★★★★☆

The Craft: Legacy – A sequel that definitely doesn’t suck! Whenever a sequel comes out I’m always worried. If the original was ground-breaking or something you gave five stars to, how do they follow that? Usually the studio races to put out a sequel the following year, the writers haven’t had time to really come up with anything and the sequel just sucks. Rent and watch the entire Smokey & The Bandit franchise if you don’t believe me.

I gotta be honest. Maybe it was just the writing? Maybe it was the role in general. The David Duchovny performance was pretty sad. For no more than they gave that character to do they should have gotten a no-name bum. Thinking about it the morning after watching it, there was really nothing he could do to fix that. Just because the guy speaks in monotone doesn’t mean you have to give him a beige roll. At least make it a vibrant shade of beige.

Michelle Monaghan turned in a really great performance. You don’t have to reach for the stars to put in a great performance. Sometimes reaching for normal is what it really takes. Watch the first 10-15 minutes to get an idea of what I’m talking about. Her on-screen chemistry with Cailee Spaeny is phenom.

The LGBTQI Thing

Another thing I really liked about this sequel is they didn’t try to turn it into some grand LGBTQI (and however many other letters) propaganda thing. They weren’t throwing “a gay thing” at you ever 2-3 minutes like The Catcher Was a Spy. The gay people, like in life, were just there. Yes, one of the witches was trans. There was just the occasional comment. One dude “came out of the closet” during a scene where it fit, then it was blended into the story later.

Note to Hollywood: Learn from this movie. If it is constantly in your face, you’ve made a gay movie. If it is just sprinkled in once in a while then you’ve made a movie that just happens to have some LGBTQI content.

The Craft: Legacy Treats Fans Right

There is one rule of thumb with franchise properties that have a good fan base. Honor the base. I can’t tell you too much about this without giving away the ending. I can tell you to look at the first three Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Yes, you probably don’t like horror movies or more accurately “slasher films” but the first one was ground breaking. Nobody had come up with the idea of a monster that could kill you in your dreams.

When the second movie was released it was the dud heard ’round the world. Totally sucked. Did not honor the fan base. The only one they brought back was Freddy. The third movie did massively better by bringing back the original girl as a sleep and dream therapist. Endure the second movie in a binge watching session so you can really appreciate the third.

The writers of Legacy must have made that movie journey. They didn’t make that mistake. They honored the base. This franchise might just get some legs.

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.