I love movies. I figured that’s pretty obvious because I’ve had this website going a while and it’s called Major Tom’s Movies. That said, I love movies because of the way they can tell really great stories. It’s a phenomenal medium that allows people to just sit back and relax to watch a film from beginning to end. Most movies are generally just “one-and-done” deals. But what happens when a story is being told that requires more than one movie to complete? This is generally where sequels come in. Now, when you’re making a movie, you generally don’t want to try and make a film intending to expand it beyond more than one movie. You can set it up so a sequel made, but it has to be able to stand on its own as a movie. Sometimes, movies don’t get more than one entry, and most of the time they shouldn’t. But you’re going to come across some movies that end up getting a trilogy or more. For this post, I’m going to discuss what I feel are the best movie trilogies to date. My requirements are this: The final film in a trilogy doesn’t necessarily have to be the strongest entry, but it has to be a strong and gratifying conclusion to that particular trilogy, so trilogies like The Matrix are out.
The Lord of the Rings
Let’s get the obvious ones out of the way. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is widely considered to be one of the greatest trilogies of all time, based on some of the greatest books of all time. Peter Jackson did a brilliant job in bring the characters, story and land of Middle-Earth to life. No one else has been able to craft a fantasy film series as beloved as this. Peter Jackson may have directed The Hobbit trilogy as well, but it still pales in comparison to the Lord of the Rings. These movies gave us high adventure, drama, romance, terror, betrayal, and good vs. evil. It’s epic, dark and powerful. When it comes to fantasy films, you’ll rarely find something as compelling as The Lord of the Rings.
The Evil Dead Trilogy
Now, while Army of Darkness was distributed by Universal Pictures, it’s still the third entry into the Evil Dead franchise. I’m including the re-make here, just the original three films. The original Evil Dead was more of a straight-up horror flick than the films that followed. It was creepy, unsettling and extremely gory. It was also very low-budget, and some of the acting wasn’t that great, but it was still a very good horror film. Evil Dead 2 decided to go batshit crazy, and turned the whole affair into a horror-comedy. You know what? It works. Not only does Ash Williams, played brilliantly by Bruce Campbell, turn into a bad-ass hero, he gets thrown around, beaten and basically abused throughout the whole movie. It’s hilarious, and there’s plenty of gore to around. Army Of Darkness goes full-on comedy. It’s basically a live-action cartoon. It has its creepy moments, but it’s mostly just hilarious. The one-liners are awesome and seeing Ash in the Middle-Ages is just something to behold. If you’re a sucker for fun horror movies, you really can’t go wrong with Evil Dead.
Back To The Future Trilogy
You’d have to absolutely insane if you thought I wasn’t going to include this one. Back To The Future is one of the most endearing and enduring trilogies of all time. With outstanding performances from Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox, Back To The Future is a simple story of a time-travelling teenager. It’s that simple. He travels from the 80s to the 50s and all the way to 2015. It’s hilarious the situations poor Marty McFly gets himself into. Back To The Future III is a hell of a way to end the trilogy, by taking the whole thing back to the Old West. It works. These movies are so iconic it’s really hard to find any kind of fault with them. These movies are genuine in terms of story-telling and characterization. Thankfully, nobody’s tried to reboot or remake the series. That could be because the director of the films would have to die first before that happens.
The Dark Knight Trilogy
After the disastrous Batman And Robin was released to audiences in 1997, Batman was put on the back burner for nearly a decade. Joel Shumaker’s horrendous film seemed like it was the end of the superhero film genre, and it very well could have been. So, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment decided to go back to the drawing board and tell a new story detailing Batman’s origins. Batman Begins was released to critical acclaim in 2005, and it was an absolute blast. With such a strong beginning, Warner Bros. managed to outdo it with The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight Rises ends the trilogy on a very strong note despite some niggling issues. The Dark Knight Trilogy features strong performances from everybody involved including Aaron Eckhardt, Heath Ledger, Tom Hardy, and Anne Hatheway. It all comes across pretty realistically with consequences and failures on Batman’s part. It’s a very compelling set of comic book movies.
The Alien Trilogy
When it comes to science fiction trilogies, Alien is one of the most memorable. The original film by Ridley Scott was an exercise in psychological terror. It was atmospheric, intense, and it gave us one of cinema’s most memorable monsters ever conceived: The Xenomorph. BUT, Alien gave us one hell of a bad-ass women to fight them: Lt. Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver. While the first movie was definitely a horror film, primarily, James Cameron’s follow-up, Aliens was more of a war movie, but it was just as compelling an experience and ended up being one of the greatest sequels ever made. Sigourney Weaver even got nominated for best actress at the Academy Awards. She didn’t win, but the fact that she got nominated speaks volumes about her performance. Alien 3 heads into much darker territory and gives us ONE alien instead of hundreds like the last film. While Alien 3 suffered from serious problems during production, the overall quality of the film, in my opinion, was undeniable. It even ended the trilogy on a very strong note. I’m not bringing including Alien Resurrection because that film is very different from the first three. So much so, that it feels more like fan-fiction.
The Original Star Wars Trilogy
Now, where would a Best Trilogy list be without Star Wars? Y’all knew this one was coming. The original Star Wars changed the way movies were made and how stories were told. It pioneered many new techniques and invented new technologies that are still in use today. The original film as far as I’m concerned is untouchable, despite the changes that George Lucas has made to it over the years. Empire Strikes Back is what many people, myself included, to be the greatest Star Wars film ever made. While Return of the Jedi was certainly the weakest of the three, it was by no means a bad movie. Oh, no. It was a great movie and a great way to end the trilogy that set the imaginations of millions on fire. These movies are truly timeless, and quite frankly deserve to be preserved in history. Star Wars got me into movies and I will never forget what George Lucas has done for the film industry. The Force is strong with these ones.
That is my list for the best movie trilogies of all time, so what do you guys think? Is there a trilogy that you didn’t see here that you think belongs on the list? Feel free to comment below.