"True Lies" is a television series. "Lethal Weapon" was adapted for television for Fox. "Training Day" was another television project that was canceled after the death of Bill Paxton. "Limitless" was another television adaptation of the film starring Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. Don't get me wrong, some of these shows are okay, but are we running out of ideas? The "True Lies" television show is okay, but we had to return to the 1994 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger for a new project. And there are no tweaks, either. All the aforementioned projects above have the same plot as the films. That doesn't mean going back to past films to produce new projects is verboten—but they should be a little different, right?
One recent project that found a new angle entirely was the remake of 2003's "Wrong Turn," which is surprisingly good and was a great filler when we all had to lock down due to COVID. It's arguably just as good or even better than the original horror film. The inbred cannibals are gone, replaced by descendants of Americans who fled the hills before the American Civil War and have developed a new language, culture, and means of dispensing with outsiders.
"The Matrix Resurrections" missed the mark. What that franchise should have done was a prequel based on a story in 2003's "The Animatrix" anthology, which delved into the man-machine war. The ending to 2003's "The Matrix Revolutions" had a lukewarm reception and an unsatisfying end to the original trilogy. What happened before could've been more interesting. How did we end up being grown in endless fields, enslaved by machines in a cold, dead world? It could have been a war movie, a separate trilogy about mankind's downfall—and we all know how Hollywood loves to franchise things.
I'll go back even further. A spin-off from 1986's "Aliens" could revolve around new characters of Hadley's Hope, the terraforming complex that Ellen Ripley and the colonial marines investigated in the original film, and how they fought for survival. There was a battle. People got face-hugged like crazy, and James Cameron's Special Edition of the film has some footage of the colonists before the alien infestation. Someone must have sent the distress signal to set up the classic sci-fi film.
Some people didn't like the stand-alone "Rogue One" Star Wars film. I thought that was a great movie, a pure war movie in George Lucas' universe that details the rebel plans that were beamed to Princess Leia's ship, setting up the opening scene for a "New Hope." The mysteries of the force were pushed to the side. It was all about this suicide mission to obtain the plans for the Death Star. The other stand-alone spin-offs, like the Han Solo movie, didn't fare as well.
I'm not picky—I've watched everything mentioned here, and while entertained, I thought the films "True Lies," "Training Day," and "Lethal Weapon" were obviously better than their television counterparts. Then again, I can see how the "Alien" franchise has run its course with the slow-moving "Prometheus" prequels and the serial failure to get "Alien vs. Predator," or any film from the universe, off the ground. The same way "The Matrix Resurrections" was met with shoulder shrugs.
Also, new projects expose us to new works perverted by political correctness, but I'm willing to risk it.