What's in a sequel?

What is your favorite movie sequel? Think about it...what did you come up with? Anything good? I have had this conversation several times in the past because everyone sees movies and everyone has an opinion. The best anyone can ever come up with is LOTR(Lord of the Rings) or the Lethal Weapon series. Granted, The Return of the King is good but it's no Fellowship. Can't say I've seen any of the Lethal Weapons, something about Mel Gibson...anyway, I hear they are good. Point is, there are not a lot of good movie sequels. Yet, everyone I know, including myself, always get super excited to see sequels. I remember being so stoked to see Matrix Reloaded and so let down after I saw it. I thought Neo would keep just kickin' ass and understanding himself and save the world. Then the keymasters got involved, and I got lost.

We expect sequels to be just as good as the original. Just as good of script, just as good of acting and just as good of directing yet, that never seems to be the case. I mean how bad has Halloween gotten. Is Michael Myers still alive? I used to be petrified of that guy, now he just seems like a pathetic old man that kills people and takes axes in the head. Or how about Saw. Saw 17 comes out tomorrow, go pick it up.

To prove this doesn't just happen with horror movies, how about The Karate Kid. I used to love Daniel Son and Miyagi. Then they went to China and Hilary Swank started fighting. Another that's often mentioned is Oceans 11,12,13. A re-make itself, the first one is classic. If they hadn't ever made 12 or 13, Ocean's 11 would be mentioned as a memorable heist film. It's reputation has been tainted by the sequels. Same thing with Scream, Basic Instinct, Star Wars(the new ones), Aladdin, The Mask, and many others. The list goes on.

There are however some sequels that need to keep being made no matter how bad some of the installments get. Examples include Batman and James Bond. I can always use a little Bruce Wayne or James Bond in my life, no matter how many Batman and Robins or Tomorrow Never Dies are made. And there are exceptions like Dumb and Dumber and Dirty Dancing, where the first one was so good people either don't know there was a sequel or don't care because the first one was so good. Then there are sequels that are good, but the sequel to the sequel sucks. Like they should have known the proper amount of sequels. Examples of this would be Indiana Jones, Terminator, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Alien. And then there is the ultimate exception, Godfather pt.2. It amazes me how few people have actually seen The Godfather, considering it is universally considered one of the top 2 movies of all time. Charles Foster Kane is no Michael Corleone that is for sure, but that's another conversation. Anyway, 2 is better than 1 and 3 was a disgrace, still not terrible, kinda good I thought, but clearly not worthy of carrying the name Godfather.

They don't always get it wrong though. Movies like Rounders and Taxi Driver have been talked about as sequels, but someone must have realized why screw up a good thing? Both classics in their respective genres and both remembered as pure and authentic, not corrupted by studios lust for the dollar.

To conclude, we got LOTR, Lethal Weapon and The Godfather. Three series of movies in which all the sequels maintain or improve the series as a whole. Considering how many sequels are made, that has to be a low percentage. I'm not saying don't see sequels, just don't trust their track record. Which reminds me, when does the next Harry Potter come out?