Worst Third Film in a Series

Poltergeist III has one of the sharpest drop-offs from the original on this list, but the second one is even worse.

Now I can't even remember what I voted for. Either the third Matrix or the third Back to the Future.

THE WAR IS OVERRRRRRRRRRR!11!1144111!!

It's definitely not The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

To be fair, I didn't see that movie, I was just grabbing as many as I could.

Austin Powers in Goldmember
Matrix: Revolutions

too hard to choose

Matrix: Revolutions

Hello, where is Return of the Jedi?

It's not the third film ^_^

^^ haha. seriously though I do like Jedi, despite the Ewoks...the opening sequence is nice. T'aint no Empire though (I just said taint)

This list makes one rue the day Hollywood was born.

It's not the third film ^_^

It is if you pretend I, II and III were never actually made (like I do).

haha

so many.... tempted to say matrix but hard to beat godfather

got a soft spot for godfather cause it features one of my favorite operas.

Jaws 3D

Tempted to write-in Die Hard 3.

Revolutions was a huge disappointment because I'm one of those guys that actually really liked Reloaded

wtf rock hardy DHWAV is a blast

are all the movies on this list supposed to suck? I liked Exorcist III quite a bit as a teenage horror buff, but I haven't seen it since. I also don't think Batman Returns was bad as a whole.

I voted for the Matrix 3 mainly because the sequels were so unnecessary. they ruined a potential sci-fi classic, along with any chance for the video game spin-offs, animated shorts, or any potential comics to succeed. it was a catastrophe. i haven't seen a potential classic die so badly because of sequels since Back to the Future.

I added any movie generally considered to be bad, and in some cases, I used a few that were on the fence.

Also, it was Batman Forever (which was hoooooooorrrible) not Batman REturns (which hasn't aged well).

Exorcist III wasn't terrible, but it was extremely boring and had a ridiculous ending.

the thing is the 2nd movie in at least half of these series sucked, too. was anyone serious let down by Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause!?

lol, I admit that one was a reach. aftera while I was cramming wikipedia's trilogy list in there

Going through the appropriate IMDB page, I realize that I've generally liked the third movie in a series or I haven't made it that far. Aside from those I've actually liked, Halloween 3 and Superman 3 are two of my favorite bad movies.

I guess I have to go with Spider-Man 3, which was terrible, but I seem to be in a serious minority of people who weren't all that crazy about the other two. But it looks like there are a lot of horrendous options just over the horizon (Ace Ventura, Jr.? Really?).

I kind of liked Spiderman 3...it did also have one of the most ridiculous moments in comic book movie history (Tobey McGuire 70's dancing down the street after unleashing black spiderman)

revenge of the sith really needs to be on here. just sat thru that dvd for curiosity's sake and it's just infuriating. tho i did never see the second one, which i heard was maybe worse

i always forget there were three austin powers movies

Omen III : The Final Conflict (although none of the omen films are any good)

uh.....majorly disagree w/ that (not the third one, but the first was awesome)

Halloween III not on this list = sham!

there's yer "Other" option! :)

star trek III: the search for spock might well be the only good "third" movie

Inspector Clouseau should rank up here (non B.Edwards/non P.Sellers)

xp: I'd take Goldfinger over your Trekky shlock, bub.

Jaws 3D was so boring

i never saw the Crow 3 (or 2) but i'm just going to assume it's the worst on the list.

I liked the 3rd matrix film more than the 2nd one. Mainly because of that godawful boring motorbike chase scene in the 2nd one.

to be the worst third film i think it has to be the biggest drop-off from the first two. if the second film sucked, who cares if the third one did too? on that basis i vote alien 3 -- it's a long way from the worst film on the list, but it's not very good, and the first two are classic.

D3 is really quite amazingly bad, even in comparison to the bad first two.

The first Mighty Ducks movie: they win some local tournament
D2: they win the World Championship of the World for Forever
D3: they get fat and old and win another local tournament

oh great. thanks for fucking spoilers >:O

he just freed up three spots in your Netflix queue

Tempted to write-in Die Hard 3.

-- Rock Hardy

wtf rock hardy DHWAV is a blast

-- El Tomboto

One of these people is OTM, and it's not Tombot. Die Hard 3 was the first thing I looked for when I opened this thread -- the first 20 minutes were OK, even engaging, but the rest of the movie was one of the most horrific trainwrecks I've ever seen (if you can call something a "trainwreck" when it's closer to "are you people even fucking TRYING to make a movie here?").

I haven't seen half of these movies, but I had to vote for X-Men 3... because it deserves it.

