Rant: Trilogies

Okay, I know I said that I'd have my Dark Knight Rises review out by tomorrow, but, in light of recent events, I'm gonna have to put off seeing it for a few more days, and I can't really review it before I see it, so you guys will have to wait a few days. I know that what I'm doing is wicked unprofessional, but it's just how it is.

Anyway, since TDKR is the conclusion of a trilogy, I've decided now would be a good time for trilogy-related rant. I know I haven't done a rant in about two months, but I'm doing one now, so yeah.

So, for those of you who live under a rock, a trilogy is a series, often a series of movies, comprised of three stories all connected to each other.

Trilogies are tough to pull off. The way it seems to go a lot is the first two are awesome, and then one is just a let down, like with Spiderman 3, or X Men: the Last Stand or, my personal least favorite, Karate Kid Part 3, the entry in the series that was painful half the time, and just boring the other half. Although, to be fair, even that one wasn't as bad as the spinoff with Hilary Swank (not being sexist, it was just a lousy movie). Seriously, sometimes the third movie will be so bad that it pretty much ruins the first two, just as KKP3 did by making Daniel act like a complete jerk to Mr. Mayogi (probably spelled that wrong) who basically went out of his way to make sure his life didn't suck.

Heck, sometimes, you wonder why they made sequels to begin with, like with Back to the Future. Back to the Future IS my favorite movie of all time, just so you guys have a point of reference for this. I didn't actually hate either of the sequels, but I can't help but feel like they didn't do the first one justice/fell kind of flat. And then there's the ultimate example of a trilogy that should've stopped after the first movie; that's right, I'm talking about the Matrix. The Matrix (the first one, I mean), kick all kinds of ass, and let's face it, we all love it. So when people found out that a sequel was in the works, the nerd community collectively squealed. And then we saw the Matrix Reloaded and collectively said "Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!" The often bizarre tone, absurdity, slow moments, general stupidity, elements that were rehashed from the first one, and the fact that parts just didn't make sense made it suck to no end (and the fact that we all realized that Keanu Reeves is kind of a lousy actor). And then all of those factors were multiplied by 100 for the craptastic conclusion that was the Matrix Revolutions (don't even get me started).

Don't get me wrong, sometimes a trilogy manages to be good all the way through. The original Star Wars trilogy, for instance, started off incredible (A New Hope), stayed incredible (Empire Strikes Back) and delivered a spectacular conclusion (Return of the Jedi). Based on the reviews I've read, TDKR will cause Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy to follow a similar path. And then you've got the pinnacle of trilogies: Lord of the Rings, in which each movie achieves a whole new level of awesomeness not even dreamt of in the last one. We start out great (Fellowship), then it gets amazing (Two Towers), and in the end we have one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces ever put on a screen anywhere. So, trilogies can be good, assuming they're in good hands.

Quadrilogies are a completely different story of course, but they all seem to follow a similar pattern: the first one is good (Terminator, Alien), the second one is amazing (T2, Aliens), the third one isn't as good as the first two, but it wasn't too bad (T3, Alien 3), and then the fourth one sucks beyond belief (T-Salvation, Alien Resurrection). So quadrilogies usually aren't good.

So, what's your favorite trilogy? Comment below, let me know (I fixed the comment section, so anyone can comment now)!


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