Anghus Houvouras with five film franchises on the fence…
In part one, we examined the worst film franchises passing through Hollywood like kidney stones wrapped in barbed wire. As we continue to look at examine the current state of film franchises that Hollywood has to offer, it felt like there were some that were neither movie masterpieces or unmitigated cinematic disasters. Some franchises are straddling the fence between ‘awesome’ and ‘awful’. Let’s take a look at the five movie franchises that delivered some highs and lows… whose ultimate film fate has yet to be determined.
Jurassic Park
Do I even need to waste word count on the greatness of the original? A masterpiece. Steven Spielberg’s best big budget movie and still the gold standard for special effects, which seems odd given that it’s 20+ years old. The Lost World: Jurassic Park is the definition of an uninspired, cliché ridden copy/paste sequel. More dinosaurs, more action, and more Goldblum didn’t do anything to improve on the original. The third installment achieves a level of terrible that didn’t exist prior to it’s release. Bottom of the barrel wasn’t good enough. Jurassic Park III went subterranean with its recycled plot and idiotic family drama.
Jurassic Park could have easily made the Five Worst Film Franchises list, but it was salvaged by a global phenomenon known as Jurassic World. The fourth film in the series hit theaters like a breath of hot, clammy air from the nostrils of a genetically modified dinosaur: it overpowered audiences. Now we have one good Jurassic Park movie, one GREAT Jurassic Park movie, and two pieces of hot garbage. This one could still go either way.
Star Trek
The reinvigorated Star Trek franchise is interesting because it has successfully relaunched the adventures of the Starship Enterprise, but has done so by abandoning the cerebral and philosophical aspects of the original in favor or big budget set pieces and over the top versions of fan favorite characters. It’s odd when you listen to interviews with J.J. Abrams who brazenly declared his distaste for the source material. You would think that would be a recipe for disaster, but Abrams delivered a crazy-entertaining first entry that felt, in spirit, like a hyper-charged high-octane version of a Star Trek story dripping in fan service.
Like most sequels these days, Abrams doubled down on the big and crazy delivering the enjoyable but brain-dead Star Trek Into Darkness. The first Abrams Star Trek movie abandoned intelligence in favor of big thrills. Star Trek Into Darkness bludgeoned intelligence to death with a rock. Two movies in and the crew of the Starship Enterprise still haven’t really gotten to exploring strange new worlds or seeking out new life and new civilizations because they’ve been too busy engaging in an interplanetary war with common sense. The third film, currently in the scripting stages should let us know if this franchise can achieve freshness.
Star Wars
Speaking of J.J. Abrams, this December sees the ridiculously anticipated next installment of Star Wars. The Force Awakens is a guaranteed hit set to launch a new era of annual Star Wars movies. Still, at this very moment the franchise is very much creatively on the fence. The original trilogy is beloved. The prequels are be-loathed. There are some that would be willing to argue that A New Hope is good, Empire Strikes Back is great, and Return of the Jedi is kind of a mess. ‘Two and a half good movies’ as some of my friends would say.
The prequels are a mess. Unwatchable garbage who are only offered kind words by apologists who are willing to forgive George Lucas for three terrible movies because they love the original so much.
I’m guessing The Force Awakens will bathe us in fan service and introduce some new characters for a new generation. But until that happens, everything is still suspect.
Alien
It’s easy to spot the ailing franchise. Just draw a line between their most recent entry to the original film that inspired it all and see how far the quality of the films has plummeted. If you count Prometheus, it’s a pretty steep decline. If you just use Alien: Resurrection, it might even be worse. The first Alien is legendary. The second is one of the best big-budget blockbuster sequels ever made. The third is a generally reviled abandonment of everything that came before, and the fourth is a movie so bad you wonder how on earth it ever came into existence.
Prometheus was an attempt at diving back into the world that inspired Alien and showing us that maybe the well is dry. Now Neill Blomkamp (Chappie) is taking the reigns, abandoning everything that happened after Aliens, and trying to get people excited about xenomorphs again.
Good luck.
Terminator
How could you not love the original? The perfect blend of science fiction and action that propelled Arnold Schwarzenegger into International Superstardom. Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a testament to how far James Cameron had advanced as a filmmaker. A bigger story with a strong emotional core. Great characters and revolutionary visual effects.
With two near perfect Terminator movies, James Cameron stepped away giving the keys to the franchise away and forced to watch it driven off a cliff and into a fiery oblivion. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines struggled to achieve ‘average’. Terminator Salvation couldn’t even do that.
Now we have Terminator Genisys which is reported to be a bold departure and a fresh start for the franchise. Since it still features Arnold in the robot role, I’m not sure how bold Genisys can be. As for being ‘a fresh start’, we’ll find out in a few weeks.
There you have it. Five franchises on the fence with an uncertain future for their cinematic success. Except Star Wars, because that thing’s gonna be a license to print money.
Anghus Houvouras is a North Carolina based writer and filmmaker and the co-host of Across the Pondcast. Follow him on Twitter.
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