The Dark Knight Rises hit theaters this weekend. With it, director Christopher Nolan closes out his Dark Knight trilogy in a full-blown, bombastic conclusion that Batman fans could previously only dream about. To put it bluntly, movies don't get better than this.
Christopher Nolan has always had a knack for taking you on a journey with his films, and the Dark Knight Trilogy is perhaps the most evident example of this. If you've been with the series since Batman Begins, you may very well be holding back a few tears by the time Rises' final credits roll.
It is a true trilogy, in an almost Shakespearean sense. Batman Begins is the first act, our intro to the world of Gotham and the basis of Batman's (obviously enough) beginnings. The Dark Knight is the second act, where our hero is tested and loses not only the love of his life, but the trust of the very city he was trying to save. Leaving The Dark Knight Rises as the third and final act, bringing a close to the story of Bruce Wayne.
In this day and age, many, many, many films get sequels. The majority of them don't deserve them. Many movie series nowadays are chosen... poorly (See Transformers or Twilight). It used to be that sequels were only made if the first film was not only great, but made sequels necessary to tell the full story. Dark Knight is a call back to those times when films were made not just for cash, but for artistic integrity. Here are some great examples of the exact kinds of movie series I'm talking about, some of my absolute favorites.
7.The Bourne Trilogy:
A true film trilogy that grows and strengthens itself with each film. The first one is great, but by the time you reach the third film, Ultimatum, the series has completely outdone itself. Great trilogy.
6.The James Cameron Terminator films
Terminator and Terminator 2. The true Terminator series ended after T2, when original director James Cameron stepped away from the series. Subsequent films(T3, Salvation) weren't bad, its just that the first two Terminator films tell an incredible story that ends with the final scenes of T2.
5. The first two Alien movies(and Prometheus)
Okay, I have no excuse here, I just like to pretend that Alien 3 and 4 didn't happen. The first two films (Alien and Aliens) are two of the greatest sci-fi films of all time. Aliens completely wraps up the story these two originals told, thus allowing me to pretend that it was the final film. I will throw in an honorable mention to the superbly-crafted Prometheus, and include it in the series.
4.The Orignial Indiana Jones trilogy
Indiana Jones has to be the coolest action hero of all time. And the original trilogy is a collection of three of the greatest action/adventure films ever.
3.The Dark Knight trilogy
In case you couldn't tell, I love these movies. Christopher Nolan is the boss of current film making and he's crafted one of the greatest trilogies of all time. Easily.
2.Star Wars trilogy
Yes, I mean the original. Not to say that the prequels were bad; actually Revenge Of the Sith is brilliant. But the original three tell the story of the Rebel Alliance and how it overcame the Empire to restore balance to the force and... yeah they're THE science fiction trilogy.
1.Lord of the Rings
Talk about phenomenal. This trilogy of films totals up to be somewhere around 9 hours of film, and it's all incredible. What Peter Jackson did was take one of the great literary trilogies of all time and turn it into one of the most iconic film trilogies of all time. Masterful.
So there you have it- I'd love to hear what you think I left out and which ones you totally disagree with. Thanks for reading.
Will Jones
Great list! My only heartburn with the Dark Knight series is that I keep wanting to give Batman a throat lozenge.
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