10 Major 2014 Films That Will Probably Kill Their Franchise

7. The Raid 2

Although a key part of film criticism is opinion, it's not uncommon to see mainstream critics passing judgement as one. It wasn't 'cool' to like the mindless Fast And Furious franchise before someone suggested the fifth installment was actually, gasp, fun and now it's viewed as a guilty pleasure. Likewise, Vertigo's crowning as the Greatest Film Of All Time in 2012 came after it slowly became impossible to call it anything other than a masterpiece; Roger Ebert himself said to not appreciate Vertigo is a sign "you're insufficiently evolved as a moviegoer". But sometimes the unanimous praise of critics is bang on. And nowhere is this more on the ball than with Gareth Evans' The Raid. A relentless, Indonesian-set actioner (although Evans himself is Welsh), its impressive hand-to-hand combat was only matched by the camera's ability to keep up with the action. Critics have been as glowing as they were before about the sequel, which twists a previously planned prison thriller into as a follow-up to the 2011 hit. Whether they're on the money again or not remains to be seen, but one thing's for certain; this will be the end of the series. Evans' direction is the lifeblood of the whole thing and if things really are as good as before he's going to be getting offered projects with budgets a hundred times as large as The Raid 2. And if it isn't any good, then who'll want a sequel?