Hollywood has become
infatuated with trilogies. Once a movie or a movie character shows a cult
following, the studios almost always turn it into a franchise. The reason
behind this is not far-fetched. They get to give fans more of the first movie
and their characters and of course, they get to make more money from the
budding franchise. There are those times when the decision to make a trilogy is
not motivated by the above reasons but by the source material. That is, if a
novel is adapted for the big screen, it follows that subsequent sequel novels
will also be adapted except if the first movie failed to perform at the box
office. That being said, it seems delivering the perfect trilogy has for the
most part, eluded Hollywood.
There have been many
trilogies over the decades but most of them fail to be perfect in the sense
that at least one movie in the set fails to measure up to the other two. The
offending movie is usually the third one but as with all things, there have
been exceptions. What follows is a list of popular trilogies with a brief
discussion on what I believe to be the offending movie and why.
Pirates of the Caribbean
The first two movies,
Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man's Chest were very good movies.
It is the last movie, At World's End
that sullied the enterprise. First, there was the improbable and surreal aspect
of bringing Jack Sparrow back from the dead. Then there was the giant Calypso
thing; it was utterly ridiculous and ill-conceived. She (it if you prefer)
ended up uttering some intelligible words and then proceeded to cause a storm
that was unfavourable to both her captors and her liberators. The whole Davy
Jones locker thing at the beginning was unconvincing but forgivable. It was the
Calypso aspect that really prevented Pirates from being perfect. Maybe the
writers should have written it out because the love story of her & Davy
Jones was not properly exploited.
Back to the Future
This will always rank
as one of the best pieces of cinema. The general plot and its flawless
execution are exceptional. So exceptional that I have never been able to
conclusively decide if the first or last movie are the best. So you guessed it;
the second movie is the offender here. The plot was good. The problem was the
execution as well as the depiction of the future. It felt rushed and lacked the
attention to detail of the first and third movie. Director, Robert Zemeckis has
explained that this happened because the second and third movies were shot back
to back. Ultimately, Back to the Future was better at going back to the past
than the future.
The Matrix
This was a very
enjoyable series that culminated in a lackluster and disappointing conclusion
both in terms of plot and execution. The first movie was very good and contrary
to popular opinion, the second movie, The
Matrix Reloaded was even better and successfully raised the ante. It was
the final movie, The Matrix Revolutions
that became the proverbial fly in the ointment. Though Reloaded and Revolutions
were shot back to back, Revolutions felt like it was made with what was left
over after shooting Reloaded. The conclusion of this trilogy is one of the
greatest disappointments.
X-men
The first X-men movie
was seminal in the sense that it showed that comic book adaptations for the big
screen could be serious minded and not goofy like the comics. To be fair, the
first two Superman movies were serious minded movies but the art seemed to have
been lost with the goofy Batman movies of Tim Burton. The first two movies were
excellent. Again as with most trilogies, it is the third movie that failed
mostly because it lacked the polish and finesse of the first two. Sorry but
Brett Ratner didn't do a good job here.
Lord of the Rings
This is one trilogy
where all three movies were flawed. All three were too long; made long with
unnecessary scenes of excessive crying. What really did this trilogy in for me
was the failure of Sauron to make an appearance. After all that talk about
Sauron being a competent badass and stuff, he never made an appearance. Even
Voldemort had to show himself at some point.
Star Wars
Honestly, it's quite
hard to sum up the Star Wars franchise. This is because it has two sets of
trilogies. The original old Star Wars and the new Star Wars and they both had
their brilliant and duh moments. The original had beloved characters like Hans
Solo, R2D2, Princess Leia, Darth Vader and Yoda. Likewise, it had silly
characters like Chewbacca. Chewbacca had his silly counterpart in the new
trilogy in the form of Jaja Binks. Brilliant characters here include the adult
Anakin, Obi-Wan, Chancellor Palpitine, Yoda, Count Dooku and Jango Fett. Mace
Windu had no real purpose in The Phantom
Menace and Attack of the Clones.
The last film of the first trilogy, Return of the Jedi, was lame. Conversely,
it was the last movie in the new trilogy that was great. Attack of the Clones
was the bad movie in the new trilogy. Either way, it seems the force is still
with us as we are not done yet.
Beverly Hills Cop
The first was good.
This was Axel Foley at his finest. The second was a not as good. The third:
that's the one we all wish we could forget about. I wonder what John Landis was
thinking. It's hard to believe it's the same man that brought us Trading Places and Coming to America.
Jason Bourne
The Jason Bourne
movies were alright. Identity remains
the best. Supremacy was almost as
good but Chris Cooper's absence was greatly felt. Ultimatum is the offender here. It felt like a greatest hits
compilation of the first two movies.
Batman
This list would be
incomplete without mentioning Christopher Nolan's Batman. The first two movies,
Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were excellent and
superlative respectively. The third and final movie as you know, was an utter
and monumental disappointment. It is in fact the greatest disappointment in
cinema. The only other movie that is just as disappointing is The Matrix
Revolutions. So sad. The Dark Knight didn't rise; he fell......badly.
The
Perfect Trilogies
The Godfather
The Godfather series
is one of the perfect trilogies. All three movies are on par with each other.
If you haven't watched these movies, you really should. They should be required
viewing. Nuff said.
Friday
The Friday movies are
also one of the few perfect trilogies in Hollywood. They were all extremely
good. They are all equals.
Terminated
Trilogies
Some movie that were
meant to be trilogies were cut short either due to poor sales or controversy. The Golden Compass is one example of the
latter. It's a shame because it had so much potential.
Future
trilogies
It seems movies like
the Kick Ass would be made into a
trilogy. The Hunger Games will
definitely follow suit considering the novels are the source material. The Expendables is also up for a third
outing. Let's hope they don't mess it up because the first two have been very
good.
All in all, it is
apparent that the perfect three is very hard to come by. Movies like Bourne
Supremacy and Ultimatum and even the last three Harry Potter movies show that
using the same director is not always advisable. But hey, Francis Ford Coppola
did an exceptional job with all three Godfather movies. Trilogies like Back to
the Future and The Matrix prove that shooting movies back to back is not the
best idea. I know I didn't mention the Narnia
movies. I've only watched the first one and I wasn't too impressed. Do you
thing I've misjudged some of the movies above or do you know of any other hat
tricks in cinema?
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