Sequels That Undercut Famous Characters

Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) almost dies saving the young girl, Newt (Carrie Henn), in Aliens.AliensShe almost dies saving Hicks (Michael Biehn) early in Aliens. Newt and Hicks are great characters; Newt, especially, gives Ripley a near mother-daughter bond as she seeks joy.

The sequel rips that joy away. Newt and Hicks, survivors of many near-death moments, die instantly, without lines, and off-screen in Hicks's case. This is the ultimate undercutting.ultimate undercutting.

Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) final move annoyed many fans. The score difference between the critics' and audience scores for The Last Jedi shows this.The Last JedionRotten Tomatoes. Many fans think Luke's rejection of the Jedi after Ben (Adam Driver) destroys the temple conflicts with the character. Mark Hamill, who plays Luke, said "Jedis don't give up" and had no issue voicing his dislike for his character's change.he voiced his distaste for his character's reversionduringThe Last Jedipress circuit.

Luke strays when he almost kills Ben trying to stop the innocent boy. "Hologram Luke" is worse. Skywalker sends an astral projection of himself across the galaxy for a weak final fight before disintegrating at sunset. Luke becoming a scared old man erodes his past heroism. This changed how people view Luke.

Harry (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd (Jim Carrey) started as well-meaning fools in Dumb and Dumber.Dumb and Dumbermean-spirited fools in Dumb and Dumber To.Dumb and Dumber To. The first movie shows two guys wanting to belong. The second movie features a dumb, lustful guy trying to date his friend's daughter.

Their stupidity annoys others in the first movie, but they act intentionally rude to people in the second.intentionally assholes to people in the second., like Lloyd putting his feet on Harry's parents' dinner table and mocking Mrs. Dunne's accent, or interrupting a science conference to criticize the speaker. The two became unlikable; they lost the kindness that balanced their foolishness.

InRoboCop 2,Omni Consumer Products tries to mass-produce RoboCops, but their creations commit suicide, and they cannot find the reason. One doctor suggests Alex Murphy (Peter Weller), the original, survived because he opposed suicide as a Catholic man.

RoboCop now carries rosaries; he seems more man than machine. His directives drive him, explaining why he skips the police strike. The first film showed Murphy's humanity winning, ending with him saying his name. That outcome vanishes; he is now purely machine. All progress is erased so they can repeat the process in the sequel.

Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) is a selfish, immature outlaw, not truly bad. After teaming up with good guy Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) to stop his old band of robbers and a corrupt sheriff, Roy O'Bannon sees the light and stops his childish behavior.Shanghai Noon.The movie is brilliant. Newly appointed lawman O'Bannon decides to drop his outlaw name and use his given name, Wyatt Earp.

Fast forward to Shanghai Noon.Shanghai Knights.In Shanghai Knights, audiences see O'Bannon give up on being a good guy. He leaves his love and returns to his old ways, minus robbing, since he keeps money from his first big score. All growth O'Bannon/Earp gained is wiped clean so Wilson plays the character the same way. He is supposedly anShanghai Knights is an actual historical figure.The sequel does not mention his real name once; his real name is never brought up again.

The sequel to the original, terrifyingThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre made the whole thing feel like a joke.The movie gets a horror/comedy tag, telling viewers everything they need to know. Creators chose this because they felt Leatherface (Bill Johnson) should act like his weapon was his member sometimes. They turned horror into a weirdo; did this make him scarier? Whatever the aim, it justThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 made the whole thing feel like a joke.

First Blood.The actual title of the first Rambo movie, First Blood, shows soldiers facing hell on the front lines and returning to a society that wants to praise them from afar. John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) finds himself in this spot after war, traumatized, and driven out of a small town by a cop who sees him as a vagrant. This starts a manhunt where Rambo defends himself without killing (though one death happens). Finally, he is caught, and the movie ends with him breaking down from his terrible past.

Rambo: First Blood Part II.Rambo: First Blood Part II paints John Rambo as the only man who can enter a Vietnam POW camp, so they send in this one-man army. Stallone shows off his PTSD. This movie completely changes the original's point and the character. It turns a portrait of the soldier's struggle into aThe hollow killing machine.

Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) repeats the same arc in Dead Man's Chest.Dead Man's Chest.He repeats this arc in Curse of the Black Pearl.Curse of the Black Pearl.He is selfish, hedonistic, and an opportunist; he learns to value helping others.

Learning that lesson again devalues the first time it showed real human growth. He fights Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) at one point, who saved him in the first movie. Basically, any change from the original is erased.Any maturation from the original is erased.

