Best Movie Trilogies

I know there are a few obvious choices like the first three Star Wars movies or the first three Indiana Jones movies, LOTR, Godfather etc...

My issue with Star Wars is that Jedi is pretty mediocre even though the first two are among my favorite films of all-time. Same with Godfather...

The first three Bourne movies were all pretty amazing...

I haven't seen The Dark Knight Rises yet, but I'm assuming those three would at least enter the conversation.

The LOTR movies are definitely not my cup of tea, but I recognize that they are all very good films...

Others? Thoughts?

 

Re: Best Trilogies

With Indiana Jones, Temple of Doom was by far the weakest of the three. But it's not near the abortion of GF3 or even the last half of Return of the Jedi.

LOTR's kind of a different animal because the source material existed before the films. As much as George Lucas might protest, he DID NOT have the Star Wars trilogy mapped out from the beginning. Otherwise, he'd never have had Luke making out with his sister in Empire Strikes Back.

Gun to my head I say Indiana Jones. Toy Story is pretty strong as well.

 

Godfather, Toy Story, Bourne...

Can we take the first three of a series that went more than three? Like Rocky or James Bond?

 

For me, Lord of the Rings is the very top and there's no debate. While the movies were a tad long and could have definitely used an edit (Especially with all forest-related scenes in The Two Towers), taken together the series is by far my favorite movie experience ever.

It's 12 hours of insane battles, great plotlines and superb character development. Best of all, there's the feeling that the three films all belong together, which to me is the most important part of having a trilogy.

The problem with most trilogies, as stated above, is that there's always one flick within the set that either blows completely or just fails to live up to the other two.

The Godfather- Part 3 sucked.
Star Wars- Most will argue either Empire or Jedi is the weak link.
The Matrix- Revolutions failed to be the pay off we deserved for what was a great sequel in Reloaded.
Die Hard- Part 2 is just terrible. Flat out terrible.
Spiderman- Part 3 tried to do way too much and absolutely killed Venom.
Pirates of the Caribbean- Anything to do with any non-Jack Sparrow character in Part 3 was awful.

The list goes on and on.

 

I've been putting a lot of thought into this topic lately and considered starting this thread myself.

Versatile's trilogy power rankings:

1. Toy Story: Name a trilogy with a better worst movie. Toy Story provides three of the six best animated movies ever. And they tie together very well.
2. Star Wars: There's a dip in quality with Return of the Jedi that some people refuse to acknowledge. But the story arc plays so perfectly.
3. The Godfather: This one is the hardest to rate because its first two movies are two of the 10 best ever. But the final chapter was a stinker, and I'm not being forgiving here.
4. Christopher Nolan's Batman: This ranking is based on one viewing of The Dark Knight Rises and is subject to change.
5. Indiana Jones: My main gripe here is that there was no continuity of story line, so it wasn't a traditional trilogy (which is why they made a fourth one, even if we don't acknowledge that piece of shit).
6. The Man With No Name: All three movies are among the great Westerns, but do any stand out? Maybe The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Continuity is a problem here, as well.
7. Lord of the Rings: My issue with this trilogy is that it was kept so excrutiatingly close to the source material. The books should get the credit, not the movies.
8. X-Men: The first one was very good, the second was great and the third was just too big for its own good. But you have to like the effort, and these were very enjoyable movies with a continued story line.
9. Back to the Future: What do you do when the final piece is such a piece of shit you wish every version of it had been burned before the world was allowed to see it? The first two are iconic, though.
10. Alien: See Back to the Future.

 

I would fight someone for arguing that.

 

Good call on Toy Story... Three amazing movies...

Spiderman 3 did suck.

I liked Die Hard 2, and 3 was OK. but I think it would be pretty far down the list.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is among my favorite films of all-time, but 2 and 3 were good/mediocre.

The first three Rockys are pretty damn good.

I think the whole Pirates of the Caribbean movies were colossally overrated. The first one was good, but not nearly as good as people made it out to be and the sequels have all been pretty mediocre.

 

I really agree on Godfather, Star Wars, Alien and I guess you could throw Terminator into that mix as well. Two amazing films, but they shit the bed in the third. Spiderman and Shrek fit that mold as well.

 

I debated the inclusion of movies with more than three parts. I left Indiana Jones and Alien on the list because the fourth films shouldn't have been made, but I left Bourne, Terminator, Rocky and a few others off my lists.

 

What a strange complaint. Seems to me that was "a feature, not a bug." Jackson did a great job of working within the source material there. The first Godfather movie also tracks very closely to the source material, to its benefit.

 

I can see what you mean, and I'm fine with those who even want to say it's the best trilogy ever. But to me, the movie-making process for LOTR was too simple: Let's make everything exactly as the books described it. As far as The Godfather, it really doesn't once Michael Corleone gets back from Silicy.

 

Other than James Bond and maybe Rocky, how many franchises have put out a good fourth film? I'm not counting reboots... I'm sure Harry Potter should be on the list as well, even though I haven't seen any of them other than the first one. With Bond and Potter, it's more of a series than sequels.

Die Hard 4 was good, but not great. Terminator 4 was an embarrassment. Rambo IV was better than I thought it would be, but not great.

So few have put out three good films, so it's very rare that a fourth film is necessary or even a good idea.

That said, I can't wait for The Bourne Legacy.