When it comes to franchise filmmaking, directors who work on a sequel have a precious opportunity. They can either build on the inherited foundation, or they can decide that since they have the foundation, there’s less work to do, and they’ll just draw from the same formula and go through the gears. But to build on something means to put in the same amount of effort as the first time. It means to add many more layers, a model for which Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy is a prime example. In sports, good teams who have won multiple games in a row know they have an advantage, but they also know that if they get even a little complacent and don’t work just as hard as each time before, they’ll lose the next game.
Similarly, when sequels aren’t built with the right mentality, things go downhill. The franchise can become a parody of itself. The Hobbit franchise started very strongly, but by the third movie, it was apparent that the content became very thin, and the running time was an excuse for endless CGI fights without substance. Even with sequels that are adapted from books, filmmakers need to stay on their toes and offer something creatively fresh each time. When Alfonso Cuaron was signed to take the reins of the Harry Potter series, he revitalized it in both storytelling and artistic terms.
That said, here are eight movies that played things right, becoming sequels that were better than the original
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8 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a solid movie that established Caesar’s story and ended in an emphatic way. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, its sequel directed by Matt Reeves, picked things up 10 years later in the timeline, with Caesar’s apes coming into contact with a group of humans at a time of dwindling human populations on Earth. While the first film was a “lab experimentation gone wrong” movie, as well as a sort of “family broken apart” movie in which the adopted ape Caesar discovered his roots, the sequel did something different enough and more interesting: its theme was conflict, how it’s managed, how it’s avoided or escalated. Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman lent gravitas to the human group and Andy Serkis reprised his role as Caeser on the apes’ side.
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7 The Dark Knight (2008)
Warner Bros. Pictures
The only reason The Dark Knight isn’t higher on this list is that Batman Begins was an incredible movie to begin with. While The Dark Knight didn’t have the same well-rounded perfection of its predecessor, it was more ambitious in its messier nature, it featured an unhinged villain played by Heath Ledger, it achieved greater heights on many occasions over the course of its running time, and it capped things off with a final montage that’s up there with the most compelling endings ever put on screen. For these reasons, many have considered it a better movie. This March, Matt Reeves will release what he’s promised will be (just like Nolan’s trilogy was) his own distinctive version of the caped hero.
6 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
While the first film established the characters and the structure of the games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire focused more on the political, as well as the relationship dynamics. Katniss and Peeta’s joint victory and refusal to fight each other at the end of The Hunger Games has inspired rebellious sentiment in the districts and now, President Snow, with the help of the mysterious Plutarch Heavensbee, tries to quell the unrest. The franchise saw a change in the directorial chair, eschewed the handheld cinematography of its predecessor, and critics have called it a more polished film.
5 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
Heyday Films
2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was a light, entertaining film, but the second film delved deeper into the wizarding mythology, generated an air of mystery, featured sad trips down memory lanes, and followed an intricate web of characters crossing each other’s paths while they sought closure to their stories. As one of the characters aptly told another: “Your story is our story.” While critics didn’t take as much of a liking to it as its predecessor, partly due to its low accessibility to non-Potter fans, these were some of the reasons that made Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald a better film.
4 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
The first Captain America movie was nothing more than watchable, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a vast improvement. A smart political thriller before being a typical Marvel superhero film, it dealt with such issues as mass surveillance, threat prevention, security versus freedom, the use of powerful weapons for good and what happens if they fall into the wrong hands. It explored these themes through good storytelling with a chilling HYDRA as the villainous entity at its center.
3 The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Lucasfilm
According to Empire, which considers The Empire Strikes Back the second-greatest movie of all time, this sequel in the original Star Wars trilogy was the origin of the trope of sequels adopting a darker tone than the original. The second chapter in the space saga explored The Force more deeply as Luke went to Dagobah to train under Yoda. Also, the Emperor, with his memorably sinister voice, was added as a character, the iconic “I’m your father” scene gave the whole film much of its renown, and things ended on a grim cliffhanger.
2 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones ranks highly because of its massive improvement upon a poor franchise start in The Phantom Menace. Reducing the irritating Jar Jar Binks almost to a nothing-role, the film had more intrigue and running mysteries from the start, including that of the Clone army which eventually sends Obi-Wan Kenobi to the rain-drenched Kamino. Attack of the Clones also benefited from the presence of a great Christopher Lee as the formidable Count Dooku, from a number of epic Jedi duels in the final act sporting the best effects of the series thus far, and from a love story that featured one of John Williams’ greatest themes.
1 Before Sunset (2004)
Warner Independent Pictures
The Before trilogy had an original concept. The first movie, Before Sunrise, simply followed spontaneous conversations about topics big and small between Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) who spent a day in each other’s company. They met on a train and took it from there. At the end, they parted ways, agreeing not to exchange contact information and to meet at the same place six months later. It was a good enough film. But then, Before Sunset was so much more. Nine years later, both in filmmaking and storytelling terms, they’re in very different places in their respective lives, their six-months-later rendez-vous having never happened, but the day they had shared and the subsequent missed opportunity having marked them both. So much that Jesse has written a novel about it, which is how Céline finds him. The movie follows them around for another day, but this time, small talk slowly gives way to buried longings and regrets - not only about each other but also about life, about the roads taken and not taken.
