| Rise of Skywalker Spoilers |
Ranking Star Wars Movies
As a movie enthuisiast and former child, I really love the narrative of Star Wars. I remember watching the originals on VHS for the first time and just being captivated by the world. Lego space ships, Battlefront 2, lightsaber battles for hours in the backyard… the whole thing felt like it just blew out a wall in my mind’s imagination.
In studying movies, I often return to Star Wars as a baseline to engage in exploring the manner in which I’m judging movies and ranking them is thus a side effect. There is also just a lot of nostalgia in rewatching these movies.
1. Star Wars (A New Hope)
Controversial top pick for some compared to Empire, but this movie does so unbelievably much that goes under the radar today. To start, it sets up the entire universe: lightsabers, lightspeed, lasers, Vader, Storm Troopers, the Death Star, the Force, droids, the rebellion… along with an amazing coming of age story. The characters are phenomenal: a bad ass princess, a dirt farmer turned ace pilot, a selfish space cowboy come hero, a wise mentor figure who sacrifices it all, stand out support roles in R2 and Chewy - all with their own personalities and arcs.
2. Empire Strikes Back
Probably the best sequel of all time, mainly because of how it adds to the world we just discovered and expounds on our characters. We know their traits, now they are faced with real conflict and a plot twist to end all plot twists. The hoth battle cranked up the laser blasting Death Star escape of A New Hope to 10, learning alongside Luke felt like discovering a meaningful way of life, the Leia-Han banter is comedic genius, and the ending could leave a goldfish wondering what will happen next.
3. Return of the Jedi
Defintely my childhood favorite for the happy ending, looking back it is a conclusion, just maybe not the perfect one relative to the standard set up in the previous masterpieces. The characters we know and love still carry this one, and there are some memorable scenes like the escape from Jabba’s ship and the final duel in front of the Emperor. I like the idea of the simple natured Ewoks defeating the technological might of the Empire, but man could they do it faster? Seriously, there are some major pacing issues to go with awkward incest, rage from a Jedi, and Death Star round 2: Easy Target. The ominous Emperor’s ship was the perfect final obstacle for the rebels yet Lucas opted for rehashing the Death Star. And it is rebuilt so quickly, which I think takes away from what made the Death Star special to begin with.
4. Revenge of the Sith
Even if you hate the prequels, at the very least appreciate how much ground this movie had to cover… and does. It is the bridge between an angsty Anakin, the republic being whole, the droids existence, Dooku, the Clone Wars, - and the Emperor, evil Storm Troopers, the birth of Luke and Leia, the creation of the mechanical Darth Vader. While a bit overdone in certain areas cough Mustafar fight cough, the CGI finally looks better (Corasant opening), the glimpses of the Clone Wars are awesome, the Jedi betryal is dark, and Ewan McGregor puts on a performance for the ages.
4.5 Rogue One
Gritty, boots on the ground, this is an action adventure that feels like being in the midst of a galactic war. Boundaries are crossed, nothing is black and white, plus the characters, dialog, and story all feel very real and true to the Star War universe. I absolutely love the new worlds, especially Scariff’s b-e-a-u-tiful beach scenes. The characters have their own motivations which are portrayed through their actions, they have arcs, and they all sacrifice themselves for a cause they believe in. I’m grateful they didn’t force a romance in, overblow the fan service, and had the cahones to kill off everyone (please don’t revive them). The tweaks I would make would mostly be made on the cutting floor, some early sets could flow better and the minor characters could use a pinch more development.
5. Phantom Menace
Looking back I really respect this movie from a story telling perspetive. In spite of the poor execution, it really does augment the originals with an incredible back story and illustrate a few of the imaginative Star Wars worlds. While not cinemagraphic masterclasses, Pod Racing is awesome and the final fight is arguably the best in series. The biggest problem in my eyes is that Star Wars was a story about looking up to adults, not being childish. The originals made me want to be more mature, to think about what I could become, while Jar Jar is over here making potty jokes.
6. Force Awakens
Uhhhh, I had such high hopes for this movie and it just copies the originals too damn much. The nail in the coffin for me is the Death Star 3.0. Its not kicking a dead horse, its digging it up and then kicking its skeleton. There is no meat left. There was every oppurtunity in the world to try a new overarching dynamic, maybe a small group of Sith rise up and reek havoc while recruiting power hungry followers left and right. But we’ve done the “two sith and evil empire against rebel alliance” narrative already, those dynamics belong to the originals. Furthermore, I’m just left here scratching my head wondering how in the world a brand new Empire just pops up with virtually no backstory. Return of the Jedi may as well never have happened.
6.5 Solo
Honestly, Solo is a great movie in its own right, I think it just seems very “pretty much exactly what I expected” which is ironic for a movie about trust and breaking trust. The film looks great aside from some washed out brown scenes, has great costumes and sets, and has pretty good characters. The acting stands up to what I would imagine in a young Han and Lando, the plot and villian are passable, I just don’t think there was anything that made me want to watch it again. I guess its a bit like watching a good football game when you already know what the outcome is. Its entertainment for sure, but eh, I know what’s going to happen.
7. Attack of the Clones
Parts of Attack of the Clones are awesome: the high risk chase on Corosant, the final battle on Genosis, but the dialog and everything else in between just stalls. This movie should be the tales of Anakin and Obi Wan becoming brothers, fighting alongside each other and legions of storm troopers in breathtaking battles whilst hiding a secret romance with Padme. But alas, we get to follow two entirely separate storylines with a very perturbed Anakin, and all of a passing glance on the immense Clone Wars. The CGI at times even goes backward compared to Phantom, but perhaps a future remaster could fix this.
8. Rise of Skywalker
I do think context is relevant in placing these movies. Rise of Skywalker, like Revenge of the Sith, needed to conclude the wreckage of Last Jedi. This movie is a ton of error correction, fan service, and lazily sowing up loose ends at a lightning pace that it lands in the realm of ehhhhh. I like Rey and Kylo’s story arcs with the twists and turns, and the clean up of Last Jedi problems to a degree. Its been obvious there was no roadmap for the sequel trilogy but I love the moral of an evil lineage doesn’t dictate your future. The big downside I see is how extravagant the sets have become, the original/prequel trilogies felt so much more grounded verus Palpatine’s secret fully stocked fleet, Death Star rivaling lightning, and Game of Throne’s chair. Also, Palpatine being alive??? More Snokes as a failed clone experiment would of been so slick…
9. Last Jedi
Despite the incredible acting and cinematography, this movie really shows Disney doesn’t have a drawn out plan for this trilogy. Luke isn’t even remotely the same person, the plot is non-sensical, the character interactions are confusing cough Holdo cough, and the story telling just doesn’t build properly. The climax is Rey and Kylo finally meeting in person and teaming up for all of one scene, but then there is Hoth 2: Stupid Decisions. The film just feels like there are several agendas behind it disrupting any sort of reasonable flow (useless paid PETA anecdote in Vegas anyone?). 2/3 of the way through the trilogy and our main characters haven’t even met yet? Disney, come on, who is storyboarding your multi-billion dollar purchase here?
Shout Out
Huge shout out to the Star Wars Trilogy for creating 4k remasters of the original negatives. I can’t thank the awesome guys working on this enough for providing the original films I grew up with in digital-noise-reduced, color-corrected perfection. Definitely worth a donation.