10 Of The Best Movie Threequels Of All Time

You can probably name a bunch of great sequels off the top of your head right now - but how many of those are threequels? By that point in a franchise, the concept can become stale and the characters tired. We all know that there are countless examples of bad threequels capping trilogies that were up to that point highly-regarded: The Godfather Part III, Terminator: Rise of the Machines, Spider-Man 3, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, X-Men: The Last Stand, the list goes on and on. Not all movie threequels are so disappointing, however. Occasionally, a movie series' third outing makes a great film in its own right. Star Trek Beyond - if we're to think of 2009's Star Trek as the beginning of a new series - is one such improbably solid second sequel to prove the curse of the threequel doesn't extend to all franchises. It's not alone, either; Beyond follows a group of other surprisingly great movies to buck the bad threequel trend, and here are ten threequels that turned out surprisingly well. 10) Die Hard With A Vengeance Not everyone loves the fact that John McTiernan completely changed up the formula with Die Hard With a Vengeance. McTiernan's own Die Hard (still the best of the series, unquestionably) and Renny Harlin's Die Hard 2 pitted ordinary tough guy John McClane against a supervillain in a confined space (a building in the original, an airport in the sequel). But by the second film, the concept already appeared old hat. Die Hard With a Vengeance takes John McClane, gives him a partner in Samuel L Jackson (always an asset in any film) and sends them on a treasure hunt around an entire city, searching for Jeremy Irons' icy villain Simon Gruber across New York. The film takes a less gritty, more unashamedly funhouse approach than Die Hards 1 and 2. So, it's different to its brethren, but no less enjoyable. 9) Mission: Impossible III Not quite a patch on Brian De Palma's original Mission: Impossible movie, JJ Abrams' Mission: Impossible III is vastly superior to John Woo's woeful MI2. Abrams' big idea is to ditch the campy theatrics of Woo's sequel and go back to basics, with a movie that belongs in the spy genre first and overblown action genre second. Not that there aren't some grand set-pieces, like the Shanghai heist sequence or bridge assault. The film also has an acting ace in Philip Seymour Hoffman, fresh from a gruelling, Oscar-winning performance in Capote and letting loose like never before or since as villain Owen Davian. He's just one among a talented, typically eclectic cast, with a less superhuman and more actually human than usual Tom Cruise in the lead. 8) Day Of The Dead Though largely lacking the Hitchcockian tension of Night of the Living Dead and the cutting social satire of Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead - the third in George A Romero's Trilogy of the Dead - also lacks the restrictive low budget of the former and the cartoonish quality of the latter. Day is Romero's zombie trilogy all grown up: where Night and Dawn were gory entertainment first and foremost, Day of the Dead comes complete with an appealing sense of despair. It's the least of the trio, but Day of the Dead is still an effective, often grim horror that takes a harshly cynical view of human beings in times of crisis. There's a grit here that's absent from Romero's previous undead classics; there are no comic book zombies, just some of the most convincingly rotten effects to be found in any movie about the walking dead. 7) Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade Not as iconic and roguishly enjoyable as Spielberg's original Raiders of the Lost Ark (but then again, what is?), Last Crusade is still a marked improvement on the previous entry in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Unlike the self-consciously dark Doom, Last Crusade gets the mix of thrills, humor and genuinely scary B-movie myth-making just right. The third Indiana Jones film also adds a crucial new element: Sean Connery, wonderfully salty as Indy's father Henry Sr. Connery and Ford make an effective double act, bringing warmth to a story that once again features Nazis, evil collaborators and historical artifacts that bring violent death to all those stupid enough to toy with them. 6) The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King It's ultimately let down at the end by Peter Jackson not knowing when to cut off (there are about five separate moments at the climax of Return of the King where you think it's going to end - and doesn't), but elsewhere, King is as assured as the rest of Jackson's epic fantasy saga. Bigger than Fellowship and The Two Towers put together, The Return of the King nevertheless delivers on a smaller-scale emotional level as well. There are scenes here that'll send shivers down your spine: Sam refusing to leave Frodo's side as his friend succumbs to the dark power of the ring; Pip singing a haunting ballad for Denethor as the king sends his own son to his likely death in battle; Gollum finally reclaiming the ring only to die horribly for his addiction. The Return of the King may outstay its welcome in the end, but you won't care a jot when the journey to get there is so powerful. 