20 Action Movie Sequels Since 2000 That Don't Suck

You don’t expect much from Tom Cruise, certainly not in this franchise, but MI3 had a secret weapon in the form of J.J. Abrams, who made the leap from TV to movies so successfully that the studios entrusted him with both Star Trek and Star Wars.

This sequel has all the high-priced stunt sequences you’d expect (check out the helicopter chase), but there’s more heart than usual, and Philip Seymour Hoffman made for a terrific villain. Good supporting cast, too: Laurence Fishburn, Maggie Q, Eddie Marsen and, way down the list, a then-unknown Aaron Paul, who two years later scored his signature role in Breaking Bad. 

It also gave Simon Pegg his biggest Hollywood gig to date (he'd previously been a zombie in Land Of The Dead), which lecasd to two sequels and playing Scotty in the Star Trek films, among other things.