TOP TEN: Movie Trilogies
Three films, many hours, which one's the best?
 | The Dollars (Man With No Name) Trilogy |
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WHY: It was only recently that I finally saw A Fistful of Dollars, but now that I have seen it I truly believe this trilogy is one of the top five ever. I am sure several of you would have placed it higher, but a few logic issues (yeah, nitpicky) keep me from ranking it too high. The first time I was introduced to the franchise it was The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, that film remains my favorite of the bunch, but the rest sure are a lot of fun to watch and made spaghetti westerns a viable genre.
RANKING THE THREE FILMS: #1 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; #2 For a Few Dollars More; #3 A Fistful of Dollars
 | The Original Star Wars Trilogy |
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WHY: Even though it comes in at #4 I consider the original Star Wars trilogy THE trilogy. It might not be my favorite, but when the word trilogy comes up in conversation I don't think Star Wars will ever be overlooked. The prequels may have been absolute garbage, but I think most film lovers have fond, fond memories of the trilogy that inspires people to boycott films, claim "Han Shot First" and inspired legions of fan sites, videogames and knock-offs. It really is epic.
RANKING THE THREE FILMS: #1 Empire Strikes Back; #2 A New Hope; #3 Return of the Jedi
 | The Godfather Trilogy |
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WHY: Because it is a franchise you can get lost in. All three films distinguish themselves from the other and even though the third film isn't all that good it still has a couple of my favorite lines in film, "Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in," and "Maybe they should fear YOU!" That second one makes me laugh every time I hear it.
Of course when it comes to quotes, acting, directing and story the first two films are far superior and the reason this trilogy is rated this high. Had all three films been like Part Three I really don't think we ever would have heard of Don Corleone, but as it stands he is now a film icon.
RANKING THE THREE FILMS: #1 Part II; #2 Part I; #3 Part III
 | The Bourne Trilogy |
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WHY: Because it kicks ass! Seriously, the trilogy of Jason Bourne films are three quality action packed films, and the key word there is "quality". Most action thrillers forego intelligent story-telling, but the Bourne series puts its story first and through terrific choreography and directing it takes hand-to-hand combat to a whole new level. It goes from blowing up a house with a toaster, to stabbing a guy in the hand with a pen, to combat with a book and a towel. Seriously, who could have predicted those three fight scenes? Also, after some soul searching, I think I am finally ready to concede that The Bourne Supremacy is my favorite of the bunch.
RANKING THE THREE FILMS: #1 Supremacy; #2 Ultimatum; #3 Identity
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I prefer the Oceans trilogy above the Pirates and especially above the Mission Impossible trilogy myself. Other than that I like the list.
Could I allso nominate Hellraiser and The Prophecy? I know there where more of them but to me they never went further than a trilogy and I'll allways deny the existence of anything after the third ones.
The Godfather Trilogy, even with the failings (minor, if you ask me) of the third entry, should be number one. No question, as far as I am concerned. That said, Jackson's acheivement with The Lord of the Rings is downright astonishing. It really is incredible.
My big problems with this list really end up being about the films you haven't seen, which really is more my issue than yours (a person can't see it all, after all). It still bothers me that the Three Colors trilogy isn't here. It's a magnificent collection. Even worse for me is the absence of The Apu Trilogy by the great Satyajit Ray. Fassbinder's The BRD Trilogy is also worthy, as would be the John Wayne/John Ford Calvary Trilogy of Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and the magnificent Rio Grande.
Other notables that could have been included:
Obviously you can't choose all of these, not for a top ten, but to my mind any of them would be far more worthy of inclusion than The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean or Mission: Impossible trilogies. Heck, even Spider-man and The X-Men deserve some love if you're including those (and both of their Part Three were pretty much inexcusably awful).
For me, though, the trilogy that hurts the most by not being here is The Mad Max Trilogy. I adore those films, especially the second one, and I think it is probably one of the very best action films ever made. George Miller's often imitated, never duplicated serious of post-apocalyptic adventures is as timeless as it is essential, and every time I watch it I am reminded why I became a film critic.
With that in mind, if I were to do this list, it would be as follows:
But, then, that's just me. :)
You know, I have only seen the first film in both of those franchises. The Prophecy was a disappointment for me, but I really dug Hellraiser. As for what is and isn't a trilogy, that is up to you, but if they start getting into direct-to-DVD realm it certainly is at your discretion.
