Jurassic World: Dominion marks the end of the Jurassic World trilogy, and even though there will undoubtedly be more movies in the franchise, Dominion director Colin Trevorrow thinks there shouldn't have been any Jurassic Park sequels. Dominion has gotten the worst reviews in the franchise's history and it even makes other bad movies in the series look good.
But Dominion isn't the first movie to make its awful predecessors look great, and Redditors have been quick to note some of the worst-reviewed movies ever that look like Citizen Kane compared to their sequels. Whether it's the exhausting seventh movie in a superhero franchise or a whole trilogy of sci-fi epics, their sequels did them a favor.
Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2003)
Following two of the cleverest sci-fi movies of all time, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was the start of the franchise's downward spiral. It was full of unnecessary comic relief, such as the T800 stealing a stripper's outfit, and it didn't measure up to its predecessors in the slightest.
However, a deleted user notes that after seeing the three movies that followed, people think the 2003 release is incredible. The Redditor posits, "I don't think Rise of the Machines is very good at all, it just reeks of bland early 2000s action movie. But I've noticed people look at it favorably because everything after was pretty bad. Weird how that works." At the very least, Terminator 3 is a bad movie with a great ending, as it subverts expectations with a surprisingly grim twist.
Prometheus (2012)
Ironically, Prometheus is considered bad compared to its predecessors, but it's also considered great compared to the movie that followed. Skywalkling thinks that the Alien prequel is a bad movie, but is made great by Alien: Covenant, as the prequel/sequel is simply a by-the-numbers Alien movie.
But if that's all that audiences wanted, it delivered, as the 2017 release has a confident action hero, there's a terrifying xenomorph sequence, and it has the typical eerie atmosphere. However, Prometheus set up all sorts of profound mysteries that the sequel didn't attempt to answer or even acknowledge.
Alien 3 (1992)
To_The_Past thinks Alien 3 is great compared to its successors but adds, "I'm not sure it's so much the bad sequels that give us perspective, as the passage of time that enables us to appreciate the good qualities after our initial disappointment..." Even though Alien Resurrection had visionary French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet behind the camera, it was way too goofy and different from what audiences expected of the franchise, and then a string of critically slammed crossover movies followed.
Compared to the many movies that followed, Alien 3 is a classic. But some even think that if it wasn't due to studio meddling, the threequel could have been just as great as the first two movies. However, fans will never know for sure, as even director David Fincher hates Alien 3, and he certainly has no intention of ever making a "Fincher cut."
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
X-Men: Apocalypse is an overly goofy entry in the X-Men series and is tonally all over the place. The prosthetics look cheap, the performances are phoned in, and it feels pieced together from several different movies. However, a deleted user thinks that it's great compared to what followed. The Redditor notes, "Dark Phoenix really made Apocalypse look like The Godfather."
Apocalypse underperformed at the box office, barely reaching $540 million worldwide, which was a whole $200 million less than Days of Future Past. However, Dark Phoenix absolutely bombed at the box office and was a complete failure. Many viewers might have even forgotten that the movie exists. And between retelling the Dark Phoenix story once again and not utilizing fan-favorite characters like Quicksilver, Apocalypse is a superhero epic by comparison.
Taken 2 (2012)
JC-Ice points out, "As the old saying goes: Taken 3 makes Taken 2 look like Taken." The first Taken is a thrilling R-rated action movie that's well shot and has audiences on the edge of their seats. The movie pulled no punches and wasn't scared to depict the dirty underworld of human trafficking, and it was full of explosive but believable action.
Taken 2, on the other hand, was nonsensical and ridiculous, as Bryan Mills is held hostage and has his daughter throwing grenades over rooftops in the light of day. But it's a masterclass in filmmaking compared to the threequel, which resorts to shakycam and 10 cuts per second just to hide the badly shot action sequences.
Terminator Salvation (2009)
Cryptcoinian thinks that Terminator Salvation deserves more credit now they've seen how bad the Terminator franchise can really get. The Redditor posits, "I thought it was awful on first viewing, but after suffering the last two Terminator films, it actually seems pretty good now."
Given that one Redditor thinks Terminator 3 is good when compared to its sequels, and another Redditor thinks the follow-up Salvation is great compared to its sequels, it could go down the line all day. It's surprising that nobody has called Terminator Genisys great compared to Dark Fate. And When Terminator 7 is inevitably released to negative reviews, Dark Fate will undoubtedly be looked at in a more positive light too.
Thor (2011)
This user reckons, "When Thor: The Dark World came out it made Thor look like a rom-com action masterpiece..." The MCU was still finding its footing in Phase One, and the movies still carried some of the 2000s superhero movie cliches and tropes. 2011's Thor, unfortunately, fell victim to that more than any other MCU release. The film has terrible effects, is pretty low stakes, and is too focused on the romantic subplot.
However, all that is more than welcome compared to what fans got in the 2014 sequel. Thor: The Dark World was messy, convoluted, and had a drab color palette. But while the balance was restored with the colorful and wonderful Thor: Ragnarok, The Dark World probably looks pretty good compared to Love and Thunder, which has been criticized for leaning too heavily on juvenile jokes.
The Dark Knight (2008)
In what is an extremely unpopular opinion, GodEmperorMorshu thinks that the only thing that makes The Dark Knight good is its sequel, The Dark Knight Rises. The Redditor argues, "The Dark Knight, because I didn't think it could get worse with Rises." The 2008 release is arguably the best DC movie ever and is the third highest-rated film of all time on IMDb.
The film has been criticized in recent years, as the Joker's plan to get caught just so he can escape again doesn't make all that much sense, but the movie is epic in every sense of the word. And for all of its flaws, Rises is still generally considered an epic end to one of the best trilogies of all time too.
Jurassic Park III (2001)
When it comes to Jurassic Park movies, Jurassic Park III is by far the worst of the original three, and nobody could have ever thought the series would have hit a lower point than Alan dreaming about velociraptors speaking to him. But that's exactly what happened, as To_The_Past comments, "it provides far more effective spectacle than the three films far more overblown films that followed."
Compared to the Jurassic World series, the 2001 movie's action sequences are coherent, and it features exciting set pieces like the pteranodon cage. And now with the release of Jurassic World: Dominion, Jurassic Park III is no longer the lowest-rated Jurassic Park movie on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (1999 - 2005)
Archamasse thinks the Star Wars prequel trilogy is much better than the Disney-produced releases, but still acknowledges how bad they are. The Redditor notes, "I think the Star Wars prequels are another good example. I'm sympathetic to George Lucas and some of the stuff he was trying to do, but they're just not great movies."
After the failure of the sequel trilogy, fans have looked at the prequels more positively, finding things to like about them. This might be a case of quality, but it could just as possibly be a case of nostalgia and age, as audiences growing up in the 2010s might think that the sequel trilogy is way better than whatever Star Wars movies are being released in 15 years' time.