Action Movie Sequels You Had No Idea Existed

Hollywood and action movie sequels go together like pizza and cheese — it's impossible to have one without the other. Now, we have already covered the upcoming action sequels you didn't know were being made, but what about the follow-ups that exist and nobody knows about?

In the ever-growing landscape of film releases, it's possible that a number of sequels fly under the radar — especially if they don't feature the same actors, or even the same characters played by someone else. In some cases, the movie comes across as an entirely different concept with the faintest of connections to the original, but a bright spark decides to market it as a sequel to a popular film to bait the audience. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

From a Patrick Swayze-less "Road House 2" to a "Kindergarten Cop" movie carried by another famous brawny actor not named Arnold Schwarzenegger, let's take a look at the action movie sequels no one knew existed. Feel free to add all of them to the watchlist after reading — and enjoy the cheese.

Did you know there's a 2006 "Road House" sequel that nobody talks about? Titled "Road House 2: Last Call," this Scott Ziehl-directed flick went straight to video when it was released (and probably a lot of bargain bins in the process). However, the sequel deserves credit for trying to be some semblance of a continuation of the 1989 movie.

"Road House 2" centers around Shane Tanner (Johnathon Schaech) — the son of Patrick Swayze's James Dalton from the original story — who puts up his dukes to protect his uncle Nate's (Will Patton) bar, the Black Pelican, from dangerous goons led by Wild Bill (Jake Busey) and Victor Cross (Richard Norton). At the same time, Shane tries to solve the mystery of who murdered his legendary father and seeks revenge on the killer. Spoiler alert: It's one of the baddies in this movie, because why wouldn't it be?

"Road House 2" never reaches the action-packed heights or neck-wrenching thrills of its predecessor, but it at least attempts to expand the lore — even if it sacrifices Dalton for the sake of giving his son a revenge story. That said, viewers were far from convinced of its quality, as the film holds a "rotten" audience rating of just 33% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The original "Bloodsport" had Jean-Claude Van Damme's Frank Dux screaming like a madman as he competed in a Kumite tournament and punched his adversaries in the family jewels. Eight years after this, a 1996 sequel materialized, titled "Bloodsport II: The Next Kumite."

Van Damme didn't return for this motion picture, and neither did his character. Instead, the film revolves around a new protagonist named Alex Cardo (Daniel Bernhardt), who ends up in prison for stealing an ancient sword, receives training from a martial arts master, and enters an underground Kumite tournament. In addition to Bernhardt, the film features the talents of Pat Morita of "The Karate Kid" fame and Donald Gibb, who stars in the first "Bloodsport" movie as Ray "Tiny" Jackson.

With a script written by Jeff Schechter, who has penned masterpieces like "Dennis the Menace Strikes Again" and "Beethoven's 3rd," "Bloodsport II" telegraphs its every move and becomes about as predictable as a dog at an all-you-can-eat buffet. However, there's an unmistakable charm and dedication to be nothing more than what it presents itself to be, largely thanks to Bernhardt's committed performance and martial arts ability. Interestingly, Bernhardt reprises his role as Alex for "Bloodsport III," then appears in "Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite" as an entirely new character. Why the change? Who knows.

Jean-Claude Van Damme experiences his own version of "Back to the Future" — with an action twist, of course — in 1994's "Timecop," which is one of those movies you didn't realize was based on a comic book. The sci-fi actioner tidied up nicely at the global box office, securing over $100 million from a $28 million budget. With such a juicy profit and an established fanbase, a sequel inevitably followed in the form of 2003's direct-to-video "Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision."

The action movie follow-up takes place nearly two decades after the original. In this story, Time Enforcement Commission (TEC) agent Ryan Chang (Jason Scott Lee) needs to stop Society for Historical Authenticity (SHA) leader Brandon Miller (Thomas Ian Griffith) from traveling back in time and altering history by killing Adolf Hitler. As a result, this tale turns into a debate about how messing with important historical events can have widespread and unintentional consequences across the timeline.

Look, "Timecop 2" isn't about to pose pertinent questions about the meaning of time and life like Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar," and there are plot holes big enough for the characters to use as hula hoops. However, if someone wants to watch a B-movie time-travel adventure where fists and kicks fly at a rapid pace, inject this film straight into your veins.

In legendary Hong Kong director John Woo's 1993 film "Hard Target," a gloriously mulleted Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as Chance Boudreaux, a snake-punching action man who finds himself pulled into a grim plot that involves rich people hunting others for sport. Dutch director Roel Reiné takes the reins for the 2016 sequel, "Hard Target 2," which follows the same premise and could be considered technically a reboot as well.