In the original Star Wars trilogy, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) grows from a selfish outlaw into a hero who feels and loves. In the thirty years off screen, he scrubbed away all that growth and reverted to the same Han Solo.Star Wars.The trilogy shows Han Solo (Harrison Ford) change from a selfish outlaw to a hero who feels and loves. Thirty years off screen, he erased that growth and...He reverted to the same old Han Solo.

Even if the trauma of losing his son Ben (Adam Driver) to the Dark Side makes Han leave Leia (Carrie Fisher), doesn't that make him a terrible person? Leia also suffers; he compounds her pain by leaving her too. Either Han's growth in the original trilogy was fake, or J.J. Abrams just wanted the old smuggler back for his last film. Han could have stayed with Leia and continued to be kind of a jerk; the two things do not cancel each other out. But no, he had to abandon his better self and everyone he loved, except Chewie.andhe continued to be kind of a jerk; the two things are not mutually exclusive. But he had to abandon his better self and everyone he loved. Except Chewie, of course.

At the end of Men in Black.Men in Black.Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) tells Agent J (Will Smith) he has been grooming him as a replacement because he is tired and wants to return to civilian life. The ending is beautiful as J wipes K's memory, letting his mentor have a normal life at the cost of their friendship. This ending was what K deserved—until it wasn't.

In the sequel, the studio dragged K back in (forget the neuralyzer effects are supposed to be permanent) because they wanted the chemistry between Smith and Jones back.This happened at the expense of logic or a coherent plot.The original gives the audience and K a good signoff by showing the aged hero as sanguine and serene. Undermining this is a disservice to everyone.

One could argue this is unfair criticism of the Harry Potter franchise.Harry Potter.The Harry Potter franchise.But after The Chamber of Secrets,The Chamber of Secrets, they totally ruin Albus Dumbledore, the character everyone loved. Richard Harris, who played the kind wizard in the first two films, died and was...Michael Gambon replaced Richard Harris.

Gambon wanted to make his portrayal different, so he got rid of the "benevolent" stuff. Suddenly Dumbledore is cold and distant sometimes, and quick to anger at other times. This new version is almost the opposite of the brilliant but kind wizard.

While he follows the rules in his first appearance, by The Goblet of Fire,Gambon goes off the reservation., Gambon goes off the reservation.most notably in the scene where he accosts HarryHe demands an answer about how his name got in the Goblet instead of acting with calm wisdom.

The Lost Worldwas a cash grab (arguably)every installment ofJurassic Parkhas been since; no one cared much about a sensible plot. The end game? Get a T-Rex to San Diego, whatever it takes.

Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) survives Isla Nublar, the first movie's island. Dino experiments actually started on Isla Sorna, an island InGen abandoned after a hurricane. Why rebuild facilities worth billions that the storm only damaged, not destroyed?

A family faces dinosaur attacks on Isla Sorna. InGen needs a team to document the dinosaurs for public relations. Dr. Malcolm does not want to help—until he finds his girlfriend there (who failed to tell him about the dinosaur island), so he agrees.

He would not relent; he would lose his mind. He simplywould not go back to a dinosaur-infested islandHe considers how traumatizing his first experience was. He will either forget about his girlfriend or call the Navy or something—anything—except return.

Rocky IIIRocky (Sylvester Stallone) suddenly becomes nobody again. He has not been a good boxer all this time; all his opponents were carefully chosen, Mickey (Burgess Meredith) tells him. This is insane, since he climbs a Siberian mountain in gym shorts inRocky II!

Rocky gets badly beaten while Mickey dies of a heart attack, becoming the nobody he was at the start so they can reboot the story mid-franchise. Rocky trains (again), emerges victorious (again), and celebrates by fighting Creed (again).

The Spy Who Shagged MeAustin Powers (Mike Myers) and Vanessa (Elizabeth Hurley) open on their honeymoon, but Vanessa is actually one of Dr. Evil's fembots waiting to kill him; their time alone in the first movie offered no chances.

The reveal of Vanessa's fembot identity lets Austin be the same character he was in the first movie, before character growth. He grew from a womanizer to a loving husband, a journey he must repeat. However, he never succeeds a second time.

Take your pick with theDie Hardevery sequel is an exercise in cinematic recycling. Use the third one; one rehash is allowed, but two is too much.

The plot is not just the same, masked by different explosions. John McClane's (Bruce Willis) redemption arc is identical in every movie. At the end of the first film, he reconciles with his wife, seeing his selfishness; the exact same thing happens at the end ofDie Hard with a Vengeance Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) convinced McClane to call his wife. Filmmakers saw the recycling was too obvious. Each film then made John reconcile with his children, one estranged child at a time.