Your top 5 movie trilogies of all time, and why?

[The Soloist]

Too bad National Treasure doesn't have a third movie....

 

[Dioltach]

Does Conan the Barbarian/Conan the Destroyer/Red Sonja count?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

My list:
1. LotR (Extended cuts). It's not perfect. Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson took some liberties, distorted a couple of characters, and threw in a number of silly gags and suspense jumps which weren't really needed. And the Army of the Dead (Green Glowing Bees)... eh. That being said, it's unbelievably good. Way better than anyone could have expected, wonderfully cast and acted and shot, gorgeously scored. Visually stunning. Amazing production values. And for while I have my complaints about the script, they also did some amazing things using Tolkien's original words but re-placing them to fit them into the movies. Like Gandalf's iconic words to Pippin about a green country under a swift sunrise, which is taken from the books, a dream Frodo had when sleeping at Tom Bombadil's, and preserved in a moment for Ian McKellan to immortalize again with his voice. This effort helped make some original parts and changes in the movies feel like Tolkien anyway.

As I've gotten older, I've started appreciated the theatrical cuts more. I deeply love the books, and while I appreciate all the little bits the extended versions include, I think the theatrical version work better as movies. They've got better flow and pacing. The one exception I'd allow is Saruman's final scenes in the extended Return of the King. Just leaving Saruman cooped up in Orthanc makes no sense without the Scouring of the Shire, creating a massive dangling thread.

2. Star Wars (original 3). The Ewoks are silly, and some of Lucas' dialogue is absurd, but come on. Incredible visuals, sound, some of the greatest and most iconic film scoring of all time, beloved and memorable characters including villains for the ages, tight and suspenseful editing. Endlessly rewatchable and fun but also dramatic. For me the later movies have their charms, but in this first series Lucas was better balanced by great collaborators like Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew editing, Irvin Kirshner directing the best one, Bob Anderson's sword choreography in latter two, and actors being able to work their characters and dialogue. (HAN: "I know.")

Definitely would include the original trilogy. Maybe one day we'll get a proper restored version of them without all the latter fiddling.

4. Indiana Jones (original 3). Some of the most thrilling and fun and iconic movies ever, perfectly cast and acted (except for 2), wonderfully shot, gorgeously scored. I think Temple drops the ball substantially, but it's still a fun adventure.

5. The Dead. (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead). The birth of the whole zombie genre. Wonderfully written and horrifying. Mostly great casts, too.

I adore these two series. I'll take this as an opportunity to point out that Netflix has the remastered Criterion Collection version of Night of the Living Dead currently. Started re-watching it last night and it's like night and day (har har) after all the years of watching crummy public domain versions of it.

 

[Koloth]

Star Wars - 1st three in release order, not episode order.
Star Trek 2, 3, 4. Good set plus the only 3 you can really call a trilogy. The rest are pretty much stand alone.
Indiana Jones 1st three. Crystal Skull was ok and the last one was a movie too far.
Dirty Harry - 1st three. Very popular theme wise when released. Some of the tough police stuff hasn't aged well.
Alien, Aliens, Alien vs Predator. - I liked the merging of the Alien and Predator franchises. The heroine winds up with a unique souvenir and it is fun imagining the chaos on the Predator ship as the alien runs wild.
Honorable Mention - Back to the Future

Why not LoTR and/or Hobbits? Good movies but having read the books, I knew how it all was going to play out so not much suspense. Same problem with SW Ep 1-3. Knew that certain characters had to survive. Basic prequel problems.

 

[cbwjm]

Star Wars - 1st three in release order, not episode order.
Star Trek 2, 3, 4. Good set plus the only 3 you can really call a trilogy. The rest are pretty much stand alone.
Indiana Jones 1st three. Crystal Skull was ok and the last one was a movie too far.
Dirty Harry - 1st three. Very popular theme wise when released. Some of the tough police stuff hasn't aged well.
Alien, Aliens, Alien vs Predator. - I liked the merging of the Alien and Predator franchises. The heroine winds up with a unique souvenir and it is fun imagining the chaos on the Predator ship as the alien runs wild.
Honorable Mention - Back to the Future

Why not LoTR and/or Hobbits? Good movies but having read the books, I knew how it all was going to play out so not much suspense. Same problem with SW Ep 1-3. Knew that certain characters had to survive. Basic prequel problems.

I actually thought the last Indiana Jones movie was a great addition to the franchise.

I'd forgotten about back to the future, watched that so many times as a kid, maybe that's my fifth trilogy.

I have to say, reading through these I'm getting ideas of movies to rewatch: national treasure, back to the future, mad max. All movies I watched and loved and haven't seen in ages.

 

[payn]

Submission #2 for your disapproval, The Millennium trilogy from Stieg Larsson.

These Swedish contemporary noir films really delivered a new take on the investigative procedural. Seemingly at the end of the theatrical experience for this kind of genre as its made a hard descent into the streaming series. Noomi Rapace plays our sleek punk rock hacker protagonist with a lot of reasons to be angry. Its up there for me as its a complete story with great characters, even if the plots are a little less interesting after the luster of the first film fades. Great performances, fresh feel, classic genre.

 

[MarkB]

A dozen posts in and no love for Back to the Future?

Indeed, to me Back to the Future is the perfect top-tier trilogy. The first one stands alone as a great time travel story while leaving the door open to sequels, the second is a little weak pacing-wise during the future section but does a masterful job of weaving its plot into the original narrative during the 1955 section, and the third is just a great adventure that gives Doc more of the spotlight and wraps everything up perfectly.

The performances by Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd are perfect, their characters' friendship holds the whole trilogy together.

 

[CleverNickName]

My Top Five:

5th Place: Evil Dead I, II, and Army of Darkness
4th Place: Oceans Eleven (thru Thirteen)
3rd Place: I'm not sure if Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End all count as a trilogy, but I don't care
2nd Place: The Godfather pts. I-III
1st Place: The Lord of the Rings

 

[aco175]

Have not see anyone mention Diehard or Jason Borne. James Bond if you split things by actor might be something to count.

 

[Morrus]

In no particular order:

Star Wars 4-6
Lords of the Ringses, my precioussss!
Star Trek II-IV
Alien(s) 1-3 (the lesser third movie is more than made up for by the superlative previous two)
Terminator 1-3 (the lesser third movie is more than made up for by the superlative previous two)
Godfather (the lesser third movie is more than made up for by the superlative previous two)
Nolan's Batmen (the lesser first movie is more than made up for by the superlative previous two)

Oops. That was seven! Dammit. I don't know how to pare those down.