Community: Real Life

Hollywood sequels


Saji

Saji, 20, is completing her degree in journalism in Australia, and is on work experience with the editorial team at TheSite.org. She loves spending time with family and friends, going to the movies, reading books and watching her favourite movies and TV programmes over and over again.

Saji is annoyed at the recent wave of sequels showing at the cinema and wonders why filmmakers can't be a little more creative.

Why has the little originality left in Hollywood been sucked out by a madness for sequels? In my opinion lazy producers need to come up with something new, something original and, might I say, something tasteful.

You may ask why I find sequels so annoying. What's so bad about getting to see Johnny Depp in yet another swashbuckling, supernatural adventure? Why shouldn't we see how Shrek and Fiona live happily ever after, kids and all? (Now I've learnt that Shrek 4 is to be released in May 2010, and a Christmas special is on its way. How much more can we take?)

Most sequels have little to offer in terms of a storyline. They often disappoint viewers and turn out to be boring and a waste of time and money. A classic example is The Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End (POTC: AWE), one of the most frustrating movies I've ever seen.

I remember everything about that day. It was Thursday, May 24 2007, and I'd decided that I had to see it as soon as it hit the big screen. Who wouldn't love yet another Pirates movie, I thought? About two (it felt like four) hours later, I left the cinema feeling devastated. They'd made the worst movie ever. OK, to be fair, the final action sequence was entertaining and the soundtrack was alright, but the acting was really dry, and the story was, oh hang on, there wasn't a story. There were way too many absurd 'twists' for that. Twists that never made any sense. It was basically a movie with familiar characters thrown into a meaningless plot. This isn't a movie review so I won't give every detail about what I didn't like because I'll be here forever.

Secondly, sequels don't do any justice to the original movie. In fact, they often turn around the plot of the first story, change the characters and totally ignore what the first movie was all about. But us fans, we don't forget, hence the disappointment. Going back to POTC: AWE for example, we see some characters return from death just for the sake of the sequel.

What makes me really mad is the fact that even sub-standard sequels make millions, but mostly billions, of dollars in the box office. They profit by reusing characters from successful movies. When people hear that a sequel to one of their all-time favourite movies is coming out, they get excited; it offers them a chance to revisit their favourite characters and discover what happens to them. So they pay to go and watch it. Of course, they'd want parts two (and three and so on) to be just as good as the first, if not better. Sadly, that rarely happens.

"I know that the main reason for sequel-making is money; riding on the success of a previous movie is much easier and uses up less imagination."

Other movies that spring to mind under the category of 'sequels that shouldn't exist' are X-Men 3 and Friday the 13th (which had around 10 sequels before I lost count), and Final Destination 2 and 3. 

Another clever ploy producers use is to make a couple of sequels for some movies, then merge them to make another movie with a few more sequels. Confusing? For example, we had the Friday the 13th series and the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, which were then put together to make Freddy vs. Jason. A worse example: the Alien and Predator series that gave birth to Alien Versus Predator (AVP), which now has a sequel (AVP2) on the way. 

It is unfair and misleading of movie producers when they make sequels that are just not up to scratch. Yes, I know that the main reason for sequel-making is money; riding on the success of a previous movie is much easier and uses up less imagination, but it's unfair for viewers to be put through so much excitement followed by great disappointment and have to pay for it, too.

What happened to finality and creativity? Why can't we have just one, maybe two, movies based on a couple of characters that have a sense of destination and then go on to something different? We deserve much more at the cinemas than the endless sequels that make us shake our heads and say: "What were they thinking?"

I want to see some good movies now. And I mean new ones at that.

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