Trilogy closers are notoriously difficult to pull off. If audiences are promised a three-part franchise and the first two parts are widely acclaimed masterworks like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, then the promise of a third movie that will top the achievements of the previous two and conclude the story with an epic finale creates expectations that are nearly impossible to meet.
Only a handful of threequels have managed to live up to the first two movies: Before Midnight, Toy Story 3, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Some have benefited from the first two movies not being so great, like Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Christopher Nolan reinvented superhero origin movies with Batman Begins, then followed it up with The Dark Knight, one of the greatest movies ever made. To conclude this trilogy with a satisfying finale was a nearly impossible task.
While The Dark Knight Rises is far from perfect, it’s certainly ambitious. Heath Ledger’s Joker couldn’t be topped, but Tom Hardy’s Bane came as close as anyone could’ve expected.
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
Granted, the expectations for the third Matrix movie were significantly lowered after the disappointment of the second one, but The Matrix Revolutions still faced the unenviable task of bringing the saga of “the One” to a close.
It didn’t help that Neo spent most of the third movie asleep. Anyway, as it turns out, The Matrix Revolutions wasn’t the ending of the series after all, because there’s a fourth movie in production.
Bill & Ted Face The Music (2020)
Touted as the final Bill & Ted movie, Bill & Ted Face the Music was worth the price of admission without quite living up to the first two cult classics. While Hollywood mulled over the commercial viability of a third Bill & Ted movie for years and years, the franchise’s fan base was getting more and more excited by the prospect of a new sequel.
Bolstered by Keanu Reeves’ post-John Wick career comeback, Bill & Ted Face the Music awkwardly released through the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020. Fans had waited so long for the Bill & Ted threequel that it could never live up to expectations.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
The first Mad Max movie was a bleak dystopian police thriller and the second one was a full-on post-apocalyptic action thriller with spaghetti western elements.
With the third one, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, George Miller went wilder than ever before and the result is incredibly weird, even by this franchise’s standards.
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Sam Raimi’s initial Spider-Man movie set a new benchmark for superhero origin movies and introduced Tobey Maguire as the quintessential on-screen portrayal of Peter Parker. Then, the second movie set a new benchmark for the superhero movie genre as a whole, and some fans still consider it to be the greatest of all time.
The third and final movie, Spider-Man 3, suffered from an overstuffed plot, which has since become a common issue in comic book blockbusters. Avi Arad forced Raimi to include Venom, a character the director wasn’t interested in who had no connection to his established plot, purely for fan service.
Austin Powers In Goldmember (2002)
The second Austin Powers movie, The Spy Who Shagged Me, was a rare example of a comedy sequel that actually worked and didn’t just repeat all the jokes from the first one. So, expectations were doubly high for the third one, Goldmember.
The threequel has its fair share of memorable gags, and Beyoncé and Michael Caine make great foils for Mike Myers, but it was still poorly received by critics.
Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2002)
The first Terminator movie was a tense, small-scale tech-noir masterpiece. The second one was an all-out blockbuster extravaganza with some of the most spectacular action sequences ever captured on film — and it also provided a perfect conclusion to the story of Skynet.
Without the involvement of James Cameron, a third Terminator movie didn’t stand a chance. And if the failure of Dark Fate is anything to go by, it wouldn’t have stood a chance if Cameron was involved, either.
The World’s End (2013)
After Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz were lauded as airtight masterpieces, expectations were sky-high for the third and final installment in Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost’s genre-spoofing Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy.
While The World’s End is an undeniably great comedy with well-rounded characters and plenty of gags that land, it didn’t manage to match the timeless genius of Shaun and Fuzz.
Return Of The Jedi (1983)
After Star Wars became the highest-grossing movie of all time and The Empire Strikes Back shook things up with a darker tone and a few shocking plot twists, Return of the Jedi faced the daunting task of concluding the saga of the Skywalkers.
While Vader’s redemption and the Rebels’ victory over the Empire makes Return of the Jedi a more than satisfying finale, its lighter tone, action-free middle act, and abundance of Ewoks make it the obvious pick for the weakest entry in the original trilogy.
The Godfather Part III (1990)
Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, released two years apart, are two of the greatest movies ever made. There was no way that the belated finale, The Godfather Part III, was going to live up to expectations.
It didn’t help that Coppola didn’t even think The Godfather saga should be a trilogy. He felt it was a two-part story and didn’t want to make a third but eventually decided to “complete the trilogy” to get out of a financial crisis.
