How Film Series Rank
Submitted by ash_campbell on Tue, 06/10/2003 - 03:01
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- The idea here is to rank series of movies that are trilogies or more. A couple of ground rules, besides the obvious one of that I have to have seen them (though I will note the place where I haven’t seen them all). First, these have to be relatively mainstream releases; although I have seen the Darkman Trilogy, only the first one was released theatrically. Secondly, except in two specific circumstances, all three (or more) films must already be released. Finally, a bad last film (i.e. Godfather III) can pull a series down in rankings quite a bit. With that, here they are:
- 1. Lord of the Rings. A pretty amazing series that has grabbed the best fantasy series title from the Star Wars franchise. Jackson did great justice to Tolkien's books.
- 2.Wallace and Gromit. This is the best example of how the total package is more than the sum of its parts. None of the individual films: A Grand Day Out (1992), The Wrong Trousers (1993), or A Close Shave would rank as a better film than The Godfather, but as a group they’re simply amazing. Nick Park does wonders with his lovingly created characters. I need to ge eat some cheese now.
- 3. Mad Max. Mel Gibson made his dashing entrance with this great set, and personally, I love the third one with Tina Turner.
- 4. Indiana Jones. That second film pulls this down a little, but it’s still a great set of popcorn movies.
- 5. Apu Trilogy. Extremely touching, but it falls a little on the list due to its depressing nature, and thus, a low score on repeated viewing. Still, it’s a great trilogy. Their titles are: Panther Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956), and The World of Apu (1959).
- 6. Man with No Name. Sergio Leone never called this a trilogy, but it’s obvious from the similarity of tone and casting that it is. Eastwood was the perfect choice for the gruff, but good-hearted cowboy, and this re-invigorated the Western for years.
- 7. Harry Potter. Based on the best-selling children’s novels (which didn’t stop me from reading them), the first film Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), was a pleasant surprise, given that director Chris Colombus is something of a hack. The current follow-ups, Chamber of Secrets and especially Prisoner of Azkaban have been even better. I think there’s a potential for this group to climb the charts, considering how the material gets much darker as they go. Rowling has to be very pleased so far.
- 8. The Godfather Trilogy. This is the converse to the Wallace and Gromit series, where the third part really brings down the overall effect of the story. But those first two films are amazing, that’s for sure.
- 9. Trois couleurs. Kieslowski’s great group taken from the colors of the French flag: Blue (1993), White (1994), and Red (1994). A remarkable set of films that are inter-related in loose but interesting ways.
- 10. The Decalogue (1987-1989). Another amazing set of films from Kieslowski centers on life in a Polish apartment complex. In ten one-hour films, he deals with each of the Ten Commandments; some as comedy some as drama, but all in a very distinctively spiritual way. Probably one of the two most deeply moving films about religions that I've ever seen (along with The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)).
- 11. Back to the Future. An amusing series that helped Michael J. Fox make the transition from teen sitcom character (two strikes!) to an acceptable adult TV and movie star.
- 12. A Better Tomorrow. Chow Yun-Fat is an extremely charismatic actor, and even without John Woo to helm the third one, this is still a strong group.
- 13. The Evil Dead Trilogy. The first one isn’t very good, but you have to appreciate the effect given the shoestring budget. The third, The Army of Darkness (1993), is campy horror at its best.
- 14. Thin Man Series. I’ve only seen the first two, but the history of the series tells me that it will be lucky to stay this high. The story is a familiar one; studio puts together two good actors (William Powell and Myrna Loy), who happen to have great screen chemistry. They’re given the parts from a series of well-written detective stories. The first one is a box-office hit, and we’re off on the sequel track. After the third, the original author (Dashiell Hammett) is done, but the studio makes three more anyways, each with diminishing returns. Sound like Hollywood?
- 15.The Mariachi Trilogy. Director Robert Rodriguez has said that these films compose a loose trilogy, even though it’s more of a composed universe that a linear group of films. El Mariachi (1992) is a fabulous low budget pic, while Desperado (1995) is disappointing in its idiocy. Surprisingly, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) salvaged this group, which is highly unusual, considering the last film is often the worst, especially when so much time has passed between the films (think tacked on third films like Beverly Hills Cop or the last Alien film). Must be that Johnny Depp casting.
- 16. Bond Series. This franchise moves up one spot with the addition of the newly transformed, and much darker, Casino Royale. I wasn't sure about Daniel Craig as Bond, but it seems like a very good fit.
- 17. Rohmer’s Moral Tales. Frenchman Eric Rohmer made six tales that deal with relationships between men and women. They’re solid, but they’re not for everyone. (I’ve seen the first three). Titles are: The Girl at the Monceau Bakery (1963), Suzanne’s Career (1963), The Collector (1967), My Night at Maud’s (1969), Claire’s Knee (1970), and Chloe in the Afternoon (1972).
- 18. Die Hard. I missed the second one somehow, but I didn’t enjoy the third nearly as much as the first one.
