# Best Part IV of a movie series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436 "2014-05-14T14:20:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/1 "2014-05-14T14:20:47Z")
Movie franchises seem to exist best as trilogies, before the inevitable reboot (I hate that word), but some movies have gone on to have a third sequel. In almost every case, the forth part is a weak cash-in which rehashes elements from the first three and adds very little to the story of the first three films. Are there any that are actually good films in their own right? The best I can come up with is Thunderball, which, while not one of the best Bond films, is ok, and managed to not kill the franchise stone dead. Can you suggest any part 4’s that are decent? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/2 "2014-05-14T14:22:43Z")
_Star Wars: A New Hope_ d&r ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/3 "2014-05-14T14:23:55Z")
Thunderball is boring Rocky IV is an awesome 80s flick ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/4 "2014-05-14T14:24:40Z")
Does the first _Star Wars_ movie count? 😃 (Assuming not.) Second choice: I think of the _Rocky_ film series as consisting of one legitimately great film (the first, of course), and five sequels that are all implausible, disposable, if entertaining, tripe. And of the five sequels, _Rocky IV_ is the most implausibly entertaining of them. ETA: holy cow, I was ninja’d in both of my picks. :smack: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/5 "2014-05-14T14:25:12Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _Star Wars: A New Hope_ > > d&r I can only assume you mean you love the Phantom Menace 😛 You’ve reminded me that Star Trek IV wasn’t bad though ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/6 "2014-05-14T14:25:13Z")
Live Free or Die Hard is a fitting addition to the Die Hard movies. The one after that, however… ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/7 "2014-05-14T14:26:18Z")
Star trek iv: the one with the whales is a great movie too ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/8 "2014-05-14T14:30:30Z")
I think _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ is quite good, but not many people seem to agree with me. _Critters 4_ is surprisingly good, though. It’s a blatant _Alien_ rip off, but it stars Angela Bassett and Brad Dourif and doesn’t take itself very seriously. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/9 "2014-05-14T15:10:37Z")
IMDB has a list for this: > **[Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword...](https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=fourth-part)** > > IMDb's advanced search allows you to run extremely powerful queries over all people and titles in the database. Find exactly what you're looking for! Aside from Star Trek IV, I’m not seeing a lot of gems here. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/10 "2014-05-14T15:20:52Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Rocky IV is an awesome 80s flick _Rambo_, the fourth in the First Blood series, is pretty decent. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/11 "2014-05-14T15:21:23Z")
On a technicality, _Iron Man 3_ was (a) Robert Downey Jr’s fourth time being top-billed as Tony Stark, and (b) a pretty enjoyable movie. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/12 "2014-05-14T16:21:23Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > IMDB has a list for this: > > [http://www.imdb.com/keyword/fourth-part/](http://www.imdb.com/keyword/fourth-part/) > > Aside from Star Trek IV, I’m not seeing a lot of gems here. That list doesn’t go back far enough. _The Thin Man_ had true sequels, five of them in fact. The fourth overall was _Shadow of the Thin Man_ and it’s well considered, with a 7.3 rating on IMDb. The fourth Bob Hope/Bing Crosby Road picture, _Road to Utopia_, gets a 7.6 rating, the highest in the entire seven-movie series. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/13 "2014-05-14T17:06:04Z")
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol was the best one in the series. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/14 "2014-05-14T17:24:15Z")
\*\*\*The Wrecking Crew \*\*\*(1969) was the best (itself, a loaded term) of the 1960’s Matt Helm films starring Dean Martin. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/15 "2014-05-14T17:45:57Z")
The fourth Ju-On movie (Japanese series, ignoring the American Grudge series entirely) is pretty good. Not as good as the first or third, but probably third overall - better than the second, or the two thematic sequels from 2009 (none of which are particularly bad, either, though the second suffers from spending too much time rehashing the first). ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/16 "2014-05-14T18:27:39Z")
Godzilla vs Mothra (1964) is considered one of the best by fans. The music and the plodding attack scenes are terrific. The suits were well done and Mothra is a popular opponent. It was also the last movie where Godzilla was unquestionably the bad guy. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/17 "2014-05-14T18:32:36Z")
**Return of the Pink Panther** ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/18 "2014-05-14T18:32:55Z")
Scary Movie 4, with writers and directors from the original spoof movie, Airplane and Top Secret. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/19 "2014-05-14T19:47:37Z")
Friday the 13th Part 4 is arguably one of the 2 or 3 best movies in the series, by schlocky 80s slasher flick standards. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436/20 "2014-05-15T01:59:44Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > **Return of the Pink Panther** I was coming in to say **The Pink Panther Strikes Again** (not counting the movie **Inspector Closeau** , starring Richard Dreyfuss in the title role, as a ‘real Pink Panther Movie’). No matter which way the jury rules,I think it qualifies 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-part-iv-of-a-movie-series/688436.md?page=2)