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With the conclusion of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, we decided
to take a look at some other epic three-parters.

There's a reason why trilogies are starting to be the norm with any big franchise these day —
trilogies have a start, middle and end — just like any single movie but they just happen to be way
longer.

Also read: 'The Dark Knight Rises' movie review
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Picking the best out of all the countless trilogies was an arduous task but in the end, trilogies were
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picked based on the quality of all three as a whole as opposed to trilogies with just a single
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The Lord Of The Rings (‘The Fellowship of The Ring’ / ‘The Two Towers’ / ‘Return of The

http://movies.insing.com/feature/the-5-best-movie-trilogies/id-bd573f00 Page 1 of 8


King’)

One of the most ambitious undertakings in motion picture filmmaking, this film trilogy took a
whopping eight years to develop and was shot simultaneously in director Peter Jackson's native
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New Zealand.

Tasked with finally bringing J. R. R. Tolkien's much cherished literary masterpiece to life, Jackson
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delivered a trilogy which enthralled audiences with a mix of technology and scale; its fantastical
creatures (the various orcs and of course, our precioussss Gollum) and the scope of pure
spectacle wrought by the battles to retake Middle Earth from the evil Dark Lord Sauron.

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Both public and critical opinion of all three movies is rather high, with the it being the highest
grossing movie trilogy ever and a whole bunch of Academy Awards — ‘Return Of The King’
famously swept all 11 awards it was nominated for.

And while it's not without its flaws (female characters like Arwen are largely forgettable, movies are
way too long, ‘Return of The King’ has 406 different endings), they're mostly for nit-pickers. ‘The
LOTR’ trilogy will remain the standard bearer for all future medieval fantasy epics.

Fun Fact: “The Two Towers” was not originally scripted as its own film. As it had neither a clear
beginning nor an end, it was planned to combine elements of the middle film with that of
“Fellowship” into one film. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

The Original Star Wars Trilogy (‘A New Hope’ / ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ / ‘Return of The
Jedi’)

Before George Lucas tarnished his legacy with multiple revisions and a prequel trilogy known more
for boring expositional dialogue and cringe-inducing “romantic” dialogue, he was known for being
the mastermind behind the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy.

So where do we start? The simple story of a farm boy destined for greater things, like perhaps
aiding a bunch of rebels against an evil galactic empire serves as the backbone of the films. We
get to see Luke come into his own, achieving success and becoming his own man despite the
burdens of the murky shadow of his father and his responsibilities as the last Jedi in the galaxy.



Along the way he meets a kooky band of characters that help him along; wise Jedi masters, a
princess and many funny looking aliens. Perhaps above all else, it's the rowdy cast of characters
like Han Solo, Chewie and even fringe ones like Admiral Ackbar that make people fall so deeply in
love with the franchise.

The influence of ‘Star Wars’ can be felt everywhere, it's penetration in popular culture almost
unparalleled. Everyone knows what a light-saber is. Words like Sith and Jedi are frequently
bandied about. The fandom the franchise received is almost unparalleled, with a cult-like quality to
them.

The films themselves haven't done too badly themselves in the motion picture world either, having
influenced countless filmmakers like James Cameron and John Lasseter to pick up a camera. The
original film also ushered in the next level of blockbuster filmmaking to the world, a blend of fast
paced spectacle and fantasy combined with a strong narrative that most audiences have come to
love today. And while the final instalment ‘Return of The Jedi’ is pretty mediocre, the first two films
are fun filled masterpieces of adventure and space opera that give the trilogy a well-deserved spot
on the list.

Fun Fact: In an early draft of the screenplay, Luke Skywalker was originally named Luke Skykiller.

The Dollars Trilogy (‘A Fistful of Dollars’ / ‘For A Few Dollars More’ / ‘The Good, The Bad
and The Ugly’)

This trio of movies directed by Italian auteur Sergio Leone redefined western movies. Before this,
heroes in Western movies were kind to everyone, old ladies, their horses... you name it, and
they’ve probably kissed it.

However, after Leone's depiction of a much more crude and desolate world in these movies, moral
ambiguity and the concept of the anti-hero became much more accepted, leading to the
development of the spaghetti western as a genre. This certainly isn't cowboys whom you pitted
against the Indians as a kid. In this Wild West, these cowboys shoot first and ask questions later.



Clint Eastwood plays a quiet and gruff stranger, a ‘Man With No Name’ who is armed with his own
sense of justice and an impressive proficiency with his revolver.

Unlike most movies, the plot of these movies isn’t really that important. Not to say that the plots of
these movies are completely forgettable or anything like that but they're really not very complex.
Instead, it's relatively straightforward, and they serve as an extensive study of Eastwood’s
character.

The atmospheric tones of this trilogy are really strong — Leone really lets the films breathe;
something we don't see much anymore. Especially with such a silent and mysterious character,
every twitch, every expression and nuance of Eastwood gets amplified further into our
understanding of him.

This role would catapult Eastwood into the tough badass we know and love. Just check out this
nail biting scene: a Mexican stand-off at the end of ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’. Still one of
the most tension-filled scenes ever.

