They're everywhere, and their numbers are growing... this weekend saw the premiere of Spider-Man 3 and record box-office numbers, and looming on the horizon are Shrek the Third, Rush Hour 3, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (or, in layman's terms, Pirates 3). And you know what? I think the only one I'll see is Pirates, and while pulling tape for today's show, I realized I rarely see the third installment of a franchise, even if I've seen one or both of its predecessors... my attention just wanes, or focuses elsewhere. What about you? Do you wait with bated breath for the third return of your heroes and heroines, or are you like me... distracted? Does it bug you when a series drags on and on, or are multiples necessary to really see a story line through? What's your favorite "three-quel," and which ones bombed?
Blog of the Nation
I remember seeing the first Spiderman around 2001. I was really "burned out" from watching all of the 9-11 news stories and feeling miserable during that time. Spiderman was just the escapist movie I needed. Nowadays, having seen how our troops are NOT coming home now, I am going need some escapist fun or else I will be just too sad this summer.
Best "three-quel": Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade or Star Trek III
Some of the Worst: Rambo part 3, Home Alone 3 or Godfather 3,
Hello, Return of the Jedi. Oh, BTW glad the gentleman speaking at 3:21 mentioned Return of the King. I guess the message is "Return..." in the title helps a lot.
E.T., Gremlins and Goonies as a trilogy from Spielberg. Amazing formative experience from my childhood.
Ryan
Brooklyn, NY
Best Three-quel. The third James Bond film. Goldfinger
My favorite 3-quel would be the TERMINATOR series. Another one of those great firsts followed by a so-so sequel and then a totally awesome 3rd movie.
I enjoyed the Beastmaster Threesome, though the sequal was lame. Poor story line, and script. My alltime favorites Indiana Jones and Bourne movies. I still watch them regularly. Any order. Any time. Great topic.
I wonder whether the quality of sequels really matters. I'm thinking of long-running mystery book series, the playful fantasy/parody/sci-fi series of Terry Prachett which are endless. And then there is television. We just like going back to the worlds of these series, and the "art" value of those experiences isn't so important.
National Lampoon's Vacations!
ARMY OF DARKNESS With the great Bruce Campbell best 3 quell ever!!!!
Worst threequel: Star Wars III
Being a comic book fan, I really wanted to like Superman 3 and the third Batman installment from the 90's, but they both rate as my least favorite threequels. This mostly rested on the villans and efforts for comedy. Richard Pryor had no business in a Superman movie and Robert Vaughn's villan was lame. Joel Schumaker made no effort to tame way over the top performances by Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones, who played parodies of the characters from the comics. Both movies had lame plots and terrible scripts. Of course, I did not even see Jaws 3 in 3D, so my list might look different if I had.
C' mon Army of Darkness!!! the third of the evil dead series with Bruce Cambell!
I'd nominate The Matrix 3 as the worst of all time. As the guest has said, it wasn't only bad, it actually pulled the original movie, which was very good in and of itself, down.
In fact, whenever my friends and I talk about The Matrix, we say, "Thank goodness they never made a sequel!"
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!!!!
Alien 3 was a disappointing mess that almost killed an interesting sci-fi storyline, Alien Resurrection was only marginally better than Alien 3... Bigger budgets don't equal better movies.
I don't understand why people don't give Lord Of The Rings more credit. In my humble opinion it beats all other trilogies hands down. Directing, cinematography, script adaption, back story, song score, acting, art direction, props, special effects, originality, casting, and on and on! The Godfather had a few of these attributes but by the third installment in lost it's integrity and plot. I don't think there is a trilogy that comes very close to lord of the rings and I don't believ there will be soon. It seemed to me that for the first time in history, some people got together to put a timeless, genious, epic mythology on the big screen, and they did it because they loved the story and they would have done it regardless of the money involved. Lord of the Rings needs more credit.
I think that there is something about many of us that are interested in a hero's story. We want to see where it goes and what happens. For example, Pitch Black was not one of my favorite movies yet I saw the second film because I wanted to know how the character got along. Often I watch some sub-par television shows as I am flipping and notice the extreme change in the cast and wonder how the writers handled that. Then I start watching shows that I don't care about like Charmed just to learn how the story progressed. Maybe I am sick.
Lord of the Rings = the best. Admittedly the adventure of it all was lost a bit by the third, but nonetheless the trilogy had probably the best ensemble of characters (with the original Star Wars group tied) and character development throughout.
Worst sequel in general: Star Wars II
I would defrinetely put the Lord of the Rings as the best of the best all time trilogies. I am not sure why this movie was not mentioned in the online discussion. The movies got better with easc installment - the performances, action, music, special effects, photography were all outstanding. Maybe the only trilogy, besides The Godfather to win best picture Oscar!!!
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