News culture For Christopher Nolan, this film is the only good third sequel… It is neither Lord of the Rings nor Star Wars
In an interview published in the book “The Nolan Variations,” filmmaker Christopher Nolan cited what he considers to be the best third installment. A third film that is part of a cult saga, but not the one you might be thinking of.
There is no successful third part
Christopher Nolan is one of those film fans who think that there is no such thing as a successful third part. It is true that this task can be difficult and few third films have managed to complete their trilogy in the best possible way, especially after a second feature film that completely surpasses the first. Take the first Star Wars trilogy or that of The Godfather, for example: each of these sagas is much more famous for its second part than for its third film.
This fact made Christopher Nolan question himself when he began work on Dark Knight Rises, the final chapter of his trilogy dedicated to the Dark Knight. In an interview included in the book, he returned to that time The Nolan Variations written by Tom Shone. And in this interview he precisely quotes what he considers to be the best third film in a cinema saga: Rocky III. And contrary to expectations, the filmmaker does not even talk about “Lord of the Rings”, although he has already praised Peter Jackson’s work in the past.
There is no good third part or maybe Rocky III. But they are very difficult. So my instinct pushed me to change genre. The first film was an origin story. The second was a crime drama, just like Heat, and for the third we had to aim even higher because we couldn’t see smaller (…) We chose an epic historical film, the film of the catastrophe, the meeting between The Infernal Tower and Doctor Zhivago
Christopher Nolan’s attempt
Despite his fears, Christopher Nolan therefore decided to attempt this exercise with The Dark Knight Rises, an excellent feature film that perhaps never really surpassed its predecessor, the legendary The Dark Knight. The critics have made up their minds and prefer the second part: on AlloCiné, The Dark Knight received a press rating of 4/5 and an audience rating of 4.5/5. The Dark Knight Rises received a press rating of 3.6/5 and an audience rating of 4.3/5. In terms of box office, the two films performed more or less equally, although they each grossed just over a billion dollars. The Dark Knight Rises has therefore largely excelled and is clearly one of the third parts that stood out, just like Rocky III.
