Action movies are a dime a dozen because if there are explosions, shootouts, and a couple of zippy one-liners, moviegoers will generally deem an action movie passable. And since most action movies aim for this low bar, because it’s just easier, the truly great ones tend to stand out.
Then, these great action movies get sequels that are phoned in for an easy paycheck and usually fall into the pitfalls that their predecessors avoided. As a result, the truly great sequels tend to stand out, too, and the cycle repeats itself. Anyway, without further ado, here are the 5 best (and 5 worst) action movie sequels.
Best: Lethal Weapon 2
The original Lethal Weapon movie spent its runtime getting Riggs and Murtaugh to learn how to work together, and by the end, they were best friends. So, the story didn’t naturally lend itself to a sequel; there was no more conflict in their relationship.
Lethal Weapon 2 fixed this by giving them a really sinister villain to team up against: a South African diplomat with immunity from the law who was targeting cops. This is action cinema at its finest.
Worst: Taken 3
Neither of the Taken sequels have lived up to the visceral intensity and nonstop energy of the original, but the third one really took the cake. While Taken 2 eschewed the gritty realism of the original in favor of chucking grenades all over Istanbul, Taken 3 jumped the shark for a pastiche of The Fugitive.
Bryan Mills’ ex-wife Lenore is killed and he’s framed for her murder, so he has to go on the lam to clear his name. There are so many cuts, supposedly to liven up the action, that you’ll feel disorientated whenever Liam Neeson runs around a corner or throws a punch.
Best: The Enforcer
1971’s Dirty Harry was followed by four sequels, with mixed results. The best of those sequels was the third installment, 1976’s The Enforcer, which took the Harry Callahan character and placed him in an entirely different narrative.
Instead of redoing the “vigilante cop” angle from the first two movies, The Enforcer paired him up with Inspector Kate Moore, a female recruit played by Tyne Daly whose promotion he initially objects to. As an action-packed study of gender relations, this movie set the mold for 2012’s Dredd.
Worst: Rambo III
First Blood introduced us to John Rambo in a pretty serious, contemplative drama. He’d returned from Vietnam with PTSD to find that all his old war buddies had died, and got pushed to breaking point by a small-town police department. In the sequel, he was turned into the killing machine we know him as today, as he went back to Vietnam to liberate P.O.W.s.
This was a wild departure from the original film, but a rollicking cinematic ride all the same. Rambo III, however, really sucked. Rambo was sent to Afghanistan to save Col. Trautman from the Soviets, and it was too ludicrous to be entertaining. There’s even a scene with an ostrich race.
Best: Fast Five
This was the Fast installment that gave the franchise the shot in the arm that it needed to break through and become one of the highest-grossing franchises of all time. Fast Five turned the franchise from a series of generic actioners about street racers into a series of superhero movies that replace the characters’ super-suits with cars.
Dom, Brian, and the crew head to Rio de Janeiro to pull off a daring heist and butt heads with a tough-as-nails government agent named Hobbs, played by Dwayne Johnson.
Worst: A Good Day To Die Hard
None of the Die Hard sequels are as great as the original, but that was never really an option. Die Hard never really had a bad sequel until A Good Day to Die Hard, because no matter how absurd the storylines got, the movies always stayed true to the character of John McClane – until they sent him to Russia and made him an invincible, gun-toting maniac who acts first and thinks second.
The guy who was once incapacitated by some shards of glass on the floor can now fall from any height, get shot any number of times, and be exposed to any amount of radiation, and come out without a scratch.
Best: Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Due to Tom Cruise’s willingness to risk his life to no end, the Mission: Impossible movies keep getting crazier and crazier. The latest entry, 2018’s Fallout, exemplifies everything that makes this franchise great.
To create the mesmerizing action in this movie, Cruise rode a motorcycle the wrong way around the Arc de Triomphe, dangled from a helicopter mid-takeoff, and broke a bone in his leg when he misjudged the jump between two buildings, and still finished the take. Fallout flings its characters from one dangerous situation to another and forces them to make difficult decisions at every step of the way.
Worst: Escape From L.A.
John Carpenter’s Escape from New York is one of the most influential action movies ever made. Kurt Russell’s tough-as-nails portrayal of Snake Plissken has inspired every big-screen action hero from the ‘80s onwards. Arriving 15 years later, its sequel, Escape from L.A., crashed and burned.
While the original used narrative simplicity to focus on the action, the sequel tries to have its cake and eat it, too. It’s a prime example of a filmmaker trying to poke fun at a thing, but actually creating a prime example of that thing.
Best: Mad Max: Fury Road
While the previous entry is an example of a sequel that escaped from years in development hell and failed to live up to expectations, this is an example of one that greatly exceeded expectations. George Miller returned to action cinema in style with Mad Max: Fury Road.
By using CGI sparingly and featuring as much in-camera practical stunt work and special effects as possible, Miller created one of the 21st century’s most visceral moviegoing experiences. When you can tell that people are doing stunts for real, it gives you a whole new appreciation for what you’re watching, and the work that went into making it. As an audience member, it’s akin to watching the acrobatic wizardry of Cirque du Soleil.
Worst: Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
George Miller has mostly delivered satisfying, action-packed, post-apocalyptic knockouts with the Mad Max franchise, but the third movie, Beyond Thunderdome, is a total mess. The gritty, hard-hitting realism of The Road Warrior was thrown out in favor of a mindless ‘80s sci-fi spectacle.
There are some interesting ideas in Beyond Thunderdome as Miller expands the franchise’s world-building, but at the end of the day, world-building has never really been the forte of a franchise famous for its intense action sequences and breathtaking car stunts.
