Actionized Sequel: Difference between revisions

Starting with the second film, though, most of the [[Backstory]] and [[Everyone Meets Everyone]] is out of the way and the budget for the movie is often much larger, allowing it and subsequent [[Sequel|sequelssequel]]s to fall increasingly into the 'Action' genre, even if the original didn't have that much action. If it did, the sequels become [[Sequel Escalation|outright over the top in their action]].

Tends to happen with horror films. Occasionally, as with ''[[Alien (Filmfranchise)|Alien]]'', it's because the director feels the first was perfect and tries to do new things. Other times, it's because anyone who ''[[Action Survivor|survives]]'' a horror movie [[Took a Level Inin Badass|graduates with a few levels in badass]], and when you put a [[Badass]] into a horror movie, it becomes an action movie.

== [[FanficFan Works]] ==

* The ''[[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' fanfic "It's Always Sunny in Fillydelphia" involves Applejack going on a date with Soarin of the Wonderbolts (her only customer in the season 1 finale "The Best Night Ever") and the two of them falling in love. Its sequel, "Semper Fidelis", plunks the two of them in an action-packed adventure inspired by the G1 ''[[My Little Pony]]'' special "Rescue at Midnight Castle".

* ''[[Alien (Filmfranchise)|Alien]]'' is a suspense movie about a creature hidden in the labyrinthine corridors of a space ship. ''Aliens'' [[Send in Thethe Clones|sends in the clones]] for all-out war. This was because James Cameron (who also wrote ''Terminator 2'' and ''Rambo'') thought ''Alien'' was perfect at what it did and wanted to do something different. Notably, ''Aliens'' is considered a great film in its own right, and some consider it [[Even Better Sequel|even better]] than ''Alien''.

* The ''[[Batman]]'' films subverted the trope, defied it, and ''then'' played it straight. The first movie (in 1989) had to set up a lot of plot exposition and could get draggy at times, but it still had a fair amount of action. Its sequel, ''[[Batman Returns (Film)|Batman Returns]]'', had even more action, but paradoxically seemed ''less'' action-packed because the non-action sequences and story themes were so powerful. ''[[Batman Forever (Film)|Batman Forever]]'' and ''[[Batman and Robin (Filmfilm)|Batman and Robin]]'' both had tons of action, often for no other reason than to have an action sequence.

* ''[[Casino Royale (Film)|Casino Royale]]'' to ''[[Quantum of Solace (Film)|Quantum of Solace]]'' - Even though the first ''was'' an action movie, the sequel did take this to ludicrous proportions. The [[Jittercam]] didn't help.

* The first ''[[X Men 1 (Film)|X -Men 1]]'' movie had a few fight scenes, but much of the screentime was devoted to explaining Mutants, and setting up the character relationships. ''[[X 2X2: X -Men United (Film)|X-Men United]]'', however, finally let Wolverine really cut loose, and ''[[X -Men: theThe Last Stand (Film)|The Last Stand]]'' has a few full-on mutant rumbles.

* Parodied by ''[[Family Guy (Animation)|Family Guy]]'' with ''[[The Passion of the Christ]] 2: Crucify This!'' (which from the trailer appeared to be ''[[Rush Hour]]'' with Jesus instead of [[Jackie Chan]])

* The ''[[Mad Max]]'' progressively movies progressively added more action with more budget.

* ''[[UHF (Filmfilm)|UHF]]'' shows a preview for the fake movie ''Gandhi 2''. All of his arguments are solved with killing his opponents. He likes his steak bloody rare, and the movie title is spelled out [[More Dakka|as he fires a submachine gun across]] a restaurant because [[Disproportionate Retribution|some said "Hey baldy!"]]

* Though [[Stealth Sequel|not advertised as a sequel]], [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Filmfilm)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' uses the events of the original book as backstory, with Alice now a young woman who becomes an [[Action Girl]] and slays the Jabberwock.

* ''[[Star Trek II: theThe Wrath of Khan (Film)|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'' in comparison to ''[[Star Trek: the Motion Picture (Film)|Star Trek theThe Motion Picture]]''. In this case, it was [[Surprisingly Improved Sequel|generally seen as a vast improvement]] over the [[Pacing Problems|long, slow-paced original]].

** Also, ''[[Star Trek First Contact (Film)|Star Trek: First Contact]]'' has far more action than earlier films in the series and is often praised for it. ''[[Star Trek Nemesis (Film)|Star Trek: Nemesis]]'' took it even further, but it was decidedly ''not'' praised for it -- actionit—action is cool, but it shouldn't come at the expense of anything resembling a sensible plot. The [[Star Trek (Filmfilm)|2009 film]] has been seen as a more action-oriented approach to the series, especially by its detractors, but its action quotient arguably isn't too different than that of the ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation (TV)|Next Generation]]'' films.

* The sequel to ''[[Cars (Animation)|Cars]]''. The first movie was about Lightning growing up and learning to appreciate the people around him in time for a big race. The sequel involves him and Mater being mistaken for American spies by British intelligence, leading to chase sequences and plenty of [[Stuff Blowing Up]].

