A-List: Best Movie Prequels
By J. Don Birnam
June 4, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Having just seen and enjoyed Maleficent myself, and finding myself looking forward to the next Planet of the Apes prequel, it seemed appropriate to ponder good movie prequels. I’ll try to keep it simple: a movie has to take place completely before the movie it is meant to precede to be considered a true prequel. Thus (spoiler alert), Maleficent does not count, as it’s more of a re-imagination of Sleeping Beauty. Nor does, I am sorry to say, The Godfather Part II count. Although some of the story does take us to the origins of Vito Corleone, a significant part of the action takes place after the events of the first Oscar-winning flick.
Another note: Prequels engender strong feelings from fans of the original movies who tend to feel disappointed that a story they love is getting thrashed. And, more generally, it is hard for prequels to live up to the greatness of their originals. Thus, generally speaking, few prequels are really great movies, so making a list of great sequels is somewhat of an oxymoron. And, before you get scared, don’t expect to find any of the Star Wars prequels here either.
I did have to cut from the list a number of prequels that I enjoyed, including Prometheus, a prequel to Alien, and Exorcist: The Beginning, a surprisingly good prequel to the classic horror movie. It was harder than I realized to boil this down to just five.
The Rainbow
Perhaps the lesser known of the entries on the list is a prequel to a 1960s favorite of mine, Women in Love. Both loosely based on novels by D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love tells the story of two sisters exploring love and the complexity of relationships in post-World War I England. The prequel, which is only a prequel because it was made after Women in Love despite the fact that Lawrence wrote The Rainbow and Women in Love in sequential chronological order, is worth seeing because it features Glenda Jackson (who won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of one of the sisters in the original) as the mother of her character in Women in Love.
Jackson nails the role perfectly - sufficiently varying the personality of the character while at the same time tying enough hints to her daughter’s future adult personality to constitute satisfying throwbacks to the original movie. The Rainbow is also a strong contender for best movie prequel because it credibly explains some of the two sisters’ future quirks and love-related shortcomings as being rooted in family issues. The fact that D.H. Lawrence set these things up in the novels sequentially helps, of course, but the strong direction of Ken Russell should not be discounted, either.
The movie also works because, again given the fact that the book was already written when the first was made, it is not trying to be a prequel. Most of the times a prequel is made because there is a successful, popular franchise, and studios are trying to milk every last penny from the golden egg. The result can be mostly catastrophic rehashes of a good concept. Not so with The Rainbow, which wasn’t artificially constructed as a wooden prequel to a popular genre movie.
X-Men: First Class
I really enjoyed the first of the X-Men adaptions, but thought the latter two were a bit redundant and derivative. Wholly refreshing, however, was the first prequel, released in 2011 with what was then a cast of relatively new faces, including now-mainstays Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence. Much of the strength of this movie lies, in fact, with the strong performances of those two, along with James McAvoy, a welcome respite from the more wooden denouements of the likes of Halle Berry, James Marsden, and even Anna Paquin. The film also has a lot of what works in a prequel: clear ties to the original without being extremely obvious or in-your-face-about it (coughRevengeoftheSithcough). And shirtless Hugh Jackman is always a welcome element in any movie, prequel or otherwise, so there’s that too.
To top things off, the action sequences are solid and the effects worthy, making this an overall welcome prequel to an established and respected franchise. I’ve yet to see the sequel to the prequel, but I have high hopes for it given the solid First Class.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Technically speaking, several of the movies that were made after the original Planet of the Apes took place before they events of the first movie. But they are all horrible movies. Not so for the first entry, and first full prequel, of the franchise in almost 40 years – Rise of the Planet of the Apes. James Franco’s somewhat annoying screen presence notwithstanding, Rise passes as an action movie, a thriller, and even a horror story at the same time. The visual effects were stunning, particularly the facial enhancement technology used to replicate human expressions on the apes. The plot did not completely avoid the obvious pitfalls - the horrible humans who treat apes poorly, the nobly sacrificed ape who demonstrates apes are kinder, etc. - but this should not detract from an otherwise imaginative and even, dare I say it, plausible explanation for the events that we know will later take place.
My favorite throwback to the original movie of any prequel is also in this movie: a passing TV show reporting of the departure of certain astronauts into orbit - we know these astronauts are meant to be the protagonists of the original movie, many years into the future. Again, subtle but welcome. The sequel to this movie is one of my most anticipated movies for the summer.
Red Dragon
Like The Rainbow, this movie is technically only a prequel because it happened to be made after The Silence of the Lambs, despite the fact that both books had been written by the time the original movie was made. Nevertheless, Red Dragon ends up high on my list because it features a strong cast that all deliver memorable performances - not an easy thing to do with Anthony Hopkins’ undeniable Hannibal Lecter sharing the scene. The plot is also well told and who can forget the tie-in to the original movie - an ominous mention of agent Clarice Sterling at the end.
The movie is a bit more graphic than the original, probably explained by the decade difference in their productions (movies are undoubtedly bloodier and more violent today than in the 1990s), and also more terrifying in some of its sequences and deaths. But Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, and Ed Norton all deliver chilling and even sympathetic performances, supported by the always superb Philip Seymour Hoffman, Harvey Keitel, and Mary-Louise Parker. Measuring up to the original Silence of the Lambs is no easy feat, but, particularly when compared to the more wooden sequel, Hannibal, this “origins of Hannibal Lecter” movie provides helpful and interesting insight into one of the most memorable film villains of all time, while keeping the audience guessing and in suspense through the last act. It’s one of a few prequels one can be glad was made and that also holds up well on repeat viewings.
Batman Begins
The best movie prequel of all time, however, is in my view Batman Begins. I can hear the groans already - Batman Begins is a reinvention, not necessarily a prequel. Perhaps, but perhaps not. The entire movie does take place before the events of the original (except for the known story of the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents), and finishes arguably where the main action in the original Batman commences - with the appearance of The Joker.
In any case, this film tops the list for a simple reason: it easily blows out of the water any of its original predecessors, and thus serves not only as a worthy prequel but really as a much better standalone movie. The complexity of the title character is much more nuanced and explored in Batman Begins, and the dark lightning and ominous smoke rising from the ground make for a much better ambiance setter than the almost cartoonish hues of Tim Burton’s original. Blame the ‘80s for that, I guess.
And, like with some of the other movies on this list, it is remarkable to see that the prequel’s cast outshines the original’s by miles. While Jack Nicholson is, I suppose, appropriate as The Joker and Michael Keaton a sufficiently handsome Batman, it is hard to conceive of better actors for the roles now than Christian Bale and the others who supported him in the prequel. Sorry, Ben Affleck.
It is worth closing the column with an additional observation that somewhat unexpectedly appeared across some of the movies I listed here - the plot of the prequel was more complex, nuanced, and thematic than the original’s. This perhaps reflects a broader phenomenon in movies as the medium has aged: audiences expect more challenging fare from movies they’re expected to take seriously, or at the very least from movies that are meant to explore an old story from a different or new angle. Batman Begins delivers the desired subtleties and twists perfectly, and is to me unarguably the best prequel out there.
Which are your favorite prequels?