“The Bourne Ultimatum” (2007)
Franchise: The Jason Bourne series
How Threequel-y Was It: Director Paul Greengrass inherited the series after director and shepherd Doug Liman — who bought the rights himself, and pitched and sold it to Universal in the first place — was kicked off for being erratic, overbudget and unpredictable on “The Bourne Identity.” But the writing architect Tony Gilroy (who would go on to direct “The Bourne Legacy“) remained throughout (perhaps against his better judgement since he and Greengrass clashed frequently) and preserved the film’s emotional and philosophical throughline. Starting mere minutes after “The Bourne Supremacy” ended, ‘Ultimatum’ packs a visceral punch from minute one and never gives up. Ultimately seeking redemption, Bourne attempts to atone as best he can for those he killed (or was responsible for, like Marie, his girlfriend played by Franka Potente) and then put an end to the Treadstone/Black Briar black ops programs that turned him into a killer before he lost his memory and essentially became a different person. ‘Ultimatum’ closes the chapter on the former CIA assassin and psychogenic amnesiac Jason Bourne: his true identity is finally revealed, but along the way the film is non-stop electrifying. The most financially successful of them all (natch) and thrillingly watchable, ‘Ultimatum’ is nonethless arguably the least satisfying Bourne film — which may be due to a production that started before the final script had been nailed down. (Gilroy walked early, and others were brought in to triage before and during filming).
Where does it rate in its franchise: This may be a controversial choice. But it’s either 2/3 or 3/3. In retrospect, “The Bourne Identity” is easily the best one of the bunch. ‘Supremacy‘ has two things going for it that ‘Ultimatum’ doesn’t: a new aesthetic (the shaky-cam visuals not yet played out) and a revenge theme that burns with the audience’s desire for Bourne to bring the payback (for Marie’s death). ‘Ultimatum’ is probably the most thrillingly shot and action-packed, but storywise, it sort of stumbles to the finish line in ungainly fashion. This however, will be argued by many.
“Back to the Future 3” (1990)
Franchise: Back to the Future
How Threequel-y Was It: For all our Criterion discs and complete Tarkovsky collections, there are few topics that engage the Playlist staff in livelier debate than the relative merits of the sequels to 1985’s universally beloved “Back to the Future.” So let the controversy ensue. By far the blandest of the three films, ‘Part 3‘ mostly jettisons the McFly-family-timeline-criss-crossing antics of the the previous installments, and instead focuses on Doc Brown, a character we adore of course, but not as a romantic lead. His courtship of Old West schoolmistress Clara (Mary Steenburgen) takes up so much of this film’s plot that it saps the franchise of its trademark zip, while the “Marty becomes a cowboy” storyline feels like an episode of a spin-off TV show rather than a full feature, and we say that with a deep abiding love for the Western genre. Arguably, ‘Part 3’ can be praised for at least attempting to do something different with the franchise, but they did rather throw the baby out with the bathwater, excising a great portion of what was so terrific about the the first two, and settling for “sweet” instead. That it was largely better received than its predecessor on initial release is a terrible injustice that posterity, if it has any sense at all, will gradually redress.
Where does it rate in its franchise: 3/3 Worst, by a considerable margin.
“Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985)
Franchise: Mad Max
How Threequel-y Was It: While financially the most successful of them all, after the balls out action and thrills of the nihilistic second installment “The Road Warrior,” director/co-writer George Miller‘s third film in the series, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” was seen as a bit of a head-scratching disappointment. It’s got kids in a Never-Never Land situation, and some argued because of that, Mad Max went the sitcom formula route — enlisting children to liven up a dead and losing-its-flavor franchise. But while slower in pace, and lighter on action set pieces, ‘Beyond Thunderdome’ is more thoughtful and has a dream-like, fairy-tale tone, seeing Max arrive at the ruthless wasteland outpost of Bartertown (cue delicious Tina Turner villain). Sentenced to exile in the desert after after he breaks the must-die rules of Thunderdome, Max almost meets his doom, but is saved by a tribe of children living on their own in an oasis. They mistake him for Captain Walker, a messianic figured in their made-up myths who will save them and take them to “Tomorrow-morrow Land.” Thus in the wastelands of this post-apocalyptic milieu, ‘Beyond Thunderdome’ finds a tenor previously not available in this series: hope. It’s not quite what audiences expected (or maybe even wanted) from this violent and lawless world, but it’s what Miller delivered. Considering how threequels usually go, it’s a much more unexpected outlier, and the better for it.
Where does it rate in its franchise: 2/3 “The Road Warrior” is beloved, so that’s obviously number one, but “Mad Max” doesn’t quite have its racing stripes totally down, nor does it hold up as well. Conversely, ‘Thunderdome,’ seen as something of a disappointment at the time, has aged well. If only we coulda seen that “Mad Max 4” with Gibson and Heath Ledger, but we suppose “Fury Road” with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron will have to suffice.
“The Godfather: Part III” (1990)
Franchise: The Godfather
How Threequel-y Was It: Almost the poster boy for unnecessary and uncalled-for threequels, Francis Ford Coppola‘s return to “The Godfather” well, sixteen years after the peerless, sprawling epic genius of “The Godfather: Part II,” perhaps doesn’t deserve quite the level of odium that was heaped on it at the time, but is undoubtedly a far lesser entry. More an example of failing to live up to astronomically high expectations than a truly bad film, ‘Part III‘ still boasts a cherishable Al Pacino performance even if the film around him never gets close to the richness and layered moral ambivalence of the first two. And in retrospect, while Sofia Coppola‘s casting still seems like a nepotistic error, can we really say the film would have been that much better with Winona Ryder in that role? A threequel that’s destined to never really be more than a footnote to its predecessors, the problems of “The Godfather: Part III” run deeper than a handful of casting issues: it’s a strange example of one of our greatest ever directors mimicking himself, and coming up with, at best, a pale imitation. Great auteurs of course need room to push against boundaries, to upset expectations and sometimes to fail, but the problem is that ‘Godfather III’ doesn’t fail through experimentation, it fails through complacency. And if retreading old ground is all a sequel has to offer, better to have left well enough alone.
Where does it rate in its franchise: 3/3 Worst of the series.
“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004)
Franchise: Harry Potter
How Threequel-y Was It: Director Chris Columbus brought Harry to Hollywood with the franchise’s first two installments, giving a shiny sense of awe and wonder to the character’s introduction to the big screen. “The Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Chamber of Secrets” were fine–the tone was likely more appropriate for the young age of Harry, Ron, and Hermione (and fans)–but all that changed when “Y Tu Mama Tambien” director Alfonso Cuaron was brought on for the third film. There’s a distinct visual and tonal shift from its predecessors, moving toward the darker end of the spectrum. This change was due partly to the angsty adolescence that the trio of Hogwarts students was reaching, but it also stemmed from the introduction of the mysterious Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) and the series’ creepiest villains: dementors. ‘Azkaban’ is more complex, both in its time-twisting (turning?) plot and in its characters, being given more depth than in previous films. This was also Michael Gambon‘s first appearance as Dumbledore after the death of Richard Harris, and while we won’t play favorites, Gambon’s approach fits better within Cuaron’s version of the wizarding world. The series continued on for five more films, with safer (and less stylish) directors Mike Newell and David Yates at the helm. Though our favorite in the series, ‘Azkaban’ was the lowest-grossing entry in the franchise, but the follow-ups more closely hew to Cuaron’s vision than the lighter, brighter take from Columbus.
Where does it rate in its franchise (to that date): 1/3 Best of the series to the point.
