Comments on: 25 Blockbuster Threequels: Did They Sink Or Save Their Franchises?

By: Krazy Joe

Krazy Joe — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

FOOLS!

Back to the Future III was the best film in the trilogy!

By: TheoC

TheoC — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

YES Rocky III getting the love. Fantastic montage sequence which ends with Rocky & Creed jumping up & down in the ocean. Also a brilliant ending, the fight we don't get to see.

By: Duranduran

Duranduran — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

… Well, I hope the next Tron will be as least as cool as Legacy… ##dream##

By: RNL

RNL — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

Michael Caine took his Bahamas holiday for Jaws 4, not 3.

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

This weekend? Hasn't Iron Man 3 already made about $300m?

By: andrew

andrew — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Last Crusade over Temple of Doom? Surely you jest.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

Ocean's 13 is in my opinion way better than 12, and Die Hard 3 is much better than 2, and I have no idea why I'm wasting my time stating this. Stuck in the office. Nothing else to do, but nerd rant, I suppose.

By: Erik

Erik — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

I agree that Prizoner of Azkaban is by far the best film in the franchise, but…you should've mentioned David Thewlis's performance. His Lupin is the heart and soul of that movie.

By: daniel

daniel — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

Return of the Jedi is, in terms of sheer let down, the worst film I have ever seen. The new films are nearly as bad, but at least if you knew nothing about them whatsoever and heard only the vaguest outline of what the story might be, they could sound promising. But no matter how you slice it, Jedi is an utter mess, missing every single cue set up in Empire, and collapsing into a repetitive, grating, pointless hash.

By: Ogre RumpleDumps

Ogre RumpleDumps — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

The Matrix Revolutions is the biggest, giant steaming turd of a threequel ever made. Fact.

By: Echo Seven

Echo Seven — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

Two Towers is the weak link in LOTR. Yes, Helm's Deep is the action pinnacle of the trilogy, but the rest of the film is filled with an inordinate amount of filler and bloat. From Aragorn's love triangle to superfluous warg attacks to the interminable Entmoot that ends with the Ents pussing out then being tricked into war by a hobbit trick that doesn't make one iota of sense, Two Towers is the entry most in need of some judicious trimming. It also committed the unforgivable sin of turning valiant warrior Gimli into Jar Jar Binks, with a lame, sophomoric slob / height / clumsy / hermaphrodite / out-of-shape joke virtually every time he's onscreen. ROTK may need 3 fewer endings, but on the whole it's a tighter, better film.

By: Alan B

Alan B — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

'Lethal Weapon 3' might not be the best film in the series, but it is THE GREATEST FILM EVER MADE. Not only does the film an opening titles sequence featuring Fire, Sting and Kamen, but the threequel also features STUART FUCKING WILSON as JACK TRAVIS. Not only does the character have the awesome backstory of a COP GONE ROGUE, but he's pulling THE LATE '80s/EARLY '90S REAL ESTATE SCAM TO END ALL REAL ESTATE SCAMS. Herzog in 'Jack Reacher' had NOTHING on this guy: whether Wilson's shooting JACOB FROM LOST in police stations with ZERO CONSEQUENCES, driving forklifts at people for some reason or sporting the most awesome 'tache this side of Kurt Russell in 'Tombstone' (or Sam Elliot in 'Tombstone' or Bill Paxton in 'Tombstone' or EVERYONE IN 'TOMBSTONE'), Wilson is THE MAN. Nothing stops this guy.

By: nechoplex

nechoplex — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

"The Bourne Identity is easily the best one of the bunch" That's some ridiculous statement right there. That movie is good, but not even near the greatness of Supremacy. Identity lacked the exciting action and so much more.

By: Alan B

Alan B — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

Also, Nivola is a terrific actor, and the only reason he didn't "happen" was because Kenneth Branagh's super-ambitious Shakespeare/musical-hybrid 'Love's Labour's Lost' failed at the box office. It's the same reason why Adrian Lester also didn't "happen". The making of a star is the result of MANY FACTORS, not just the actor's talent. So be offended that a rising star took a chance that didn't come off: no one else gives a shit.

