My 10-week dive into the various parts of various movie franchises continues with this week's post, where I reveal my very favorites in the category of cinematic Part Fives. The overall quality of films is starting to sink as there are significantly less great fifth parts than second or third parts, but I still scrambled together ten worth discussing - and here they are.
Here are my honorable mentions: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), Rocky V (1990), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), The Nun (2018).
10. Terminator: Genisys (2015)
The fifth Terminator film is by no means amazing or must-watch. The dialogue is quite laughable and the plot more than a bit convoluted. But, for fans of the franchise, it delivers many entertaining and satisfying moments, while pumping enough new blood to the franchise to be much more enjoyable than the joyless Terminator: Salvation that came before it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger still has the right charisma and energy for the role ("Old, not obsolete", as his character speaks in the film), while Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke is badass enough to channel Linda Hamilton in the iconic role of Sarah Connor. The film is very silly, but the action is admittedly entertaining. Pretty much the level you'd expect for the fifth Terminator film.
9. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Some people have called the fifth Mission: Impossible the best in the franchise, and I have to disagree with that: I respect the franchise's consistency of producing multiple sequels pretty much on par with the original, but in my opinion, they hit their peak with Ghost Protocol. Still, the fifth film is a success - crazy stunts, memorable big-budget action set-pieces, entertaining and lovable recurring side characters, and everything else you'd expect from the Mission: Impossible series is present. A thoroughly decent addition to the franchise, this one.
8. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
When ranking Attack of the Clones, I struggled with the same thing I struggled with for last week's post concerning Episode I - The Phantom Menace. It's hard to compare this to the rest, because how exactly do you rate a film that is subpar for its franchise, but the franchise itself is so dear that even its lesser instalments have a major place in your heart? Tough to say, but I ended up quite satisfied with the #8 position for this one.
As opposed to Episode I that was kind of all over the place, this middle instalment of the prequel series demonstrates clearly what the prequels got right and what they got wrong with its different storylines. All of the trilogy's flaws are paraded in the Anakin (Hayden Christensen) / Padmé (Natalie Portman) storyline, where loads of room is given to laughable dialogue and a romance between two actors with zero chemistry. However, the trilogy's strengths are showcased in Obi-Wan's (Ewan McGregor) storyline, which feels like vintage Star Wars with its entertaining space adventure vibe. So, despite its shortcomings, the fifth Star Wars flick to be released is an important part of the saga, and re-watching it is always more of a joy than a drag.
7. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Oh, hell yeah. Very much the Avengers of the Japanese Kaiju universe, this film introduced one of the most badass and lore-wrapped monsters in cinema history, and had a bunch of iconic monsters from the previous films team up to go against said villain.
It's a dream come true for monster flick nerds, for many reasons:
A) We see the monsters, who were the 'bad guys' in previous films while essentially serving as metaphors for the majesty of nature being a victim to humanity's abuse of the environment, finally as the heroes.
B) Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan teaming up is just an earth-shattering payoff.
C) King Ghidorah is a frightening, badass villain and the final fight between the monsters is one for the ages.
6. You Only Live Twice (1967)
The fifth James Bond flick feels like a metaphorical Season 1 Finale for the 007 franchise: Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the SPECTRE-leading villain who had been teased throughout the first four films, finally takes center stage as the film's big bad. He's played by the fantastic Donald Pleasance, and makes for a truly fitting antagonist for Sean Connery's James Bond to go up against.
Despite the dramatic plot and high stakes, You Only Live Twice is still a goofy and cheesy old-time Bond film at heart, and this balance makes for a spy flick equal parts climactic and silly. Not an easy balance to land, but certainly done well here.
5. Fast Five (2011)
The Fast & Furious franchise has a strange progression - you'd expect a silly racing car series to descend with escalatingly bad sequels (the "Police Academy fall", if you will), but instead, it started getting better and reaching a peak before its downfall (the "Mission: Impossible arch", if you will). And for this particular franchise, the peak is reached with the fifth film.
