THE ERA OF SEQUELS

It's no secret that we see fewer and fewer original ideas in the cinema. Those films that make it to the big screen are either adaptations, they belong to sagas or they are spin-offs. I understand that, in the world we live in, it is increasingly difficult to attract people to the cinema, and the easiest way to do it is giving them something they already know, because they already know they like it. However, I, as a cinephile, when I go to the cinema I hope to experience new things and although, unfortunately, I am going to go watch them anyway, I am not a big fan of the way they take things further than they should go, and I don't usually like that, although there are some exceptions.

It's not that I have anything against sequels, in fact there are some that I find better than the original, like 'Shrek 2' or 'Terminator 2', but I feel that there are sequels that are made only to make money by taking advantage of nostalgia and beyond that, they don't add anything new.

In the last two weeks I went to see two new releases that perfectly exemplify this second case. The first was ‘Alien: Romulus’ and the second was ‘Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice’.

The Alien saga should have stopped releasing new films a long time ago. It's true that some good ones have slipped through the cracks, but it's gotten to the point where, just like with 'Star Wars', when they release another film, instead of getting excited, I think: "Oh my God, another one?"

The case of ‘Beetlechus Beetlechus’ is perhaps more comparable to ‘Trainspotting 2’, they are aware that they live off nostalgia but they know how to take better advantage of that, they don’t pretend to be something they're not. When a choir of children sings the song of the first possession of ‘Beetlechus’ at the funeral of Lydia’s father, it feels like a hug to your inner child.

Another example of a great movie that should have been left in one film is 'The Matrix', the second and third films are already a little bit bad. They lived off the thirst for more that such a masterpiece left us and they're not good, but they're not that bad. However, the last film: 'The Matrix Resurrections' from 2021 seems to me like an insult to the saga, it's not only that it does not contribute anything to the original film, but also makes it worse, I swear that when I left the cinema I was really angry.

Yes, there are, as I mentioned at the beginning, sequels that I appreciate, even spin-offs. In fact, I am one of those who think that ‘Rogue One’ is the best of the recent ‘Star Wars’ films, since it fills in some gaps left by the IV episode. But episodes VII, VIII and IX seem awful to me, the new characters have no personality whatsoever and everything seems superficial and empty to me, they make me feel like they just want to see how much more money they can make.

Other spin-off prequels that I think are worth taking a look at (and let everyone judge for themselves) are ‘House of Dragon’ and ‘The Rings of Power’ because although they clearly aim to continue making money from both sagas, they are expanding the lore of universes for which there is actually enough material and therefore, they can afford it.

As I said, it's not that I'm against sequels, there are sequels that I do think are good, I just think that before making a universe bigger we should ask ourselves: Is it really necessary?