Ben Shapiro: The GREATEST Movie Franchise of ALL TIME 

Ben is the first man on earth to rap slower than he talks

Lord of the Rings was a massive risk. 3 movies greenlit at once to a small time horror director in a fantasy genre that wasn't at all popular at the time and Lord of the Rings was generally considered an unfilmable book.

This sounds radical to say, but the Extended Editions of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is, to me, the greatest achievement of art that mankind has ever put together. That sounds silly to say of a film series, but when one really ponders all of the various elements that went into creating The LOTR, and the quality of what we ultimately got, I just don't think it can be denied. From the Score, The Acting, The Props, The CG, The Cinematography, The Set Designs, The Artwork, The Poetry, The Script...it goes on and on, yet to be surpassed. And perhaps never will.

I have watched the extended LOTR movies 7 times now...not even kidding. EACH time i watch it cry. It never gets old, there's always something else to find while watching since Tolkien built a literal world, back story from beginning to end, mirroring the Gospel in a fantasy world. The writing the acting, the first ever movie to portray and internal struggle on the screen through gollum in such an artistic powerful way. The 3 movies are masterpieces and nothing will ever top it.

I love how Ben is just casually rating movies and pretending to all of us he didn’t just drop the biggest meme banger of the decade yesterday…

The LOTR movies feel like a miracle, they remain unbeaten in my eyes.

LOTR came out in this sweet spot in time where CGI was a good enhancement to scenes, but they couldn’t fully rely on it for entire sets so you get these epic, real world sets that are just incredible to behold.

That little scene of Frodo laughing cringe-ly that y'all edited in there CRACKED me up

There will be nothing like LOTR ever again. The best book series and world ever created, and the greatest film trilogy of all time. Cannot be topped.

Lord of the Rings proved it with ROTK alone having 11 academy awards.

Ben takes most of the franchises "as a whole," considering things like "Oh the first 3 were great, but everything after that was meh," but then he considered Star Wars based on just the parts he likes.

Ben playing off of his producers made this non-weekly show sooooo good. You guys should do this for all of Ben's weekend posts

The fact we did not get a reunion between Han, Luke, and Leia is criminal.

LOTR is damn near flawless. I’m glad Ben resisted his favorite franchise and acknowledged LOTR as the greatest of them all. It’s going to be a very long time before another franchise tops it.

Hahaha Frodo laughin while Ben was thinkin about the acting score was priceless

For me, that franchise I connect to was Back to the Future. The first one came out when I was 13, and to me, it was one of the best movies ever. The sequels, if you think of the movies as three related but separate character arcs were actually really well done. The first movie was really about George McFly getting a second chance to live the life he should have, and George McFly was in many ways the central figure of the series. Had George not transformed, there would have been no need for the second because in some ways it was Marty having to come to terms with his parents and siblings happiness and finding something beyond that drive to prove himself that animated him when his family was miserable since now they weren't. It was darker because Marty was a darker character than George. The third was Doc finding late in life the chance for love and relationship he had missed out on in life as he obsessively invented and didn't pursue relationships, not really the same kind of character evolution, but fun. To me this was a terrific series but Ben is a lot younger than me and may not have the same connection to these movies.

“My money Like Lizzo, my pockets are fat.” - Ben Shapiro 😂

One film franchise to rule them all ,one franchise to find them, one trilogy to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

This video would’ve changed so much if it had come out right after Dune: Part 2.

The planet of the apes (most recent) is great, I don't see it ever getting enough praise. I cried like a baby on the third movie ending.

You completely overlook Lethal Weapon and Die Hard in the action list and Ghostbusters and Back to the Future under SciFi

I would actually watch a full series of Ben just reviewing movies, he’s always so spot on with his criticisms and movies are fun to review. He just keeps expanding his career into more unknown territory.

Putting Bourne over James Bond as a franchise is insane

Agree with a lot of what he said, but how can you not like the original Blade runner, truly mesmerizing film.

Ben made good judgement with the films. LOTR has become a timeless, beautiful movie series. I have seen it when I was young and now with kids, they just love everything about this whole series.

There's anothe risk factor that should have been considered for LOTR and that was Peter Jackson was actually filming all 3 movies at the same time, so that would also qualify for a huge risk.

Blade Runner and Avatar make the bracket with 2 movies each, but Die Hard, Fast & Furious and Rambo left off?! Also no Horror division???

Back To The Future. Love all 3.

I know it probably wouldn't have made it to the final round but THE MATRIX should've been in the action category! They were definitely ahead of their time in CGI and had the x-factor in storytelling

I would argue that pirates of the Caribbean would have been more fitting in the action category over the fantasy category. Despite having lost of fantasy.

The casual dismissal of Mad Max hurts. Fury Road was amazing.

Very fairly assessed. I loved the reasoning through logic and emotion at the very end. Nice video!