In this film, Scott Adkins stars as Wes Baylor, an MMA fighter tricked into thinking he's about to have a big-money fight in Myanmar but is actually the target of a deadly hunt. Alongside Adkins, the movie boasts the likes of Rhona Mitra, Robert Knepper, and Temuera Morrison in supporting toles.

The direct-to-video "Hard Target 2" didn't receive a lot of love from fans, sitting with a "rotten" audience rating of just 20% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, a few publications praised it for not trying to fool the viewers into thinking it would be anything more than what its trailer promises. The Action Elite credited Adkins for his all-action approach, writing, "[Y]ou would be hard pressed to name another actor with the onscreen charisma and true martial arts skills that Adkins brings to the role." Make no mistake about it: "Hard Target 2" is here for a good time — not a long time.

Don Michael Paul's "Half Past Dead" isn't Steven Seagal's most famous or financially successful movie, but it's still a barrel of fun and jam-packed with awful dialogue for 2000s-era action aficionados. Its 2007 sequel, titled "Half Past Dead 2," follows Twitch, a supporting character from the original film played by rapper Kurupt, who strikes up a friendship with brawny prisoner William Burke (WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg). The plot features a neat callback to the previous film, as Twitch seeks the infamous gold bricks hidden by Lester McKenna (Bruce Weitz), while Twitch and Burke need to team up when events spiral out of control in the prison.

Here's the funny thing about "Half Past Dead 2." Despite less star power and an obvious lower budget, it holds a higher audience score than its predecessor (47% vs. 38%) on Rotten Tomatoes. Sure, no audience member raved that it was the second coming of Michael Bay's "The Rock," but they seemed to agree that it had its decent moments and delivered on the action potential. Also, the inclusion of Goldberg went down like a treat for fans of professional wrestling.

"The Condemned" might not have been the biggest or most notable action flick in the world, but its "The Hunger Games"-but-with-convicts premise found its niche among B-movie action lovers. Plus, who wouldn't want to see "Stone Cold" Steve Austin open up a can on fellow stars like Vinnie Jones and Manu Bennett?!

That said, this isn't the kind of movie that begs for a sequel. Regardless, it received one in 2015 named "The Condemned 2." Much like the first film, the plot centers around a bunch of people being thrown together in a singular place and being forced to fight to the death for their own survival. In the lead role is WWE superstar Randy Orton, who plays the tough-as-nails Will Tanner. He's joined by other notable actors like Eric Roberts and Wes Studi for this effort.

While "The Condemned" overcomes its noticeable narrative weaknesses through brainless fun and explosive action sequences, the Roel Reiné-directed sequel struggles to be as entertaining or mildly memorable. Unfortunately, Orton also confirms he's far better inside the squared circle than he is on a Hollywood set.

In terms of all his movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger's greatest challenge might have been rounding up a bunch of unruly kids in 1990's "Kindergarten Cop." That mixture of laughs and muscle-bound action still stands the test of time, as it's the sort of film that never gets old and continues to find an audience. It also made serious cash at the box office, raking in over $200 million worldwide from a $15 million budget.

Despite the money on the table, Schwarzenegger said "Hasta la vista" to the franchise, never to return to the halls of Astoria Elementary School. Nevertheless, a sequel, "Kindergarten Cop 2," arrived in 2016, with Dolph Lundgren playing the role of FBI Agent Zack Reed, who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to find an important flash drive containing critical information while dealing with the rowdy children. Essentially, it follows the same beats as the original, albeit with newer gags and cast members.

"Kindergarten Cop 2" didn't receive a lot of love from critics, though its predecessor also proved to be far from universally beloved. However, there was praise for Lundgren's performance, as Flickering Myth wrote: "Lundgren has fun here. He's not nearly as awkward (in the wrong way) as the trailer suggested. He's got the charisma to make the film watchable."

While 2009's "Tekken" wasn't one of the biggest video game movie box office bombs – since it was "saved" by its direct-to-video release in the U.S. — how many people actually remember it? As arguably the most popular fighting video game franchise after "Mortal Kombat" and "Street Fighter," it deserved more than this feeble effort. The gods of cinema listened and offered a chance at redemption in 2014 through the release of "Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge."

Now, let's be clear here for a minute: This is technically a prequel, since it follows the story of the young Kazuya Mishima (Kane Kosugi) who is also the father of Jin Kazama, i.e., the adult protagonist from the previous film. However, this is the video game world, where timelines mean as much as continuity in comic books, so just go with the flow and never question anything.

