Downhill Spiral Triologies

What are some downhill triologies? Meaning that, the first one was good, but the 2 and 3rd were just crap and you wondered why they even bothered to continue the series...

Some examples
Jurassic Park Series
American Pie Series
Exorcist Series
Scary Movie Series

Are we only liminted to naming trilogies? How about continued sequels in general?

Jaws
Friday the 13th
Rocky
First Blood
Robocop
Nightmare on Elm Street - (although I think they all sucked)

...just to name a few off the top of my head.

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I think that pretty much all of them have been that way, with the exception of the original Star Wars and Dollars trilogies. There are a few series I've never seen though.

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Sorry, it's not clicking right now. Dollars trilogies?

I think it just clicked. Eastwood?

Yup

Okay, you list those two, but what about Alien, Godfather, Matrix, and LOTR (even though, as of this writing, LOTR isn't complete)?

I'm not saying these belong in the "exception" category, I'm just wondering what your opinion is of these sequels.

Also called "The Man With No Name Trilogy"


The Batman series went to hell.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles went downhill too.

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Yeah, I actually have the trilogy on dvd, but it didn't click when Brian wrote "Dollars." I love For a Few Dollars More the most. One of the best scenes in movies is when Lee Van Cleef strikes a match on the hunchback's ear. The tension that Leone creates with the close-ups of eyes and hands is terrific.

True about Aliens but the third wasn't nearly as good as the other two. Godfather III was a snoozer. The Matrix rocked but the other two lacked considerably by comparison. LotR...damn, I didn't think of that one. It has to be one of the greatest trilogies ever.

Agreed. I think it would be safe to say this without even seeing the third one. I don't think there's a way the third one could be messed up. I just don't imagine anyone walking out of the third one saying, "Okay, the first two were great, but that one sucked!" That won't happen.

I read an article about it the other day. They didn't even film Scourge of the Shire. He didn't want to have 40 more minutes after the end of the ring to wind down the audience. I was hoping it would be in the extended version, but alas...I really wanted to see Merriodic kick some ass. It was an awesome conclusion to an awesome set of books. Too bad they didn't buy the rights to The Silmarillion too. I love that book.

Beverly Hills Cop is a perfect example of this.

The first film is fresh, holds up extremely well on repeat viewings, and makes Eddie Murphy a bonafide super-star with it's perfect blend of comedy and action. The second movie still has it's moments, but the tone is off, needlessly darker, and while certainly watchable it's clearly very much less than the original. The third one, it's stunning how lame it is in every single way. Hardly seems like a Beverly Hills Cop movie at all, rather a generic script they threw Axel Foley into and created a little cameo for Judge Reinhold's Billy Rosewood - the only other original castmember left, other than Inspector Todd dying in the opening Detroit sequence. Sad, sad, sad.

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How about the Scream movies? The first one was original, clever, scary, and sometimes pretty damn hilarious, but the second one, while good, was somehow less good, it was missing something, (I think it really needed Matthew Lillard, who's weird and over the top acting made the first movie so funny) and then the third one was just awful. It didn't have a script by the original writer, Kevin Williamson, and it wasn't all that scary, either. that's my example, anyways.

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The Exorcist III is a GREAT film. Many like it better than the first (I like the first better). Brad Douriff is AMAZING in this film and should have been nominated for his creepiness. Scott is a bit overwrought as usuall, but still stellar in this role.

True The Exorcist 2 is one of the worst films ever made, but give the third another shot!

I agree with that. I love Exorcist III: Legion...yes probably even more than the original (which I've never been enamoured with). There's no doubt Boorman's Exorcist II: Heretic is one of the worst A-list films ever made and certainly among the worst sequels ever produced, but with III the series spirals back upward after the unbelievable low point of II (how could it not?). We'll have to wait and see what the coming prequel promises, though with the producers taking the final cut away from Paul Schrader, I can't say I have much confidence it'll be terribly good. Though as long as it isn't as terribly inept as Exorcist II, you can't say that series has spiraled downward.

I think that the Matrix got worse as the sequels came out! 1 was def the best, two was ok, and three that was quite bad it had loads of things just flying around on the screen all the time and it began to hurt my eyes after a while, i dont no if its because of the screen though because i went to the imax to see it.
But The Lord of the Rings, was absolutly FANTASTIC, i think you have all gathered that i love the lord of the rings and i am eagerly awaiting the return of the kings release tomorrow. It is going to be brilliant
anywayz gotta go
bibi
cazz
x

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I thought the original was excellent despite my pedantic brother flippantly referring to the Cenobites as something left over from DR WHO. Philistine!

HELLRAISER 2 had it's interesting moments and a reasonable visual interpretation of Hell (Fulci's THE BEYOND not withstanding!). Sadly, I found part three little more than teen splatter fodder...something not un interchangable with any one of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST sequels

John.

I'm a big fan of the first Exorcist movie and I have to admit that I haven't seen Exorcist III

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Last 5 films I’ve seen

An American In Paris ****/*****
Once Upon A Time In China *****/*****
Father of the Bride ****/*****
Spartacus *****/*****
The Hidden Fortress ****/*****

You can view my review for each of those films at T-850's Reviews

here are my top five 5=lowest amount of suckiness on list. 1=series/trilogy that has the absolute worst sequels.

5.Scary Movie-I really laughed my butt off on the first, but the second really, really sucked.

4.Alien Actually, the only ones I didn't like were 3, and Ressurection.

3.JAWS Once again, the second was okay, but 3, and 4. . .

2.Jurrasic ParkREALLY REALLY sucky sequels. Especially 3.

1.the Matrix Definately either should've made better sequels, or just not have them at all. Nuff' said.

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