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To celebrate ‘3 is the Magic Number’ month, here is my ranking of some movie trilogies. One could say that making three films is the real success so in a way, they’re all winners – that’s not what this blog is saying, respectfully.
15. Taken
When will Brian’s family learn? I watched the first one when I was younger and thought it was a masterclass in film. I watched it again and things changed…
There doesn’t need to be three of them, I think the plot grew stale and Liam was getting old bless him. It’s iconic though, “I will find you and I will kill you” and the other stuff!
14. The Before Trilogy
It’s a beautiful love story over the course of three films but it just isn’t for me. It’s too slow for my Gen Z brain. It’s great work with wonderful chemistry but I just can’t watch. Someone said that I’ll get it when I’m older, but that day is not today. Shoutout to all the lovers though.
13. Big Momma’s House
The number of on-screen black men dressing up as women amazes me, and we will dig into that more in due time. These films were fun! Big Momma tried. It did get worse over time and despite some laughs, For the third film, only Martin Lawrence came back from the original cast, and I think it damaged the franchise.
12. The Godfather
Guys, I don’t know what to say here. Sorry innit. I watched the first one this year so progress is being made. Good cinema but it’s not for me. Maybe I’m being a hater because men love it so much. Either way it’s no.12.
11. The Hangover Trilogy
It’s good to laugh isn’t it? The first one was fantastic but it got worse as the trilogy continued – they weren’t bad, but they weren’t great either. I still miss risqué comedy on the big screen so I can’t hate on it too much!
10. How To Train Your Dragon
These movies have heart! The arc of Hiccup was great and it’s true, we can break tradition and love our previous enemies. What is the dragon that you want to slay today? Look into their eyes and become besties. I believe this is what DreamWorks wanted us to take away from the trilogy xx
9. Pitch Perfect
I love a sing-song as much as the next person. Because of this movie, how many cups were slammed on tables, how many hands were clapped? It shook a generation, but it didn’t move me completely, especially with the two films that followed it. But, a cultural chokehold is a cultural chokehold, and Pitch Perfect did just that.
8. The Cheetah Girls
They went to India but they lost Raven.
7. Maze Runner
This is for the YA novel fans. I was entertained! Don’t ask me how I found it compared to the books, we both know that I didn’t read them.
6. Three Flavours Cornetto
Britons, this is for us. This is an unusual entry because it’s an anthology of three different films woven together by the same writer and director, and joined together through Easter eggs, common themes and the reference to Cornetto ice cream. ‘Shaun of The Dead’, ‘Hot Fuzz’ and ‘The World’s End’. The movies go into many different genres and they are an emotional rollercoaster. Really unexpected but really good.
5. Rush Hour
Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan are an elite combo. People said the third one didn’t bang as much as it should but the humour is consistent and the chemistry is there. They should stop here though, we can’t have another ‘Bad Boys’ situation.
4. Men in Black
Why is this series so good? Each one had something fresh and it actually had a lot of emotional depth. I think it takes a lot for a singular premise to not grow stale. Casting is wonderful, and its nice to see how CGI evolved as the trilogy went on.
3. Iron Man
What a rush wow wow. RDJ, the worlds you rocked with this masterpiece. Iron Man is dynamic, funny, engaging and it made Marvel what it is. All films were great in quality and development. I’ve gone back to this trilogy several times. Iron Man, gone too soon, #ItShouldHaveBeenHawkeye
2. The Dark Knight
This trilogy has some of the greatest performances I have ever seen – Heath Ledger and Tom Hardy. I didn’t really believe in Christian Bale as Batman but I keep going back. I didn’t love the first one but each one was crucial to the arc, great direction, gripping, sophisticated. CHRISTOPHER NOLAN.
1. High School Musical
We aren’t surprised, are we? We can’t be. Scroll down on the Screenscope homepage to see how deep this goes. It got better and better each film – YES the third one is the best and this isn’t to argue, it’s a fact. It turned Disney Channel Original Movies into a global franchise (I have a whole DCOM blog here), launched careers and honestly, changed lives. Songs? Timeless. Impact? Endless. Characters (apart from Gabriella)? Iconic. I didn’t know cinema until HSM3 was released, and a switch went off. So if anything, Screenscope thanks this trilogy for what the love of film and TV it triggered in me. I haven’t been the same since.
