The Empire Strikes Back & 9 Other Sequels That Took A Dark Turn
It’s become sort of a cliché for a movie sequel to be darker than the first one, but this can still be done effectively if the dark tone doesn’t feel forced and is instead used to deepen the characters and their conflicts.
One of the first sequels to do this — and the one that set the trend — is 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, which followed on from the fairy tale fun of the original Star Wars movie with shocking revelations about the characters and a downer ending. A lot of subsequent sequels, including one produced by George Lucas himself, have adopted a darker tone than the original.
10 The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Still considered by many Star Wars fans to be the greatest entry in the saga, The Empire Strikes Back sees Luke Skywalker training with Yoda for his confrontation with Darth Vader while Han Solo and Leia Organa flee from Imperial forces across the galaxy.
With scenes like the Wampa attack and Luke’s creepy cave vision and the jaw-dropping “I am your father” twist, Empire is decidedly darker than its predecessor.
9 License To Kill (1989)
Timothy Dalton is the most underrated Bond actor because his performance and physical appearance are the closest to the gentleman spy’s description in Ian Fleming’s original books and he brought a darker edge to 007. While The Living Daylights introduced this darker Bond, License to Kill went significantly darker.
It sees Bond taking down the ruthless Scarface-esque drug lord who murdered his friend’s wife. The film came close to being rated R by the MPAA, and it’s the only Bond movie rated 15 in the UK.
8 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
So far, the Jurassic World trilogy has been a lot like the Star Wars sequel trilogy. After the first movie was a nostalgic throwback, the second one carried a darker tone. In the second half of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, a bunch of dinosaurs are brought back to a big country mansion in mainland America to be auctioned off.
At this point, it becomes a haunted house movie. Thanks to director J.A. Bayona’s background in horror, the scares in Fallen Kingdom are surprisingly effective.
7 Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
The first sequel to Lethal Weapon isn’t nearly as dark as Shane Black’s initial script, which was mostly scrapped by the producers, but it is markedly darker than the original. The original established a number of “buddy cop” tropes with the story of a pair of mismatched detectives working a case.
Lethal Weapon 2 sees Riggs and Murtaugh taking on a South African diplomat with immunity from the law. After the diplomat starts having other cops killed, they decide to just ignore the immunity and go rogue.
6 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Joe Johnston’s Captain America origin story, The First Avenger, did a fine job of introducing the character to Marvel’s movie-verse with a pulpy World War II adventure, but the Russo brothers’ 2014 sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier solidified the character’s popularity.
Since the Russos made their first Cap movie as a visceral spy thriller with hard-hitting fight scenes and paranoid political themes, Steve Rogers has been one of the MCU’s most beloved superheroes.
5 Back To The Future Part II (1989)
The first act of Back to the Future Part II follows on from the first movie’s cliffhanger ending with Marty and Jennifer going to 2015 to fix their kids’ lives. Later, the third act sees Marty returning to the events of the original movie to tweak history one last time.
But between those two acts, in the second act, the 1989 sequel takes a very dark turn. In the alternate version of 1985, Biff murders George, marries Lorraine, and Doc Brown is institutionalized.
4 Rambo (2008)
The original First Blood was a dark psychological thriller, but when the Rambo franchise became an action series, its first couple of sequels were heavy on violence but short on bloodshed.
In the fourth movie, simply titled Rambo, the titular Vietnam War veteran takes on the evil militia in Burma with by far the most brutal violence in the franchise. Bodies are blown apart by mines and the finale sees Rambo tearing through dozens of Burmese henchmen with a giant machine gun.
3 Sudden Impact (1983)
The first three Dirty Harry movies were already dark enough, but the fourth one, Sudden Impact, took things to another level. After taking on a Zodiac-esque serial killer and a band of cop murderers, Harry Callahan helped a survivor of sexual assault exact revenge on the men who attacked her and her sister.
This was the movie that originated the iconic quote, “Go ahead, make my day,” which is arguably even more memorable than the first movie’s “Well, do ya, punk?” speech.
2 Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy got darker and darker with each passing installment. The second one veered into horror territory with Doc Ock’s monstrous transformation, then the third one saw Peter Parker fusing with symbiotes and becoming a darker character.
Venom is arguably Spidey’s darkest villain, and although Spider-Man 3 doesn’t quite get the character right, he has plenty of spooky scenes. Plus, the threequel sees Peter violently confronting Uncle Ben’s true killer.
1 Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)
While it’s technically a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom certainly falls into the category of franchise entries that went darker than expected.
George Lucas took a leaf out of his own book in telling the story of Indy taking on an underground cult with child slaves and ritualistic sacrifices.
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