Best Threequel

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Goldfinger
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Army of Darkness
Bill & Ted Face the Music

 

[Morrus]

Wasn't IV the one where they went back in time to collect a whale? Personally I thought that was the weakest of the old movies.

It's my favourite of them.

 

[Ryujin]

"World's End" was a solid end to the Cornetto Trilogy but, then again, they were all solid.

 

[Arilyn]

It's my favourite of them.

Mine too.

 

[MarkB]

Wasn't IV the one where they went back in time to collect a whale? Personally I thought that was the weakest of the old movies.

I think it's the weakest in terms of standing alone, but as a conclusion to that story arc it works well.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Army of Darkness is perhaps my favorite 3rd movie of all. It’s the only reason I’ve even seen the first 2 movies in the series.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Return of the King, definitely.

 

[MarkB]

Return of the King, definitely.

Not to me. It's still good, but there was a subtlety to the storytelling in Fellowship of the Ring that was progressively lost over the two subsequent movies, ending with Sauron as a literal guard-tower searchlight in RotK.

 

[TwoSix]

Not to me. It's still good, but there was a subtlety to the storytelling in Fellowship of the Ring that was progressively lost over the two subsequent movies, ending with Sauron as a literal guard-tower searchlight in RotK.

I think it depends on whether you read the OP as "what 3rd movies in a series are really good movies in general" or "what 3rd movies are really strong in comparison to the other movies in the series".

I agree with you that RotK is the weakest of the 3 LotR movies, although I'd view it as an A-/A movie where FotR is an A/A+ movie. They're all really good, and any weakness is subtle.

 

[DemoMonkey]

The third D&D movie, "Book of Vile Darkness" was the best of the three despite being another direct-to-video release.

...admittedly, that is faint praise...