The Best Movie Critic   +  review

Friday Five: My Five Favorite Threequels

Justin here with this week’s installment of Friday Five.

Today we will be looking at my favorite part 3s in movies. That is to say the third movie in a series, the conclusion of a trilogy or sequel to a sequel.

5. Back to the Future Part 3

As much as a beloved main steram sci-fi movie can be underrated, Back to the Future 3 is... A lot of people remember Back to the Future 2 as being better, but I’m here to tell you that Part 3 is the superior sequel. The western setting may have felt a little clunky at first, but come on, Michael J. Fox calling himself Clint Eastwood, that’s gold!

Mostest moment: The train scene.

4. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

When I was a kid, this was my favorite Indiana Jones movie. I loved the relentless pace and the set pieces. I loved the trials scene at the end. This movie is just fun. I’d also reckon that this movie’s stock has risen significantly since the disappointing Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Mostest moment: Indy comes face to face with Hitler and gets his diary signed.

3. Return of the Jedi

I feel so lame having both an Indiana Jones and a Star Wars movie here, but I really like Return of the Jedi. It has moments that are both the best and the worst of the original trilogy. The rescue of Han Solo is so much fun, the climactic space battle as the Death Star 2.0 is blown up is incredible, the final confrontation between Luke and Vader and the Emperor – gold. But for every action in this movie, there’s an equal but opposite reaction, the ridiculous Ewoks, emasculated Han Solo, the changes Lucas made for the re-release. Ultimately there’s more good than bad here, I’d rather watch this a dozen times than see any of the prequels again, but it falls so short of the bar that The Empire Strikes Back set.

Mostest moment: The Ewok celebration, in the original the song rules.

2. Rocky III

Rocky II is my least favorite of the series except for part V, it’s schmaltzy to a fault, a little too unbelievable, and about 20 minutes too long. Rocky III though is the shit! This movie is packed with crazy and ridiculous ideas from end to end. There’s an epic fight with Hulk Hogan, buddy scenes with Carl Weathers, more training montages, ridiculous product endorsements (none more than Stallone’s pudding in real life though), and Mr. T before he was self-parody! This movie is awesome and so is Rocky IV.

Mostest moment: Rocky “trains” with a live orchestra in an area open to the public while signing autographs and getting yelled at by Burgess Meredith.

1. Death Wish 3

The movie that took the vigilante idea to it’s logical conclusion, all out war against street punks. Charles Bronson’s last outing with director Michael Winter is a doozy. This movie is totally ridiculous but criminally fun. Bronson walks around eating Ice Cream waiting to be picked on so he can be at least a little justified in blowing bowling ball sized holes in punks’ heads.

Mostest moment: If someone introduces an RPG in the first act, then you know by the third act it has to blow some punk through a solid brick wall.