- 19. Star Wars. Take out the newest films and you have yourself a top three trilogy. Add the new ones in, and you fall a long way. I think, in the long run, people will consider this as two different trilogies. Empire (1980) is still the best.
- 20. Terminator. Unlike it’s Lord of the Rings counterpart, I fear that the third installation of the Terminator is going to do permanent damage to two really great films. This will go up the chart if the third one turns out to be good.
- 21. Alien. This is why I have Terminator so low. Look what happened here; two amazing films and two terrible ones.
- 22. Batman. (Formerly, #24) Again, the latter films made this whole series seem pathetic. The prequel helped balance out the latter three, so it climbs two spots. It should be noted that the franchise is still at a slight negative, or maybe right around even keel.
- 23. Lethal Weapon. Same thing as Aliens.
- 24. Beverly Hills Cop. The first one is hilarious, with Eddie Murphy at his zenith. The follow-ups, particularly the third, are sad empty shells in comparison. It should be noted, however, that the comedic chemistry between Murphy, Reinhold, and Ashton is very good. Ultimately, that makes that third one (without Ashton’s Taggert, and a small role for Reinhold’s Rosewood) that much more unbearable to behold.
- 25. Jurassic Park. This one shouldn’t have even had a sequel, much less a third chapter (which I can’t bring myself to watch).
- 26. Scream. Same as Jurassic Park, but the first one isn’t as good as the first Jurassic Park.
- 27. The Matrix. This is probably being a little too harsh on the series, since I wouldn't say that Revolutions is worse than Batman and Robin, but the first film is so great on all levels, and its reputation has been blemished by the latter two (especially the last) films. It's a shame.
- 28. Star Trek. I’ve only seen a handful of these, but the movies could never seem to reach out past the hard-core fans.
Another great list! I'm curious, since you have a couple series on here where the third movie hasn't come out yet, did you consider the Matrix movies, or did Reloaded disqualify it for you?
I haven't seen Reloaded yet, so I can't really put it in here yet. I also get the feeling that we won't be able to judge Reloaded until Revolutions comes out. My gut reaction is that the third movie may completely put the second one in a different light. We'll see.
I think you may be right. I just saw Reloaded last night, and I can see why the Wachowski's wanted to release Revolutions weeks later rather than the months later that the studio demanded. I liked the movie quite a bit, although it has several large flaws, perhaps due to the middle child syndrome. I'll get my review up probably tomorrow or the next day . . .
Middle child syndrome? C'mon, what about "Empire Strikes Back"?
Doesn't count. Irvin Kershner is Empire's biological father.
Point taken. I guess I'll have to wait for "Terminator 3" to come out before I have a valid counter-example to the middle child syndrome.
You don't have to wait that long. You have Godfather II, maybe the strongest, and certainly better than III.
Fine, play the game too well and I'll change the rules. :-) Actually I thought of GF2, but I was also thinking the "middle child syndrome" only applies when you start out planning for a trilogy. If you have a successful movie and you just start tacking on sequels that's not quite the same phenomenon (generally the movies just keep getting worse as time goes on). Of course, I can really only think of The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars (which is really two trilogies, to my eye) as "planned trilogies".
Update: Oh, I haven't seen them, but perhaps your "Apu" trilogy above counts as a "planned trilogy", as does Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs movies.
Oh, I forgot to mention how impressed I was at your seeing the Darkman trilogy. Even having liked the first one, I wasn't brave enough to tackle the sequels.
Oh, those sequels are bad let me tell you. Moreover, I can't believe I forgot to include the Thre Colors trilogy! I've seen them and really like them. I'll have to figure out where thy rank and edit them in. Thanks for the reminder.
Don't be afraid of watching the last Jurassic Park . It was actually a big improvement over the second (in my opinion). I think it was being able to simply create their own script free-form, rather than try to adapt a book not intended to be filmed (as in the case of Lost World ).
Of course, I can't really remember the last one, I just remember thinking it was a significant improvement. Think Indiana Jones trilogy.
Lost World novel is amazing, the movie is amazingly horrible. I didn't like the third one, but I did like it more than Lost World.
Just a warning about The Thin Man series, it tales off quite a bit after #2.
T'ho
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That's kind of what I figured; though I thought it would be more dramatic after the third one, when they're not using Hammett's novels anymore.
Actually, they just get sillier (which is probably expected) and the dialogue doesn't have that zing and a hell of a lot more stagey too. Great chemistry though. I'd watch Powell & Loy in anything.
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Fantastic list, though I'd place Mad Max and Harry Potter a lot lower, and Decalogue and Die Hard a tiny bit higher.
Mad Max is kind of perfect apocalyptic sci-fi in my view, but to each their own...
As far as the Potter series, part of the reason I'm ranking it that high is for the unmade films; I see some real potential.
I'd put blue, white and red #1, but that's just personal opinion. What is interesting is how, no matter how good the directors and stars are, the films can't keep up a consistant caliber. There's always a weak link.
Re: El Mariachi- It was actually Johnny Depp who salvaged the group, he's great in that Once Upon...
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