10 Best Movie Sequels With Great Acting, Ranked

Sequels can often be perceived to be a highly cynical ordeal in which Hollywood simply wants to coast on the appeal of their past success, even if there is not a compelling creative reason to do so. While there are certainly some issues that come from overexposure, there are countless great sequels that are more than worthy of the franchises that spawned them. In fact, there are some franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, and the James Bond saga that have been able to keep going strong several decades after their inception.

Movie sequels that succeed tend to be those that feature great acting, signifying that there is still an emotional reason to justify emotional investment from the viewers who have followed these respective franchises since the beginning. Here are the ten best movie sequels with great acting, ranked.

10 ‘The Color of Money’ (1986)

Directed by Martin Scorsese

The Color of Money is a nearly perfect legacy sequel that allowed Paul Newman to reprise his role as “Fast Eddie,” a character that he had made iconic in the 1962 gambling classic The Hustler. While the notion of Newman returning to a role that was already perfectly performed could have easily been disastrous, he ended up adding a surprising amount of depth to the way in which Eddie has become cynical by the years he ended up wasting his life playing pool; after years of being snubbed by the Oscars (including for his performance in The Hustler), Newman finally won his first Academy Award for Best Actor.

The Color of Money also got a major boost of star power from Tom Cruise, who co-starred as the young protege that Eddie takes under his wing as they prepare to engage in a major tournament competition.

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9 ‘Before Midnight’ (2013)

Directed by Richard Linklater

Before Midnight was the mature conclusion to the trilogy of romance films that Richard Linklater had started back in 1995. If Before Sunrise tracked the perfect first date between Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) and Before Sunset examined them at a crossroads later on in life, Before Midnight flashed forward to see how they had survived several years of marriage.

Hawke and Delpy are so invested in the characters that they feel like a real couple; based on how much affection they had shown to each other in the earlier installments in the series, it’s almost a little bit challenging to see them break down into petty arguments. While there’s been rumors that Linklater could come back to direct a fourth film in the series, Before Midnight is so perfectly acted that it doesn’t seem necessary to move forward.

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8 ‘Aliens’ (1986)

Directed by James Cameron

Aliens had the seemingly impossible task of moving forward after the success of Alien, which had already been crowned as one of the greatest science fiction movies of all-time. Although James Cameron ended up inserting a significantly greater scale with much more action, the major difference between the two films was the screen time granted to Sigoruney Weaver’s performance as Ellen Ripley. While Ripley had been a “final girl” of sorts in the first films, Aliens turned her into a badass action hero who took down the Xenomorphs.

Weaver’s performance in Aliens earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, a rare feat of accomplishment for both sequels and the science fiction genre, as the Oscars tend to be biased against recognizing both in their acting categories. The film also features a hilarious, scene-stealing role from the late great Bill Paxton.

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7 ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (2015)

Directed by George Miller

Mad Max: Fury Road was a wildly inventive new take on the Mad Max franchise, as it was Tom Hardy that stepped into the titular role after Mel Gibson had portrayed him within the first three installments of George Miller’s post-apocalyptic science fiction action saga. Hardy was able to add more depth to the role of Max; while he is often wordless, there is a sense that Max is called to become a hero based on the tragedy of losing his family.

The real star of Mad Max: Fury Road is Charlize Theron, whose character Imperator Furiosa instantly became recognized as one of the most important female characters in action movie history. Nicholas Hoult also gives a terrific performance as Nux, the crazed “War boy” who decides to change sides after discovering that the ideology he has committed his life to was quite repulsive.

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6 ‘Skyfall’ (2012)

Directed by Sam Mendes

Skyfall is a highly prestigious James Bond film that featured the best acting ever seen in the franchise. While Daniel Craig had been doing a great job at playing Bond ever since his debut in Casino Royale, Skyfall allowed him to play an older, if not necessarily wiser version of agent 007 who is forced to prove why the espionage he has dedicated his entire life to is worth protecting in the modern political world.

Skyfall allowed Judi Dench to bring more depth to the character of M, the leader of MI6 who begins to form an even tighter emotional relationship with Bond. However, the film’s scene stealer is certainly Javier Bardem as the villain Raoul Silva, a terrifying former MI6 agent who decides to lead extensive cyberattacks on the agency itself in order to implicate M in a conspiracy.

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5 ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

The Dark Knight isn’t just one of the greatest superhero movies ever made, but a truly excellent crime thriller that honors the work of Michael Mann. Christian Bale had already given a great performance as Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, but The Dark Knight allowed him to show a deeper complexity to the role as he considers what revealing his identity as Batman would do to Gotham City.

The Dark Knight is best known for the performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker, which won him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor after his tragic death in January of 2008. Ledger managed to play a psychopathic monster who raised some surprisingly compelling points about the darkness of mankind; even beyond the comic book genre itself, Ledger’s Joker has been cited as one of the greatest movie villains ever.

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4 ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ (1989)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade expanded the world of the Indiana Jones franchise and turned it into a true ensemble piece, even if Harrison Ford’s performance as the titular archeologist was still the number one reason to see the film. Ford actually wasn’t the only actor to play Indy in the film, as a flashback sequence featuring River Phoenix proved to be the perfect way to kick off the third installment in Steven Spielberg’s adventure franchise.

The emotional weight of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade comes from Sean Connery, who joined the series in the role of Indy’s father, Henry Jones Sr. Despite the fact that they were only twelve years apart in real life, Connery and Ford perfectly played a bickering father and son duo who eventually discover that they had much more in common than they had ever realized before.

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3 ‘Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)

Directed by Irvin Kerhsner

Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back was able to take the Star Wars franchise in a darker direction with one of the most iconic twists in film history, but it also succeeded because director Irvin Kershner was willing to spend more time with the characters. The chemistry between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher was at its peak, as Han Solo and Leia Organa are forced to spend much more time with each other as they get lost in space.

Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back added several new characters to the saga, including Billy Dee Williams as the charismatic businessman Lando Calrissian. However, the film’s real magic trick was the creation of the puppet character of Jedi Master Yoda, who was brought to life by the legendary The Muppet Show alum Frank Oz with groundbreaking practical effects.

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2 ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (2003)

Directed by Peter Jackson

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King served as the definitive conclusion of Peter Jackson’s acclaimed adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, and finally took home the Academy Award for Best Picture, along with ten other trophies. Although it was oddly overlooked in all of the acting categories, it would be rather challenging to single out just one performance considering how uniformly excellent the entire ensemble is.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King allowed Viggo Mortensen to give his best performance as Aragorn, who begins to accept his destiny as the one true King of Gondor and lead the army to fight Sauron. However, it’s the friendship between Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) as they venture into the heart of Mount Doom that gives the film its most emotional moments.

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1 ‘The Godfather: Part II’ (1974)

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

The Godfather: Part II is a masterpiece that managed to serve as both a sequel and prequel to the original The Godfather film that Francis Ford Coppola had directed two years prior. Al Pacino had already been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Godfather, but he earned a Best Actor nomination for The Godfather: Part II because Michael Corleone begins to take over his father’s empire in a distorted depiction of the American dream.

Robert De Niro earned the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as the future Corleone crime boss Vito, the character for which Marlon Brando has won the Best Actor prize for his work in the first film. Other actors who received Oscar nominations for their memorable performances in The Godfather: Part II include Michael V. Gazzo, Lee Strasberg, and Talia Shire.

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