(07-20-2016 02:58 PM)Motown Bronco Wrote: IMO, 3rd Movies that were better than the 2nd Movies in a series:
Oceans 13 - After really enjoying Oceans 11, I was thoroughly disappointed in Oceans 12. It was meandering, disjointed, and felt like a bunch of celebrities just mailing it in. Oceans 13 put it back in Vegas, added Al Pacino, and captured some of the wit and energy the first one had (but still not as good as the first one).
I can't say I liked one over the other in terms of the series.
Harold & Kumar Christmas - The Guantameno one was pretty much devoid of laughs and too clumsy, but this third one was funny throughout, much like the first one.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - OK, I should emphasize that I do love Temple of Doom, but I'd give that a B+... the whole Indian temple thing and ditzy blonde wore out its welcome after a while. But Last Crusade was right back to kicking Nazi arse with the great addition of Sean Connery, and earned an A+ from me, just like Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I liked Last Crusade till the hit the ghost knight at the end.... that just bugge the hell out of me.
The Bourne Ultimatum - This third installment was my favorite of the entire series, really.
Tough call for me there as I love each one and I liked the resolution of going back to the beginning.
Honorable mention:
Die Hard with a Vengeance - I'm not sure if I like this one better than the Die Hard in an Airport or not. Call it a tie.
Tough call for me on this one. I personally thought it was cash grab by Willis and then they threw in Sam as a token antagonist. That said, I did like it was ____'s brother angle along with the riddles and what not. I'd say of the first set, I'd go 2>1>3.
Any others?
The Enforcer over Magnum Force: Hmmmm too tough to call IMO.
Goldfinger over From Russia With Love: Hmmm Odd Job was the man, but I kind of felt the train trip through Europe more than Goldfinger.
Transformers Dark of the Moon over Revenge of the Fallen: YES. Better execution of the story elements and more interesting plot lines...as well as better film editing LOL. That said, by the 3rd movie I was sick of Sam's love story killing the buzz of the film
Beyond Thunderdome over Mad Max: YES. Thunderdome and Tina Turner were the hooks to make that statement.
Jedi over Empire: NO, but Jedi was way more "fun" in a action kind of way.
*** Episode III over Episode II: NO, but mainly because III had to end a certain way and I got into the whole Clones set up.
Beverly Hills Cop III over II: I won't like, I liked the set up to III and a lot of its elements but I would say II is better.
Police Academy III over II: Yeah.... but not by much.
Alien III over Aliens: HELL TO THE NO
Hannibal over Silence of the Lambs: No, SotL was way to iconic. I did like Hannibal though. *FWIW, Manhunter was the first in the series.
Star Trek III over II: Hmmm, Kahn made II and III didn't have that kind of level of villain. So I'd go no.
Blade III over II: HELL NO. II was such a bad ass movie that I can't figure out how it went to **** in #3.
Matrix III over II: No, but that was mainly about how they resolved their story.
Ironman III over II: No due mainly to the fact that I did actually like II better but the Extremis plot was better executed in the animated series for it.
Batman Forever over Batman Returns: As much as I liked Jim Carey as the Riddler and some stuff in the movie, II was better.
Batman Dark Knight Rises over The Dark Knight: NOPE. Although, I thought Bane was executed MUCH better than his prior big screen outing.
Superman III over II: NOPE. They really screwed it up with how they underused Richard Pryor in that movie. Also, Zod was so much of a bad ass that III couldn't have had a better villain.