5 crime movies that deserve a sequel

If Richard Donner gets his way and Goonies 2 “does” get made, it’ll mark a 30-year gap between the original film and its sequel. Paul Newman managed a 25 year break (pun intended) between pool shark dramas The Hustler and The Color Of Money, while Jeff Bridges hits the high score with 28 years between Tron and Tron Legacy. Dumb And Dumber is even in on the action, with a follow-up called Dumb And Dumber To – yes, you read that correctly – out in November this year.

But what other movies would benefit from a long-gestating Part Deux? Here are five close-to-my-heart suggestions from the expansive world of crime movies:

1. The Last Boy Scout

Now thought of as one of the late, great Tony Scott’s finest hours, The Last Boy Scout was considered a misfire by its studio on release, who presumed the star power of post-Die Hard Bruce Willis and a $1.75 million script from screenwriting wunderkind Shane Black would produce an explosion of cash all over their bank vaults. Instead, modestly-sized audiences were treated to a slick, dark, funny crime film with memorable lines – “This is the ’90s. You can’t just walk up and slap a guy, you have to say something cool first” – and the film was left to go cult on VHS, then TV, then DVD. Shane Black just made a cool $1 billion for Disney with Iron Man 3, and Bruce Willis is in dire need of a hit after Red 2’s runaway failure. Hey! Someone! Make it happen!
 

2. Rounders

In amongst John Malkovich chewing the scenery (and any nearby Oreos) so hard that it’s a wonder the director got any coverage that didn’t include walls covered in bite marks, Matt Damon and Edward Norton’s underground poker palaver has some wonderful Malkovich-less moments, notably when their two young gambling sharks get busted by fellow players and both end up beaten and bruised on the car park tarmac. It also offers some fascinating insight into the world of poker itself, and with online gambling only getting more popular, a spin-off of some kind seems, ahem, a safe bet.
 

3. Grosse Point Blank

A film about both assassins (exciting) and school reunions (relatable) full of catchy indie ‘80s tunes (cool) featuring two leads in their hey-day (Minnie Driver and John Cusack) as well as some much-loved comic old-hands (Alan Arkin and Dan Aykroyd), Grosse Point Blank is one of those cult hits that manages to both beg for a sequel and push one away at the same time. Capturing this sort of lightning in a similarly shaped bottle would be a very hard task, but if only to see what other humdrum everyday item Cusack can kill his foes with //aside// from a pen, it’s worth at least daydreaming about.
 

4. Léon: The Professional

Though the marketing folk might balk at it, the name of Léon: The Professional’s sequel would probably have to be Mathilda: The Professional. Just imagine Natalie Portman, now a grown-up Oscar-winning actress who’s appeared in both Star Wars films and Darren Aronofsky arthouse flicks, carrying on Jean Reno’s clipping business as a fully-fledged hitperson… but with Gary Oldman’s movie-stealing-and-batshit-bonkers corrupt cop Norman Stansfield understandably unavailable, there may be a gun-waggling elephant in the room (if you’ll pardon the terrible metaphor).
 

5. Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels

Guy Ritchie has been producing enjoyable steampunk romps with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in the Sherlock Holmes movies recently, staying in and around London but stubbornly refusing to include Jason Statham or Dexter Fletcher or any expensive double-barrelled shotguns or Nick The Greek or Vinnie Jones killing people with car doors or elaborate scenes spoken entirely in Cockney rhyming slang or any southern shandy-drinking bastards. Snatch may be Lock Stock’s spiritual successor, but a proper sequel is what’s really in order, ideally with Sting front and centre, dealing with some rub-a-dub-dub pub-related double crossings.
 

Any other crime movies you’re dying for a second dose of? Let us know in the comments below!