Sequel better than original movie??

Post by **migrant** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:32 am

Ok, I've watched a couple remakes lately, 3:10 to Yuma, War of the Worlds, and it got me thinking.

Off the top of my head I can't think of any sequels being better than the original (except my current wife

)

Anyone like a sequel better than the original?

Post by **Randy Cornhole** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:51 am

I have just watched 'the day the earth stood still' with Matrix Reeves, and although the story is a big lame lump of dog poo you could say it is better than the original purely due to its amazing CGI. The original was made in 1951 so that wasn't too hard to achieve...

Its always hard to better an original film as it was by definition the first one made. Films like the 'Italian job' and 'get Carter' were two of the biggest turkeys ever made in my opinion.

My short answer is that to the best of my knowledge there are none. I may think of one but I doubt it...

Terry · Post by **Terry** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:06 am

Wasn't the Taylor / Burton epic Cleopatra a remake?

If so then this surely was a better version

Sorry - showing my age

Post by **sandman67** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:06 pm

Post by **sandman67** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:07 pm

if you mean sequels then the one that stands up as better than the first is Godfather 2.....won an oscar as I recall. Harold and Kumar 2 is also much funnier than the first film. Sometimes they work...like The Mummy / Pirates / Star Wars series...and sometimes they dont......like Raiders most recent debacle....

Remakes, like are being discussed here, are a different kettle of fish. Almost universally awful, with some that are just about acceptable.

Four Feathers was a remake that did what successful remakes do and just took a bare skeleton of a script and radically rewrote it.....I still prefer the original....got both. Sommersby just about scrapes through as well...sort of although Martin Guerre was a classic. The Ladykillers also hung together well. Then theres the spaghetti western remakes of Kurosawa's Yojimbo (Fistful of Dollars), Sanjuro (Few Dollars More) and 7 Samurai (Magnificent 7).....they definitely work well.

REC / Quarantine showed that simply remaking a foreign film scene for scene with American actors doesnt work....its the film crew and tensions that make a film as well. Thats why Im strongly against Spielberg remaking Oldboy with Will Smith....its an asian cinema classic....it IS gonna suck.....better it was redone by Guy Richie using Gary Oldman and Ray Winstone.

They have also recently remade Kurosawa's classic Hidden Fortress....it sucks so bad it hurt my eyes.

remakes just suck and thats a fact

Post by **caller** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:20 pm

I generally agree that remakes are poor and avoid most on principal, such as those Randy mentioned.

But I thought the Thomas Crown affair and Cape Fear decent efforts.

Post by **redzonerocker** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:19 am

king kong!!!!!!!!!! the remake had to be better than the original , surely

i recently watched a bit of the steve martin version of 'the pink panther',

, to awful to even talk about

Post by **migrant** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:09 am

Some good reminders of good, and bad, sequels! RZR your right, no one can touch the original pink panther!

Post by **hhfarang** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:11 pm

Some of you are talking about sequels and some are talking about remakes. They are two different things.

As far as remakes go, I have found the original usually to be the best unless there is a very long time between production of the two versions so that the technology alone makes the newer version better as in the mentioned case of King Kong.

I think the 1951 version of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" ("Klaatu barada nikto!") is a classic and will be eager to see the modern remake with all the CGI available now days.

As far as sequels go, there are a few that were better than or equally as good as the first movie but again the first one is usually the best. Notable exceptions were the Die Hard series where I thought they were all equally good action films, The Mel Gibson/Danny Glover Lethal Weapon series which I also enjoyed equally and finally the Terminator series which I think got better with each movie so that the last one was the best in the series.

Post by **johnnyk** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:05 pm

hhfarang wrote:Some of you are talking about sequels and some are talking about remakes. They are two different things.
Yes. Godfather 2 is a true sequel.

As far as remakes go, I have found the original usually to be the best unless there is a very long time between production of the two versions so that the technology alone makes the newer version better as in the mentioned case of King Kong.
Agree. I like the Marlon Brando Mutiny on the Bounty because its on location but Clark Gable and Charles Laughton can't be beat.
Remakes are generally made when the first is a hit so they scramble to do the remake to grab the cash and its usually crap. Thomas Crown is an excellent remake, not McQ but overall better production values IMO.

I think the 1951 version of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" ("Klaatu barada nikto!") is a classic and will be eager to see the modern remake with all the CGI available now days.

As far as sequels go, there are a few that were better than or equally as good as the first movie but again the first one is usually the best. Notable exceptions were the Die Hard series where I thought they were all equally good action films, The Mel Gibson/Danny Glover Lethal Weapon series which I also enjoyed equally and finally the Terminator series which I think got better with each movie so that the last one was the best in the series.

Post by **hhfarang** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:24 pm

Sorry Sandman,

After johnnyk's comment I looked back to see where Godfather 2 was mentioned and saw that I essentially made the same point (about sequels vs remakes) that you had already made and I had missed it somehow.

Anyway, agreed!

Post by **sandman67** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:23 pm

reaching for my pub quiz hat:......

ok film buffs....what other film does the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto!" turn up in?

Post by **sandman67** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 8:43 pm

Ive got one! A sequel that was better than the original:

BATMAN BEGINS

tah dahhhh!

still no answers to the question I posted above?

Post by **migrant** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:30 pm

You're right! I liked the Batman sequel

As for your question, I'll "stand still" waiting for the rest of the world to answer

Post by JD » Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:39 pm

sandman67 wrote:reaching for my pub quiz hat:......

ok film buffs....what other film does the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto!" turn up in?

MIB