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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

YNTE Movie Night: I'm.... hesitant.

One of the main points of YNTE Movie Night is for me to watch bad movies so you don't have to. I absolutely do not mind doing this, so long as the suck is self contained. But sometimes a movie can be SO bad it leaks over and ruins other movies. This is what I am afraid might happen.

Here's an example: ten years ago (yikes that makes me feel old) The Matrix was universally revered. It was an awesome movie. Then, they made sequels. Now it's just a film in a shitty franchise. It's a punchline. The original movie has not changed at all, but by association, it has been reduced to ruin. The same argument can be made for Star Wars and its prequels.

So here is where I sit. Two of my all time favorite movies have had sequels made, and I'm scared to death to watch them. But at the same time, I am somewhat entranced and I'm not sure I'll be able to avoid it.

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is the first sequel that worries me. Despite being written and directed by the same guy and retaining much of the original cast, so much of what made the first film good was its originality. Creating a film that is both true to the first and also original is going to be tough. On top of that, 10 years have passed since the first one came out. While a sequel released 10 years later CAN do well (see Clerks 2) I have no reason to suspect this one will.

S. Darko is the other one, and this one TERRIFIES me. It's the "sequel" to Donnie Darko, but DD director Richard Kelly has no involvement with the sequel (and went out of his way to make sure everyone knows that). On top of that, beyond the titular character, Samantha Darko (Donnie's sister), none of the original actors from the film are back. And when I say Donnie's sister, I don't mean Maggie Gyllenhaal, I mean his younger sister, known for her catchphrase "What's a fuckass" and for being part of Sparkle Motion.

It is worth noting that Boondock Saints II had such a small theatrical release, that I, a big fan of the first film, was not at all aware it happened. S. Darko went straight to DVD.

Can either of these movies be good? Should I watch them and risk ruining two of my top ten favorite movies? Or should I cut a wide path around them and pretend they were never made. Let me know what you think in the comments.

1 comment:

Matt said...

Surprisingly, I've seen S. Darko, last summer. It "explains" a few things, uses a couple shots of the Sparkles girls in a flashback... To be honest it's kinda a sleeper movie. The first Donnie Darko didn't make sense... and yet it made sense. In S. Darko, it's either too confusing or too straightforward. If it weren't over a year ago I'd remember more, but I might do a more fleshed out review later.