For a trilogy of films, there are six possible orderings of quality, assuming that no two films are the same quality.
For instance, a trilogy that gets better with each movie would be 321 (third best, then second best, then first best). A trilogy that gets worse with each movie would be 123 (best, then second best, then third best).
There are six possible such combinations. Can we think of a trilogy that fits into each of those six? (It’s obviously a bit amorphous what really counts as a trilogy… so don’t just pick three consecutive movies out of a longer series unless there’s something that clearly groups them into a triad. And ideally, the rating should be based on IMDB or RottenTomatoes scores, not just your personal opinion.)
I’m also curious what the most and least common orderings will be.
To start with:
321 - Star Wars eps 1-3
123 - Godfather trilogy
213 - Tobey Maguire Spiderman movies, Xmen 1-3, Star Wars 4-6
312 - Christopher Nolan batman movies
132 - Iron Man 1-3, Indiana Jones original trilogy
So we stll need an examples of 231 (starting with the second best, then third best, then best).
Two prominent trilogies that don’t seem to have enough of a critical consensus to fit into a category, imho, are Toy Story and Lord of the Rings.
You’ve kind of worded things funny, but I think for 231 the Ocean’s 11 trilogy might work (at least as far as general consensus). Of course, I’m one of those rare people who thinks Ocean’s 12 was the best by far, but I realize I’m in the minority.
An actual trilogy that technically fits is the Matt Damon Bourne films. They are all very close in quality, but on IMDB they are 7.9, 7.8, and 8.1, which also mirrors their reviews from critics.
While not actually a trilogy in the films. It is sort of is for the cast. The original “Rat Pack” Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., etc. However, it’s been so long since I saw Sargents 3, it could have been better than Robin and…
Ocean’s 11
Robin and the Seven Hoods
Sargents 3
I suppose you could throw in Some Came Running or Four for Texas, but It’s just not the same.
No. Read the OP again. The first number is the ranking of the first film, the second number is the ranking of the second film, and the third number is the ranking of the last film.
Now do the same thing, but this time do it like the OP indicates. As you will see, for those examples the order is the same. It is not the same for 312 or 231, though.
