Our mission at SAW is to foster conversations about this thing we all love (or love to hate): film/TV. Many of our features are designed with you in mind. Your opinions, to be more to the point. You have ’em. We want to hear ’em.
Question of the Day (QOTD) is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a film/TV-related question that we put to you, the reader. The comments section below is like the feedback box at work; except, in this example, we actually read what you write and care about what you have to say.
Do you ever watch a film and fall madly in love with its characters and well-crafted universe? Do you long to spend hours following further adventures with the film’s protagonists? Are you anxiously awaiting every new instalment as soon as it is announced?
I want you to not think about any of the films that might have just come to mind. Instead, I want you to think about films that were amazing… only for the sequels or expanded universe to drop the ball and tarnish the original film along the way.
The question I ask today is: what film should have never received a sequel (or two)?
Okay, I have a few answers. The first that came to mind was Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a totally enjoyable spinoff prequel to the Harry Potter franchise that could have been a nice one-and-done. However, Warner Bros. and Rowling decided to shoehorn in Dumbledore’s battle with Grindelwald and turn the series into another epic tale of good vs. evil. It was totally unnecessary and the second Fantastic Beasts film is terrible.
The second film I thought of was Happy Death Day. I love the fuck out of HDD and want to see star Jessica Rothe have a long and successful career in Hollywood, but Happy Death Day 2 U was sort of a meh followup. It was perfectly fine and there’s plenty to like about the sequel, but I thought it followed the original film’s plot a bit too much.
Lastly, John Wick. Personally, I think John Wick: Chapter 2 is a great film and might be better than the first, but Chapter 3 is not good. I cannot believe I’m saying this, but there was just too much action. I needed the film to allow the characters a chance to breathe instead of throwing them into one non-stop action scene after the other.
Both Happy Death Day and John Wick are examples of films that will top “best of” lists in their respective genres for years to come, but could have achieved an even higher level of status if they had remained standalone one-off films and not the starting kit for their respective franchises.
So what about you, screenagers? What series do you think would have been better off if they had stopped after the first film?
I’ll see you in the trenches.
