What are the best sequels of all-time? Here's my top 10 list

Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049

The near universal rapturous critical response (which I think is well-deserved) received by the new, hit Mission: Impossible movie Fallout has some people calling it the best film of the now 22-year-old franchise and potentially one of the greatest action movies ever made.

I don't know if I'd go that far, and six films in, this series has been hard to top in terms of quality (only the first sequel falls short for me), bur if I were to make a top 10 sequels of all time list the other iterations would just miss the cut.

I would also not count the Bond films, since with the exception of Quantum of Solace (and in a way Spectre) none of those movies are really proper sequels. Similarly,  the Marvel extended universe has just been too massive to take stock of -- you could argue that those films have been nothing but sequels since the original Iron Man ten years ago -- so I'm skipping over those two.

There's so many greats to choose from -- I am actually pretty pro sequel, as long as they justify their existence and add something new to the series' staying power. Some that nearly missed the cut or me: Evil Dead 2, Ocean's 13, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Road Warrior, Toy Story 3, The Color of Money, Superman II, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Batman Returns.

Here are my top 10 favorite sequels of all time, in reverse order.

10) Back to the Future Part II - This darker, more complex sequel looks at what happens when time travel is used for nefarious reasons with shocking results. Not only does this one expand on what's great about the original but it has several iconic sequences of its own -- like the hoverboard chase and the meta finale which revisits the events of the first film in unexpected ways. I've always loved how gloomy this sequel is and it set up such a high note cliffhanger that the underrated Part III could only disappoint.

9) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - The sillier European Vacation proved the 1983 original couldn't be topped as far as road comedies go, so the 1989 holiday follow-up wisely stays close to home and winds up crafting one of the best Christmas-themed comedies of all time. Chevy Chase is at his best here, as a more tender version of Clark Griswold, and this may also be Randy Quaid's finest moment as the uncouth Cousin Eddie. It's the rare comedy sequel that deserves the same classic status as one of its predecessors.

8) Mad Max: Fury Road - While this fourth installment of the Mad Max universe does little to weave in elements from the past three, it shares their DNA -- although this one is bigger, bolder and more epic than any of the movies that came before. The rare Oscar nominee that is not just a sequel, but an action sequel, it's truly that good. This is a movie I am down to watch anytime/anyplace -- it's sublime visual filmmaking at its best -- with something to say about the world we could leave behind if we don't start getting our shit together.

7) Creed - This emotionally fulfilling boxing film breathed new life into one of my favorite movie sagas -- the Rocky franchise -- by shifting the focus from Rocky (a stellar Sylvester Stallone) to the up-and-coming Adonis Creed (a charismatic Michael B. Jordan). Director Ryan Coogler, with his one-take fight scenes and heartwarming handling of all the major characters made simply the best Rocky film since the original and has started something really special which will continue this fall with Creed II.

6) Star Trek II - The gold standard by which all big-screen Star Trek pictures are compared. It's a character study first and foremost -- about Captain Kirk's mid-life crisis and his deep friendship with the half-human, half-vulcan Spock. And yet it also has some of the most riveting action of any space opera and one of the best villains of the decade in Ricardo Montalban's Khan. This is one of those great examples of everyone operating at the peak of their powers to perfection.There have been other good, even great Star Trek movies, but this one is a cut above everything that has come before or since.

5) Aliens - I've really struggled with which is the better film -- Ridley Scott's chilling Alien or James Cameron's more relentless Aliens, both films are pure genre perfection as far as I'm concerned. In this film Sigourney Weaver's heroic Ripley takes center stage and her tormented psyche powers the narrative of this high-tech horror film. It doesn't detract from the first film in the series at all, instead it simply seeks to top it at every turn -- from shocks to gore to special effects -- and pretty much achieves everything it sets out to do.

4) Blade Runner 2049 - This recent reboot was dismissed to easily as a box office disappointment, but upon further review its stature continues to grow and grow. It's a note perfect follow-up to the mercurial 1982 original, answering many of its mysteries while deepening others -- it's one of the more gorgeous films I've ever seen and the story really holds together if you pay enough attention and give yourself over to its slow-paced rhythms. One of my favorite genre films of the last several years, and one that should attain classic status as time goes on.

3) The Dark Knight - I liked Batman Begins a lot, but for me The Dark Knight was just an enormous leap above it in terms of scope and ambition. This was the film where Christopher Nolan's concept of a more reality based Gotham and Batman truly took hold and changed the way superhero movies looked and sounded forever. This was the moment the genre grew up and asserted its dominance over the movie-going public for what has now been a decade. Oh, and Heath Ledger delivered one of the all-time best performances ever as the Joker.

2) The Empire Strikes Back - The best Star Wars film of all time is the first sequel in the ever-expanding series of movies. It is the most romantic Star Wars film, the most exciting one, the one with the best sense of humor and sense of mystery. I feel like every Star Wars film since this one has been trying to recapture its magic and coming up just a wee bit short, although I always appreciate the effort. The secret to this film's success isn't it 'darkness' it's the character development -- this is the movie where we all fell in love with Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Yoda, Lando and the rest -- they were funny, daring, smart, charming and larger than life.

1) The Godfather Part II - The best sequel ever made? It's no contest. In fact I feel like it's almost an insult to call this masterpiece a sequel, it's more like a continuation, a deepening of the saga. Much of what is in this film is in the novel The Godfather, but Coppola brings so much soul and intrigue to the story. This is, in my opinion, the great American epic film. This is the drama that best captures the dark soul of this nation. The original is a powerful, pop hit -- but this second film is like an opera.