Fun Fact: ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ is an unofficial remake of legendary Japanese filmmaker, Akira
Kurosawa's ‘Yojimbo’.

‘Indiana Jones’ (‘Raiders of The Lost Ark’ / ‘The Temple of Doom’ / ‘The Last Crusade’)



It's technically not a trilogy anymore, but everyone pretends that the fourth movie never happened
so we guess it still counts. With Indy, George Lucas (and Steven Spielberg), continued building on
what he started with ‘Star Wars’, fusing some of the best action scenes ever filmed with character
and situational driven humour.

Inspired by the film serials of the 40s and 50s, this continued the shift of movies from more
sophisticated fare to fantastical larger than life pulp adventures of old. The opening of ‘Raiders’ is
pulsating and it introduces us to the adventure-filled world of Indy. Problems just keep piling on and
on in that movie, to the point where the viewer is just exhausted when the credits start rolling — in
a good way, of course.

Perhaps what makes it all work so well is that we've all probably wanted to be like Indy in our lives.
He's got his fears (snakes!), he's made mistakes (fell out with best friend/estranged from Dad) but
he's never been afraid to own them and come out of those ordeals a better and wiser person. So in
a way, we all aspire to be like Indy. And, he's the only person who could make a wearing fedora
and bullwhip cool.

‘Raiders’ is an all-time classic, ‘Temple’ is a bit of a let-down but we still consider it a quality flick
and ‘Last Crusade’ was just a great way to send Indy off.

Fun Fact: Conceptualized by George Lucas, Indy's original name was Indiana Smith. After the
script was presented to Steven Spielberg, the ‘E.T’ director suggested changing the last name to
Jones.

‘Toy Story 1, 2 and 3’

Another rather surprising factoid, out of every trilogy ever, including those on this list is that the
‘Toy Story’ trilogy is the best rated series ever made. Take a look at its ratings on RottenTomatoes,
100 per cent, 100 per cent and 99 per cent for 1, 2 and 3 respectively. And given that it's a film
about toys, the franchise sells quite a bit of toys as well; so really, Disney and Pixar's got both
critical and commercial success with their franchise.



Not only that, the first ‘Toy Story’ was also a significant technological milestone, being the first
movie to be made entirely with CGI (Computer-generated imagery) and sparking the shift in the
animation industry away from traditional hand drawn animation.

More than anything else, ‘Toy Story’ has universal appeal. Despite a rather fantastical premise of
toys having a life of their own when humans aren't around them, everyone just goes along with it
(hey, it’s a cartoon!). And the themes that the films have touched upon are just amazing. In the first
one, misplaced jealousy is explored. The sequel touches toy collecting and the final one really
comes full circle as the toys' owner, Andy, goes off to college and hits home on the themes of
attachment, sentimentality and the friendship that is trademark of the entire series. Who can really
forget scenes like these: Buzz's crestfallen reaction after discovering that he was merely a toy in
the first movie and Andy's tearful farewell after giving away his toys in ‘Toy Story 3’?

Watching ‘Toy Story 3’ in a cinema and hearing both adults and kids bawling their way through the
movie is one of the most magical moments we’ve experienced watching a movie and it's precisely
that all-around excellence and appeal that cements the ‘Toy Story’ franchise as perhaps the
closest trilogy there is to a perfect one.

Fun Fact: ‘You've Got a Friend in Me’, the film's famous theme song, was rather infamously
composed in a day by Randy Newman. Much of the song is closely based off an older song he
wrote for the 1989 film ‘Parenthood’, called ‘I Love to See You Smile’.

Dexian or just Dex if you have an inability to pronounce Chinese names, is a fervent film lover
who's known to read up on the most inane pieces of cinema trivia just so he has something to talk
about when he's drunk. When he's not watching something, he can be found reading other useless
Wikipedia articles on things like Nebulaphobia.

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Post to Facebook Posting as Dexian Wang (Change) Comment

Dexian Wang · Top Commenter · Chapman University Singapore
Michael Keaton. He made for an excellent Batman in the Batsuit... I think his height and poofy
hair didn't make for a good Bruce Wayne though.
Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · July 23, 2012 at 4:39pm

Drew Pan · Following · College of Fine Arts, UNSW
No Back to the Future? I know the second one isn't as popular, but it's still a pretty solid trilogy!
Reply · Like · Unfollow Post · July 23, 2012 at 4:46pm

Lol wow, my Batman comment shifted pages. I saw the trilogy again recently but
didn't think that the second or third hold up as well as the first. It's still good
though!
Reply · Like · July 23, 2012 at 4:47pm

Drew Pan · Following · College of Fine Arts, UNSW
It does beat the Indy trilogy on one major point though... there's only 3 movies
hahaha! That's like saying the Alien movies are a trilogy because 3 and 4 suck, so
they combine into one movie.

Well, Indy was a trilogy for about 2 decades and that's how most people remember
it. I don't even really consider the Alien franchise to be linked all that much due to
the films all varying so much in their moods and styles. If you really want to be
such a stickler for the number of films in a franchise, then Star Wars is out too you
know...

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