Sequel due out in May

The sequel always generates mixed emotions for me. On the one hand, when you love a film, it's exciting to look forward to getting more; more of the characters, the sets, the jokes, the adventures, etc. But then, on the other hand, some of them are especially dreadful. Statistically, this is more likely, as a sequel that outshines its predecessor is somewhat rare.

So here's a list dedicated to, IMHO, the best sequels put to film.

1. Aliens
   
2. The Empire Strikes Back - some debate on this one, but it has less whiney Luke, more Darth, and perhaps the most famous sequel twist involving, you know, Luke's father and that....
3. Terminator 2 - appropriate and plausible lapse of time (both real time and story time) between the films, excellent use of terminology, and some exceptional oneliners that have entered the lexicon for all eternity.
4. Ice Age 2 - it's all relative. This was so much more enjoyable than the first film for me., even though neither is spectacular.
   

Hmm, this is a short list. Let's look at the sequels I was particularly unmoved by, to clearly make my point.

1. Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest - A medley of clever fight scenes. Very little storyline to speak of. Well that's not strictly true, but it's hard to rationalise it all as the same story, it's just too disjointed.
2. The Matrix Reloaded - So dumb have erased it from my psyche.
3. Every formulaic straight to video Disney sequel. They go like this: take dilemma/challenge of first film and generate the exact opposite dilemma. Pose this dilemma to offspring of first film's character. Voila, crap sequel.
4. American Pie 2 - if there is no plausible reason for any of the characters to return to the scene of the crime and do it all again, then give it up. Ditto for films where the world ended, all the characters died, or the lead characters fell in love and got married. The story is over!

There's a lot of okay sequels that i'm not going to talk about here. There also needs to be a special mention for Kill Bill vol 2. I don't consider this a sequel, moreso one film in two volumes - it is freaking awesome, so don't go complaining that I left it out, ok?