"Tekken 2" features a few returning characters from the previous film — namely Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's Heihachi Mishima and Gary Daniels' Bryan Fury — while the plot of an amnesiac Kazuya being turned into a killing machine only serves as a minor inconvenience in between the various fight scenes. Fans and critics weren't convinced, though, seeing this as yet another "Tekken" film that forgets the source material it's based on. Round three, anybody?

Another action movie sequel to a Jean-Claude Van Damme classic makes an appearance here. Ironically, 1989's "Cyborg" only came about because Cannon Films' "Spider-Man" adaptation and "Master of the Universe" sequel didn't come to fruition, so filmmaker Albert Pyun made the most of the props and costumes already created to shoot an original film.

Four years later, "Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow" offered fans the opportunity to step back into this universe. While the film features Van Damme's character Gibson Rickenbacker in archival footage, this story is set in the future and features Angelina Jolie as a new cyborg, Cash Reese, who defies her creators' orders and falls in love with her trainer Colt Ricks (Elias Koteas). Despite looking cheaper than a three-week-old hot dog, "Cyborg 2" contains a formidable cast, including Jack Palance and Billy Drago.

While Jolie might not be a fan of this pre-fame film of hers, this sci-fi actioner falls slap-bang in the it's-so-bad-it's-good category. Put it this way: it could be worse and more like its follow-up, "Cyborg 3: The Recycler," which is the cinematic equivalent of purgatory for the eyes and soul.

In 2013, Mikael Håfström's "Escape Plan" confirmed itself as a big deal for action fans as it brought legends Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger together in a film in which security hotshot Ray Breslin (Stallone) and inmate Emil Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger) need to combine their powers to break out of a prison. The film received a horrendous direct-to-video sequel in 2018, titled "Escape Plan 2: Hades," which even Stallone couldn't say nice things about.

Most fans believed the franchise died there, because how could anyone come back after an effort that should have had coins put over its eyes and been sent down the River Styx? However, Stallone received another shot at righting the wrongs of the sequel in the form of 2019's "Escape Plan: The Extractors," which also stars Dave Bautista, Max Zhang, Devon Sawa, and Jaime King.

Unquestionably, it's an improvement over the second film, though a rock with two drawn-on eyes and a smile would hold more character than that abomination of a movie. Regardless, the "Escape Plan" series feels a little like the "Taken" franchise by the third entry. If the security business keeps giving someone headaches and endangering their lives, maybe it's time that Ray Breslin does something else with his life. Will we ever see "Escape Plan 4," though? Hopefully not.

Dwayne Johnson shines in Kevin Bray's 2004 remake of "Walking Tall." It was still early days in the wrestler-turned-actor's career, but his natural charisma oozes in every scene as Army vet Chris Vaughn, who stands up to be counted and takes on the criminal elements of his hometown. The film ends fairly conclusively and works as a one-off story; however, it received two back-to-back sequels in 2007.

The first is the Western-inspired "Walking Tall: The Payback," which follows ex-military man Nick Prescott (Kevin Sorbo) who — like Chris before him — uses his fists as a metaphorical broom to clean up his hometown. Much like its predecessor, it didn't receive glowing reviews from critics or viewers, but it was far from a disaster as it scratched the itch for those looking for vigilante-themed films.

A few months later, "Walking Tall: Lone Justice" was released, with Sorbo returning as Nick. Now that his town is safe, he moves to another place where — who would have guessed it? — he needs to get his knuckles bruised and bloodied again to knock some sense into people. Is it a necessary sequel? Absolutely not, but hey, it exists.

The 2003 Clark Johnson-directed film "S.W.A.T.," starring Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson, is already loosely based on the '70s television series. However, the 2011 direct-to-video sequel, "S.W.A.T.: Firefight," holds no real connection to what came before it, choosing to focus on a new set of recruits who are trained by expert S.W.A.T. officer Paul Cutler (Gabriel Macht). After a hostage dies during a mission, Cutler and his team's mettle are tested as they need to learn how to function better as a unit while dealing with a looming threat.

While "S.W.A.T.: Firefight" isn't anything to write home about, it received a few positive reviews and there are fans who enjoyed its cliched but comforting approach. The franchise didn't end there either, as a third film, "S.W.A.T.: Under Siege," was released in 2017, though it's also a separate story from the previous two movies. That same year, "S.W.A.T." headed back to the small screen as a television series, where it's had a successful and lengthy run. 

In the mood to read more about cinema's greatest genre? Check out action movie box office bombs that are actually worth watching.