NCMojo

IMO, the best trilogy of all-time has to be Lord of the Rings. I think that we can assume that the third movie will be at least as good as the first two, and I think that puts it up at the top of the list.

LOTR as a series has several major advantages over other movie trilogies. First, because it was shot all at once, there is true story and character continuity. Second, none of the main actors dropped out and had to be replaced or worked around. Third, Peter Jackson and company were working from an existing structure that allowed them a greatly extended plotline.

LOTR narrowly beats out the Star Wars films, in my mind, just because it was all one continuous story. (And anyone who really thinks that Lucas penned this 10-story epoch all at once before Star Wars ever saw an inch of cellulite needs to rewind and compare the first movie to the rest of the series. No way that Darth Vader from the first movie is foreshadowed as Luke's father. Ben Kenobi clearly states that Vader killed Anakin Skywalker -- none of this "from a certain point of view" B.S. Ah, but this is all the grist of another post...)

I would place the Indiana Jones trilogy third, if for no other reason than because I refuse to admit that Temple of Doom ever happened. Listen to me... Kate Capshaw is a figment of your imagination... you are getting drowsier and drowsier...

After that, I think you've got to include the Godfather trilogy (once again, just imagine that G3 never took place...) and maybe Die Hard rounds out the Top Five.

What do you think? As a rule of thumb, let's say that any series is a trilogy if it has at least three movies, and if it is all part of the same story thread. Thus, Scream fits the bill, but The Sting does not.

REL77

I might agree with you on LOTR. Great movies, but since the 3rd one isnt even out yet, it is hard to label it that, which it probably will be 8 months from now. I will also agree on SW and GodFather. Some other ones left out were Back to the Future, Rambo.

Rypro 525

With your plot hole of the sw trillogy, I know there is some reason that Obi wan says that Vader killed his father, maybe he didn't see it, or didn't want to tell Luke that Vader is his father.

Jackskeleton

Since Reloaded and Revolutions hasn't come out, I can assume that the MATRIX trilogy will be the best EVER!!! you heard me.. EVER!!!


in all honesty, it's hard to say with a straight face that a trilogy is the best when one of the parts hasn't even come out yet. So till it does, I say we keep LOTR's out of this thread's outcome. You can't predict that the third will be great just from the other two. hell, if you thought about it.. the third godfather should have been the best piece of work since the first was great and the second was so wonderful... who would have guessed.

jaeufraser

I would definately put LOTR at the top of the triology heap. The original Star Wars trilogy in second. And it looks like the Matrix will be right up there. I don't think I would count Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Rambo, any of those movies as trilogies. Yes, there are three movies, but really there is no story arch between those films. You have three movies, each an independant story from the other. Sure, certain elements come from the others, but they are not linked over a three story arch. Back to the Future would apply though. Nonetheless, I'm a big fan of the trilogy structure and am quite pleased to see this approach being tackled by the studios. The success of LOTR and The Matrix will bring about more of these trilogies, done with this intent from the beginning, which I think is awesome. We already have the Chronicles of Riddick (who knows if that will be good though) and perhaps Dark Materials coming soon. And even though it's long than three, Narnia I believe is on it's way, not to mention the cmpletion of LOTR and the prequel Star Wars trilogies. God bless it, feature film mini series...gotta love it.

Geofferson

Porkys

LBPound

The first two-thirds of Godfather, Back to the Future, and Star Wars are pretty flawless. All 6 of those movies are among my all-time favorites, and Return of the Jedi is the best of the third parts.

inVectiVe

I apologize if I'm wading into threadcrap territory here, but I just want to make one point. I haven't seen The Two Towers, but I believe Fellowship of the Ring is, quite possibly, the most overrated movie - no, wait, that's far too specific - *ahem* the most overrated ......... "thing" ........ ever. At the IMDB Top 250 ( http://us.imdb.com/top_250_films ), it's #5. I gotta tell ya, if I agreed that only 4 movies in the history of the universe were superior to that 3-hour coma-inducer, I'd never bother watching another film again.

Again this is only based on seeing the first installment, but I expect The Matrix movies to add up to a quite impressive whole when all is said and done. Back to the Future is also IMO infinitely more enjoyable than LOTR, even if the 3rd installment made the questionable choice to settle into predictable Western formula.

I don't want to start a fight or anything, because even by the standards of online arguments, debating the (usually entirely subjective) relative merits of movies is a pointless exercise. I'm not "mad" or "angry" that so many people love LOTR; more power to 'em if they do, and I hope you dig the final installment as much as the previous 2. It's more that I'm confused / baffled / bewildered / "vexed, terribly vexed" by the near-religious experience some people are having upon viewing LOTR.

