Since I assumed it was going to be some cheap knock-off obviously made for some quick money, I was shocked at how good Psycho II is. I won't say that it is better than the original, but it is far better than a sequal to one of the best movies ever made has any right to be.

I honestly thought that Predator 2 was superior to the original. It was faster paced, had better action sequences, and didn't star a bunch of crappy ham-handed soon-to-be governors. Naw, i'm just kiddin'. Of course I remember Jake Busey and the Predator liking beef. Mmmm. Beef.

Then meet me!

I thought Woo knocked that sequel out of the park. Watching MI2 is like a night at the opera - I just adored how baroque the thing is.

DePalma did a great job too, but the sequel is more brave and deliriously grandiose in design.

Another vote for 'none of the above'. Certainly wouldn't be Jurassic Park 2... saw that one for the first time a few days ago and could hardly believe how grossly inferior it was to the original.

On the bright side, I thought Red Dragon was very good and it exceeded my expectations - but it still wasn't as good as Silence of the Lambs.

Expecting to see Ocean's Twelve, voted for BTF2, Hannibal would've been a close second.

Predator 2 is the closest from that list.

Another none of the above...

Voted for The Matrix just to see the results. I actually really enjoyed those sequels...but they weren't better than the original.

While I don't think it was as good as the original Alien, I thought Alien 3 was a lot better than that POS Aliens.

Matrix Revolutions was better than reloaded but neither were as good as the first.

MI:2 by a large margin. I enjoyed it quite a bit, whereas the first movie just pissed me off.

I'm surprised to see all the votes for BTTF II. To me, that was the worst of the trilogy (yes, even worse than III, which I didn't think was that bad). I still stand by M:I 2 as being better than the original. DePalma's take was cold and confusing with a lack of direction and style (especially for DePalma). Woo took over and turned the franchise into a movie that was fun and full of effective action sequences.

M:I 1 was a much smarter movie. It requires you to think. M:I 2 was a straight up special effects fest. Bad, cheesy SFX at that. Personally I'm surprised at all the praise for 2. Just my opinion of course.

At no point during MI:1 was I called upon to "think." Nor do I understand why everybody says that it's plot was "complicated." It's just a simple "MacGuffin" plot.

I'm not saying you have to be a genius to "get it," but you are required to connect a few dots. Even though most every detail is made obvious at some point, M:I 1 does require you to use your brain a little bit relative to most mainstream stuff out there.

Where's Conan the Destroyer or Short Circuit 2 or Gremlins 2?

Seriously.

I enjoyed MI:2 over MI:1

Not sure it qualifies, but Star Trek II was a much better movie than Star Trek I.

Conan the Destroyer?!?!
Short Circuit 2?!?!

Are you crazy?

But Gremlins 2, I fully agree with you on. Easily one of the better sequels of all time.

alien 3 was fucking great. (well only saw the directors cut)

matrix reloaded was better than the first IMO, as was mission impossible 2

I'm shocked how good M:I2 is doing. I thought M:I is 1000 times better.

I voted for Red Dragon. I thought it was the easiest to follow of the series and the most exciting.

There needs to be a none of the above option, but if someone put a gun to my head and told me I had to vote for one of the listed movies, I'd probably say M:I-2. It helps that I'm not a huge fan of the first movie, and M:I-2 has the unintentional comedy to put it in the "so bad, it's good" territory along with movies like Armageddon. I think my roommate my freshman year in college said it best: if all the slow motion sequences were played a normal speed, M:I-2 would be 20 minutes long. Also, it gets bonus points for tying up Dougray Scott, thereby making him unavailable to play Wolverine in X-Men and resulting in Hugh Jackman getting that role.

I enjoy the Back to the Future sequels, but they are definitely not improvements upon the first movie.

As for a maligned sequel that I feel improves on the original that wasn't listed, I nominate Batman Returns. Not a great Batman movie, but at least it is a pure Tim Burton movie as opposed to the first one. The first one came off as an attempt to make something more mainstream that didn't play to Burtron's strengths as a director. The romantic subplot with Michael Keaton and Michelle Pfeiffer is much, much superior to the vapid Kim Bassinger relationship in the first one. The scene where Bruce and Selina realize that they are actually costumed enemies is definitely the best out of the entire series. Finally, it has the Christopher Walken factor, which is always a good thing IMO.

What did MI:2 have to do with "Mission: Impossible" except the name? Even that was distanced by playing off the whole "M:I-2" thing, which is even the only title on the DVD cover. The end should have had everyone reveal they were all wearing face "masks" and rip them off, because I don't think they did that enough during the movie...

I would also vote for "none of the above." Back to the Future is my favorite movie of all time, but reducing Marty to that whole "chicken" thing really bothered me in the sequels.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:


I think BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II is the most "original sequel" I've ever seen.



With time travel as its advantage, it is able to go back to the original and screw with the events that happened there, much to hilarious results.

A+

Ditto.

L8r

Conan the Destroyer-

What can I say? I find myself mostly bored to tears by the original Conan flick. Little to no sense of humor. The worst performance by James Earl Jones ever. When it came out, I chose to sit outside the theatre door and listen to Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid instead of seeing it again (DMDWP was sold out).

But Conan the Destroyer never took itself seriously. Silly, yes. Terrible casting decisons (Wilt Chamberlain???) - of course. But I had great fun reveling in all of its glorified cheesiness. Plus, it contains my all-time favorite Arnold moment...Arnold playing drunk!

Barbarian better??? Lot on your knife!!

Short Circuit 2 -

Let's start with part of my view here. I hated...no make that detested...Short Circuit. John "War Games" Badham made this festering pile?? Johnny Five should have been made into a toaster oven. Ally Sheedy was annoying to a fault. And though I've never had quite the hate for Steve Guttenberg others do (I personally thought he was great in Diner), he just did nothing for me. The only saving grace of the first was Fischer Stevens. His role was marginal but at least he was entertaining.

Now Short Circuit 2 is no great flick. But it doesn't take much to be better than the first. And its greatest success was putting Fischer Stevens at the forefront. The whole bank robbery subplot with Jack Warden is idiotic, but whenever it focuses on Fischer Stevens' romance with Cynthia Gibb, its actually quite charming.

Like I said..nothing great, but definitely better than the first.

I don't think I can agree with you completely, but Destroyer does have Conan punching-out both a camel and a horse, and I could never bring myself to hate a movie that has all that.