8 Sequels that Forgot the Premise/Events of the Original Film

Sequels are always a dodgy concept. There have been amazing sequels, there have been lousy sequels, and there have been sequels that don’t seem to want to let the franchise die (how many Saw movies are we up to by now? Isn’t calling a film franchise Final Destination kind of redundant if you never end it?). But many times there are sequels that decide to look at the preceding film and just chuck out everything that film established about its world and the purpose of its characters. It is probably no coincidence that many of the films on this list are also on critics’ lists of some of the worst sequels of all time.

1.)           Freeing Minds is no longer the mission (The Matrix and its sequels)

The first Matrix film showed the hero, Neo, discovering the horrible truth that what he thought was the real world was just a gigantic computer simulation. All the people saw and interacted with in that world were really in giant pods stacked on top of each other, supplying power to the machines who have taken over the planet. And it is Neo’s destiny to one day free all the humans and defeat the machines once and for all.

Except it’s not. It turns out that Neo is a creation of the machines who every couple of decades allow a bunch of humans to go free and then wipe them all out, restarting the whole “The One” myth over and over again. The Machines know that no matter how well they make their fantasy computer program, some small percentage of the population will always reject it. So they just let those people go and kill them later (why they don’t just kill them as soon as they reject the program, no one knows). So Neo is not meant to save anyone. He’s just supposed to keep the cycle going.

2.)           They’re not immortals, they’re aliens (Highlander II: The Quickening)

"We're also porcupines apparently."

It’s not shocking that Highlander II completely forgot the events of the previous film. If you look at a list of the worst sequels of all time, heck even a list of the worst films of all time, Highlander II tends to show up a lot. And that is for the simple purpose is that they took a very simple premise (immortals fighting each other through time) and tried to add a bunch of confusing new elements. The “immortals” are really alien refuges from a planet called Zeist. For rebelling against the ruling class of their planet, MacLeod and his companion Ramirez (who died in the first movie) are sent to earth to be immortals.

Now according to the first movie, Ramirez has been alive for thousands of years. It’s suggested he was born in ancient Egypt. MacLeod has been alive for several centuries. So if they were sent to earth at the same time that makes no sense. Also, if people from Zeist are immortal on Earth why doesn’t everyone from Zeist go to earth? Why stay on a (what can only be assumed from limited scenes filmed) desert and war torn planet? Most of these bizarre story points seem to only exist to undo some of the events of the first movie. Bringing back Ramirez, making MacLeod immortal again (he was mortal at the end of the first movie) and bringing in new immortals for them to fight (again, at the end of the last movie all the other immortals are dead, the whole “There can be only one” thing), it’s all done so we can have one more adventure between MacLeod and Ramirez.

3.)           They don’t just talk, they have super powers (Baby Geniuses 2: Superbabies)

This made it to the big screen before The Justice League.
Not Kidding.

The less said about the Baby Geniuses film franchise, the better. How the first movie got made is a mystery, how the second one got green lit just baffles the mind. Essentially the premise behind the first movie was the exploiting of genius children before their minds become atrophied from age. One of the babies has a twin brother that he switches places with in an attempt to escape the rigorous program he is slaved to (yes, this is a kids movie) and then has to break back in to the corporation not only to free his brother, but the other children locked up. The sequel takes the even more ridiculous leap and has a group of babies with super powers.  Why? Not because giving babies super powers is the next logical step from exploiting babies with super intelligence, but because super hero movies are popular.

4.)           You can’t stop the future (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)

In the first Terminator film, Kyle Reese flat out says that there are many different possible future timelines. The idea that the future can be stopped is presented to the audience from the very beginning. In the sequel, Sarah Connor, her son John and a reprogrammed good Terminator actually destroy the chips that would lead to the creation of Skynet and the Terminators. A deleted scene from Terminator 2 actually shows an elderly Sarah Connor watching her son play with her grandchildren and how talking about how she got drunk on the day the world was supposed to end. The Terminator future is supposed to be preventable.

Not so according to Terminator 3. In Terminator 3, everything that those first two movies suggested about stopping the future, wasn’t true. In fact the end of the movie ends with Judgment day starting. John Connor is left in a bunker broadcasting a message of hope to the few surviving humans. Essentially fulfilling the destiny that he worked so hard to prevent. While yes, it is important for John Connor to fulfill his role as savior of humanity, the idea was that he should have been able to prevent Judgment day from happening at all. If the second movie is to be followed, Skynet should have never come on line. Miles Dyson died to save the future. But according to Terminator 3, Miles Dyson died for nothing.

5.)           It’s not about the guy being chased, it’s about the chasers (US Marshals)

The movie was called The Fugitive. Tommy Lee Jones’ character was really just something to keep the character going on his race to freedom. The entire film is about Richard Kimble trying to prove his innocence in the death of his wife. But as far as US Marshals is concerned, Richard Kimble was just another case and it’s all about Sam Gerard and his team.

6.)           The vampire was stolen by medical students instead of locked up back in Carfax Abbey (Dracula II)

At the end of Dracula 2000, Simon and Mary have succeeded in locking up the burnt remains of Dracula back in the vault in Carfax abbey (with Mary dealing with the fact that she has Dracula’s blood in her veins and whatever possible ramifications may come from that). Dracula II however, completely ignores that ending and has a medical doctor stealing the corpse of Dracula from the medical examiners’ office and a secret order of priests that hunt vampires. Essentially they should have just made a brand new movie series since the only thing that carries over from the first movie is the name Dracula (not even the same actor is playing the character). They could have just made a movie about vampires as so many others have done. So many new facts have to be introduced in this film, it is almost a waste of time to even mention the previous film’s events.

7.)           It was never supposed to be just about Michael Myers (Halloween II and IV)

A long time ago there was a movie about a serial killer hunting down babysitters on Halloween night. Then they decided to make another movie about that same serial killer. And then when a third movie with the title Halloween came out, that serial killer was nowhere to be seen. Instead the third movie was about poisoned Halloween masks that would kill the people who wore them. And then the next several sequels went back to telling stories about the serial killer. Now people might think that this third film was some sort of aberration but they would in fact be wrong. The other movies featuring Michael Myers were the aberration. The Halloween franchise was always meant to be about different terrifying stories all revolving around the holiday of Halloween. The reason why the movies went back to featuring Michael Myers is because Halloween III is considered by many to be terrible. So Hollywood, as is normal, decided to go with what had worked before and feature the killer who had been so popular in the first two films.

8.)           The worst thing that could happen is if the aliens got to earth, oops they were here the whole time (Alien vs. Predator)

While each of the four Alien films are cinematically different in tone and style, one important thread managed to exist in each of them; if the Xenomorphs (the proper name for the aliens) ever got to earth they would run wild and literally destroy the planet. Each film has Ripley pleading with a different person not to bring the Aliens or eggs or facehuggers to earth. Each plea of course falling on deaf ears which is what drives the plot of the film. Except, it turns out Ripley and the Company never needed to go through all the trouble they do to get an Alien to earth. They’ve been on earth the whole time according to the events of Alien vs. Predator. Ancient Mayans used to sacrifice themselves to the aliens so the Predators would have something to hunt.