10 Trilogies That Actually Get Better With Each Movie

With the release of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in 2024, there are now four movies in this franchise. However, as the fourth takes place 300 years after the events of the previous film, you could arguably bracket the first three as Caesar's trilogy, and the evolution of the story is exceptional.

This is a true example of a narrative running through its beginning, middle, and end, starting with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This is where everything started, and showed Caesar (Andy Serkis) merely stepping on the path to the intelligent leader he would eventually become.

Matt Reeves then stepped in to direct Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and the dynamic had shifted to something more uncertain, with apes being the dominant species. Caesar again evolved and wanted to prevent an all-out war to protect his people, but even so, the match that began the War for the Planet of the Apes was lit.

The third in the trilogy, in spite of it portraying the full-scale war between humans and apes, actually felt more personal to Caesar and more emotional. It was always about him, and War for the Planet of the Apes was better for continuing that, as opposed to showing the conflict on a grander scale. As far as satisfying conclusions go, they don't get much better than in Caesar's story.