Greetings, reader!
My 10-week series of ranking various instalments from all the movie franchises I've seen continues, with this week's post focusing on the very best sixth parts in the world of cinema. Let's go!
Here are my honorable mentions: American Pie Presents: Beta House (2007), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), The Curse of La Llorona (2019), The Wolverine (2013).
10. Iron Man 3 (2013)
The sixth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is many things: the first post-Avengers (2012) film, the final solo film of Tony Stark / Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and an all-around decent good-but-not-amazing superhero flick. It's a fine enough send-off - sure, Stark would go on to appear in many more team-up films, but with this being his last solo outing, it does have a sentimental end-of-an-era feel to it.
The dramatic tone is the film's biggest strength, with some of the flaws weighing it down being the semi-generic plot and the far-fetched motivations of the main villain (the good ol' "Tony ditched me at a party once when I wanted to talk to him, so naturally I've been plotting my violent revenge for years"). Still, it's entertaining run-of-the-mill MCU.
9. Aquaman (2018)
For once, the DC Extended Universe (Marvel's biggest rival's attempt of their own MCU, with shockingly varying results) ranks ahead of the largely better rival franchise. The sixth movies of both superhero franchises are good but not great, but Aquaman barely takes the edge when comparing the two. It's more original, being the first-ever proper live-action big-screen adaptation of the semi-iconic superhero in question.
While the film is a bit convoluted and chaotic in what it's trying to be, there's a lot of zany worldbuilding and Jason Momoa fun to enjoy. A decent one, especially when not taken too seriously.
8. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Oh, speaking of not taking things too seriously! This slasher flick isn't serious even by the standards of the Friday the 13th franchise, but in a sense, that exactly is the reason why it's one of the more beloved entries by the series' fans. The fifth entry in the franchise, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, was an underwhelming failure because it tried too hard to be genuinely scary - a hard thing to be, when producing the fifth consecutive movie about the same killer at the same lake killing similar teenagers with a decreasing budget.
The sixth film of the 12-film franchise (you bet your ass I've seen all of them) marks a pivotal turning point: instead of trying too hard to be dark and mysterious like the first film, they start going all tongue-in-cheek, high on entertainment value, essentially understanding the target demographic of the types of people who tune in to watch the sixth movie of a slasher franchise. Jason Lives is hilariously corny, respectably self-aware, and just an overall blast.
7. Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
The sixth Mission: Impossible film is much like the post-2013 Fast & Furious films: the peak of the franchise has been passed after it surprisingly got better for a while, but the films still have big-name directors and overall grand production values attached to them due to the popularity of the peak era, so the later sequels are still a good time. Mission: Impossible - Fallout won't change your life, but if it's big-budget stunts, neat action set pieces and exciting spy plots that you're looking for, you could certainly do a lot worse than this one.
6. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
You didn't see a lot of Friday the 13th and Halloween in my instalment posts 1-5, but for 6-10, the slasher franchises are regular customers. The sixth Halloween film is, well, the sixth Halloween film, so it's no cinematic masterpiece. But for fans of the franchise, it's a welcome dive deeper into the rabbit hole (at least I think so - as one of the more polarizing instalments in the franchise, The Curse of Michael Myers has its fans and its haters).
I find this to be one of the better obscure sequels in the 13-movie horror franchise. A young Paul Rudd is charming as Tommy (the kid from the first Halloween, all grown up!), and I love how the plot goes deeper into Halloween/Samhain lore as a part of explaining Michael Myers' origin. This makes up for the directing and dialogue, which are on the level you'd expect from the sixth film in a slasher franchise.
5. Rocky Balboa (2006)
As far as legacy sequels go, this one isn't quite in the tier of Top Gun: Maverick or Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens. But it's still very decent - Sylvester Stallone gives one of his more layered performances in the role, Burt Young and Talia Shire toy with nostalgia in their sentimental performances, and Milo Ventimiglia is just right for the role of Rocky's son. The plot is one of the better examples of the "retired hero comes back for one last job" trope, as it manages to tie in to some heavy and very humane themes.
4. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
The sixth Star Trek movie is by no means the franchise's last, as it was succeeded by a generational crossover film, a trilogy of Next Generation sequel films, and a trilogy of reboot/prequel movies with an all-new cast. It is, however, the final adventure of the original cast, and therefore a major end of an era. The 7-person main cast had been playing the roles of the Enterprise crew throughout the original TV series in the 60's, the animated series in the 70's, and a total of six films, ending with this swan song.
With the year being 1991, the impending end of the Cold War (if it ever really did end) was a major theme for The Undiscovered Country, through the symbolism of the Klingon Empire finally entering peace talks with the Federation. The optimism that colored this film has aged quite tragically when considering Mr. Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, but watching this is a nice escapist callback to a time when it briefly seemed like the world might be getting better (truly making this the Wind of Change of movies). The diplomacy-oriented plot makes for exciting political tensions, a nice bridge between the timeline of the Original Series and The Next Generation, and ultimately, a fitting send-off for the beloved crew.
3. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
A decade after The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson completed his Hobbit prequel trilogy with this conclusion to the six-film Middle-Earth franchise. I defended the over-hated Hobbit films in last week's blog and the one from two weeks ago, and will continue to do so here. My exact opinion of The Battle of the Five Armies is complicated: the trilogy's admitted flaws are the most prominent here, as the source material is only the last less-than-a-hundred pages of the book, which makes for a lot of filler material.
But, at the same time, the final Hobbit film contains all of the trilogy's finest moments. While I get that people were a bit disappointed when excpecting another Return of the King, I will never understand how so many Tolkien fans saw the movie as a complete failure. My Tolkien-loving heart was deeply moved by Richard Armitage's towering Thorin performance, the charge of the main dwarves from Erebor into the face of battle, and the delightfully genuine moment of levity between Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) after the battle. The very final scene is also a beautifully poetic bookend for the whole six-film saga, making for a film that works well in its climactic nature despite being a bit too silly at its worst.
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
The sixth Harry Potter film is very special to me, as it was the first one I was allowed to watch in the movie theater when it came out. I took it all in, nerdily noticing the parts that had been changed from the books, being shaken to my core by the cave jump scare (countless re-watchings later, I still wince), and crying my eyes out when [REDACTED DUE TO SPOILERS] kills [REDACTED DUE TO SPOILERS]. David Yates did a great job adapting the darkest book so far into the darkest movie so far, still having tons of humor and heart in the mix for a decent balance.
Also, f**k J.K. Rowling. If you're like me and struggle with continuing to enjoy the books and movies that are a big part of your life while questioning how much you can do so when being so strongly against the author's bigoted worldview and public hate speech, I recommend not doing anything to financially support Rowling, as well as finding ways to be a good ally. Donating to causes working for trans rights is a good step - The Equality Project and YIP (Youth In Policy), for example, are organizations doing remarkably important work in making the world safer for the trans community. Signing petitions against transphobic legislation (something that's very much going on in both of my home countries) is also recommended, as is using your power to vote for a party and candidate with a strong stance on trans rights.
1. Star Wars: Episode III - The Revenge of the Sith (2005)
The sixth Star Wars film to be released is the chronologically third one, completing the polarizing prequel trilogy and bridging the gap between the Clone Wars storyline and the Original Trilogy (before a whole bunch of spin-off films and Disney+ television shows would add their own twists to said bridge in said gap). It's the best of the prequels by a long shot - some of the trilogy's flaws are quite present and prevent the film from reaching the exact level of the original trilogy, but most elements are improved upon a great deal from Episodes I&II.
The film focuses on Anakin Skywalker's (Hayden Christensen) descent into villainhood, and this makes for a vibe significantly darker than most of the franchise's offerings. While it might be too dark for some viewers (I remember my dear mother being less than pleased about choosing this as a fun-for-the-whole-family film on one Christmas Eve), the common opinion seems to be that it's still fun enough to feel like proper Star Wars, with the extra-dark story making it stick out as one of the more memorable instalments. The fall of the Jedi order and the Empire's rise is portrayed in an appropriately dramatic manner, and the film's last minutes have a downright epic feel as all the main characters arrive in their Original Trilogy settings. It's all quite poetic.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for my list of the top 10 seventh instalments from movie franchises.
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