Spider-Man? Yikes. X-Men? I like the second one, was never too much in love with the first and the third was just… it was just there. I knew Matrix, Pirates and Mission were the ones most people would have a problem with, but I had to remain honest to my opinion. :)
1) The Godfather
2) Bourne (I almost chose it first…Godfather III is a big DUD,and all the Bournes are all consistently good)
3) Star Wars
4) LOTR
5) Mad Max
6) Back to the Future
7) Die Hard
8) Indiana Jones
9) The Matrix
10) Evil Dead
There.
Pitty, that we can't vote for our favorite trilogies!
My best 11 are:
1. the Godfather,
2. Three Colors,
3. StarWars,
4. Dollar trilogy,
5. Pusher,
6. Matrix,
7. Infernal Affairs,
8. Terminator,
9. Bourne,
10. Mad Max,
11. Indiana Jones.
sorry, but there is no place for stupid Mission Impossible, Back to the Future, LoTR, Oceans or Pirates trilogies- it's time to grow up :)
"it's time to grow up"
Let me remind you that you have the Terminator trilogy on your list.
Thanks for introducing me to the Pusher trilogy. Don't know how that slipped by me.
"It's time to grow up" and you have Matrix and Star Wars in your list? Smartass.
Pitty, that we can't vote for our favorite trilogies!
My best 11 are:
1. the Godfather,
2. Three Colors,
3. StarWars,
4. Dollar trilogy,
5. Pusher,
6. Matrix,
7. Infernal Affairs,
8. Terminator,
9. Bourne,
10. Mad Max,
11. Indiana Jones.
sorry, but there is no place for stupid Mission Impossible, Back to the Future, LoTR, Oceans or Pirates trilogies- it's time to grow up :)
Next, I'm not a fan of Tolkien or LOTR trilogy (is the ONE book I read in HS under penalty of detention by the nuns-I thought the dude was crazy after reading 10 pages), but credit must be given where it is due. The movies are well made and the last one is truly entertaining. Besides, Legolas makes it all worth it. As far as back to the future, to me it was a sentimental choice because the first ones is EVER so good. Now, Mission Impossible is on its own. It was my mother's favorite TV show, and had she been alive, she would have been outraged by the choice of Tom Cruise for her beloved Ethan Hawke.
I refuse to grow up. If I ever stop liking some movies because they are mindless and fun I will stop running this site.
As much as I thought I was a movie fanatic, wow – these lists consist of some movies I've never seen, let alone heard of.
Well, I do love movies, so I'll throw in my kernals :popcorn:…
1. Lord Of The Rings (by far the best casting, vision, and effects)
2. Star Wars (the original, of course)
3. The Godfather
4. Bourne
5. Matrix
6. Terminator (I can't not rank this one, T1 and T2 are among my all time favorite movies)
7. Ocean (just watching the cast is exciting)
8. Pirates (Curse of the Black Pearl is so entertaining, it's the only reason I added it to my list)
9. Mad Max (Road Warrior rules the road)
10. Blade (There I go, showing my genre faves… I can't help it, vampires and Snipes – what a combo)
Well, not quite all "Oscar winners" but definitely entertaining for me [even some guilty pleasures].
:)Thanks bradbrevet for the spark.
Im w/ you 100% on your list. LOTR= BEST MOVIE EVER
Blade was on my list, but I am not a huge fan of the third one and I don't like the first one as much as most people do. I did, however, love the second one. Also, the Mad Max films just don't interest me. I didn't like Road Warrior and never even bothered with the other two. I know I am in the minority there, but gotta be honest right. :)
Wow… POTC sequals all sucked… Bourne above the Godfather and Star Wars? Nice way to spark discussion, but that's ludicrous! I love the omission of the Mexico Trilogy in favour of the Matrix, which was another in which the original was the only good one. For my top 3 I'd have to go:
1. Godfather
2. Star Wars
3. LOTR
lord of the rings….matrix :popcorn:
1. LORD OF THE RINGS
2. GODFATHER
3. MATRIX
4. PIRATES (I dont care what people say, I loved all of them, massive dumb fun)
5. MEXICO (Desperado, El Mariachi, Once Upon….in Mexico)
6. INDY
7. BOURNE
8. TERMINATOR
9. DOLLAR
10. ORGINAL STAR WARS
Godfather has to be number one. Why is Bourne above Star Wars, Dollars, and Godfather? Where is Indiana Jones? And I don't need to mention Mission Impossible for christ's sake…
@Beau: Calm down Beau, take a breath, this is my list and apparently you have a different one. I can respect that. What would be your top ten?
I love you so much for putting LotR at #1 (seriously, pure love), but I can't understand putting Towers before the others, and the Best Picture winner last. Of course, it's your opinion, so debating won't really get anywhere. The most I can do is state my own opinion. I know AFI has Fellowship on their official list, and not Return, but I'd personally put Rotk first, FotR second, and TTT last. Fellowship is a great start, but the epic grandeur and HUGE climax (aka Tolkien's eucatastrophe) of the story and the multiple narrative threads being wrapped up in RotK really do it for me.