I guess I can't rule out that the problem is with me, either. I'd never read Tolkein's books, and as I mentioned I haven't gotten around to seeing The Two Towers yet. Maybe I'll have to force myself to see it (and re-re-watch Fellowship), going to great lengths to psyche myself into the Peter Jackson Is God mindset.

Jason

I don't really consider LOTR to be a trilogy in the strict sense of the term, since it's based on what was meant to be one long book, which was only split into a trilogy due to publishing concerns. It's still one of the greatest projects ever in cinema history, and will not argue the best trilogy of all time point very hard.

Chad

I'm gonna stray away from the obvious mainstream big budget Hollywood answers ( ), and go with more of a cult favorite, the "Evil Dead Trilogy"!

Jepthah

It's presumptuous for anyone to state yet that LOTR or the Matrix films are great trilogies, when we haven't even seen all of them. LOTR is shaping up very nicely, while I don't think the Matrix has reached its potential yet and I have my doubts about it. Indy's first movie is great and the other two are a mixed bag. Back To The Future is similar.

However, I'm comfortable saying that not even an incredibly great Episode III can salvage the Star Wars double-trilogy from the damage done by the last two films.

zekeburger1979

In my opinion, because I think that all three Back to the Future movies were great, it ranks as the greatest trilogy. Here's what I think of other movie series:

Original Star Wars: A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back are masterpieces, Return of the Jedi is merely a good movie, nowhere near the first two thanks to the damn Ewoks

New Star Wars: Enjoyable but bland and soulless. They feel icy and sterile sometimes as if Lucas just wanted to show off ILM's prowess with CGI and special effects. Even if Lucas redeems himself with Episode Three, the damage has already been done

Godfather Trilogy: First two are masterpieces, and then the third is crap (sensing a trend here?). Coppola made the mistake of trying to redeem Michael in the third one.

Indiana Jones Trilogy - First one is a masterpiece, third one is great, but the second one is crap. I don't know if it is because of Kate Capshaw or what, I think ultimately in my mind it is because it doesn't pit Indy against the Nazis.

Alien Quadrilogy: First two are awesome, and then David Fincher had to screw it all up in the first twenty minutes of 3. I won't spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen them. Of course I won't even mention the fourth one.

Scream - Decreased in quality with each one. Hopefully, they won't do a fourth one.

I haven't seen the Apu Trilogy or the Three Colors Trilogy so I won't comment on those.

As for the Lord of the Rings and Matrix trilogies, both series are well on their way to the #1 spot. I've watch the new Matrix Reloaded trailer like 25 times in the last 4 days and I am psyched. Now only if we could see the Return of the King trailer with Reloaded; that would be awesome.

DarthMaul420

Easy ... Evil Dead Trilogy.

ok ok ok .... so it's not up there with most of the list.

Actually the problem with most of these trilogies is that the third film was either a little weak(ROTJ) or extremely weak ala (Godfather 3)

However I think LOTR may be the first trilogy to break that cycle. I can only imagine how ROTK will turn out. P. Jackson has said it's his favorite of the three and he has put extensive amounts of work into it.

The Matrix? The next 2 films looks great from the trailers and I can't wait to see it. I really liked the first film. But to be honest the movie I saw right before the first one just happened to be Dark City! Damn my luck what are the chances of that! The Matrix really just kinda took that film and dumbed it down a little. Still a fun film in its own though.

Dudikoff

While I loved the first LOTR, I thought the second one was painfully boring. The last one would need to be on par with the first one to make my top 5 trilogy list. Also keep in mind the Terminator trilogy that will be completed this summer. Considering T2 is my all time favorite movie and T1 is "one" of my other favorites, it will be hard for the third one to ruin the trilogy. Here's my list:

1. Indiana Jones
2. Star Wars 4-6
3. Back to the Future
4. Rambo
5. Die Hard

jough

The Three Colors Trilogy is consistently strong. They're movies that you can watch individually, but they deepen and their full-scope isn't realised until you've seen all three, in order.

Even the weakest of the bunch (Blanc) is still a very good movie, unlike some of the other trilogies mentioned.

Isn't Back to the Future Part III crap? I haven't seen it since it first came out on video (I'm awaiting the V2 correctly framed version to hit stores) but I remember thinking it nothing but a cheesy rehash of the other movies, but set in the west!

The second film was the most clever sequel I've ever seen - it changes our perception of the first film. Fascinating.

The LOTR trilogy is REALLY shaping up to be a terrific trilogy. I hope the Return of the King is as good as the first two installments.

And I'll cast the favourable vote for Godfather III. It's really not as bad as you remember. Give it a viewing again, and while its scope is certainly smaller than the other two, it's operatic in its own way. If it were a stand-alone film I think it would be considered one of the greatest mob movies ever made.

