movies/tv Sequels that were Better than the Original?

[Adente 1,000]

I think its fair to say that most people are in agreement on one thing: sequels rarely can top the original. They either try and be 'bigger and better' and wind up being ridiculous, or are just the same plot as the original rehashed in an uninspired fashion.

 

However, some sequels are better than the originals. Which ones do you think are the best sequels that really 'got it right'?

 

I think these sequels were better than the originals, and also just great all around movies

• Toy Story 2 (Not necessarily better than the original, but without a doubt on par)
• The Godfather Part 2
• Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
• Shrek 2
• Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
• The Dark Knight
• Superman 2
• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

That's all I got. What about you guys?

 

EDIT: Movies aren't the only thing you can list. Video Games, books, and tv shows are also fair game. Which means that I would add to my list and say that Justice League Unlimited is much better than Justice League.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Windy Runner

[Megas 27,984]

Is this just limited to movies? If not

 

Toy Story 2

Empire Strikes Back

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Metal Gear Solid 2

Red Dead Redemption

Call of Duty 2

Edited December 1, 2013 by Rusty Shackleford

[JonPear 209]

I thought Matrix Reloaded was even more amazing than The Matrix, and Matrix Revolutions was phenomenal

[Adente 1,000]

Is this just limited to movies? If not

 

Toy Story 2

Empire Strikes Back

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Metal Gear Solid 2

Red Dead Redemption

Call of Duty 2

 

I guess its not really limited to any one medium. I kept it to movies, but I suppose books and video games are fair game too. And how the heck could I have forgotten the Last Crusade??

[Scootalove 10,689]

• Superman 2

• Batman Begins

The Matrix Reloaded

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

I always thought the 2nd and 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie were better than the first.

 

That's the only one that comes to mind for me  

 

Then, in the new Star Wars movies, I thought the 2nd and 3rd were better than the first. 

 

Um...yeahh, that's all that comes to mind

[FancyPhoenix 197]

Are we talking just about movies, or can we include games too? 

 

'Cause if we can, I'd mention at least Portal 2, which I found significantly better than it's predecessor. The same goes for Half-Life 2. Oh, and we can't forget Assassin's Creed 2 from this list   Still the best game of the series in my opinion. The first one... 

 

As for movies...  Well I really liked Spider Man 2 compared to the first one, maybe it's just because I like Doctor Octopus as a villain more than the Green Goblin. Another one I could mention would be both the second and third parts of the LoTR-trilogy. I liked them much more than Fellowship of The Ring.

[Hansel 1,512]

Tron: Legacy.

I get yelled at for that, but... it's so much better then the original. I'm sorry, but it just is.

 

Although, if I'm completely honest, I liked Tron: Uprising animated series more then any of them. It was damn awesome, and I'm seriously looking forward to the third film. 

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

In absolutely no particular order:

 

Call of Duty 4

Mass Effect 2

Toy Story 3

Bioshock Infinite (just barely)

Fallout 3/New Vegas

Assassin's Creed 3

Uncharted 2

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (even compared to every BF game)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

The Dark Knight

Metro: Last Light

Star Wars: Battlefront 2

Gears of War 2

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

Every consecutive season of Breaking Bad

Portal 2

[Planty 1,053]

Not sure if many people have seen it, but the second hunger games film is sooooooo good I think its better then the first film.

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

Battlefield 4

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Age of Empires II

Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Halo 3

Fallout New Vegas (although it isn't Fallout 3's DIRECT Sequel)

 

As for movies:

I haven't yet seen a case of that. Most of the time, if not all the time, movies get worse every sequel.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Twilight Sniper

[Moonlight 7,289]

Video Games:

• Bioshock Infinite
• F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin
• Gears of War 3
• Mario Party 4
• Pokemon Black
• Portal 2
• Silent Hill 2
• Sims 3
• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity

[PoisonClaw 8,172]

Off the top of my head:

 

Mass Effect 2

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

Shrek 2

Ratchet and Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

Megaman Zero 2

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Terminator 2

[Kbblender 122]

Dead Space 2 was better than the first, in my opinion, and the CoD games keep getting better and better.  Also, the Playstation 3 is better than 2 or 1 ever was.

[Champion RD92 8,658]

Shrek 2. That's one of my favorite movies ever, I think it's even better than the first one. Unfortunately, the third one is one of the worst movies I've ever seen...

Edited December 3, 2013 by Champion RD92

[Galen 1,354]

 

 

Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

 

Congratulations. You have just won this thread.

I think most people here already mentioned the ones I can remember apart from two others. I personally thought Back to the Future 3 was the best of the trilogy, with the first being second best. That's mostly because I liked the wild west setting. Also, Desperado is better than its predecessor, El Mariachi, especially when you have a much more convincing cast in Desperado.

[AfTeRwArDs 509]

Toy Story 3

Catching Fire

Kingdom Hearts II

 

Those are the only ones that come to mind at the moment, but I'm sure there's much more.