Totally concur with Ben on killing Han Solo in the absolutely pointless and pathetic way they dreamed up. That was the last "Star Wars" movie I ever watched. unforgivable.

The fact that Fast and the Furious, The Matrix, Back to the Future, Die Hard, Rush Hour, and The Karate Kid weren't even considered when shows like Pirates of the Caribean were clearly shows that Ben needs to fire his producers. What a shambles.

It gets really awkward when you realize Mission is possibly the greatest movie franchise of all time...

Awesome. LOTR (especially extended editions) are my personal favorite.

Sergio Leones Dollars trilogy is my number 1. A Fist Full of Dollars For A Few Dollars More The Good The Bad and The Ugly. The scenery the acting and the music are absolute perfection.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Only thing is, just off the top of my head you missed one: “Back to the Future”. Part one was almost a perfect movie.

Rocky and Back to the Future are truly great franchises. I love the Rocky movies and they connect with me on a personal level. Truly motivating if you do any sports

That godfather music immediately sent nostalgic chills through me. Not necessarily from the movies, but the game on ps2. I played that game so many times growing up. I really want to play it again

No mention of the Back to the Future franchise is actually kinda surprising. Two amazing films and a third installment thats dosen't hold up to the other two but is still great by other movie standards. Plus unlike most of the other franchises it hasn't been marred by remakes or modern sequels

Lord of the Rings. The end.

How did we leave out "neverending story, hunger games, Divergent, Riddick, fast and furious, Transformers,?"

Nice to see you guys just having fun, Oh, by the way. I agree with your top 3

Ben, you HAVE to read the entirety of Lord of the Rings. It's one of the greatest novel ever written and it goes into so much more depth then the movies.

Lord of the rings hands down.

Thoughts on the Equalizer series? I’m really surprised that’s not up there

There are no other movies i could watch a 4 + hour extended version of all 3 movirs in a trilogy multiple times and love them each time so i have to go with LOTR.

Where is The Matrix series? It's probably the most influential sci-fi action flick in the last 25 years. Dune should have been left off. It's only one released film.

Ben gives credit to Batman begins for rejuvenating superhero movies. I think you have to give the first Toby McGuire Spider-Man some of the credit

I will say that right at the same time as Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, was Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy which also kinda had the same format of the first one being groundbreaking in quality, the second one upping the ante in every aspect, and then the third being a messy, clumsily thrown together masterpiece.

Back to the Future “Roll Credits!”

I really love the Planet of the Apes trilogy...it might be perfect in terms of each movie of the trilogy holding up. Also, the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy...is pretty close to perfect in terms of the entire series arc.

Separating Nolan's batman from all Batmans or DCEU gives it a big advantage over some of the others you didn't separate. Also Nolan's Batman doesn't exist without Raimi's Spider-Man being an absolute smash.

The sound design in The Dark Knight is amazing and Nolan uses practical effects, they actually blew up a hospital, flipped an 18 wheeler, filmed the plane sequence irl. For me it has to be a 5 for technical

Only ones you missed to my knowledge - Peter Pan 2004 film & the current stage production in England starring Boy George as Captain Hook!

I'm glad they gave the Jason Bourne trilogy the respect it deserves. Its not the best but its really good.

I love when Ben geeks out about movies, makes me feel more normal. lol. I don’t have many people in my life to get into movies so much to have personal opinions about them, so thanks Ben. You’re the MVP.

The first 3 Bourne movies are among the best action movies ever made. Each one on its own just incredible. The action scenes were amazing. The score was amazing. The chase scene (you know the one) is probably the best chase scene in cinematic history

The reason he doesn’t like the original James Bond movies is he didn’t watch them at drive in movie with his parents

Ben could easily make a separate channel and just do reviews and talk about movies and not be political and everyone would love it. He's good at this.

Every time I watch LOTR, I am moved. I love all the other final movies, but none move me like LOTR.

Umm... How was The Hunger Games not included? That's almost criminal.

I like Star Wars a lot, don’t get me wrong, but for me the best franchise is always going to be LOTR. It’s basically flawless from beginning to end. As for Batman, admittedly I’ve never seen it. However I’m a huge fan of the Tobey Maguire Spider man trilogy so I’d put that at number 3 (the MCUs Spider-Man trilogy, particularly No Way Home is probably just as good as the OG Spider-Man trilogy as well)

Ben seems happier lately which makes me happy

LOTR X factor was they filmed three films at once. I don’t think that was done before and Peter Jackson was rejected for taking that risk from certain movie studios.

Dude, Star Trek VI: Undiscovered Country is the best of the OG crew movies. Yes, I said it.

Saw original Star Wars with my cousins when it first came out. Very emotional and mind blowing!

The problem is a lot of franchises were once great until they were redone for “modern audiences”. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, it’s near impossible to find a franchise that hasn’t been tainted.

