With Rotten Tomatoes Awards Editor Jacqueline Coley
We made it through Speed 2: Cruise Control in one piece, so why not take a break with another detour and a look at the most disappointing movie sequels of all time? That’s the topic of discussion this week as 50 MPH welcomes Rotten Tomatoes Awards Editor Jacqueline Coley, also the host of the Awards Tour podcast!
The criteria is simple: What are the sequels that let you down the most? Which movies had a lot of promise given their IP building blocks, or had you really excited to build on a favorite movie’s franchise potential, but ultimately crashed like a cruise ship running ashore in Saint Martin?
Take Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, for example, one shared entry on Coley and 50 MPH host Kris Tapley‘s lists. “I loved the first one, and then the second one felt like a bad rip-off of The Craft,” Coley says. “The timing of that one was also sort of in that very alt-goth, you know, girls-and-their-spells-type vibe, and I feel it just kind of abandoned what the first one was, because they didn’t even understand what the first one was. This was not a movie that was, like, developed in house, where everyone bought into the lore. This was a random thing they bought at Sundance that ended up being a huge hit.”
Another entry Coley and Tapley can agree on: Independence Day: Resurgence.
“I was really stoked, because Independence Day was a big one for me,” Tapley says. “Roland Emmerich really just wants to up the scale with each movie, and somehow he upped the scale of 2012 with this movie in the most ridiculous ways, and it’s, like, ridiculous ways that just – you can only ask somebody to suspend their disbelief for so long.”
Caution to listeners: There are some hot takes in there. But it’s all in a week’s work for 50 MPH, so dive into the disappointment in this week’s downbeat episode of your favorite Speed (and Speed-adjacent) podcast!
Kris Tapley’s List:
1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Steven Spielberg, 2008)
2. The Matrix Reloaded / Revolutions / Resurrections (The Wachowskis, 2003/2021)
3. The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan, 2012)
4. Dumb and Dumber To (Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly, 2014)
5. Independence Day: Resurgence (Roland Emmerich, 2016)
6. Scream 2 (Wes Craven, 1997)
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (Jack Sholder, 1985)
8. Wonder Woman 1984 (Patty Jenkins, 2020)
9. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 1999)
10. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (Joe Berlinger, 2000)
Jacqueline Coley’s List:
1. The Sting II (Jeremy Paul Kagan, 1983)
2. Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground (Jesse V. Johnson, 2009)
3. From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (Scott Spiegel, 1999)
4. Independence Day: Resurgence (Roland Emmerich, 2016)
5. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Oliver Stone, 2010)
6. Cruel Intentions 2 (Roger Kumble, 2000)
7. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (Joe Berlinger, 2000)
8. The Rage: Carrie 2 (Katt Shea, 1999)
9. Staying Alive (Sylvester Stallone, 1983)
10. 365 Days: This Day (Barbara Białowąs, Tomasz Mandes, 2022)