Return of the King changed movie-viewing for me forever. (Probably just 'cause it was so long). I can't watch a movie nowadays without mentally noticing all the little technical details like foley and stuff. For that reason, I put it as the best movie I've ever seen. It's definitely the most influential as far as moviemaking goes. Star Wars, et al may be more formative and visceral, but nothing comes close to knowing I've just experienced history walking out of a theater.
BTW, if the original 3 Indiana Jones movies counted, they'd definitely make the list, probably around the middle.
Speaking of Peter Jackson: anybody else jumping out of their skin for Temeraire?
This list is pretty close to my own.
LOTR is the best trilogy ever made. All movies are great and what is very important for trilogies and franchises, sequels didn't lose quality in any aspect, actually they were even better. I can't say the same for Godfather or Matrix or any other trilogy on this list — except for Bourne, maybe.
@RaTTleR_NL:
what do you call it when there are 4 or more movies, is it a series? I still call it a trilogy even if there are 6 or 7 movies to the series, I don't care if tri means three.
1. The Lord of the Rings (By far the best- I have so much good to say about this
Trilogy, its better that I don't say anything, you don't
have the time, trust me)
2. Jurassic Park (no movie has ever blown me away like the 1st JP did when I was a
kid, not even any of the LOTR's movies, but together the LOTR's
trilogy blew JP series out the ballpark)
I didnt like the next 2 JP's nearly as much as the first, but
all 3 are on my top 30 list
3. Star Wars (I agree with most-Original 3 were far better than the new 3
but I still like the new 3 as well)
4. Tremors (The first Tremors is on my all time top 10 list, thats why I gave this
series such a great rating)
5. Rush Hour (Chris Rock is hilarious and Cowboy Chan is one of my favorite actors)
6. Rocky (I did not dislike the last one as much as everyone else, but I think they
could've done a little better job, the first 5 or so were great)
7. Bourne's (I have a nickname for movies like this one, "Business suit movies", great
series)
8. Xmen (I loved the XMEN series, I think they got better, I think some people
would agree that many trilogies get worse as they go, but this was
a great trilogy, I still fill like bumping it up a couple of spots)
9. Indiana Jones (I was crazy about the step of faith, ghosts coming out of the Ark,
escaping from Nazi castle, mine cart ride in the mine, and the
atom bomb test site scenes in the Jones Movies)
10. The Mummy (I was not very happy about the last one, it wasnt terrible, the
first one was great)
11. Pirates of the Carribean (I didnt really care for the creatures in these movies, still
to this day I don't know why)
12. Batman (I haven't actually seen all of them, but Batman Begins was by far my
favorite, and I know I'm going to get a lot of grief for this, but I
didnt really care for The Dark Knight, probably because it was the
same exact thing in this movie as the last 50 batman movies;
crime in Gotham, I think there should be more to
batman than just fighting crime in Gotham City, he
needs to get out of Gotham city like in Batman
Begins, that was an awesome movie, If he
didnt get out of town in BBegins, then I
would've said the same thing about
that movie)
13. Back to the future (I don't know why I'm ranking Mike and Chris so low I really
enjoyed all BTTF's, especially since Mike and his condition
and Christopher losing his home to the fires. I liked the
2nd one because the CUBS win the world series.
GO CUBBIES!!! (I think it was the 2nd one) )
14. Fast and Furious (Compared to supercars, these lawn-mower sounding cereal
box cars are nothing. They were worth watching, make an
F & F movie with supercars and you'll really make some
money of movie fans, Redline was better than all 3
To Fast To Furious movies.
14. Bonds (I like the Bonds movies when Pierce Brosnan came aboard)
15. Aliens (Alien movies with great acting, plot, story line, and a budget to work
with make great movies)
16. Terminators (If the director and writers etc etc can come up with something
more than just cars, motorcycles, and heavy equipment chases
then this would easily make it into the top 5 trilogies, the best
part of this series was the last 40 mins or so of part 3)
Mission Impossible (I don't really have anything bad to say about MI, but I wasn't crazy
about this series neither)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (uhhh, yes I liked these movies, not the new cartoon
one, that pissed me off, why wasnt it real? and no I
didnt watch it because it disgraced the real series,
same thing with Clone Wars, what a bunch of
crap, that pissed me off too!! Stop with
the fake cartoon crap, PLEASE! OH! and
Dark Fury of The Chronicles of Riddick,
What the CRAP???!!!
