10 Movie Sequels That Were Way Better Than They Had Any Right To Be

The first Magic Mike film is solid, if a bit underwhelming. Soderbergh's film is more committed to delivering an emotional retelling of Tatum's true-life story than it is to anything else, and while it succeeds in delving into the underbelly of the adult entertainment world and kicking off the ensuing McConaugh-sance, it frequently takes itself far too seriously.

Enter Magic Mike XXL.

With a name like that, the movie was practically promising more of what audiences expected from the first film (i.e. more male nudity and goofy stripped hijinks) and boy, oh boy, does it deliver. Incoming director Gregory Jacobs worked alongside Soderbergh as his cinematographer and editor to craft a sequel that was less self-serious and far more entertaining

Gone are Tatum's love-interest and source of dourness from the first film and McConaughey's emotionally-draining subplot, and in is a van-full of male strippers traveling the country with nary a worry on their minds. The road-trip structure serves the film very well, essentially allowing it to be a series of vignettes about the group and their antics.

This leads to a stunning extended sequence in a Savannah nightclub in which Donald Glover and Jada Pinkett Smith make surprise cameos and Soderbergh pioneers a new kind of cinematic lighting, specifically engineered to highlight the features fo darker skin colors.

This lighting technique has since been adopted by films like Moonlight, Get Out, and even Black Panther. So the next time you see one of those films, be sure to say a thank you to Magic Mike XXL. Also, Tatum and Joe Manganiello deliver the best performances of their career in this film and should have been nominated for Academy Awards.