The middle pieces often decide the best-remembered stories between the beginning and finale – the journey of the characters' trials and errors and where the audience comes to learn about them most intimately. The middle film can fall apart if the journey from inciting incident to catharsis is lackluster.
Middle works are where the creator can flex their world, their lore, and most importantly, why the story they already told isn't quite over yet and deserves continuation. These films took the daunting challenges of a sequel and passed with flying colors – and future creators should take note.
The Two Towers (2002)
The obvious poster child is evident for a reason. In no small part credited to the brilliance of the source material, Peter Jackson's interpretation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Two Towers excels at every high expectation set on the shoulders of sequels. Deeper character development? Check. Deeper world? Check. Consistency? Check.
Without losing sight entirely of the whimsy of Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers dips its toe into the epic culmination of a Middle-Earth spanning fantasy war with the perfect balance of grit and sincerity. Bolstered by stellar performances, groundbreaking special effects, and a score as complex as Tolkien's lore, Two Towers stands the test of time as the one sequel to rule them all.
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
DreamWorks Animation's catalog boasts many divisive films on a broad spectrum, from the biblical scale of The Prince of Egypt to flops like Shrek the Third. The studio's action-packed tale of a panda who learns kung fu began its legacy surpassing all expectations of being a good film based on its premise alone.
The sincerity of the original's message, that "there is no secret ingredient" to be unique, was further showcased in its sequel, giving protagonist Po a new, personal villain, more vivid animation, stunning music, and a heavy lesson in letting go of the past. Kung Fu Panda 2 delivered a darker, nuanced sequel still bountiful in classic DreamWorks jokes and gags. It remains one of the studio's tentpole franchises due in no small part to the strength of its middle segment.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Of all the films of the MCU, Winter Soldier boats an impressive level of nuance, thrilling and brutal fight choreography, and a chilling conspiracy that flipped the universe on its head. Coming off the heels of a romp through 1940s America's campiest propaganda, Winter Soldier began Steve Roger's (Chris Evans) break from his naïve trust in S.H.I.E.L.D and wore away at the golden boy hero.
Compared to the bombast of the other Marvel films, Winter Soldier distinguishes itself as a spy thriller that just so happens to star a super soldier and his not-so-deceased, brainwashed best friend as the villain. Until Scarlett Johansson got her solo Black Widow film seven years later, she and Evans had their finest hour here as the perfect team.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
As obvious as Two Towers, middle movies are generously dubbed the "Empire Strikes Back" of their franchise for a reason. A New Hope was the tale of a farm boy bestowed a magic sword by a mysterious wizard to take up arms and fight the evil empire, reskinned as a jaw-dropping space opera.
Empire Strikes Back gave audiences richer backstories for its heroes and villains, the temporary loss of a beloved character, and set the Rebel Alliance at even steeper odds. All that has been said about Empire has been said in excess. It remains the gold standard even 40 years after its release.
The Dark Knight (2008)
What more can be said about Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight? Juggling a wickedly complex story that stops for nothing, two of Batman's most infamous rogues, and beyond stellar performances from Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Christian Bale, and Aaron Eckhart, The Dark Knight deserves all its accolades.
Accompanied by Hans Zimmer's excellent orchestrations and the eye candy of Nolan's practical effects, The Dark Knight walks the line between grit and grimdark perfectly where its successors have been met with mixed praise and criticism. In delivering the age-old battle for the soul of Gotham, The Dark Knight is Batman at near its very best.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Peter Parker has hit the live-action big-screen three times with a sequel film, and of those three, Sam Raimi's take on Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) remains one of cinema's best bittersweet villains. Set two years after the first film, Parker (Tobey Maguire) struggles to balance his two identities and jeopardizes both when his worlds collide.
What sets Raimi's sequel apart from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Far From Home is a combination of Maguire and Molina's sincere and stellar performances. A hero is often as great as their villain, and Doc Ock's reluctant villainy matches Peter Park in depth at every turn more than, say, Malekith, from a much less worthy middle Marvel film.
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Where they're going, they don't need roads. Back to the Future Part II went the only way a trilogy about time travel could go. The first film sent Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) to the past to grapple with his then-young parents. Its sequel drops him in the not-so-distant future to save his kids.
An ill-fated attempt to secure a glorious future with the sports almanac upends Marty's life. The stakes don't necessarily have to be higher, only as intense or more. The threat of the warped hellscape Marty's butterfly effect causes makes for an exciting next chapter in an already fantastic story.
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
One of the first "Part 2's" in western cinema, Francis Ford Coppola's epic mob drama doubles as a sequel and a prequel. The film develops its principal characters, Vito and Michael Corleone (Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino), and juxtaposes their lives as gangsters and the Corleone mob.
The first of only two sequels to win Best Picture, The Godfather: Part II is a textbook definition of what an excellent second act is meant to be. It enriches the original work with every performance, effortlessly answers every lingering plot thread from its predecessor, and expounds upon untread territory more than deserving of being one of the best films of all time.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Though technically not a trilogy with five films to the franchise, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean is so often regarded as complete with At World's End. With award-winning special effects, Dead Man's Chest is a classic treasure hunt wrapped inside a McGuffin with one of Disney's best live-action villains at the center of it all.
Bill Nighy's gripping performance as Davy Jones brings just the right amount of terror and charisma to the captain of a crew of immortal fish people that could have so easily been campy and static. The buildup to his reveal and the turmoil of his character, Hans Zimmer's score, and the race to find the key and the titular chest remains one of Disney's best action adventures that's endlessly rewatchable.
For A Few Dollars More (1965)
Perhaps not as instantly recognizable as its predecessor, A Fistful of Dollars, or its famous successor, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy wouldn't be complete without its middle work. Following Clint Eastwood as Monco, The Man With No Name, a bounty hunter at odds with rival bounty hunter Col. Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef), the two set aside their differences to hunt down an escaped Mexican outlaw.
For a Few Dollars More is exactly what it needs to be; equally exciting and groundbreaking in its production and development of Eastwood's character helped define the collective idea of what the wild, wild West might have been.
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