Collider presents a list of eight film trilogies whose third and final instalment surpasses its predecessors, challenging the usual pattern of the first film being the strongest. The selection spans genres and eras, arguing that these closing chapters either resolve their stories most satisfyingly or improve on earlier missteps.

Highlighted examples include Richard Linklater's "Before Midnight", which caps the Before trilogy with a raw, mature look at long-term love between Jesse and Céline; "The Bourne Ultimatum", praised as the most thrilling and narratively complete instalment of the Bourne series; and Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", credited with cementing the Dollars Trilogy's status as a landmark of the Western genre.