I thought everyone agreed Die Hard 3 was better than 2.

I think Return of the Jedi should've been on the list, it's pretty much the consensus that it's the worst of the original three movies. (And it is the third film in the series, it's just not numbered so.)

(And it is the third film in the series, it's just not numbered so.)

oops sorry.

BTTF3 nowhere near deserving of such an early pick in this thread. It's overly schmaltzy admittedly, but it's a fun film nonetheless, with a whole load of nice touches.

*is

I agree with Tombot. Die Hard with a Vengeance is awesome. scores better than the somewhat ridiculous Die Hard 2: Die Harder (which I enjoyed, despite the farfetched plot)

is alien 3 the david fincher one? that was pretty terrible

I liked Exorcist III quite a bit as a teenage horror buff, but I haven't seen it since.

ISTR this being actually pretty good, although George C. Scott -- who was great great great, I love George C. Scott -- was no Lee J. Cobb. But it's got Dourif!!!

Of the one's I've seen on this list, I vote Godfather III.

no Return of the King? hmm.

went for Batman Returns off the list, would have gone for Matrix Revolutions except that, contrary to Tom's opinion, i found it a huge improvement on reloaded.

i think second movies are generally so shitty that i can't be bothered to watch the third- this is the case for Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean- if i'd seen them i'm sure they'd be high on my list.

I haven't seen the first of the Once upon a time.... series, but Mexico sure was a turd.

Richard Gere as John McLean!!! The wincing!

Also, people who think T3 was worse than AVP are heavily broken.

Die Hard With A Vengeance is the best in the whole series!! wtf.

-- nickalicious, Thursday, July 31, 2008 3:38 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Do you also eat dinner first thing in the morning and put your shoes on your head and your hat on your feet?

haha, it is pretty good though.

some contenders I have to dismiss...

exorcist iii: exorcist ii is one of the worst sequels ever, perhaps one of the worst movies ever.

godfather iii: I really like this movie. granted it's not up to the standard of the first two but that bar is pretty effin high.

alien3: not a great movie but fincher made some interesting choices and was majorly hassled by the studio as a reward, so he gets a pass.

return of the jedi: princess leia in a bikini forgives a host of sins.

jaws 3-D: it's in 3-D you fules! at least they tried. I actually saw this in the theaters.

I've managed to miss the majority of the remaining excrement on the list, so I have to reserve my reward for the one that broek hart: mad max beyond thunderdome.

14 year old me exited the theater that sunny summer day much further down the path of being the bitter and broken specimen you see before you now. in retrospect it's not a bad movie, but it dismisses the harsh vibes of the first two films for very little reward. judged by villain alone the progression from the toecutter -> lord humungus -> tina turner in chainmail is a pretty sharp dropoff.

Surprised at the lack of Superman 3 hate on here...

I watched Alien3 again recently and while it's definitely my least favorite of the series it's still got a few genuinely memorable moments. There's just too much lingering on the wrong things and not enough development of the potentially interesting parts. Whatever else was going wrong in the production of this thing, Sigourney Weaver is the driving engine of the series and she doesn't let down here.

Back to the Future 3 is just dopey - if you accept the premise it's fine I guess, but after the sweet high-concept comedy of #1 and all the timeline-altering hijinks of #2 it just has so much less going on. Whose idea was it that the entire thing would be in the Wild West? I admit that it beats some Quantum Leap thing where they do a cowboy part, a pirate part, etc...but it's still corny.

Die Hard With A Vengeance is a blast. It's too damn long and episodic - they clearly hadn't worked out how to end the thing - but it's got too many classic Die Hard lines to be discounted. OK, it was a weird move for the series to become a chase all around town instead of a confined-space thing, but there are other ways in which it fits into the lineage - mainly the great fake-out by the bad guy. And possibly my favorite line ever by John McClane, over a truck CB: Attention! Attention! Nils is dead! I repeat, Nils is dead, fuck-head!

No, this is Matrix: Revolutions's poll to lose. A trudging CG fest with all the detail, complexity, and drama of a video game FMV from 1998, it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen, let alone worst third movie in a series.

Die Hard With A Vengeance is the best in the whole series!! wtf.

-- nickalicious

Do you also eat dinner first thing in the morning and put your shoes on your head and your hat on your feet?

-- antexit

YA SRSLY. I mean, I dig on bad/campy movies as much as anyone, and enjoy movies that freely switch between bad-ass and stupid (Delta Force comes to mind). But DHWAV didn't work for me on that basis either -- I just sat there astonished at what a complete turd it became, after a sort-of promising 20 minutes.

