I’m going to experience a lot of déjà vu this week. I’m back in San Diego for junior high summer camp, going through a lot of the same experiences I had last week. I’m looking at this week as Summer Camp: The Sequel. Like most sequels, I hope that this week is just as great as last week. I hope that God shows up again and does some amazing work in the lives of our students.
Since I’m living Summer Camp: The Sequel, here are some of my favorite sequels that don’t get as much love as The Empire Strikes Back, The Two Towers and The Wrath of Khan.
X-Men 2
For years the X-Men movies have been digging themselves out of a grave dug for them by X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Since those two movies were so completely disastrous, it’s easy to forget the greatness of X-Men 2. Before the Dark Knight Trilogy raised the bar for what super hero movies could be, X-Men 2 may have been the greatest super hero movie ever. The opening scene with Nightcrawler was totally mind blowing, Wolverine defending the mansion showed why he’s the best at what he does and the Jean’s transformation into the Phoenix was perfect, even if its payoff in X-Men 3 was lackluster. As sequels go, X-Men 2 was great and I can only hope X-Men: Days of Future Past lives up to its predecessor.
First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact has a lot in common with The Wrath of Khan. Both movies feature a villain from their respective television series, both show the captain losing his crap in a moment of rage and both have the Enterprise getting pretty beat up. I love First Contact; it is easily my favorite movie from the Next Generation crew and, of the original crew’s movies, The Wrath of Khan may be the only one that tops it. I love the time travel aspect, I love the new Sovereign-class Enterprise, I love how completely bad you-know-what Worf is and I love how so much of the movie hinges on Data’s character. Insurrection and Nemesis left a bad taste in the mouths of Trekkies, but we can’t let them keep us from remembering how awesome First Contact is.
The Avengers 2
The Avengers 2 doesn’t even come out for almost two years, but I am already excited for it. Robert Downey Jr. is signed on to play Tony Stark and Thanos is set to be the big baddie against whom earth’s mightiest heroes assemble. The movie is set to film in England, mostly on set, which means there will be a lot of green screen action. I can’t wait to see the Avengers assembled in space, taking on one of Marvel’s most powerful villains. The Avengers wasn’t the best super hero movie ever, but it was the most fun. I can’t wait to have that much fun again.
When watching a sequel, we hope for some of the same but also something new. This week at camp I don’t want to get trapped hoping that God does the same work he did last week. Like he says in Isaiah, God is interested in doing something new. Last week was great but I don’t want memories of it to keep me from seeing the new things God is going to do this week.
What are some of your favorite sequels?
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