5) Return Of The Jedi It may be the weakest in George Lucas' original trilogy, but Return of the Jedi is still a damn fine blockbuster. In part it's inferior because it jettisons the complexity and character focus of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, but none of that stops Jedi being a perfectly entertaining, effects-driven popcorn movie - Ewoks and all. The opening scene alone makes up for any failings, summing up what makes this movie so fun by being so endlessly creative. The heist in Jabba's Palace sees Lucas - working with his biggest ever budget up to that point - throw every idea he's presumably ever had for this series at the wall, with wacky background characters and madcap set pieces galore. What follows is a B-movie that's still the last best Star Wars movie to date. 4) Before Midnight What you consider to be the best in Richard Linklater's Before... trilogy probably depends on what time of life you find yourself at. Before Sunrise is about American backpacker Jesse and French student Celine, walking the streets of Vienna and falling in love before they have to part ways again. Before Sunset reunites the two nine years later, both having gone their separate ways in the mean time to endure bad relationships and disappointing careers. Before Midnight takes place nine years later still, and finds Jesse and Celine now married with children, and settling into domestic life as they approach middle age. Each film could individually be accurately described as a masterpiece, each appealing to the viewer more strongly depending on where they find themselves in life, but Midnight - which packs one hell of a punch - might just edge the other two for emotional impact. 3) Toy Story 3 The genius of Pixar on its Toy Story movies has been how the studio's brain trust has made each film something completely different. Toy Story is a mismatched buddy comedy, Toy Story 2 is a tale of fame and loss, while Toy Story 3 - arguably the best of three - is a heist movie. Although the third film in the saga shares with its predecessors a melancholy disposition regarding dying innocence, Toy Story 3 explores this idea with more feels than ever before. Lee Unkrich's film is often hilarious and stars a stellar grouping of voices (in particular new additions Michael Keaton and Timothy Dalton), but also comes packing a hefty emotional wallop. The finale, wherein our fuzzy and/or plastic friends hold hands as they prepare to be incinerated, is among Pixar's hardest hitting moments. 2) The Bourne Ultimatum There's a fifth Bourne movie on the way this week - or fourth, if you're unwilling to count the Damon and Greengrass-less Bourne Legacy - but it's hard to see how studio Universal are ever going to be able to top third movie The Bourne Ultimatum. Where previous installments The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy are solid spy movies, Ultimatum is a straight-up actioner, and one of the best of its kind seen in the 00s. Where Identity and Supremacy are espionage thrillers and mysteries asking questions about identity and power, Ultimatum strips away all that and makes its Bourne story into one of pure revenge. It's essentially one long chase scene from start to finish, making the set-pieces into the whole story. What set-pieces they are though, with Paul Greengrass directing action with immediate flair. 1) The Good, The Bad And The Ugly In a time before Hollywood viewed franchises as an inevitability, Sergio Leone made a rare trilogy of action-westerns. And the one that completed the set is widely viewed as the best of the lot. A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More were smart but obviously low-budgeted movies, relying on Leone's unparalleled way with the camera, his trademark mythical storytelling and the tight-lipped charisma of his star, Clint Eastwood, the trilogy's gunslinging hero, the Man with No Name. For The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Leone took all the elements that made previous Man with No Name movies great and added an epic sweep. The film tells the story of three hired guns searching for a stash of gold against the backdrop of the Civil War, three killers appearing relatively sane as the world around them appears to go completely off the rails. It's not quite Leone's best western - Once Upon a Time in the West just tops it - but it comes damn close.