Third films that ruin a movie franchise

I can't remember Poltergeist 3 - is that the one where Carol-Anne was shown running by all the mirrors at the end?

Loved Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors as a kid. Which was surprising because I thought the second was terrible, they managed to breathe new life into the franchise with the third.
 
I don't know about third films but I thought Crocodile Dundee 2 was awful. I really liked the first one - they should have stopped at that.
 
In the book it says they continue fighting hard for many hours - but this is all dismissed in a few paragraphs. The film is a cinematic translation of that. They continue fighting, and there is plenty that the heroes do. Aragorn saves Eowyn, and Legolas kills an Oliphant ("That still only counts as one."). However, in both book and film once the Oathbreakers arrive the victory is no longer in doubt and there's no point spinning it out unnecessarily. (And I think Jackson does a better job of explaining why they can't be used again in the final battle outside the Black Gate.)

There are other things about the film which bother me far more. For example, Frodo sending Sam away on the stair in distrust; and Sam going, and then Sam changing his mind for seeing the lembas, as if he suddenly remembered he hadn't eaten them. I sort-of understand it was done so that Frodo would enter Shelob's lair alone, which works cinematically, but it rather damages the characters.

There are little things which are worse for having less justification. For example, Aragorn beheading the Mouth of Sauron during the conversation outside the Black Gate. Jackson just doesn't seem to get it. The good guys are not the good guys because they are more hanRABome than the bad guys, but because they behave better. Killing an ambassador during negotiation is wrong. And it serves no purpose in the film other than to diminish Aragorn.

I could go on. (Trust me, I could.) However, the third film also brings great scenes, such as the lighting of the beacons, so I can forgive it much. And in the context of this thread, its flaws fade beside those of the second film, which to my mind is almost a travesty. Hasty Ents included.
 
Theres a few exceptions to that though :p

AS nightmare on elm street three was far better than 2 and in my mind better than 1

For worst chilRAB play 3 :( first two were great the rest were awful

Friday the 13th part 3 was good aswell
Scary movie 3 was TERRIBLE and 4 was even worse :rolleyes:
 
Problem with LOTR wasn't so much with the film as with the book really which does rather die off towarRAB the end. Always knew that LOTR2 would be better than 3 because of that.

I suppose Peter Jackson could have changed things around a bit to make it more exciting but then the purists would have screamed blue murder !!!! :eek:
 
For me LOTR2 was ruined precisely because Jackson did change things around so much. The book is in two parts, each with its climax, and Jackson moved one climax to the third film (ie Shelob) and cut the other altogether (ie the confrontation between the two wizarRAB). That left the middle film a bit empty, so he invented a lot of rot about a warg attack, made the Ents stupid and hasty, and had Faramir seize the ring and take it to Osgoliath. None of this was as good as the material it replaced.

I much prefer the third film to the second. The pacing - the long slow build up to the war - is fine. I agree the drawn-out ending is a bit much, but only if you see it as the end of the 3rd film rather than the end of the whole trilogy.
 
LOL! I bet you could! And indeed so could I. I spent far too many sunsets debating all this on TheOneRing.Net, when the film first came out, with the film's many hoardes of fans for whom PJ could do no wrong. So let us agree to differ. We are probably in broad agreement anyway on PJ's meddling, and it didn't destroy the film, just spoilt it for me a bit. I particularly disliked the way he changed characters, for example he had a habit of making one character look bad in order to make another (usually Aragorn) look good. But I'm at it again!

I loved the lighting of the Beacons as well, by the way. Highlight of the movie.
 
Ok, just me that liked Scream 3 and Halloween 3 then?

With Scream the twist was all good and it all tied things up quite nicely. In fact it made up for the unsatisfying finish of Scream 2, where characters who weren't particularly established were the villains, and the red herring of Cotton was just overdone. Mind you if I remember rightly Scream 2 had a good little discussion about sequels that ruin things...

Halloween 3 I really like, simply because the writers took a flyer and tried something different. Really, really sinister, but without the predictable 'mad bloke in mask runs about slashing people' of many horror movies. It was just a little too different for the mainstream audience unfortunately.

X:Men The Last Stand however was awful - it seemed to be written by someone who didn't care for the characters.

Incidentally - nice one Jamie, I see what you did there... :p
 
I think it's a shame about Alien 3 and X-Men 3. The former being stuck in developmental hell for ages and when David Fincher was brought onboard he had to work with what he had, and to be fair, he did a great job. I'm a total Alien fanatic and I think it's a good addition to the franchise.

X-Men 3 was a grand shame, if only Singer had stuck around and not worked on that piece of crap Superman, but he made his choice...again, Brett Ratner did the best he could and the movie was just rushed, 20th century Fox just HAD to get it released by May 2006...and filming was done within a space of a year or less, so it was all a bit rushed and also, once someone else takes over something you've done from the start, the magic is going to be lost a bit. But I still think it's way better than Superman Returns and the box office numbers prove it.

ROTJ was a great end to the trilogy, I haven't watched it fully in a while (I tend to fast forward the Endor bits, lol, more interested in the Emperor bits) But I think it's a good way of capping off a fantastic franchise.

I enjoyed Terminator 3 a lot, T2 was amazing but 3 wasn't bad you know...pretty entertaining.

I too am worried about Shrek 3...the joke could be getting old, ala Austin Powers: Goldmember...seriously I had to force myself to laugh in that film...
 
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