Making a Good Trilogy

It's hard to make a good trilogy. There have been some adequate trilogies, but rarely do we see a truly good one. There are some simple factors to make a trilogy great, but since we're seeing a large journey of characters it's hard to succeed. The key is to make solid stand alone installments, while still having a strong overall story that will span over the three movies. It builds up the different aspects of character and plot, but is able to travel through years. Once they've all been completed you would hope that you could line the movies up and they would all carry equal weight. Each one will have it's strengths and weaknesses, but they should all been on the same level. We're not just watching a single plot all the way through. Having the same director or writer isn't a necessity, but it certainly helps. A reoccurring creative force will help the movies stay on it's singular overall plot, while using the individual movies to hit hard on the themes.

A pitfall they can fall into is the lack of movement in the series. Alien is a good example of a string of movies that don't actually move forward all that much. If you take a look at the first two, they're essentially the same movie. James Cameron pretty much just remade Ridley Scott's (1979) classic, only with more marines, more guns, more aliens, and less horror. Since he didn't really add anything to the overall Alien story we're stuck with a stagnant series. What we're seeing if one artist looking at a film and thinking they could make it better, so they try and the audience is left to suffer. Although, this did work in favor of Sam Raimi and the first two Evil Dead movies.

The shake-up of directors helped the first round of the Star Wars franchise. While George Lucas is a great idea man, he couldn't quite pass the status of amateur filmmaker (this is apparent in the prequel trilogy). He passed the torch to Irvin Kershner (and rightfully so), who was able to make the best Star Wars movie with Empire Strikes Back. But keep keep in mind that Lucas stuck around for creative control, which is important to the overall completion of the trilogy. Bringing on new directors gave us different looks and ideas, but Lucas kept the overall story on that needed singular track. 

Before I get to my top list, I'm going to tell you what didn't make the list and why.

Lord of the Rings: I will admit that what Peter Jackson did was an enormous feat and deserves recognition for taking on a daunting task. He took a seemingly unfilmable story and made a series of engaging and entertaining movies. But! None of them can stand alone. The movies end with cliffhangers, and they fail to give each movie that important single movie resolution. What Jackson basically did was make a single twelve hour movie. Who does he think he is? Terrence Malick? Hardly!

Star Wars: The entire series relies too heavily on the story and mythology to make up for hokey acting and, at times, shoddy film making. A New Hope and Return of the Jedi ride on the coattails of The Empire Strikes Back, and as good as that movie is, it's just not enough to make an entire trilogy.

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. And that's that.

Spider-Man: Solid first two movies, and then it was like they tried to shove a single trilogy of it's own into the third movie. My theory? Raimi wanted Sandman, fans wanted Venom. So why not do both! (why not: Spider-Man III). 

Evil Dead: Second is the best remake I've ever seen. Although, Army of Darkness has too much of a disconnect to the other two.

Jurassic Park: Maybe if Spielberg made the third one, but it feel apart as a extended deleted scene montage.

Back to the Future, Pirates of the Caribbean: These kind of fall in line with Lord of the Rings, but only the second half. The only thing this is going to accomplish making us all believe that Hollywood only cares about the money grab. They make a solid first movie, get enough attention or money, then double up and make the second two movies a long drawn out movie and a half. It means the first movie can live on its own, but the second two need each other.

So! Here are my picks for the four best trilogies (I didn't pick five because I didn't think enough were good enough for the list): 

4. Austin Powers

I'll admit that this is kind of a funny pick. I'm not a huge fan of the Austin Powers movies, but as these kinds of comedies go, this nails it. Mike Myers embodies the character and doesn't miss a beat throughout the three movies. Each of them move along the story of Austin Powers, adding characteristics as they went along. This movie isn't a classic trilogy since there isn't a big arc in the plot or theme, but each movie is the solid enough on it's own that the trilogy doesn't meander.

3. Hannibal Lecter

It makes it easier that this series is based on a trilogy of novels. The problem with these is it has a prequel, meaning there is an old flabby Anthony Hopkins one minute, then a thin young man the next. Hannibal is the weakest of the three, but I thought it was a fitting movie for the ending of the series. I don't think you can get much better than the dinner scene with Ray Liotta.

2. Toy Story

Solid three movies. We follow Andy and his ascent towards adulthood. The toys have to accept the fact that they're going to stay the same age in a static moment in their life while their owner will get older and move on from toys. The theme that drives these movies is a feeling of uselessness. The movie goes from Woody to Buzz to all of them. This is a very human emotion and even if these movies are aimed at families and kids, any person can walk away with something. 

1. The Dark Knight

It might seem like it's too soon to claim this as the best trilogy ever made, but I'm sticking to it. Christopher Nolan has said that he thought of a one word theme for each movie as he made them; Batman Begins is Fear, The Dark Knight  is Chaos, The Dark Knight Rises  is Pain. Watching each movie with these words in mind shows the true core of the installments. You're able to watch any of the movies on their own and you won't be missing anything. But if you watch all three you'll see the larger story unfold. You can see the string that they have threaded through the series. You've got the attempt to bring down the organized mob, starting with Falcone and moving to Maroni. The mob is the backbone that all conflict is rising from. They bring in the Joker in the second movie, and the lack of organized crime allows Bane to surface in Rises. The core cast is important with Michael Caine as the moral compass, Christian Bale as the heart and Gordon being the every man. We've got the deeper levels moving around these movies allowing them to work in various depths. The third movie calls back to the first enough to make a delicious sandwich of hero goodness. Through the three movies we can follow a full evolution of Bruce Wayne.

What do you think? What is the best trilogy ever made?