DISTANT SEQUELS
4 October 2010
Can a movie follow-up revisit past glories long after their predecessors?
Michael Douglas won his second Oscar for Wall Street in 1987 (his first for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest); and now 23 years on he is revisiting Gordon Gekko, a pop cultural 80s icon in the sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Jeff Bridges fresh from his own Oscar for Crazy Heart, is in Christmas tent-pole blockbuster Tron Legacy, sequel to the groundbreaking 1982 original. With these two follow-ups in mind, has it been a wise idea to revisit characters and stories long after the originals?
Superman Returns
The original four Superman films starring Christopher Reeve were released from 1978 to 1987; the last two widely derided. In 2006, The Usual Suspects and X-Men director Bryan Singer decided to continue the story from 1980’s Superman II. That one had our hero give up his powers for love, to be with Lois Lane. Realising the world introduced to such a formidable alien was not now able to live without him, he was forced to wipe Lois’ memory and return to business as usual. Now jump to the noughties and Superman has disappeared from Earth for five years, so that he could visit the remains of his destroyed home planet, Krypton. On returning he finds all is not as he left it, Lois has moved on and has now has a child. He is broken-hearted as well as having to resume his duty.
This movie might have been a fascinating analysis of a superhuman so removed for us, to the point where you wonder how he can even empathise with humanity. However, miscasting and wooden acting caused this to be an anti-climatic let-down. Also, Superman is too powerful a protagonist, and therefore needs a super-villain to inject jeopardy; and as there are only human adversaries, tension seeped away. A real shame.
Before Sunset
One of the best sequels ever made. Full stop. Nine years on from the will-they-won’t-they one night in Before Sunrise’s Venice, comes an hour-and-a-half in Paris. The film is shot in real-time, every minute of film for the characters is the same for the audience; as we watch Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) circle one another again. More baggage, less innocent, but just as winsome. Truly romantic.
Michael Douglas won his second Oscar for Wall Street in 1987 (his first for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest); and now 23 years on he is revisiting Gordon Gekko, a pop cultural 80s icon in the sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Jeff Bridges fresh from his own Oscar for Crazy Heart, is in Christmas tent-pole blockbuster Tron Legacy, sequel to the groundbreaking 1982 original. With these two follow-ups in mind, has it been a wise idea to revisit characters and stories long after the originals?
Superman Returns
The original four Superman films starring Christopher Reeve were released from 1978 to 1987; the last two widely derided. In 2006, The Usual Suspects and X-Men director Bryan Singer decided to continue the story from 1980’s Superman II. That one had our hero give up his powers for love, to be with Lois Lane. Realising the world introduced to such a formidable alien was not now able to live without him, he was forced to wipe Lois’ memory and return to business as usual. Now jump to the noughties and Superman has disappeared from Earth for five years, so that he could visit the remains of his destroyed home planet, Krypton. On returning he finds all is not as he left it, Lois has moved on and has now has a child. He is broken-hearted as well as having to resume his duty.
This movie might have been a fascinating analysis of a superhuman so removed for us, to the point where you wonder how he can even empathise with humanity. However, miscasting and wooden acting caused this to be an anti-climatic let-down. Also, Superman is too powerful a protagonist, and therefore needs a super-villain to inject jeopardy; and as there are only human adversaries, tension seeped away. A real shame.
Before Sunset
One of the best sequels ever made. Full stop. Nine years on from the will-they-won’t-they one night in Before Sunrise’s Venice, comes an hour-and-a-half in Paris. The film is shot in real-time, every minute of film for the characters is the same for the audience; as we watch Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) circle one another again. More baggage, less innocent, but just as winsome. Truly romantic.
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The Phantom Menace
One of the most popular sagas in cinema history, from 1977 to 1983 (and beyond) three films dominated the hearts and minds of audiences: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Tantalisingly they were labelled Parts IV, V and VI respectively. Parts I to III surely had to be made at some point. As the adage goes, be careful of what you wish for...
In 1999, 16 years after the last chapter, amid excitement for a film that has probably never existed so far, The Phantom Menace arrived. And like a balloon slowly deflating, expectations were crushed for so many. Gone were the breeziness, wonderful characters and exciting spectacle. In their stead were leaden writing, stilted acting and a story of trade routes.
Could a film have met those levels of anticipation? Who knows?
Aliens
It’s got to have been a daunting task to follow-up sci-fi horror masterpiece Alien (1979), but not only can Aliens (1986) hold its head up with its esteemed predecessor, but it is arguably even better. It is probably the best action film ever made. Sigourney Weaver is majestic as Ellen Ripley, returning to face her fears with a squad of marines on a far-flung colony. Clearly a metaphor for Vietnam, though this film is so much more; all tied to a riveting performance by Weaver, who proves, if even proof were necessary, that women can be just as at home in the action genre as their male counterparts.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Surely one of the most beloved action adventurers of the modern age on celluloid? Nineteen years since what seemed like the final instalment with The Last Crusade, and the magnificent combination of Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, excitement was palpable. With Connery now retired from acting, where could the series go? Well, it went in the worst possible direction. Stunts were replaced by crummy CGI, sci-fi hokum instead of spiritualism and the mythic, and faith seeming to be lost in the star – bringing in a side-kick who took up too much screen time. An absolutely travesty of a film which decimated the series, even more so than the dubious Temple of Doom. Check out the South Park episode, I am not alone.
It looks like there are roughly as many decent follow-ups as there are duds; and no clear rules as to why. With rumoured franchise additions to Ghostbusters and Gremlins, let’s hope if they make it to the silver screen they honour their predecessors!