Haven't seen Die Hard II, though, so I'm not evaluating it within the series, just as a shitty movie in its own right.

xpost the one-liners did nothing for me, and I wasn't having enough fun to want to believe in the fake-out

Superman III has one plus: Chris Reeves never looked hotter than in the scene where he flicks peanuts at booze bottles.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

this belongs to matrix revolutions

wachowskis deserve every inch of hate that can possibly be bestowed on to them.

what was the third Aladdin called...

Jurassic Park 3 shoulda been here too

Jurassic Park 3 was silly but at least it wasn't the Lost World. And it's like half an hour shorter, too.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ahh, The Lost World. I wish it was a third film just so it could be on this list.

The movie famous for a young girl gymnast ACTUALLY SOMERSALTING AND KICKING OVER A DINOSAUR THAT WEIGHS SEVERAL TONS

The Schumacher Batmans I am now considering as their own separate thing, so now since 1989 there have been 3 sets of 2 Batman movies. Thus, Batman Forever is not the 3rd film of this series, but is rather the 1st in its own series. (I realize it was billed as the third and fourth upon their release, but Burton's and Shumacher's visions were so far apart from each other that in retrospect it doesn't make sense to group them together.)

disqualified

OCEAN'S THIRTEEN

Matrix wins!

this really should've been won by a series where the 2nd was good enough that the 3rd could be considered a letdown.

take it to appeals!

lest we forget the other 'number 3s in 3-D' from the micro-genre:

Amityville 3-D:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM0SWbO_VxE
"...as the horror reaches out beyond the edge of the screen"

and also:

Frday the 3th part 3-D! :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8WcC4pS_tU
"and now you can't even keep him on the screen"

Boy had i forgotten about the early 80s 3-D revival. What brought that on i wonder?

Yeah, yknow, at the time my feeling was that Matrix Reloaded was a letdown from the first but KINDA okay, so then Revolutions was just so unspeakably bad and stupid that it really stood out. But I'm watching Reloaded on TV right now and it's just as uninvolving and inept as Revolutions, just it's uninvolving dialogue scenes rather than uninvolving CG. I think it really benefited from the sense that all this portentous crap was going somewhere; knowing that it's not, it's REALLY tedious to sit through all the portents. So I think if I could I would go back and change my vote from Revolutions to Superman 3 or BTTF3.

Noted.

i don't hate jackson's LOTR trilogy as much as i used to. all wounds really do heal with time.

BTTF 3 is good.

the naked gun 33 1/3 was pretty bad.

have there been any GREAT 3rd films in a series? has there been a poll for best?

worst drop off has to be Jedi. the new Star Trek wipes the *floor* with Jedi and i said that as massive fan of the first 3 Star Wars films.

"have there been any GREAT 3rd films in a series?"

bourne ultimatums.

i must watch those.

its totally batman forever.

oh and yea bourne ultimatum was soooooooo awesome

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

I mean, the second Matrix was shitty as well, no?

Apart from the Godfather, which of these films had a sequel as good/better than the first?

i'll rep for thunderdome. critics loved it, but after the bleak awesomeness of Road Warrior, Tina Turner and some midget who is one half of "master blaster"? I didn't even finish teh movie, and I hear the second half is potentially worse!

batman forever>>>> robocop 3.

I guess you could argue that robocop 3 isn't terrible because it's such a hypnotic trainwreck.

i've never been tempted to watch it

no return of the king = bjo FUCKIN' UP

Die Hard with a Vengeance is a pretty great 3rd movie

yea i mean Samuel L. Jackson!!!11!!

working on the list for a sequel to this thread, which in the spirit of things will probably manage to be both unwanted and somehow disappointing anyway. question: what's the maximum number of poll options? i remember it being 50, is that right?

"I penetrated your dad's Fortress of Solitude, motherfucker!" would've been the highlight of Superman III.

Watched Superman III with my sibs over the holidays. Love that POS so much.

perverse

^yes i would totally be down to watch Supes 3 right now. it's probably the Superman movie i've seen the most times. lot of crazy shit to love in that film.

shoutout to whoever watched free willy 3

free willy 2 was the first movie where i realized i was watching a bad movie

Seriously, it's like...maybe stop getting captured already, Willy.

I freed my willy

I'll never forget sitting in the theatre watching Made in America (the Ted Danson/Whoopi Goldberg thing, yeah) and the trailer for the original FW showing before the film. As soon as the title flashed on the screen at the end of the trailer, the whole crowd burst out laughing.

free willy - a thirst 4 vengeance, rated R