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We all have those movies we love that have a mixed or a negative consensus, but some of those movies just so happen to be sequels. So, I figured why not start a thread about it?
I'll kick things off here, and I do have a fair few sequels I love that no-one else does, such as Predator 2, The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, and Alien 3 (I even consider Predator 2 an even better followup to an already fantastic first outing). But those are too obvious, so instead, I'll start with one I recently rewatched... Die Hard 2.
Yes, it's a shameless rehash of the first's plot. Yes, it's highly dependent on a misunderstanding of how airports work. And yes, it's fully aware of all these things and it just wants you to have as much fun as humanly possible with John McClane as he ends up becoming the fly in the proverbial ointment again. Unlike John McTiernan's iconic classic, Renny Harlin's followup takes itself far less seriously with a subtle sense of humour and in your face self awareness to the proceedings that help make it stand out of the shadow of its predecessor. The dialogue here is some of the best I've seen, the action is jawdropping, the sense of escalation in the plot is nailed again, and the choice to followup a band of armed master thieves taking an LA skyscraper during a Christmas party with a massive conspiracy to free a South American dictator using a Washington airport during the Christmas landing rush is a perfect way to raise the stakes from last time.
Really, the reason why it's brushed aside as "a lazy rehash" and overlooked by Die Hard fans in favour of its successors, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Live Free or Die Hard*, is because of the fact that it reuses the formula of part one at a time when 'Die Hard on an X' films like Under Siege and Speed were becoming all the rage. But I personally couldn't care less.
*YES, there were only four Die Hard movies. Nothing happened after Live Free. Don't look any further into it.
I'll kick things off here, and I do have a fair few sequels I love that no-one else does, such as Predator 2, The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, and Alien 3 (I even consider Predator 2 an even better followup to an already fantastic first outing). But those are too obvious, so instead, I'll start with one I recently rewatched... Die Hard 2.
Yes, it's a shameless rehash of the first's plot. Yes, it's highly dependent on a misunderstanding of how airports work. And yes, it's fully aware of all these things and it just wants you to have as much fun as humanly possible with John McClane as he ends up becoming the fly in the proverbial ointment again. Unlike John McTiernan's iconic classic, Renny Harlin's followup takes itself far less seriously with a subtle sense of humour and in your face self awareness to the proceedings that help make it stand out of the shadow of its predecessor. The dialogue here is some of the best I've seen, the action is jawdropping, the sense of escalation in the plot is nailed again, and the choice to followup a band of armed master thieves taking an LA skyscraper during a Christmas party with a massive conspiracy to free a South American dictator using a Washington airport during the Christmas landing rush is a perfect way to raise the stakes from last time.
Really, the reason why it's brushed aside as "a lazy rehash" and overlooked by Die Hard fans in favour of its successors, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Live Free or Die Hard*, is because of the fact that it reuses the formula of part one at a time when 'Die Hard on an X' films like Under Siege and Speed were becoming all the rage. But I personally couldn't care less.
*YES, there were only four Die Hard movies. Nothing happened after Live Free. Don't look any further into it.