-- Jough

DarthMaul420

I agree on BTTF2. Many people I have discussed it with say it sucks b/c its a rehash of the first film. Actually, having a sequel go back into the first film and look at things from another perspective as a good idea! I also think its interesting to note much of the futuristic technology is damn near close to 2003.


As for Godfather 3. I think the story on it's own was pretty good. S. Coppola's involvement in the film is another story .... one I couldn't overlook.

Kerborus

Funny how opinions differ.

I believe the original SW trilogy to be the best of all time. Simply put, it is the benchmark to which questions like this post try and live up to...

The way some people think ROTJ and Indy: TOD stink, I think LOTR:TTT was simply awful. I have read the books and Jackson forgot to put that whole 'story' thing into his movie... Of course, how could he? The 2nd installment would have had to be 6 hours long or something... What's left is a digital spectacular even George Lucas would covet but with bits of character and even less plottage.

Gollum was as distracting as any Ewok or Short Round.

However, I think folks should pay attention to the Samurai trilogy as well. Again, story story story. Drama, acting... Yeah those things... Even so, everything is trying to be Star Wars, let's face it.

Terrell

I'm the opposite. I found FOTR terribly boring. I enjoyed TTT. Either way, LOTR doesn't top the original Star Wars trilogy in my opinion. The Star Wars films are just much more fun and exciting, not to mention there are no moments in the first two LOTR films that come close to matching the greatness of the best moments from the Star Wars trilogy. Moments like the Death Star trench run, Luke staring off at the twin suns of Tatooine, Vader's revelation to Luke, Han being frozen in carbonite, Luke's first meeting with Yoda, Yoda revealing himself to Luke in the hut, the cave sequence on Dagobah, the Emperor's throne room scenes, Luke and Vader's last battle, and the space battle in Jedi. It's moments like those that vault the Star Wars trilogy far ahead of LOTR. Easy LOTR fans. In order not to piss off the LOTR fans, I was about to say in my humble opinion of course.

1. Star Wars Trilogy
2. Godfather
3. Indy
4. LOTR
5. Three Colors Trilogy
6. Back To the Future

Sorry Matrix fans. Although I enjoy them, they are exercises in pure style over substance. I couldn't include it in my top 5. X-Men looks to be a great trilogy also.

Well, I would agree with you Star Wars is the best, but I don't think everything is trying to be Star Wars. You may be right that Star Wars made other studios and filmmakers want their own franchise ala Star Wars. But I don't think that means they're trying to be Star Wars. They may be trying to reach that level, but that's different. Star Wars is the benchmark for franchises, sci-fi, and fantasy.

Samuel

I agree with all listed and it's really difficult to choose which is best. I love Godfather, Star Wars, Evil Dead, Indiana Jones, Naked Gun and I always enjoy watching the BTTF trilogy. Just to be different I'll go with a classic, The Man With No Name Trilogy.

However I think the true test of a trilogy is endurance. What trilogy can you watch straight through from begining to end with minimal bathroom/sustanance breaks and come out it of wanting to do it again, right away?

Terrell

Well, some would say none of the Back To the Future movies are masterpieces, and the third one is crap. They would be right. None of them are masterpieces, but they are damn good, entertaining films. But I wouldn't call BTTF 3 crap. It's just not up there with the others.

Everyone has their favorites though. Nobody is wrong, nobody is right.

inVectiVe

Here's how my Leonard Maltin movie guide (I buy this thing every year ) sizes up Back to the Future Trilogy:

Part I: ***

Part II: ** ("Joyless"?! "Hardly any laughs"?!)

Part III: ***1/2 ("Delightful.......There's real movie magic at work here"!!!)

Yikes! At least Maltin & Co. realize the indisputable fact agree that Empire is the best Star Wars film.

evenflow

The Godfather Trilogy is the best even with Part III included. Part I's and Part II's greatness more than make up for Part III. Next would be The Lord of the Rings, the first two were great (but not masterpieces like Godfather Part I and II) and the third one should be more of the same. Then Trois Couleurs, 3 very good to great movies.

1. The Godfather
2. The Lord of the Rings
3. Trois Couleurs

I'm not a big fan of Star Wars. Only The Empire Strikes Back is great IMO. Star Wars is good and Return of the Jedi is shite.

wm lopez

Don't forget these!

1. THE EXOCIST
2. SMOKEY & THE BANDIT
3. WALKING TALL
4. THE OMEN
5. THE AMITTYVILLE MOVIES
6. Man with no name westerns

DonnachaOne

The Batman Trilogy.

What?

What do you mean, "Batman & Robin"? What's that? It's not like... AAAAGHHH!! NOOO!!!!ALL...REPRESSED...MEMORIES...FLOODING...BACK...

Jackskeleton

Don't forget:


RoboCop.