10 Movie Franchises Where the Second Film Is the Worst

Recently a Redditor confessed, “Watching the Mission Impossible Franchise, I can say the second movie is a bit of a step back in quality from the first. I still enjoy it but in a stylized “gun-fu” way. However, the rest of the franchise is pretty solid.”

They continued, “It seems weird for a franchise to have the first sequel (second movie) completely outshined by every other film in the same franchise. I'm sure there are other examples. What are they?” Reddit responded to deliver this list. 

Redditor bejipo nominated “A Nightmare on Elm Street. I love these movies for how wacky they are, and for me, the second one is the dullest and the one I always skip.”

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

One user said, “If you don't count the weird, pretty much direct to DVD Die Hard 5, the 2nd Die Hard is terrible compared to the first, third and fourth.” 

Die Hard 2 (1990)

User bluebird added, “I preferred Beyond over  Into Darkness. It felt like the Kelvin Trek was finally free from having to live up to the old Shatner stuff.”

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

RegHater76 stated, “The sequel with Ice Cube was horrible, and it's not exactly like and Return of Xander Cage were masterpieces.”

State of the Union (2005)

TalkingHead77 nominated “The Exorcist II: The Heretic. Though I think it's a little underrated. It has a strong and surprising advocate in the form of Martin Scorsese.”

The Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

SettingVegetable9090 volunteered, “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones in the prequel trilogy.” Another user said, “The fun of the prequels is that everyone has their own opinion of which is the worst one, and no one can be wrong either.”

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)

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