When you hear people talk about “the best movie sequels of all time,” chances are they’re probably talking about one of these (in no particular order):
Aliens, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Dark Knight, Batman Returns, Back to the Future Part II, Inside Out 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Superman II, X2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Dune: Part Two
But while I agree that the above are all great movies, I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re “better than the first one.” That said, the other day I stumbled upon a Reddit thread asking exactly that (“What sequel films are better than the first?”). Seeing this thread led me to making my own list of installments that I actually think fit this criteria. And just to make things more interesting, I thought it’d be fun to break this list out by decade (and arrange the films within each decade in order of release). And mind you, I’m not saying any of the movies below are better than the ones listed above. All I’m saying that the ones you’re about to see are better than the movies that kicked off their respective franchises. For instance, Shrek 2 is better than Shrek, but neither of them are better than Aliens, and Aliens itself is not better than Alien. You get it?
…Well anyway, here you go:
1960’s and onward
A bunch of James Bond films (not even gonna bother trying to list them)
1980’s
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
1990’s
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Patriot Games
Star Trek: First Contact (as a sequel to Star Trek: Generations)
Clear and Present Danger
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
Desperado
Toy Story 2
2000’s
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Shrek 2
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2010’s
Toy Story 3
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
The Wolverine (as a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
X-Men: Days of Future Past (either version)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Mad Max: Fury Road (as a distant sequel to Mad Max 1979)
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (as a sequel to Man of Steel)
John Wick: Chapter 2
Logan (as a threequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
War for the Planet of the Apes
Thor: Ragnarok
Justice League (as a threequel to Man of Steel)
Avengers: Infinity War
Deadpool 2 (any version)
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Spider-Man: Far From Home (as a sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming)
2020’s
Zack Snyder’s Justice League (as a threequel to Man of Steel)
The Suicide Squad (as a sequel to Suicide Squad)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (as a threequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming)
Top Gun: Maverick
Avatar: The Way of Water
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (as a distant sequel to Mad Max 1979)
So as you can see, aside from James Bond, all of the decades before the 2010’s only have a handful of sequels that I consider to be genuinely better than their first installment counterparts. I guess this makes sense though, when you really think about it. After all, franchises as we now know them didn’t really become a thing until rather recently. In fact, I’m pretty sure the term “cinematic universe” didn’t even exist until Marvel kicked off their own, which didn’t happen until 2008… For what it’s worth, though, I don’t think we will ever have a decade like the 2010’s ever again (for better or worse).
Something else to consider here is that a lot of the films that made this list were only able to do so because they were following-up mediocre first installments anyways, whereas the more highly-regarded sequels mentioned at the very top of this post are clearly better films, because they already had greatness to build on top of, even if they didn’t completely match said greatness…
Well, that was fun! I haven’t made a pointless list in awhile anyways…
Peace!
UPDATE: Just so it’s clear, I didn’t include the Star Trek film from 2009 cause I consider that one to be a reboot, rather than a sequel.
Related: List Repository
