Science fiction movies never quite seem to be safe from unnecessary sequels, with some franchises being revived even decades later to disastrous results. It’s the nature of Hollywood to yearn for sequels, especially where expensive blockbusters, like science fiction movies tend to be, are concerned. This has resulted in a great number of brilliant sci-fi films receiving totally unnecessary and critically inept sequels that attempt to cash in on an already completed story.

Franchises like the Star Wars series or James Cameron’s burgeoning Avatar films have proven time and time again that science fiction is perfect for carrying tentpole blockbuster films across the finish line. However, not every science fiction story leaves enough room in their premise for sequels to mine for additional narrative. As a result, many science fiction sequels can feel totally unnecessary or even disrespectful to their predecessors.

10

The Matrix Resurrections

A Film Made Out Of Spite

With the last film rounding out the Matrix trilogy releasing in 2003, it seemed as though the series could rest easy as a mostly beloved franchise that admittedly had a shaky end. Yet the sudden renaissance of Keanu Reeves in Hollywood seemed to necessitate a sequel, demanded by the studios in the form of The Matrix Resurrections. After almost 20 years, Reeves returned again as Neo, who finds himself once again held captive by the system he once rebelled against.

The Matrix Resurrections is so unnecessary that it almost hurts to see classic characters like Neo and Trinity return for such a mediocre installment. The film seems to almost openly mock its own existence with the meta narrative of Neo’s return, leading to some fans to theorize that Lana Wachowski made The Matrix Resurrections out of spite. Even if this isn’t true, it’s easy to see how a viewer could come to this conclusion after watching a film that adds nothing worthwhile to the established Matrix mythos.

9

Independence Day: Resurgence

20 Years Too Late

At least The Matrix already had some precedence for sequels by the time The Matrix Resurrections came out, as the same can’t be said for Independence Day: Resurgence. The original Independence Day is one of the most beloved action movies of all time, showing a plucky humanity fending off an alien invasion with superior technology. After laying dormant for two decades, the IP was revived for one last gasp with Independence Day: Resurgence.

In the sequel, a unified humanity benefitting from the aliens’ technology has to once again fight off a new invading army bent on harvesting resources from the Earth’s molten core, destroying the planet in the process. The film suffers from a tremendous lack of stakes – Whereas the aliens’ terror in the original is very much on display, the enhanced resources and expertise that the humans of Independence Day: Resurgence has makes them never feel truly in danger. Pepper in an audacious attempt at seeding more sequels, and the follow-up remains totally unworthy in the shadow of its predecessor.

8

The Predator

Unnecessary And Downright Offensive

Films like Prey have proven that the Predator franchise has more than enough fuel left in the tank as long as a simple formula in which the vicious alien killers are dropped into some novel new setting is obeyed. This will be adhered to in the upcoming Predator: Badlands, which will see the Yautja hunters attack a post-apocalyptic world, but the franchise has previously attempted more serialized storytelling.

In The Predator, a group of traumatized soldiers and a scientist have to defend humanity from the Predators’ new insidious plans. Infamously, The Predator included an autistic character whose autism is thought to be the next stage of human evolution by the Predators, enabling him to pilot their technology. Trying to turn the franchise into a cataclysmic world-threatening story it never intended to be, The Predator is destined to be forgotten as an unneeded speed bump in the series’ history.

7

Men In Black: International

Proves Not Every Great Franchise Has a Reason To Continue

Oddly enough, Independence Day: Resurgence isn’t the only alien-themed franchise featuring Will Smith that attempted to revive years later without the benefit of Smith’s stardom. Even great franchises run out of steam sooner or later, and Men in Black: International proves that it’s better to leave well enough alone rather than try to push something that was never meant to be. The original Men in Black movies thrived on Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones (and Josh Brolin’s) chemistry as Agents J and K, with the alien set dressing being mere icing on the cake.

Tess Thompson and Chris Hemsworth, both of Thor fame, do have a good enough chemistry to almost carry Men in Black: International across the finish line. However, the tired plot threads of shapeshifting aliens appearing in human form and sterile sense of comedy leaves something wanting from the original Men in Black formula. Even if the last movie in it was a great one, not every science fiction franchise necessarily needs to return for fourths.

6

Highlander II: The Quickening

There Should Have Only Been One

One of the most infamously hated sequels of all time, Highlander II: The Quickening is one of the only science fiction films that wasn’t only an unnecessary second installment, but retroactively ruined the story of the original. In the first Highlander, the Immortals’ origins are left mysterious, with little known about them outside of the strange rules they must follow, with the infamous tagline “There can be only one” summing up their struggle for dominance. However, the sequel had its own ideas about how the mysterious beings worked.

In Highlander II: The Quickening, it’s explained that the Immortals are actually alien beings from the planet Zeist, sullying the mysticism of the previous film. Not only that, but the century-spanning plotline is hard to keep up with, leaving the finished product more unwieldy than a Scottish claymore. In the end, the Highlander franchise should have abided by its famous quote.

5

Deep Blue Sea 2

Couldn’t Expand on an Already Shallow Original

More or less a sophisticated clone of Jaws itself, Deep Blue Sea already isn’t the most capable science fiction movie when it comes to an expansion for a sequel. The premise of an underwater research facility coming under attack by hyper-intelligent sharks was more or less explored to completion. But that didn’t stop a Deep Blue Sea 2 from getting made, somehow even more shallow than the original.

Deep Blue Sea 2 more or less tells the exact same story over again, with the idea of genetically altering sharks to have human levels of intelligence not getting any better the second time around. Boasting a rare 0% freshness rating on RottenTomatoes.com, it’s clear that the film is simply a worse version of the original, without the benefit of strong actors like Samuel L. Jackson to carry the absurdity across the finish line. It’s hard to find a science fiction sequel no one asked for as much as Deep Blue Sea 2.

4

Terminator Salvation

Bad Enough to Deserve Sully The Timeline

The Terminator films peaked long ago with Terminator 2: Judgment Day, one of the best action movies of all time. While Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was a dramatic step down in quality, it still had its moments, though the effort made it clear that it was time for the franchise to hang up the leather jacket and shades once and for all. Sadly, the series had to continue shuffling onwards with Terminator Salvation, the first (and arguably, worst) of many unnecessary sequels.

The only Terminator film to-date not to feature Arnold Schwarzenegger in some capacity as a T-800, Terminator Salvation has a total void of charisma not filled by Christian Bale’s angry performance as John Connor. The action is as mechanical and by-the-numbers as ever, with a tone shifting startlingly towards the establishment, marring the ideological impact of the entire franchise. It’s no wonder that Terminator Genisys opted to start a new timeline allogether, ignoring the events of the disastrous fourth installment.

3

S. Darko

Unheard of For a Good Reason

Donnie Darko is a perfectly self-contained, if confusing, story about time travel as told through the lens of teenage isolation and angst. For all its fame, most are unaware that Donnie Darko has a sequel at all, made without any involvement from the original’s director and writer Richard Kelly. S. Darko is named after Donnie’s sister, Samantha, who goes on to have a bizarre time-hopping journey of her own years later after the mysterious death of her brother unfolds.

S. Darko has just as confusing and ambitious of a script as the original without the same masterful control of narrative that narrowly allows it to work. The superficial dialogue and one-dimensional characters also can’t do justice to Donnie Darko, setting S. Darko even further apart from its famous progenitor. Though time may loop in the setting, it’s clear that the world of Donnie Darko only ever needed to be visited once.

2

Starship Troopers 2: Hero Of The Federation

Glosses The Point of The Original

Like most of Paul Verhoeven’s work, Starship Troopers is a revolutionary science fiction film that re-defines what a space opera can be as a story, subverting the message of the original book into scathing anti-fascist satire. As potent as the message may be, at the end of the day, the spectacle of the war on bugs and futuristic aesthetic is more than enough to inspire an unnecessary franchise. Thus was Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, taking the I.P. on its first steps towards becoming basic sci-fi action noise.

Much of the runtime of Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation is spent introducing cool new additions to the series’ lore such as laser weapons and psychic soldiers from a boots-on-the-ground perspective. This action-forward mode of storytelling only leaves a small denouement available for the series’ political messaging, hammering home a point with far less subtlety and nuance than the original was able to accomplish. Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation paved the way for many more unwarranted expansions of the original universe.

1

The Cloverfield Paradox

A Puzzling Attempt to Bring Together a Disjointed Franchise

The Cloverfield franchise is an odd one, to say the least. The original Cloverfield works well enough on its own as a found-footage giant monster movie, and 10 Cloverfield Lane was a pleasant surprise as a tangentially-related follow-up vaguely in the same series. After that, however, The Cloverfield Paradox tried and failed to unite the series together with a firmer idenтιтy via a bizarre science fiction movie taking place in space.

In The Cloverfied Paradox, scientists onboard a space station begin to encounter strange phenomena that seems to suggest the presence of an alternate reality merging into their own. The fact that The Cloverfield Paradox was initially an unrelated script that was only retroactively fitted to relate to the original Cloverfield is quite obvious, resulting in a disjointed feeling that the series never needed to continue past the first film at all. The Cloverfield Paradox‘s own confusing science fiction story doesn’t help matters, not making the argument for why the franchise should have ever developed.