Ben confirmed for robot. Who the hell says LOTR as "El Oh Tee Arr?" "Lord of the Rings" has the exact same number of syllables

Now you’ve got to do military movies! 13 Hours, Saving Private Ryan, Fury, Hacksaw Ridge, Zero Dark Thirty, Platoon, etc.

The analysis really came down to "Best Trilogy of all time". Conveniently ignoring the franchise impacts such as Star Wars' prequels and Disney, Hobbit trilogy and amazon, reduce Batman down to Nolan even though there are many more films before and after. I think Back to the Future deserves to be on the list (instead of Dune's single film and an 80's cheesebox) and it deserves extra points for somehow avoiding crappy woke reboots, prequels or a tv spin-off.

How the heck do they not include back to the future? I understand it not getting to the final 3 or whatever, but not to be nominated? Cmon man

I haven't watched a Star Wars movie since they killed Han Solo. I was devastated. Having all the old characters in the new movie was the best part of it. I'll never get over that.

If you can consider it a franchise, you should add Spielberg's WWII movies and shows: Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Empire of the Sun, Band of Brothers, Flags of Our Fathers, Iwo Jima, The Pacific...

I think star trek's strength is its philosophy, especially with the later TV shows (90s) it's also just really nice to watch sci-fi about the future that's not incredibly depressing. Realism or not, it gives us something to work towards.

Completely agree. LotR stems from Tolkien’s nearly flawless writing, which was miraculously transformed into a nearly flawless set of films. They are truly unparalleled - the summit of cinema. That said, the Nolan Batman films are truly a work of art, and Star Wars is a wellspring of entertainment value. I grew up with all of them, and SW and Tolkien are by far my two favorite fictional franchises… well, barring Godzilla. But everyone has their own tastes!

No scene in Star Wars has ever made me feel the way the ride of the Rohirrim does

I can't decide on only one I'm going by categories lol Sci Fi: Star Wars Action: Mission Impossible, although 007 is my fav character and Casino Royale is the best Bond movie Fantasy: LOTR Adventure: The Dark Trilogy, M.C.U., First 2 JP movies and JW 1, First 3 Indy movies

Shout out to Ben for the props for Blade Runner 2049, I loved it. The only thing I didn't like, was the Wallace character. I was hoping he met his demise just like Eldon Tyrell in the first movie. I have heard that it was meant to be start a Replicant War, it certainly was set up toward the end like that but as it didn't perform at Box Office, much like Dredd, it's unlikely it'll see the light of day. That is unless someone takes it to a Streaming platform in the shape of a movie or Series.

I completely agree with the results, however...I would make an argument that Sam Raimi's Spider-Man is what really started the wave of Super Hero movies. It was a huuuge blockbuster and made them cool again. We wouldn't have the Nolan Batman films or the MCU without Spider-Man 2002.

The reason the Star Wars screwups hit us harder than other screwups is because with Star Wars it's being done intentionally.

I'm disappointed the Die Hard series did not make the list of Action movies.

X-Men gave a huge shot in the arm to the comic book genre

For me, the eight Harry Potter movies have provided more raw entertainment than any other franchise

Without watching - its lord of the rings and it isn't even close.

You incorrectly ranked them based on the brackets. Lotr and Batman met in the semifinals so lotr should’ve gone to the finals and won first. SW and Godfather would’ve also met in the semifinals and SW would’ve met lotr in the finals. Batman and Godfather would’ve met in consolations for 3rd and 4th. So based by the brackets shown it really should be: 1st Lotr 2nd SW 3rd Batman 4th Godfather. (I’ve clearly gone to too many wrestling tournaments)

What about the Dollars trilogy with Clint Eastwood? That was like the birth of the modern day action hero: morally gray handsome badass spouting one liners and kicking ass

I'm glad they're including the interactions with the producers. Good stuff.

"Every time they screw up Star Wars, I want to punch a wall!" So true, so true....

To not even mention the latest Apes trilogy is criminal. It’s phenomenal.

Amazing review 👏

I feel like Superman and Spider-Man are definitely the ones to thank for all of the modern comic films. Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man are Christopher Reeve’s Superman are so under appreciated nowadays.

Sean Connery James bond is absolutely the best James bond.

Missing from action category: Die Hard, Lethal Weapon Missing from Sci-Fi category: Back to the Future Missing Category: Horror (just for fun), Comedy (Naked Gun, Austin Powers, Home Alone... probably -as for horror - would not have generated the best all-time favourite franchise, but every body relies on comedy... all the award shows are always giving the award to a drama best movie or lead actor but expect the ceremony MC to be funny... comedy is always underrated)

I agree with this assessment! However, Back to the Future should have been included.

I would love to see Ben’s take on Studio Ghibli movies. But If I had to guess he has only seen spirited away and may not have cared for it and passed on the greats like princess Mononoke.

I love that The Godfather is so good they felt they had to include it and then basically just gave it a bye for the first round.

This is the first movie rating list I almost agree with👌

Wait, was that the Antiques Roadshow jingle? 12:06