Spiderman (I'm sorry, the spidermans still haven't impressed me yet, but they are
still worth renting)
Oceans (I havent watched 11 or 12 all the way yet, and I just rented 13 tonight)
Karate Kid (these were the bomb when I was a kid, I still try to crane someone
when ocassion calls for it, HIYA!!)
There were many other Trilogies but these are what made my cut, I've never really cared for the Star Trek Series but It was proably next to make the cut
i have to correct you on saying that chris rock was in rush hour… it was in fact chris tucker
1. Lord of the Rings
2. Star Wars (originals only. can't stand the prequels)
3. Back to the Future
4. Bourne
5. Dollars
6. Oceans
7. Calvary
8. Mummy
9. Pirates of the Caribbean
10. Mission Impossible
yeah yeah, i know, theres no Godfather there…but this is our own opinions and as i still have not been able to sit thru a whole watching of any of the Godfathers, i couldn't list it. i just get so bored watching them i can't finish. and i also took into account my preference of watchability. like the Back to the Future set…anytime i happen upon them as i'm channel surfing i end up watching the movie. and i don't like to list a trilogy if one or two of them just didn't do it for me, such as Matrix (only liked the first). Mad Max, i never saw the 2nd and 3rd so can't say. would have loved to add in Die Hard, Indy, and Lethal Weapon, but too many for a trilogy.
@next: Time to grow up? The third movies in almost all your trilogys sucked. Lord of the Rings needs to be at the top to every top ten trilogy list. Every one of those movies were great. Excellent character development, story, and action sequences make it the greatest trilogy ever. The Matrix trilogy has no place in the top ten. The last two completely sucked compared to the first one.
wow no indiana jones and no Die hard they are both definatly way better than half those trilogies
I think the third Mission Impossible film did so poorly not just because of the "Tom is crazy" issue, but because he was overexposed. If you saw the news, there was some news story about him, and if you didn't see it you still ended up with the news commercials talking about him. You couldn't escape him and I, at least, was just plain tired of seeing his face. I watched it later though, and enjoyed it.
1) Lord of the Rings [ far the best, just legendary ]
2) Pirates of the Caribbean [ Loveee captain Jack Sparrow ]
3) Matrix
I need to see more, before i can judge. ;)
lotr
Quote-'wow no indiana jones and no Die hard they are both definatly way better than half those trilogies'
The two you mentioned aren't trilogies though, are they?
what about ghost busters ?
they only made 2 ghostbusters, so we cant class them as a trilogy :(
Back to the Future Trilogy is probably as good as the Beethoven (the St. Bernard dog) movies. At least Back to the Future stopped at 3.
My top ten would be:
1. The Lord of the Rings
2. Star Wars
3. Indiana Jones
4. The man with no name trilogy
5. Bourne trilogy
6. Die hard
7. Alien
8. Spiderman
9. The Godfather
10. Mr Hulot (Mr Hulot's holiday, My uncle, Playtime) by Jacques Tati
lol spiderman
What? You got a thing for "3"? That's kinda sucky. A great series but with four movies cannot be in this. Wait, I got one, Movies with a casual view of a fire hydrant. Or movies where someone with an umbrella say, "Hello There". Your filter is stupid, it doesn't really give a good idea of what is good. One can set filters that make he most suckyies movie the best. "Multi-Sequaled Movies" would've been better.
One more thing, you got a couple of movies that will have to be kicked of the list soon and yet others will be elgible, for a while.
BOURNE all the way
Blazemundo Gahdogo you obviously don't know what trilogy means, but it seems most do understand. Perosnally i really don't want to watch someone try to rehash the same idea as many times as they can to make money, trilogies once used to be made because that's how many books there were in the story, not because some 10 year old has the memory of a goldfish and doesn't realise that the only thing different about the 5 movies he just watch back to back was the numbers 1,2,3,4 and 5. The is not one set of films that contains more than 3 movies that is worth watching, the only motivation for even making them was money.
