Empire's 50 Greatest Movie Sequels

Everyone loves a good list. I saw this Empire effort on IMDB a few weeks ago and thought it was pretty solid, for the most part. There are 50 on the list, so I am not going to go over every single one, but I thought I would highlight those that are noteworthy. Check out the complete list: Empire




50. Shrek 2 - yawn

39. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - Now we're talking. Easily the best of the vacation movies. It seems like It's a Wonderful Life has run its course, and A Christmas Story is getting a little old, is this now the quintessential Xmas movie? The film is pure comedy with a lot of slapstick and now-famous one-liners. This movie is funnier than anything Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell has ever done.

36. Mission Impossible III - I was never that crazy about it, but it's on TV a lot, and I think it gets better and better with each viewing.

35. Back to the Future Part III - I prefer this to part 2, and I think a lot of people agree with me. The Back to the Future trilogy does not get a lot of buzz when the topic of best trilogies are discussed. That's a shame, because this is good stuff.

26. The Color of Money - A surprise inclusion. Scorsese, Paul Newman, billiards, what can go wrong? O yeah, Tom Cruise, but still a solid film.

25. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - A lot of people think this is right up there with Raiders. An essential inclusion to this list, and Empire correctly points out that this is probably the funniest and most quotable film of the Indiana Jones franchise. I would say a great conclusion to the Indy story, but Crystal Skull kind of ruined that.

23. Back of the Future Part II - Wow, ahead of part 3. Surprised me a little. Still a good movie.

22. Spider Man II - Pretty big when it came out, not so much anymore. Is Spider Man anyone's number one favorite superhero?

21. Return of the Jedi - Subtract the ewoks and it's close to a perfect movie. The worst of the trilogy, but look what it's up against.

18. The Bourne Ultimatum - Solid sequel. Solid trilogy.

14. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Kind of surprising that this is above Crusade and this high for that matter. The darkest of the trilogy. I think as time goes by, it might get more and more popular. It's already a kind of dark, cult classic.

13. Batman Returns - I like the inclusion. This feature, as well as Batman Forever, are slightly underrated in my opinion. Great villains and great performances by Danny DeVito and Michelle Pfeiffer.

11. X2 - I mean, who doesn't like X-Men, or this movie for that matter.

9. Superman II - I was never really into these movies, but those villains in this one were really cool.

7. The Bourne Supremacy - This is really good. You actually like and root for Matt Damon, which can be tough in a lot of his movies. Empire states that this series, and this movie in particular, is responsible for the new direction in the Bond franchise from smooth Pierce Brosnan to hard-ass Daniel Craig.

6. The Empire Strikes Back - Nothing more needs to be said about this movie. The thing I don't get is that it's all the way down on this list. In my opinion, this is the second-best sequel ever and the best movie out of the entire Star Wars franchise. On my personal movie list, I have this as the 5th greatest movie of all-time.

5. The Dark Knight - I think this has been talked about a little bit on this website. I was blown away in the theater but was not ready to proclaim this as the greatest thing in the world. But with each viewing, my opinion keeps swaying to that very proclamation. Easily the best film of 2008 and one of the best movies in the past ten years.

4. Toy Story 2 - WTF, I thought only Dan liked crappy Pixar movies.

3. Terminator 2: Judgment Day - I probably would not put it this high, but I definitely understand why it is.

2. The Godfather Part II - Yeah this better be on the list. Should be first, but I'll definitely settle with it being second. I have talked and written about G2 at length on this website. The best movie of all-time in my opinion.

1. Aliens - A surprise number one pick that is pretty common for these Empire lists. Wasn't Tyler Durden number one in the Empire character list? With that said, this is a great movie that is still under-appreciated. Definitely one of the most suspenseful and heart-pounding movies of all-time. If Avatar is good, will James Cameron enter the Steven Spielberg echelon of directors? Terminator, T2, Aliens, Titanic, Avatar? This probably should be in the 5-10 range. I would probably have the Godfather Part 2 number one, TESB two, and the Dark Knight three.


-no LOTR? Are they considered one big film and not an original with two sequels?

-omissions - The Matrix Reloaded, Revenge of the Sith, Kill Bill Vol. 2, The Godfather Part III (believe me, it's good),