The Challenge: Top 5 Fourth Installments in a Franchise

Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic

‘The Challenge’ is a series where Greg Ehrhardt, editor and columnist for the blog, challenges film critic Ken Jones on his cinematic knowledge to better inform readers about the deep catalog of movies we can enjoy today.

In light of ‘Expendables 4’ releasing in theaters this week, the challenge to Ken was coming up with the top 5 fourth installments of a franchise in cinema history!

Read Ken’s answer below and tell us on Twitter (@onscreenblog) how well you think he did.

5. Rocky IV (1985)

This movie could just as easily be #1 as #5 on this list. After all, it helped end the Cold War.

Ok, maybe not, but it’s fun to say that it did.

Honestly, this might actually be my favorite Rocky movie. Drago is a great villain who kills Creed in the ring (“THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN EXHIBITION!”) and seems unbeatable (“YOU CAN’T WIN, ROCKY!”). Rocky agrees to fight Drago in Moscow on Christmas Day, with Apollo’s trainer in his corner. The Rocky training montage in the snowy mountains perfectly contrasts with Drago’s scientifically enhanced training.

And the movie is eminently quotable. The only reason it’s #5 for me is that it’s slight compared to the rest of the movies listed here. It’s barely an hour and a half, and that’s with the padded-out montages. But I still love Rocky IV.

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Alfonso Cuaron’s Prisoner of Azkaban moved the Potter franchise away from the childish Chris Columbus movies, but it was Mike Newell’s Goblet of Fire that moved the franchise to darker territory and set the tone and tenor for the films that would follow.

That is due in no small part to the introduction of Ralph Fiennes as a returning flesh and blood Voldemort at the end of this film. Harry witnessing Cedric Diggory’s murder is also part of this significant turning point in the series. We also get a great Brenden Gleeson performance as Mad-Eye Moody.

3. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Mission: Impossible started strong, hit a major bump with the first sequel, and then managed to find its footing again with Mission: Impossible III, but Ghost Protocol is where the franchise found its stride, and it’s been cranking out banger after banger after banger ever since.

This was Brad Bird’s live-action directorial debut, and he made the franchise look cool and slick again. Alongside Tom Cruise and a returning Simon Pegg, new cast members Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton join the IMF crew.

I still think the initial plan was for Renner to replace Cruise in the franchise eventually, but Cruise had other plans. I still get sweaty palms thinking about seeing the Burj Khalifa scene on an IMAX screen.

2. John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Sorry, no recency bias here. John Wick: Chapter 4 is absolutely deserving of this high rank.

Whether this is the final chapter in the story of the Baba Yaga remains to be seen, but what an action-packed thrill ride. Director Chad Stahelski blew this one out to an almost absurd 170 minutes, nearly 3 hours, and made sure to use every single one of those minutes to deliver action goodness to the masses.

Chapter 4 delivers so many memorable and varied action set pieces: The raid of the Osaka Continental, the nightclub fight, the Arc de Triomphe sequence, the fight in a house where the camera floats in a God’s-eye-view above the action like a video game, and then the iconic sequence on the Montmartre stairs leading to Sacré Coeur.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Ultimately, there was only one movie that was the obvious choice to be at the top of this list for me: George Miller’s 2015 return to the Mad Max post-apocalyptic universe. This absolutely bonkers action movie straps you in for a ride from the beginning and never lets up until the credits role. Propulsive, frenetic, and unrelenting, Fury Road was a film with many practical effects and was a grueling desert shoot, which pays off. A post-apocalyptic landscape has never looked more amazing on screen.

Tom Hardy took over Max's role, but Charlize Theron ultimately owns the movie; her Furiosa deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ellen Ripley and The Bride for iconic female action characters.

If you watch this movie and don’t find yourself nodding in agreement with Nicholas Hoult yelling, “What a day! What a lovely day!” then you might be dead inside. Also, this movie gave us Doof Warrior, a crazed man harnessed to the top of a giant truck playing a massive guitar that shoots fire out of its head! Witness!

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