1. Infernal Affairs
2. the rest
These are my top 10 movie trilogies. I haven't ranked them as i find it difficult to do so because i find several equally as good as each other
Lord of the Rings Trilogy (the best fantasy-epic trilogy ever)
Back to the Future Trilogy (the best trilogy for the family to watch)
Star Wars Trilogy -Original (the best sci-fi trilogy)
Dollars (the man with no name) Trilogy (the best spaghetti western trilogy)
Bourne Trilogy (best secret-service themed trilogy. miles better than mission impossible)
The Godfather Trilogy (the best gangster trilogy, but GF3 did stain it slightly)
The Terminator Trilogy (the 2nd best sci-fi trilogy, but T3 did stain it)
Die Hard Trilogy (best action trilogy, yippee ki yay mofo)
Indiana Jones Trilogy (best archeological trilogy, Indy made it look cool)
Alien Trilogy (3rd best sci-fi trilogy, and was the first film to advocate a strong lead lady)
sorry for liking sci-fi, but the genre is my soft spot :)
hey, what 'bout the Hannibal series? I agree that Hannibal rising was by far the worst of sequels. But, seriously, Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal are some of the best movies in that genre. Come on guys, at least for Anthony Hopkins, who did a fantastic job, this series shd feature here. He totally deserves to be here :)
You al forget the transporter trilogy. That's the best after the bourne trilogy
toy story… hands down
I Think The best Triologies are
1) Transporter
2) Bourne
3) Mission Impossible
4) Ocean 11,12,13
5) Lords Of the Ring
6) Pirates Of the Caribean
7) Die Hard
8) Spider man
9) X-Man
10)Trminator
Animated
1)Ice Age
2)Sheark
Well, you're the only that included The Dollars trilogy, so I guess that's better than nothin'. I haven't seen it yet, but I honestly think Clint is the greatest actor, or at least top five. I've seen the Godfather trilogy, and in all honesty, it sucked. Guess it's not for everyone.
STAR WARS NEW EPISODES are the best trilogy .
original trilogy sucks .
Um, why are 3 of the Star Wars movies on here? You broke your own rule, that series has six films, i don't get why you even made that a rule if you just break it anyway for Star Wars… the second Indiana Jones movie was a prequel but you don't count any of those movies but whatever.
Anyway I include the fourth film only when i like it, for me if I'm being honest its probably
10. Austin Powers 1-3 (Another personal choice for me, very funny movies i like them all.)
9. 3 Ninjas 1-4 (This is a very personal pick for me, its a very ridiculous but entertaining series.)
8. Star Wars Original (this is low on the list because of all the lunatic fans who have cheapened the magic for me)
7. Terminator 1-3 (4 had no Arnold and no time travel, nuff said)
6. Tmnt 1-3 (I love 1 and 2, 3 is pretty bad, but its humor lies in its campiness)
5. Die Hard 1-4 (The second one's the weak link, and it sucks that the 4th wasn't R-rated, but they all kick ass.)
4. The Dollars Trilogy (These 3 movies raise the question, how badass can one man be?)
3. Toy Story 1-3 (My childhood, I love these movies to death.)
2. Indiana Jones 1-3 (great films all 3, fuck the 4th one, it blows hard)
1. Back to the Future 1-3 (Fun, engaging, and very well constructed Trilogy, one of the best of its kind)
You are retarded. First off star wars best trilogy ever! You didn't even put Indiana Jones (I only acknowledge the first three). Also pirates doesn't belong on there. And hate to break it to you but lord of the rings is the most overrated trilogy of all time. let's watch a movie about walking awesome. You should seriously watch the movies not just the trailers. Also no mad max? Or Beverly hills cop?
Again retrded.
You are retarded. First off star wars best trilogy ever! You didn't even put Indiana Jones (I only acknowledge the first three). Also pirates doesn't belong on there. And hate to break it to you but lord of the rings is the most overrated trilogy of all time. let's watch a movie about walking awesome. You should seriously watch the movies not just the trailers. Also no mad max? Or Beverly hills cop?
Again retarded!
How can any of you construct a list without mentioning the Vacation Movies (Clark Griswald)?
I respect your list. But, for me Trilogy or series is something where all the parts are great to watch. All of them should mesmerize me.I won't include God Father, Pirates and some others as only one/two parts are excellent. They are not perfect trilogies. Well, here's my list.
1. LOTR
2. Star Wars
3. Matrix(Most people don't understand the inner story.)
4. Bourne
5. Die Hard
6. Toy Story
7. Indiana Jones
8. Back to the Future
9.
10.
Left place for 9th and 10th. Well, notable mentions would be Apu(Satyajit Ray's), Pirates, Indian Gangstar Trilogy(Varma's).
how about Twilight…. pfffft couldnt hold it in hahahaahha.
all around the world favorite doubled,trilogy or quadrilogy movies are:
lord of the ring
rambo
scary movies
american pie
hot shots
terminator
underworld
jason
fright night
back to the future
matrix
star wars
batman
spiderman
superman
hellboy
predator
incredible hulk
jeepers creepers
wrong turn
bourned identity
mad maxx
indiana jones
pirates of the caribbean
blades
mummy
mission impossible
alien
die hard
transporter
x-men
universal soldier
scorpion king
hallow man
species
I can't believe that Toy Story was not even mentioned. It's the highest rated trilogy on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic