20 Action Movie Sequels Since 2000 That Don't Suck

Fast, Furious and back for more

The Dark Knight Rises Bane Tom Hardy1
Warner Bros. Pictures

If you go down to the multiplex today, you’re in for a big surprise. Celebrities have replaced movie stars, special effects are more important than storytelling and every other movie is part of a billion dollar franchise.

You couldn’t even call these movies “cinematic” – that is, capable of conveying information using images rather than dialogue. Most films are aimed at a stereotypical teenage crowd, and teenagers have a short attention span, so everything has to be fast fast fast. Keep it loud, keep it frantic, keep it simple – then spell it all out in case they weren’t paying attention.

This does not make for thrilling action pictures. Take G.I. Joe: Retaliation (please), a movie with no shortage of action, but you can't tell who's fighting who or where they are in relation to each other. Loud, jumbled and crassly commercial, it could be this generation's Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.

Action sequels don't need an Oscar-caliber screenplay, just some coherent action sequences, a few quotable zingers and Michelle Rodriguez fighting Rhonda Rousey. Also an editor who doesn't have ADHD.

Here are 20 movies that, regardless of their intent, can’t be faulted for their ability to entertain. You might care for them, you might not, but if you don’t, see if you feel the same way after sitting through a triple bill of Transformers sequels. 

20. The Expendables 2

The Dark Knight Rises Bane Tom Hardy1
Lionsgate

You’ve got to have a Stallone movie on a list like this, if only for old times’ sake, so it might as well be the one where Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme also appear.

This movie is such a guilty pleasure that future generations will doubtless look on it, shake their heads and wonder aloud how it could've been so popular. Weren't Chuck Norris jokes no longer funny by then? What was the story in this one anyway?

It’s not about story, just putting as any action heroes as possible on screen and having them trade wisecracks in between driving cars through plate windows. You know, like the good old days. You either get it or you don’t, and since nobody onscreen is taking it very seriously, you might as well sit back and enjoy yourself. 

Contributor

Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'