PatD

Just got the "Back to the Future" Blu Ray trilogy this evening and was looking as forward to the sequels as to the classic original. For some reason, I kept thinking about "The Matrix" trilogy. Both trilogies feature Hollywood heartthrobs playing characters being batted around the realms of reality trying to outsmart supposed fate. The original films are iconic and will live on as long as movies are played; I've found the sequels are apparently considered lesser works (oh, who am I kidding, "Reloaded" and "Revolutions" torpedoed "The Matrix" franchise).

I don't think anyone can fault either sequel pair of lack of ambition, but whether they hit the mark in terms of being classic sequels is one only time will tell on. Neither of them suffer from lazily re-hashing the same story from the original and both work to up the ante (maybe not "BTTF part III").

Of the two sequel pairs, I'm going with "Back to the Future II and III". Part II alone is utterly brilliant--that plot pretty damned original (it beats "Being John Malkovich"'s plot for it's M.C. Escher-like structure) for a Hollywood film and. It's strange: the dramatic scenes from II and some of III had more gravity than all the attempted gravitas of "Reloaded" and "Revolutions". ("Kid, I *own* the police. Besides, they couldn't match up the bullet that killed your old man!")

Conversely, I can only watch "Reloaded" and "Revolutions" from beginning to end with the Ken Wilber and Cornel West audio tracks.

dan30oly

As much as I hated BTTF 3, I have to go with BTTF over Matrix 2 & 3 for just how bad those two were combined. BTTF 2 was so much better.

RichC2

Matrix 2 and 3 barely registered, BTTF 2 had a hoverboard.

BTTF wins.

wm lopez

A hoverboard beats out a playground kung-fu fight and a highway car chase.
WTF?

The Antipodean

Sorry, had the Matrix sequels wiped from my mind. BTTF wins.

fumanstan

The Back to the Future sequels, at least the second movie, is looked upon far more fondly then the Matrix sequels. I'm sure the era they were released probably helped save it from the internet style backlash that movies get these days, but really there's no comparison. Reloaded/Revolutions is seen mostly as a joke for most people (even though I enjoyed them enough) whereas BTTF2 and 3 are at least decent to mediocre.

anomynous

BTTF 3 alone is better than Matrix 2 & 3 combined, so..........

riley_dude

I still can't believe how bad the Matrix sequels were.

RichC2

Highway chase didn't age well, the playground sequence was terrible when I first saw it and still is.

Supermallet

I still don't know why BTTF 3 gets so much hate. I always liked it, and it's a fitting way to end the series.

Personally, I actually like BTTF 2 more than the first one, with its glimpses of the future and the utterly brilliant sequence taking place in 1955 during the events of the first film.

The Matrix sequels were unnecessary. Any comments the Wachowskis had made about it being a trilogy from the start are undermined by the actual content of the three movies. The second and third film feel like they were made by entirely different directors. Zion was never interesting, and the seamless editing of the fights from the first film are gone in the second, leaving us with stunt doubles and bad CGI cartoons punching each other endlessly. The only reason I even own the second two Matrix movies is because I reviewed the set.

BTTF all the way.

PatD

It's also interesting that both final installments have essentially the same message--"the future's unknown--make the most of it". Weird.

hal9000

I can only half honestly weigh in here since I couldn't finish watching Matrix 2 and I never even considered watching Matrix 3. But it's BTTF II and III all the way, both are much more enjoyable films. In fact I'd rather watch BTTF III running 24/7 on a continuous loop A Clockwork Orange style with my eyes held open for the rest of my life before I sat and willingly watched Matrix 2 ever again.

SmackDaddy

There were sequels to the Matrix? Not in my mind!

I enjoy BTTF II and III quite a bit. Matrix sequels? Not so much.

Lemmy

I only chose the BTTF sequels because they are much less irritating to me than the Matrix sequels.

But, to be honest, I only own the first Matrix film, and would not own the others even if given to me for free; I'd immediately sell them off. And, if it were sold individually, I'd buy only the first BTTF film, as well. Though the BTTF sequels don't suck nearly as bad as the Matrix ones, I still find them rather "meh". I really only would want the first film in either set. I feel that way about the Indiana Jones films, too. First film only.

DRG

BTTF all the way. While I think both BTTF sequels are tonally 'off' from the near-perfect original - 2 is a bit darker and 3 veers to the cartoonish side (a similar trajectory as the original Star Wars trilogy) - I love part 2 for what it is and can even put up with part 3 despite its paint-by-numbers approach to western-izing the story.

Matrix, on the other hand... loved the first but the sequels destroyed the mythology. I still believe a great sequel/trilogy could have been made, but the films we got were so far in the opposite direction of that it is still hard for me to believe they are from the same team.

Surprised the Pirates films weren't included in this comparison. I know they are making another sequel, but for all intents and purposes parts 2 and 3 were created the same way as the Matrix and BTTF sequels.

Hokeyboy

ALL OF THEM BLOW. At least, compared to the originals. BACK-TO-BACK SEQUELS NEVER WORK.

Frenzy

The Matrix sequels were ridiculosly stupid. Actually the first movie was also kind of stupid but at least it was entertaining. The BTTF trilogy plays in a completely different league. BTTFII is my favourite movie of the series.

Anubis2005X

Hokeyboy

The universal LOATHING BTTF2 received when it first came out cannot even be charted.

Sean O'Hara

The Back to the Future sequels are good movies, they just don't live up to the original.

The Matrix sequels are so awful that they make the original movie worse by making all the flaws obvious.

Sean O'Hara

The hoverboard chase was an amusing inversion of the original movie. The fights and chases in the Matrix movies were videogame cut-scenes.

Groucho

Is this poll a joke? The BTTF sequels need only be watchable to be better than the Matrix sequels.

thematahara

Agree that BTTF wins out here, mainly because I hated Revolutions so much. I actually find Reloaded to be pretty watchable, as long as you fast forward past the rave.

Revolutions is just horrible though. Whoever thought it was a good idea to make a Matrix movie, but hardly ever show the Matrix needs to be shot.

I'm not the biggest BTTF fan, but all three are entertaining on some level.

astrochimp

Speaking of BTTF. AMC is showing all 3 of them tonight which since i haven't gotten around to getting them on dvd AND the fact that i never ever see parts 2 and 3 on TV i'm looking forward to seeing them again.

foofighters7

easily BTTF... The Matrix had the ability to be a fantastic trilogy, instead it sunk itself.