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda 2 (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda 2]]'' is also this. Thanks to Po getting past his training, he can now join the Furious Five in their missions and become a [[Rookie Red Ranger|Rookie]] [[Sixth Ranger]].

* ''[[Death Wish (Film)|Death Wish]]'' and ''[[Death Wish II]]'' were vigilante revenge dramas. ''[[Death Wish 3]]'' and ''[[Death Wish 4 The Crackdown]]'' turned up the action to eleven for the day, with ''3'' featuring [[Charles Bronson]]'s biggest bodycount ever.

** While ''2'' gives you plenty of ammo, ''[[Resident Evil 3: Nemesis]]'' is generally a more action-centered game, giving Jill a dodge ability, the means to craft her own ammo, no longer restricting staircase movement to a button press, and, of course, the Nemesis.

** ''[[Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (Video Game)|Operation Raccoon City]]'' goes even further than ''4'' or ''5'': the players are members of a heavily-armed Umbrella black ops team, who mow down zombies with full-auto fire and get into gunfights with US Special Forces.

** Should check out that ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q10u2SIQ4pw trailer]...

* The ''[[Final Fantasy (Franchise)|Final Fantasy]]'' series is still firmly in the RPG genre, but has slowly becoming more action oriented, with action commands in battle, and a shift to more real time combat. [[Spin -Off|Spin Offs]] like ''[[Dirge of Cerberus]]'' or ''[[Crisis Core (Video Game)|Crisis Core]]'' are a full genre shift.

* The ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series. The first game had about equal amounts of combat, platforming, and puzzle-solving. The combat in the first game was very simple, as you could do basic sword swings, a few spells, a few summons, and by the end of the game Sora gets exactly 4 "special attacks", and upgrading attacks in that game was nothing more than adding a few more hits to his basic swing and making the hits pack more of a punch. The [[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|second game]] - at which point the series had already set forth the motion that Sora was basically [[The Messiah]] and now needed to prove just exactly ''what'' made a 15 year old boy better than grown, experienced men and women with supernatural powers- focused mainly on combat, with [[Super Mode|Drive Forms]], Summons, much more powerful and varied Spells, Limits, the ability to equip whole new combat techniques ''as well as'' being able to upgrade basic swings like in the first game, and Action Commands, which are specialized button sequences unique to every one of the hundreds of different enemies Sora has to fight from the smallest Dusk to the final boss Xemnas that sometimes cause him to perform some incredibly awesome and crushing attacks that whittle away at his enemies and at other times initiate a short sequence of some amazingly athletic maneuvers that can save Sora from an attack (such as jumping hundreds of feet in the air off an exploding ship or the time Roxas-a different playable character- hurled his Keyblade in midair at an orb of death he was falling into).; giving Sora a ridiculous number of ways to kick ass. The next few games put some more emphasis on platforming, but continued to refine the combat system.

* [[Inverted Trope|Inversion]]: ''[[Penumbra (Videovideo Gamegame series)|Penumbra]]: Black Plague'' nearly completely took down the combat system ''Overture'' offered, throwing objects aside.

** ''[[Amnesia: theThe Dark Descent (Video Game)|Amnesia the Dark Descent]]'', its [[Spiritual Successor]], takes it up a notch: the only way to get rid of the monsters is to hide from them, or in some cases, run until another area is reached. Some enemies, like a few versions of Kaernk, ''can'' be killed, but it's mostly a case of [[Good Bad Bugs]].

* While more of a "[[Video Game Remake|remake]]" than a "sequel", ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'' also throws the combat system out of the window.

* ''[[Splinter Cell]]: Conviction'' turns up the action and gives badass Sam Fisher another [[Took a Level Inin Badass|level in badass.]]

* [[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]] made the run n gun style of gameplay an option as compared to earlier titles which were more stealth focused and were more difficult to run n gun.

** ''Metroid Prime 3: Corruption'', compared to the first previous two games. There are a lot more actionized setpieces (like dropping a giant bomb on a leviathan shield, the demolition trooper escort mission, Hypermode, the free-fall Ridley fight) and less isolated parts. It is also more linear, but mostly due to level design, as you fly around several planets and the areas are smaller. There is still plenty of exploring to do, but combat takes a strong precedence over it.

** The ''Prime'' series in itself is one, what with moving from the original platformer style into a [[First -Person Shooter]].

* ''[[Dead Space 2 (Video Game)|Dead Space 2]]'': the first ''[[Dead Space (Videovideo Gamegame)|Dead Space]]'' wasn't without it, but it was certainly slower and less over-the-top. To put things into perspective, in the first game [[Player Character|Isaac]] moved around in zero-g by jumping from surface to surface with the aid of his [[Power Armor|RIG's]] magnetic boots. In the second game, Isaac moves in zero-g by way of a [[Jet Pack]] ''integrated into his RIG''. If you're not drawing comparisons to ''[[Iron Man]]'', you're doing it wrong.

** [[King's Quest: Mask of Eternity (Video Game)|King's Quest Mask of Eternity]]

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