Truly great film trilogies are few and far between.
Sure, there are standouts like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.
But besides those, an unblemished trilogy is a shockingly rare thing.
Plenty of franchises go straight downhill after the opening chapter.
What's even worse, though, is a trilogy that's held back from perfection by a single entry.
It's maddening for fans of the story being told, and more often than not, it denies fans
the story structure or resolution they desire.
With all that in mind, here's a look at some memorable trilogies ruined by one movie.
Spider-Man
It's hard to overstate the massive success of Sam Raimi's first two Spider-Man films.
They were crucial in creating the modern superhero boom as we know it.
Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 showed modern audiences that the genre could still work
in the wake of '90s bombs like Batman & Robin.
Watching them today, it's easy to understand why.
They're clear labors of love, and with the second chapter ending on a cliffhanger for
the ages, it seemed that the third installment was primed for a killer finale.
Unfortunately, Raimi butted heads with the studio during production of Spider-Man 3.
He was ultimately forced to include popular comics villain Venom, making for a bloated
and convoluted story that lacks the heart of the previous two installments.
There's simply too much going on, and the campier moments are tonally jarring against
the more serious elements.
While a fourth installment was considered and planned, Sony ultimately decided to abandon
Raimi's Spidey for a rebooted model under new director Marc Webb.
Blade
They may not get the respect that the X-Men and Spidey movies do, but the first two Blade
films are just as integral to the modern superhero movie era.
While directors Stephen Norrington and Guillermo del Toro deserve a great deal of credit for
making the films work as well as they do, the success really comes down to Wesley Snipes.
He embodies the calm, collected cool of the character with a performance that feels effortless.
But it all went wrong in the third installment, Blade: Trinity.
Set drama and a studio feud with Snipes saw writer David S. Goyer step in as a last-minute
replacement director.
The result is a deeply disappointing conclusion to a trilogy, and a character, that deserves
better.
"You gotta be kidding me"
Aside from a quickly canceled TV show, we haven't seen Blade onscreen since.
Iron Man
There are few superhero origin films as perfect as 2008's Iron Man.
It's the film that gave us Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, one of the all-time great pieces
of movie casting.
As Stark, Downey could read the phonebook and make it fun.
Still, Iron Man 2 is something of a mess, and the only thing stopping the Iron Man trilogy
from being one of the best of all time.
It's a film clearly burdened by expectations and responsibility.
It has to introduce Black Widow to the MCU and expand other side characters.
On top of that is an ambitious but utterly nonsensical plot involving the invention of
a new element.
"This is the key to the future.
I'm limited by the technology of my time.
But one day you'll figure this out."
Iron Man 2 didn't tank the MCU by any means, but it's early evidence that these films are
far from infallible.
X-Men
It's pretty standard for blockbuster films to announce their release date years in advance
these days, long before a creative team has been assembled.
It's crucial to remember, though, that that wasn't always the case.
After the first two films in the X-Men franchise were met with critical acclaim and great financial
success, the trilogy's conclusion, The Last Stand, was slated for release before the script
had been finalized.
This turned out to be its downfall.
After Brian Singer and Matthew Vaughn both dropped out of directing, Fox finally settled
on Brett Ratner, who at that point barely had a year to make the film.
Multiple cast members now had scheduling conflicts as well, leading to some strange character
rewrites to account for their absences.
That the film came out at all is a small miracle and certainly commendable in a certain light.
However, the end product is still pretty lousy.
"Don't let it control you."
It was such a disaster that it effectively tanked this cinematic incarnation of the X-Men
until they reappeared for a brief swan song in 2014's Days of Future Past.
Men in Black
Will Smith will always be a huge star, but he was a special kind of huge star in the
'90s.
Any project he led was more or less guaranteed to succeed.
Among the biggest of his hits is 1997's stylish sci-fi action comedy Men in Black.
He starred as loudmouthed Agent J, a brilliant foil to his straight and narrow partner, Agent
K, played to perfection by Tommy Lee Jones.
Fifteen years later, Men in Black III arrived, wrapping up the story of Agents J and K perfectly,
due in no small part to a killer performance by Josh Brolin as a younger K.
"We'll take it from here"
"K?
K?!
K!
AAHH!"
Why did it take 15 years for this hit trilogy to conclude?
One answer, unfortunately, is that the second film is downright lousy.
Men in Black II feels like a recycled version of its predecessor with none of the charm
or surprise.
It may have been a box office hit, but it didn't exactly leave audiences hungry for
more.
"Tell me something we don't know."
"Ya, tell me something we don't know.
I'm so sorry."
"God bless you."
"Thank you."
There's no telling the heights the franchise could have reached had the second film not
dropped the ball so hard.
Thor
The first installment in the Thor trilogy may not be the best the MCU has to offer,
but it's a solid origin story with Shakespearean flair thanks to director Kenneth Branagh.
It almost feels quaint: a quiet little character study about an arrogant boy who wants to be
king but isn't ready.
Thor: Ragnarok, on the other hand, is a nutty cosmic romp full of laughs and unparalleled
art direction and visual design.
Thor: The Dark World is the black sheep of the trilogy, not so much bad as it is dull.
It fails to build on the sense of wonder instilled in the first film.
It feels bland and by the numbers, and it often looks like someone scribbled over the
first film's bright color palette with a grey crayon.
Frankly, it may be the worst movie in the MCU.
"What the hell was that?!
And why are you smiling?"
"There's nothing more reassuring than realizing that the world is crazier than you are."
The Dark World exhausts the old version of what a Thor movie should be, to the point
that Ragnarok had no choice but to try something new.
Ultimately it's a good thing that Ragnarok was able to happen, even if it meant enduring
a pretty bland Thor movie first.
Still, it's hard not to wish the Thor trilogy had maintained more consistency.
The Ocean Trilogy
When the right performers, script, and director align, a movie can feel effortlessly fun.
Steven Soderbergh's Vegas heist film Ocean's 11 is one of those movies.
Featuring a killer cast that includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts,
and Andy Garcia, Ocean's 11 is so entertaining that it's almost impossible to turn away from.
Its second sequel, Ocean's 13, is similarly rewatchable, aided greatly by the inclusion
of Al Pacino as the villain.
Ocean's 12, however, very nearly spoils the stew.
You can't help but get the feeling when watching it that Soderbergh and company wanted an excuse
to hang out in Europe and went on to tailor the film to suit their vacation needs.
Everyone seems to be having a good time, but the spark present in the first and third films
is gone.
Throw in a genuinely bizarre subplot involving Julia Roberts' character masquerading as Julia
Roberts, and you've got a shockingly lousy film as the direct follow-up to one of the
most entertaining movies of the century.
The Matrix
The Matrix changed the game upon its release in 1999.
Even today, it feels like a revelation.
It pushes genre boundaries, melding high-minded science fiction with breathtaking action shot
in the innovative "bullet time" style.
It gives us a cast of memorable characters and injects themes of existentialism and Buddhism
into what could have been a cut-and-dry sci-fi adventure.
Its first sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, doesn't quite reach the heights of its predecessor,
but then again, what could?
It's still a fun, interesting action romp that expands on the themes introduced in the
first film.
It all comes crashing down with The Matrix Revolutions, a bloated mess that's too long
and devoid of anything meaningful or important.
The transgressive themes of the franchise are cast aside for more special effects, eventually
oversaturating the film, and very nearly the trilogy as a whole.
It fails to deliver a satisfying ending to a story its predecessors got audiences deeply
invested in, and the fact that Neo's journey never got the resolution it deserved is one
of the true missed opportunities in recent film history.
"Is it over?"