[Aniki 386]

• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• White Knight Chronicles 2
• Megaman 7
• Final Fantasy 9
• Suikoden 3

That's all I can come up with off the top of my head. But at far as movies? I haven't really seen enough to be the judge of any.

[GrimCW 658]

Bioshock infinite - the first two BORED the hell outta me...

 

Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan - the first was good IMO (better than most will admit) but I loved 2-3. I still find 4 too preachy and boring.. No idea how that got anywhere other than that it panders to the eco nuts in LA that gave it awards.

 

MLP Comics S2 - Lots of Luna!

 

Battlefield 4 - it really gets down to the fun in most cases, where 3 was... just meh...

 

Medieval 2 Total War - before it was good, this was the prime, and most since has been TERRIBLE... Shogun 2 is just too easy, empire/napolean had far to many AI issues, and Rome 2 is still under evaluation

 

Rocksmith 2014 - the first was okay, but this new one is a blast! And being able to import all but 5 measly songs from the original (+DLC) is a massive bonus! Even if it costs a few bucks.

 

Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. - never played the originals, Morrwind was to bent on the random chance and LONG ass level times to be any fun, and Oblivion was, while beautiful, very static. Skyrim nailed it nicely, though still could use better animations and some flipping cloth simulation for crying out loud.. even Xbox 1 games had it, so wtfh is Bethesda waiting for?!

 

Left 4 Dead 2 - more fun, more gore, more zombies... 'nuff said

 

Lego Batman 2 - Ditched the silent characters that squeak and make muffled sounds in favor of some real voice work and action. Very nice.

 

Batman The Dark Knight - Begins was just to slow in pacing IMO and lazily ended. Dark Knight was a blast, and Rises IMO was terrible, and I'm not hating on the Bane thing, I just think it was terrible. Batman SHOT people.. batman does not shoot people.... let alone kill them like he did here Accidental, out of the way.. okay, but he literally pulled the trigger!

Among other standing issues I take with it...

 

Metro Last Light - The original was okay, but Last light really picked up the storytelling and gameplay and went crazy with it in a good way.

 

Poker Night 2 - GlaDOS and Brock Samsen.. come on, that is just nuts...

 

Red Orchestra 2 - the first was okay, but the hit detection and aim weren't realistic, they were just out of this world bad... 2 fixes it and is so much more. The deves made a few terrible mistakes in the beginning (such as editing maps to improve performance instead of fixing the game!) But its cleaned up and fun as hell now.

 

ArmA 3 - the first was just a mess, as was OFP imo. 2 was beautiful but also very buggy. 3 is beautiful and mostly cleaned up. Its biggest flaw is still getting stuck on small things in the environment you should be able to drive over... world physics = still bad

 

Rainbow Six Rogue Spear - the first was meh tbh, but RS is the definitive Rainbow Six Experience to this day. Vegas is an action game, not an R6 game... and IMO Raven shield, while good, was to "heavy" feeling... not clunky, just heavy.. the entire thing seemed to bloated...

Edited December 4, 2013 by GrimCW

[. eris . 1,661]

Definitely The Dark Knight. One of my favorite movies of all time. Come to think of it, Catching Fire was better than The Hunger Games, and possibly even better than the book. Shrek 2 was also really excellent, with the perfect amount of jokes and slapstick. Plus, Toy Story 3 was just...gah. One of the most perfect animated kid's movies of all time. ^^ 

[Feather Gem 967]

Catching Fire

 

Okay, I know that in the first one, they tried to make it seem real with all those jerky camera movements and stuff, but come on.  I could barely tell what I was watching.  xD It was neat I guess.

But seriously.  No Maige?  Buying the Mocking Jay pin?

No deal.  No.  Deal.

 

(I'm done)

[hawkflame 3,310]

For movies? 

Terminator 2, Empire Strikes Back, and Toy Story 2 (haven't seen the third one) come to mind.  And movies like The Dark Knight and Aliens were *as* good as the first, IMO.  I *loved* Batman Begins. 

 

For games?

 

Super Mario Bros. 3.  Not only better than its predecessors, which are classics, but possibly the greatest video game EVER at the time of its release. 

 

Street Fighter II.  For a long time after this came out, people were asking if a Street Fighter I even *existed*.

 

Any Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest after the first ones.  Seriously, those first games did NOT age well. 

[CT-1138 3,184]

-Aliens

-The Empire Strikes Back

-Terminator 2

-The Dark Knight

-The Lost World: Jurassic Park

-The Return of the King

[Troblems 5,620]

May get flamed for this, but Be Cool.

 

Bioshock Infinite

Assassin's Creed 2. I'm also in lust with Ezio

[Sloggobbler 31]

-Counter Strike: Global Offensive

 

-Babe: Pig in the City

 

-Team-Fortress 2

 

-Fallout 3

 

-Left 4 Dead 2

 

-Half-Life 2

 

-Sid Meier's Civilization V

 

-ArmA 3