I saw this topic earlier at io9.com. What are the best and worst threequels. A “threequel” is the third movie in a series. With The Dark Knight Rises looming on the horizon, I've been thinking about how important the 3rd movie in a series is.
The following are not the necessarily the best or worst of the series, but they are either good or poor quality movies that are 3rd in a series.
Here are my thoughts:
Best:
Return of the Jedi
-My favorite movie
Revenge of the Sith
-Best of the Prequels
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
-There's a reason this has the record for most Oscar nomination wins in a clean sweep
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors
-I liked that the dreamers get to fight back
Goldfinger
-it might be the most iconic Bond movie
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
-best of the series
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
-this holds up a lot better than part 4
Toy Story 3
-the last 15 minutes are emotionally devastating
X-Men: The Last Stand
-I'm in the minority here, but this is my favorite X-Men movie
Back to the Future part III
-different than the other 2, but exciting and closes the loop
Mission: Impossible III
-marked improvement from part 2
Army of Darkness
-I have never seen a movie like it
Rocky III
-a great development in the Rocky character
The Exorcist III
-smart and slick, it has the scariest scene I've ever seen in a movie
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
-This was on the fence, because Shia LeBeouf's parts are terrible. But the Optimus Prime parts are awesome!
Worst:
Alien 3
-Franchise killer.
The Matrix Revolutions
-just because the movie uses big words, it doesn't mean it's deep
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
-Dead Man's Chest was the Empire Strikes Back of the series. This one is no Return of the Jedi
Spider-Man 3
-a convoluted mess
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
-I don't understand why critics loved it. But it was the lowest grossing Potter movie. The directing was amateur hour.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
-soulless
Jurassic Park 3
-Empty spectacle
Scream 3
-used up all the good ideas in Scream 2
Superman III
-The Superman/Kent fight is funky. Everything else sucks.
Batman Forever
-this was the gateway drug that led to LSD trip known as Batman and Robin
Jaws 3-D
-It's a fish in a tank. Drain the tank!
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
-Audience enters – intelligence leaves
Psycho III
-weird
Austin Powers in: Goldmember
-all of the magic was used up.
The Karate Kid pt 3
-I liked the 2nd, and the 3rd felt like a retread of 1
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
-my brother-in-law loves this, but a Michael Meyers-free Halloween just doesn't work.
What are your thoughts?
I guess my view of a good threequel movie is how much more I liked it over its predecessors. I have to say, Last Crusade tops my threequel list. Raiders and Temple were great, but for me Crusade took everything good and made it better in all accounts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the list, especially HP being on the worst list...what were critics thinking? How about adding Highlander 3...though, I guess it wouldn't be too hard to rebound from the 2nd...but you've got to give them props for being the first movie to kill one of it's predecessors by 1. ignoring it completely and 2. changing the timeline so that 2 could never happen. :)