My favorite sequels of all time

[Shaft]

#1 - LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING
The movie holding the record for the most Oscars (11) is still what I consider to be the greatest overall achievement in cinematic history. When you consider all the film making elements of cinematography, acting, art direction, visual effects, music, direction, story, no film in history has brought them all together in a package as nearly perfect as The Return of the King. An incredible ending to only the second trilogy in history to have all three of its films nominated for Best Picture.

#2 - THE GODFATHER PART 2
More than just an amazing story, The Godfather Part 2’s real genius was in how director Francis Ford Coppola told the story. Disconnecting the linear timeline and in essence telling two separate stories book ending the time frame of the first Godfather movie. Many will argue (understandably so) that this should be #1, and I can respect that because the film is just so flat out amazing. Still, for me part 1 is still the best of the franchise. One of the best, most tragic and haunting endings to any film in history. (The other trilogy to have all 3 films nominated for best picture)

#3 - RETURN OF THE JEDI
Like many many many other people out there, I’m a certified Star Wars freak (only of the original trilogy, otherwise Star Wars is dead to me now), but unlike most others, I actually think Return of the Jedi was just a little bit better than Empire. As you can see below, I think both were magnificent, but to me Jedi had something extra that’s hard to define. The Vader/Skywalker battle in the Emperor’s throne room and the music that accompanied it is one of my favorite single scenes in film history. Not to mention the greatest space battle scene in movie history that STILL hasn’t been beat.

#4 - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Sweet hotness! I still remember as a little kid seeing Empire for the first time. I thought I was going to wet myself when we saw the Star Destroyer for the first time shooting out the probe droids. I definite darker tone than the others in the franchise made for maybe the best dramatic storytelling in the franchise. And today, with all the M. Night Shamhammers running around it’s hard to appreciate a good “twist” anymore… but man, back in the day Darth Vader telling Luke he was his father was MIND BLOWING! I still remember as a kid wondering how Grover because a Jedi on some swamp world.

#5 - INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2
To this day my favorite cop movie of all time is the original Infernal Affairs (which as some people still don’t know is what the 2007 Best Picture winning film “The Departed” is a remake of), and yet Infernal Affairs 2 just might be even better. Filled with twists and revelations, the movie is a prequel to the original with many of the key cast returning and younger versions of some of the original cast filling in the gaps. A completely killer film.

#6 - INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE
This is actually my favorite film of the entire franchise. One would think it impossible to meet or top the achievements of the Indiana Jones films at that time, and yet somehow Lucas and Spielberg found a way. Brining on Sean Connery to play Indy’s father is probably one of the best celebrity additions to a franchise ever. The chemistry between Ford and Connery was fantastic and carried much of the charm of the film. Funny, exciting and everything else you’ve come to expect an Indiana Jones movie to be (minus the nuclear fridge).

#7 - TOY STORY 2
The funniest thing about Toy Story 2 was that it was originally supposed to be a straight to video sequel, and that at some point the execs looked at it again and said “holy crap… this is actually turning out really well. Let’s release it in theaters!”. It’s a damn good thing they did. Not only did the film make nearly $500 million world wide, it is the only wide release film to hold a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes as well.

#8 - THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Following the amazing achievement of Fellowship of the Ring (a LOT of people expected that movie to suck) people were bracing themselves for a let down. “The first one was a fluke” I heard more than one person say. Even I thought the franchise had nowhere to go but down. Wow was I wrong! The Battle at Helm’s Deep stands as one of my favorite battle scenes in history as the story of the ring got deeper and better. Many felt this film was robbed of the best picture Oscar… I’m one of them.

#9 - ALIENS
Where the first Alien film leaned more towards being a Sci-Fi suspense film in many ways, the second burst into a different direction as a balls to the wall action film. The film is just loaded with memorable scenes and fantastic one liners (”Game over man”). It was the first action film I’d ever seen that I could literally say had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The film will hold up forever.

#10 - X-MEN 2
The first X-Men movie single handedly resurrected the superhero genre movie after Batman Nipple Lord vs Austrian Ice Ham” nearly single handedly killed it several years earlier. X-Men 2 took it up a notch. Right from the incredible opening scene with Nightcrawler breaking into the White House to the end where we catch our first glimpse of he Phoenix (that only fans of the comic book recognized and freaked out over when the fiery shape came on the screen), X-Men 2 redefined just how good Comic Book movies could be. To this day it’s still my favorite Comic Book movie.