Movie trilogies
October 30th, 2008
Let the flamewars begin!
There are some movies here that I haven’t even seen, but that won’t stop me from criticizing them!
I definitevely took some liberties here in order to place each series where I saw fit. Like that bit where I only took into account Star Trek movies 2 to 4 (then again, Star Trek deserves its own “Trilogy Rollercoaster” chart), or how I completely ignored fourth or later movies in some series.
Also I mostly added the new Batman series and the Harry Potter series so that the Trilogy Ramp chart wouldn’t look so lonely.
Ha, I couldn’t agree more, especially w/the selections on the “triology slide”. The whole Hannibal Lecter series. W/the original being so fantastic, who would have thought the sequals could have possibly been so bad. I think they cursed themselves in “Hannibal” by replacing Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling. Though “Red Dragon” was pretty good. Kind of a side story I guess.
Funny you should say that. I had a hard time deciding whether Red Dragon meant that particular trilogy was a “ramp” or a “valley” of the best-worst-middle variety, but it could just as easily have been a “mountain” if you take into account that the original Red Dragon was the first movie in the series, seeing how it came out in ’86 by the name of “Manhunter” (with Brian “Mel Gibson’s uncle in Braveheart” Cox (!) as Lecter and a young William “CSI” Petersen as Agent Graham).
I didn’t even realize that the Norton/Hopkins “Red Dragon” was a remake. I’ll have to check it out. Though I can’t imagine anyone playing Hannibal Lecter better than Anthony Hopkins. Why does my dude always look so angry???
You need to set up a gravatar account. They’re used everywhere nowadays so that’s a good thing. Then it will show whatever image you have set up for your email address.
Aha, got it. Thanks.
I think Matrix is a valley more than a slide… A valley of best-worst-middle kind of course.
I think The Lord of the Ring is a flatline.. just it is a best-best-best kind.
Batman… I completely disagree: I am one of the few that disliked Dark Knight, the story is too forced, Double-face fall is too fast and unexplained, the Joker seems too much all-powerful and the `super-eye’ that Batman uses in the end sounds like a way to compensate a too much powerful villain. Like when you are the Dungeon Master in a D&D game and you understand that your players simply cannot win and so you give them some overpowerful magic items of some sort… While in a interactive game it might be a way to fix a previous mistake it is simply unacceptable in a movie where you should write the full story _before_… (not like Lost)
I guess Indiana Jones need an update.
TLOTR is a ramp but yeah, it’s one where the difference between the worst and the best is tiny… they are all excellent movies
Indiana Jones, I won’t update (if I start taking on quadrilogies, it will never end!). For me, the fourth movie was fun and serviceable, but the plot was really too far-fetched, even considering the other movies. I’d place it somewhere between Raiders and ToD.
Matrix is… huh, I won’t go there (any more than I already have). It could well be a valley, specially if you consider the Architect speeches on the 2nd. But to me, the ending as well as Neo gaining real-world powers just broke the story forever
And you’re right in the problems you point out in Batman. The Joker in particular is supposed to act without a plan (Chaotic Evil), but the way things always work out for him, it’s obvious he has planned everything in advance, and foreseen quite a bit. And yeah, Two-face’s change doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Ultimately however, it doesn’t really matter