Sequels that retroactively make their antecedent films worse?

It can be for any reason: by cheapening the overall story; by "revealing" a secret that undermines a key character or the plot; or anything that just plain ruins the original film for you so that you can only truly enjoy the original by pretending that the sequel never happened.

Countless examples exist, but I'll offer Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the CGI Skull. The film is horrendously bad in its own right, but what really kicks it over the top is the opening vignette. I'm not talking about nuking the fridge, which is stupid enough, but the off-hand revelation that The Ark is stored in Area 51.

Area 51, for fuck's sake?!? The most trite and cliche "secret place" in the history of pop culture? I sense the clumsy, overbearing hand of George Lucas in this choice, and I fault Spielberg for not reining him in. It would have been better to have it inside Mt. Rushmore or under some famous stadium or at the bottom of the Grand Canyon--anywhere other than the most obvious and hackneyed "hidden" location in the world. As a destructive narrative decision it's on par with giving screen time to Jar Jar Binks or to retconning "Greedo Shoots First."

The closing "warehouse" scene in Raiders is one of the all-time iconic moments in American film, yet George saw fit to throw it away for a half-assed chuckle and a serious betrayal of 30+ years of fandom.



What sequels can you name that fucked up the films that preceded them? And how?

"Mitochlorians"

WTF?

I was reluctant to include the prequel trilogy because the films are prequels, after all. But they came after the originals, so...

Regardless, it was a horrible move by Lucas, and I wish that someone in the planning phase had had the nerve to say "George, that's just stupid."

...I offer instead Back to the Future III, which is so bad I didn't want to see Marty and the Doc ever again. Especially the Doc.

Then there's the Karate Kid sequels, not that Ralph Macchio was terribly compelling in the first one. In whichever one that Macchio overacts with a bonsai tree - I'm not kidding - I began to hate him so badly that when I saw the first one again, I hoped he'd lose. Miyagi say, should have stopped at first chance!

Most sequels, though, I think suck on their own, and one can appreciate the first movie still. Lots of examples come to mind: 2010, Odyssey Two didn't ruin 2001; the Planet of the Apes sequels didn't ruin the original; Gremlins 2 was so campy (OK, didn't suck, but wasn't good either) that it didn't ruin Gremlins.

Caught 10 minutes of that. Wanted to hurl.

Even Lucas was seemingly embarassed by it.

The first one was funny and charming. Had it been left a stand alone film, I think it would have been great. But because they had to cash in, the sequel got made. They reused half the jokes, threw in totally useless characters Mini Me and Fat Bastard, and had a lame cop out explanation for the entire first movie (Elizabeth Hurley was a fembot). Plus Heather Graham cannot act for the life of her.

:puke:

The rest of the film worked just fine IMO.


And 4 was wretched, but it didn't strike me as so retroactively awful that it undermines the first two.

Sounds sort of like the makings of a separate thread.

was one of biggest crapfests I've ever seen. What's next: Indy Jones and the Fountain of Youth?

Should be spectacular!

the first movie was great. Everything else with that name must be ignored and/or forgotten.

The first Matrix was ok, but after the second it made me hate the whole series.

I absolutely loved The Matrix. The second one was ok. The third was supposed to explain it all so it would make sense. I found that not only did the third not explain things, it made things even more confusing. Ruined the whole thing for me.

They should have called it :
"MATRIX III: We Have No Idea How To Wrap This All Up,
But they backed a DumpTruck full of CA$H up to our door....
So, here's 90 Minutes of incoherent CGI Effects featuring Keanu Reeves
and the always amazing Mister Hugo Weaving."

I pretend that these two abominations never happened.