By: HarveyDent322

HarveyDent322 — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

Glad you liked MI: 3 but the only time I saw it I thought I was watching a soap opera with some action beats thrown in which was why that was the only time I've watched it. I understand trying to give nuance to our action heroes but I greatly preferred the high caliber, over-the-top action that John Woo put on the screen for MI: 2. I may even go so far as to rate the sequel higher than the original because it accomplished in spades what it set out to be much more than 1 and 3 which was fun, summer action movie.

Also, MI: 2 IMO still holds the title for the best hand-to-hand fight in a Hollywood movie between Tom Cruise and Dougray Scott. Great, great action.

By: eduardo

eduardo — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

probably i\’m alone here, but Rises is the weakest of Nolan\’s Batman trilogy.

And Back to the future 3 might not be perfect, but it\’s so damn entertaining

By: Krazy Joe

Krazy Joe — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

So many of these are wrong.

Jurassic Park III was better than Spielberg's overlong, preachy 2nd film.

Terminator 3 was better than Terminator 2 because it fixed T2's time travel errors and had the balls to end the way T2 should have ended!

By: Nastee

Nastee — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

TDKR was the worst of the three, by far.

By: cirkusfolk

cirkusfolk — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

Wow. Almost every one of these films got the worst of the series rating, and the few that didn't (Toy Story, Dark Knight Rises etc) should have. I must admit the only real flaw I see is ranking BTTF 3 as the worst. Oh and btw, saw Iron Man 3 last night and it is easily the worst too. Regenerating fire people, really???

By: Owen Hughes

Owen Hughes — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

Of the five "threequels" pictured at the top: "Return of the Jedi" (although I'm the only person in the world to prefer it to "Empire") is considered the "bad one" of the original Star Wars Trilogy; "Spider-Man 3" got a lukewarm 63% on Rotten Tomatoes and was basically derided by fans; "The Matrix Revolutions" was despised by critics (36% — even though I personally liked it more than "Reloaded"); "Return of the King" was not a true sequel, because it was the third part of a 9-hour-long film that was all planned out and SHOT in advance, based on the last third-and-a-bit of a single book that had been released 50 years earlier. Of these five, "Iron Man 3" seems to be the only one that critically might (at present we can't tell) outstrip EITHER f its predecessors. But then, like RotK it's also kind of an exception: it's actually the seventh film in a series, four of which had previously featured the character Tony Stark/Iron Man. Going by production/release order, "Iron Man 2" was actually the third film to feature the character, and also the third film in the franchise. In terms of story continuity, the third film in the timeline to feature the character was 2008's "The Incredible Hulk", which was both critically and commercially a disappointment (until "Iron Man 3", which I can only say I LIKE right now, it was my third favourite in the franchise after "The Avengers" and "Thor", though).

By: Tom McGibbet

Tom McGibbet — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

The muddled and weirdly dark (but still reasonably enjoyable) Back to the Future II and At World's End better than the breezily entertaining Dead Man's Chest and Back to the Future III? Definitely not. Also, John McClane and Samuel L. Jackson chemistry raises Die Hard 3 above 2.

By: Tom McGibbet

Tom McGibbet — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

Also, Identity might have a much smoother plot, but Ultimatum is still the superior film. It is pure, genius cinema, and cemented the trilogy's influence over the entire action genre.

By: andrew m

andrew m — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

This is probably a franchise that most don't think about, but The Transporter 3 might have been the first time I really thought the third installment of a series was outright the best. They are thoroughly dumb movies to be sure, but the whole series is a lot of fun, and the third one really gets it right – enough that I'd love to see a 4th.

By: Mark T

Mark T — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000

I have to say that "Return of the King" is my favourite of the Lord of the Rings, and "Dead Man's Chest" left me excited to see "At World's End", which I was quite disappointed with, but I still enjoyed. "Dark Knight Rises" disappointed me, because it lacked the visceral darkness, and intellect of "The Dark Knight", and the excellent pace of "Batman Begins", and my hat goes off to "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" for the performance of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, and the consistent "appropriate use of a shotgun." T:3" lacked the character arcs I love so much about the second, which really are what made it for me.

By: Mark T

Mark T — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:02:22 +0000