The Detective movie is a sub-genre of suspense and mystery that has been woven into the cinematic landscape, throughout history. The most famous of these detectives, of course, is Sherlock Holmes. And yet even he hasn’t gotten a trilogy of modern day films just yet (as played by Robert Downey Jr, he’s had two movies, with talk of a third being rumored for about a decade now.)
As much as the genre has fallen off the radar and become more TV centric than cinematic (from older takes like Columbo and Monk to more modern takes like Natasha Lyone’s Poker Face,) there are three sets of detective movies that got all the way to a third film in the past two decades, flushing out a full trilogy for these eccentric characters. Granted, more often than not the third movie is forgettable, if even watchable at all, but the movies made it to a full trilogy none-the-less, which certainly says something about each series as a whole, in terms of popularity if nothing else.
These notable trilogies are Robert Langdon Trilogy (The Da Vinci Code and the movies that followed it,) the Hercule Poirot trilogy (Murder on the Orient Express and the movies that followed it,) and the Knives Out trilogy. That third one is the only one that used its title in all three movies, helping to give it name brand establishment. And that’s important. Sherlock Holmes movies always have Sherlock Holmes in the title. Yet, despite these trilogies, most people don’t know who Hercule Poirot or Robert Langdon are, and so the Detective’s name is often not quite enough.
Word has it that Rian Johnson, the man behind all three Knives Out movies (both as writer and director,) wanted to subtitle his movies A Benoit Blanc mystery instead of A Knives Out Mystery. But Netflix, who bought the series and payed the bills to get the later two movies made, vetoed that idea. They understood the importance of name brand recognition, and Knives Out, not Benoit Blanc, was the name.
But it didn’t start with Benoit Blanc. This modern craze actually started with the Da Vinci Code being the ultimate best seller, as a novel, that captured the public’s attention. It was only a matter of time before a movie was made, and the movie we got started America’s favorite leading man Tom Hanks. It was directed by Ron Howard. And it was okay. Nothing special. Kind of fun at times, but certainly not great.
What followed, however, was a sequel called Angels and Demons, and it was the best of the trilogy. This movie was set in Rome and really used the landscape and monuments to its advantage, taking us all over the city. Tons of piazzas and fountains and fantastic locations. And that was just the backdrop. The movie itself featured a thrilling mystery. It was pretty great.
The final film in the trilogy, the Inferno, was pretty lousy. Especially by comparison to the other two. It’s like they were just making it to fulfill a contract. But that’s something they can be said about all three of these detective franchises, with the last film always being the worst. In fact, it should be noted that the final film in any trilogy is usually the worst, from the Godfather Part 3 to the Return of the King. Only Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade goes against this pattern, but that movie had to make up for how “weird” the second movie was.
To get back to the other detective trilogies, the next one up is the series of Hercule Poirot movies. Unfortunately, the less said about this series the better. While Poirot might be the literary detective who kick-started the entire genre. In the Agatha Christie books, the movies were all pretty subpar. Starring Kenneth Branagh in the lead role, the most memorable thing about these movies has got to be his mustache. The first film in the series, Murder on the Orient Express, was the best, but then that one was far from great. Then Death on the Nile was released during Covid and fell out of existence way too quickly for anyone to take notice. The third film, a Haunting in Venice, may have gotten an even worse reception than that. Here’s a question… why put out a third film if there going to be terrible to no advertising for it, and if the public clearly isn’t interested?
A series that goes the opposite way as this is Knives Out. This one actually the capture the public’s attention and interest for pretty much all three films. Now that’s not to say that they were all great, but they certainly come close to that. In fact, only the third movie, Wake Up Dead Man, is a bit of a let down. The first two films, Knives Out and Glass Onion are both superb. One is a murder muster set in a mansion, the other on an island- hotel – spa. Both are filled with terrific characters and cast members. The third movie is fine, but it doesn’t quite measure up. And there you have it. Three detective trilogies from the past two and a half decades. Two of which were generally pretty good. Let’s hope this genre continues and we get the start of another detective trilogy sometime soon.