Fast Five puts the franchise's street racing roots in the back seat (pun intended), and embraces the heist caper formula. All the goods are there - the team-assembling montage, the intense sequence of the heist going down, the big post-heist reveal, et cetera. Fast Five has been called "Ocean's Eleven on wheels" for a reason. All in all, a thrilling crime blockbuster, bound to please whether you like the rest of the franchise or not.
4. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
If you read last week's post, you won't be surprised by my defending of the over-hated Hobbit trilogy. When you accept that they're flawed and not as masterful as the Lord of the Rings movies, but watch them as an open-minded Tolkien fan wanting to enjoy it instead of an angry internet reviewer hell-bent on proclaiming that your favorite franchises and whole childhood are ruined, you're bound to find a lot to appreciate in all three films. From Howard Shore's score to Peter Jackson's production designs, a lot of the Lord of the Rings trilogy's magic hits hard in these films as well.
The cast does a great job in The Desolation of Smaug, from the tried-and-true performances familiar from the Lord of the Rings (Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel et cetera) to the Hobbit trilogy's compelling additions (Martin Freeman's Bilbo and Richard Armitage's Thorin brilliantly emulate their book counterparts). While the plot isn't as adventurous as the film's predecessor or as explosive as its successor, we still get fantastic worldbuilding, neat moments from the book coming to life, and a cliffhanger ending complemented by a shivers-down-your-spine original song.
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
The fifth Harry Potter movie had a tough job - being based on the longest Potter book by far, a lot had to be cut. That is why Order of the Phoenix isn't nearly as good as the book it's based on, but as the choices of what to cut were largely smart, it's still a very cohesive part of the film series. Its biggest strength comes from the directing department, as David Yates took the reigns for the later half of the eight-movie series, starting with this one - and his style fits the later Potter adventures with brilliance. Just at the time when the story starts to get darker and more mature, Yates comes in with a style clearly more gloomy and pensive than the Potter directors before him, while still including enough whimsical magic (or magical whimsy?) for it to feel like the same franchise.
And then for my weekly reminder that J.K. Rowling should not be glorified, no matter how important her works and the movies based on them are for fellow fantasy buffs. If you want to read the Potter books, I suggest borrowing them from someone (we all have a friend who owns a collection) instead of buying them, therefore avoiding financially supporting a vocally transphobic bigot. Everyone makes their own decisions on where they land on separating the art from the artist - I've landed on still being able to enjoy the books and movies while being very much aware of the horrible worldview of their creator. If you feel like the books and/or movies are ruined for you because of Rowling's hate speech, I respect that. If you still like watching them, I'm certainly in no position to judge as I do the same, but I do recommend reflecting on these topics and doing what you can as an ally to help make the world a safer place for trans people. Defending Rowling or denying the problems around her is most certainly not the answer.
2. X-Men: First Class (2011)
Finally, I get to show some love for the X-Men films in one of these posts! The first, second, third and fourth films of the mutant hero series based on Marvel Comics weren't quite good enough for their respective top 10 lists, but as far as fifth films go, you don't get much better than First Class. In this prequel/reboot, we follow younger versions of the main characters familiar from the original trilogy, in a truly fresh and fascinating origin story.
The score by Henry Jackman is magical and exciting, and don't get me started on the film's casting - James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were pretty much the only people right enough to fill the shoes of Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen, in the iconic roles of Charles Xavier and Magneto. There are many good films in the X-Men franchise, but this one is honestly my #1 favorite.
1. The Avengers (2012)
The fifth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the first Avengers movie. While it may look small when compared to the level of spectacle the MCU went on to deliver later, one must remember how huge of a deal this crossover movie was when it was released. The idea of shared cinematic universes was fresh and new at the time, and an event like this had never been done before, at least at such a scale.
The protagonists from multiple related superhero films, as well as side characters from them and other iconic Marvel characters teased in said films, all appear together for a glorious team-up. What makes it special is how well-planned it all is: crossover films before this one were much more "hey, you know these separate existing films? Let's throw their characters in together!", whereas with Marvel, they knew what they were setting up from the start. That is why Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger are so filled with clever and gradual blocks of large-scale set-up.
The end result is worth the wait: Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) all team up together and the level of blockbuster entertainment is magnificent.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for my ranking of the top 10 sixth instalments of movie franchises.
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