The best 3rd film in a trilogy?

[RIDDICK]

Iron Man 3

What are you guys smoking?

 

[Doctor Who]

Die Hard 3 for me. Still my favorite one in the series. Technically it's not a trilogy but sod it.

 

[IrishJedi]

I'd have go do with either "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" or "Duel At Gunryu Island" (3rd film in Inagaki's great Samurai Trilogy about Musashi Miyamoto).

They don't make em like that anymore. And the few times they even try they can't match them, what with the CGI handicap nowadays.

 

[The Ween]

It seems like a lot of the big Rings fans like Return of the King the best. For some reason, I always felt that Fellowship of the Ring was the best of the three.

Was that the question though? Maybe I'm misunderstanding it because I can't believe that people are picking some of the movies that they are then.

I was taking it that the third movie was still good out of the trilogy, not necessarily the best. If were talking best out of three, then that's another story......and a lot harder.

Also, if a franchise has more than 3 movies, it's no longer a trilogy.

 

[Rorywan]

I'd have go do with either "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" or "Duel At Gunryu Island" (3rd film in Inagaki's great Samurai Trilogy about Musashi Miyamoto).

They don't make em like that anymore. And the few times they even try they can't match them, what with the CGI handicap nowadays.

Now, now, that's a bit of a mean thing to call MOS?

 

[Dr.Mirakle32]

Now, now, that's a bit of a mean thing to call MOS?

 

[JonWes]

Oh, I forgot about Return of the King. That's a great movie.

 

[IrishJedi]

Now, now, that's a bit of a mean thing to call MOS?

Your unnecessary personal snark aside, it's unfortunately a symptom of ALL big films these days. Just too much CGI all over the place. But it's not the technology itself, it's how it's used. I just personally don't find the digital look very palatable from a live action storytelling perspective.

In fact, Neill Blomkamp is pretty much the only filmmaker I can think of who uses extensive CGI but ensures it maintains an organic, photorealistic aesthetic. But it's possible even that can change with ELYSIUM. We'll see.

ROTK is great, but it can't touch the classic films I've mentioned (to me) because it just has too much over-the-top, cartoony CGI, as sadly almost every genre film has today.

 

[Boba Ben]

Was that the question though? Maybe I'm misunderstanding it because I can't believe that people are picking some of the movies that they are then.

I was taking it that the third movie was still good out of the trilogy, not necessarily the best. If were talking best out of three, then that's another story......and a lot harder.

Also, if a franchise has more than 3 movies, it's no longer a trilogy.

I must have taken it the wrong way. I thought the question was what movie trilogies ended with the third movie being the best of the three.

Yep, that's true. If there are more than three it isn't a trilogy anymore. That's why Friday the 13 III doesn't count. Although, I consider the Original and Prequel Star Wars trilogies to be separate entities for some reason.

 

[meth head]

TDKR

..
..

 

[The Iron Koob]

The question I intended was to discuss which series successfully pulled off a third film. To me a "third film" is the last one. No big deal to discuss other films but I was really just commenting on how a lot of filmakers tend to lose their grip by the third film resulting in weaker films. So considering that, who actually pulled it off? As I said before I think the Bourne Ultimatum was pretty consistent with the other two.


But of course you guys can just talk about what you want. I'm getting a lot of good series suggestions here

 

[jstep13]

Iron Man 3.

Knocked it out of the park. Best third film in a trilogy ever. And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

 

[The Ween]

The question I intended was to discuss which series successfully pulled off a third film. To me a "third film" is the last one. No big deal to discuss other films but I was really just commenting on how a lot of filmakers tend to lose their grip by the third film resulting in weaker films. So considering that, who actually pulled it off? As I said before I think the Bourne Ultimatum was pretty consistent with the other two.


But of course you guys can just talk about what you want. I'm getting a lot of good series suggestions here

Okay, then my choice of Return of the King stands.

 

[Boba Ben]

The question I intended was to discuss which series successfully pulled off a third film. To me a "third film" is the last one. No big deal to discuss other films but I was really just commenting on how a lot of filmakers tend to lose their grip by the third film resulting in weaker films. So considering that, who actually pulled it off? As I said before I think the Bourne Ultimatum was pretty consistent with the other two.


But of course you guys can just talk about what you want. I'm getting a lot of good series suggestions here

Then I'm gonna say Return of the Jedi. It's not the best of the original trilogy, but I still really enjoy it.

 

[Dr.Mirakle32]

Superman Returns.

 

[steveo]

I have to say that most of the current 3rd films fare way better than most of the 3rd films from the 70's, 80's and 90's. They seem to have the same feel, focus and drive that really lacked in the earlier 3rd's, minus a few exceptions of course.

 

[Rorywan]

Your unnecessary personal snark aside, it's unfortunately a symptom of ALL big films these days. Just too much CGI all over the place. But it's not the technology itself, it's how it's used. I just personally don't find the digital look very palatable from a live action storytelling perspective.

In fact, Neill Blomkamp is pretty much the only filmmaker I can think of who uses extensive CGI but ensures it maintains an organic, photorealistic aesthetic. But it's possible even that can change with ELYSIUM. We'll see.

ROTK is great, but it can't touch the classic films I've mentioned (to me) because it just has too much over-the-top, cartoony CGI, as sadly almost every genre film has today.

What was personal about my snark?

Nah, some of the big guys still use CG properly. Even when the script requires huge doses of it. I do agree with your post generally though. But there also has been some great CG around. Contextual CG.
Prometheus? (ignoring the script and dodgy prosthetics) looked the biz. So did Star Trek for that matter. Nope, it's not down to the quality of the CG artists once the budget is of a certain level, it's down to the director to use it properly. Elysium, jury is out for me, not because of the CG but because it looks like it's too similar to D9. I'm sure the VFX will be great though. I love CG, when it's used to show something emotionally involving. I loved the CG in the first hour or so of MOS, then as some other hack said, it was like watching someone else playing a PS4 game. Save one sequence, the mid air punch up while flying away from camera, at least that felt like it was trying to do something new. For the record I thought about 75% of the CG in Sucker Punch looked like a videogame as well. But I know he wasn't working with the same resources. The dragon/robots on train **** was plain awful. Apart from the dodgy prosthetics in Watchmen, which i didn't mind as it was comic book-y it looked great.

Scott,
Cuaron,
Blomkamp,
Ang Lee (Pi, even some of hulk was beautiful)
Cameron knows what he's doing, even if it's not to everyone's tastes.
Peter Jackson (even though he went overboard on The Hobbit)
Fincher
Aronofsky.

.....

 

[Khev]

ROTK is great, but it can't touch the classic films I've mentioned (to me) because it just has too much over-the-top, cartoony CGI, as sadly almost every genre film has today.

Out of ROTK's 3+ hours the only sequence in the entire film where the CG seemed out of place was the dodgy fire during the lighting of the beacons. Thankfully that sequence was saved by epic mountain photography and some of the best music in the trilogy. Otherwise I don't see how it could possibly be looked at as a handicap.

But I agree about your general sentiment. Which is one of the many reasons I found Prometheus and TDKR to be such breaths of cinematic fresh air. They felt like movies right out of the 70's/80's with their real locations and vehicles and practical make-up and costumes. You just don't really see that in big budget movies anymore.

 

[LipSmack]

Matrix 3....


Just kidding

Return of the King, if only because of the witch king

 

[Ghost of QG]

Smokey and the Bandit 3 . Pure genius...