We live in a sad era, partly created out of our own insatiable lust for sequels. It's the era of the tentpole film, the time when everyone and everything is eyed "as a possible franchise." You spend your money for a ticket just to watch for the promise of a sequel -- and you better hope the film makes millions upon millions of dollars or you may never get it!

Take Star Trek. I really, really enjoyed Star Trek. But on repeat viewing it feels more and more like a pilot episode. It's a very good pilot episode, mind you, but now when the credits roll I just really want to know what it's all for. The entire film will collapse if there's no sequel, no reason for the crew to come together. It doesn't stand as firmly on its own two feet as it should. Now contrast this with Star Wars: A New Hope.

You've never met Luke Skywalker before. You don't know Alderaan from Pluto, and you've never met a Jedi. You have no idea who or what the Empire is, or why the Rebellion is fighting against it. But the film manages to introduce you to all of that and wraps it all up in a self-contained adventure. Sure, we all love The Saga. But if there had never been a sequel to Star Wars, you could have lived your life comfortable in the knowledge that the Death Star had been destroyed and the Empire with it. Heck, even Han Solo's wink suggested he and Leia were hooking up later. There were possibilities, but no loose ends. There's a big difference between the two.


But this is no longer the case. It's all loose ends now. Every blockbuster is full of hints as to what's coming next, and is unconcerned with creating a really solid standalone adventure. The latest casualty is Sherlock Holmes -- a film I really, really enjoyed but still felt cheated by. I don't want to spoil anything for viewers, but it ends on a promise note of bigger and better adventures thanks to a shadowy figure in a carriage. I immediately wanted to see that film. I'm anxious as to when I might. What if I never do? Will I feel robbed? I think so.

We shouldn't walk out of a film feeling that way. Good characters are hard to let go, and when you've enjoyed having an adventure with them, you naturally want another. But had there never been another Indiana Jones film, I could have been happy with Raiders of the Lost Ark. I wouldn't have wanted to know if he would ever face That Guy, or meet That Girl, or have that Last Fateful Encounter. Serial adventures are based around an open-ending, but the point has always been that they'll work independently of each other.

Every film feels like a breathless race to 2012 -- and even that followup will probably feel like a race to 2014 -- and it all makes for an exhausting viewing experience. I want to pop in a DVD of a film I enjoyed over the summer without shifting in my seat, and hoping next time is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan or wondering how Wolverine gets to Japan ....