boys II
"Hell of a lot better than the first, and awesome on its own."
17.And finally, Toy Story 2
"Toy Story 2 is really something special. To anyone that hasn’t seen it recently, consider watching it again. It’s not just the second Toy Story movie, it’s the best-paced movie I think I’ve ever seen. Every scene, every line, every joke works exactly like it should. It’s the kind of movie that was executed as well as possible."
Which sequel did you think was even better than the original? LMK in the comments below!
Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
