Rank the Star Wars Movies from best to worst!

This thread is set up to discuss and rank the comparative quality of each of the Star Wars movies. Also, on @ravagekitteh 's suggestion, hopefully this thread will be able to contain Episode vs Episode debates (alternatively they can often be described as the @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl vs. @NIGHTBRINGER Star Wars debates ). In any case, that is the attempt but I can offer no credible promises.


Without further ado, here is my "definitive" list:

BEST

1. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
2. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
3. Episode IV: A New Hope
4. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
   
5. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
6. Episode I: The Phantom Menace
7. Episode VII: The Force Awakens
   
8. Episode II: Attack of the Clones
   
9. Solo: A Star Wars Story
10. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

WORST

As of this moment, I have only seen The Last Jedi once so it could still conceivably swap places with The Force Awakens.

Spoiler: The ultimate Star Wars debating thread... what could possibly go wrong?

Also for the time being let's not try to spoil The Last Jedi in this thread. At least for a couple of more weeks, after which point I'd say it is fair game. I still plan to start a spoiler thread for a deeper analysis of The Last Jedi.

 

BEST
1. Episode I: The Phantom Menace
2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
3. Episode II: Attack of the Clones
4. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
5. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
6. Episode VII: The Force Awakens
7. Episode IV: A New Hope
8. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
9. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
WORST

Like @Aginor, I do like all Star Wars, contrary to anything @NIGHTBRINGER says about me, and although I list Empire as the worst, I don't really hate it or anything like that. The acting was OK and at least there were no Death Star remakes like there were in Episodes VI and VII, I just thought that there were a lot of plot holes and that they made Luke too flawed on the borders of being imbecilic. Oh, and also the Empire didn't really win much of a victory in the film because they wasted their time chasing the Milennium Falcon. So really it is less 'The Empire Strikes Back' and more 'The Empire military kills a few Rebels and captures another but otherwise fails miserably at its job'. I think it is much less dark than Revenge of the Sith, Rogue One or the Last Jedi, as the heroes all more or less survive (Han is captured but he is still alive) and the Rebels get away with not that many casualties while trashing quite a few of the supposedly indestructible AT-ATs, which is one of the several reasons why I give it the bottom spot, but at least the story is different, and I give it credit for that.

Force Awakens I put around in the middle, because although the effects are spectacular, the wheels came off of the story when it came to the very end, seemingly as J J Abrams ran out of original ideas, so I have mixed feelings about that one.

Rogue One as you all know I adore because of the believable characters and the really surprising ending of them all dying to get the Death Star plans away. They may not have got much screen time, but I thought the characters were all very detailed considering they only had one film to live through before being killed off so they wouldn't appear in IV.

The Last Jedi I certainly thought was very dark, and that's why I've given it a coveted spot alongside the prequels and Rogue One in my list, but it is lower down in that half of the listing because of one particular scene which stuck out a bit for being very silly, but it is just one scene in an otherwise very creative and well thought-out film. My faith in Rian Johnson has dramatically increased since I've seen it.

None of the Star Wars films are awful - I've seen films that truly deserve the position of being awful and they either have far worse plot holes than those in Empire, or effects that are 100 times worse than the Original Trilogy. Sometimes even both.

 

In the past week I re-watched Episode III. Although I like that movie (and place it as easily the best of the prequels), there are a few things I severely dislike about it. Anakin's dialogue/delivery is horrid and the same can be said for Padme. However, when you put the two of them together, it is absolutely cringe worthy. I literally want to claw my eyes out, until I realize that I'd still be able to hear their interaction. The problem is that their relationship is critical to the story, since after the passing of his mother, the potential loss of Padme/baby is the biggest driving force behind Anakin's actions. That means that the horrible Anakin-Padme interactions are vital to the story, but are so bone jarringly awful that it really takes away from the fall of Anakin. The only time Anakin (in regards to speaking sequences) doesn't bug me is during the opera scene, which I consider to be the best scene in the movie.

Some of the characters I really enjoy in the movie are Obi-Wan, Palpatine, Yoda and Mace. Unfortunately, Anakin is the key figure of the story and he simply misses the mark in my opinion. Vader was such a menacing and well done character and by extension many people were very excited by the prospect of exploring his fall to the dark side. Unfortunately the overly whiny Anakin did not sit well with a large proportion of the audience, so that aspect of the story under-delivered.

The Obi-Ani lightsaber fight at the end was very well done. My only wish would have been to rework the winning strike. The "I have the high ground" line/concept/execution felt a little off. That said, it is still a highly entertaining fight, one which I'd argue is only eclipsed by the Darth Maul fight (which also has a bit of a wonky ending) and the Vader Rogue One sequence (which is flawless).

I think Episode V quickly shifts the Empire-Rebel struggle into the backdrop. If you consider the movie from the perspective of individual personal gains/loses by the main characters it becomes much more meaningful. Luke's journey in particular is quite fascinating and he loses so much: the capture of Han, his failure in the cave, the loss of his hand, his failure in saving the day and of course the big one, the revelation of his father. As George Lucas has stated, Star Wars is a family soap opera set in the backdrop of space. If you view the movie through the lens of the Empire-Rebel dynamic then I fully see your criticisms. Despite it's name, Episode V is very much more about the individual struggles of our main characters.

As a bonus, Episode V brought us two of my favourite characters: Yoda and Lando!

 

Really nice job here gentlemen, lots of good discussion about your preferences. Though my first love is Star Trek, here are my Star Wars preferences:

1. Episode IV: A New Hope
2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
3. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
4. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
5. Episode I: The Phantom Menace
6. Episode VII: The Force Awakens
7. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
8. Episode II: Attack of the Clones
9. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith



Reasoning:

1. Episode IV: First one I saw as a kid, captured my imagination then and has held it ever since. The Death Star fight at the end was my favorite (forgetting the fact that the Death Star could have just blown up the planet first and then blew up the moon...)

2. Rogue One: First Star Wars movie since #1 to recapture the spirit of the original movie for me. "Surprise" ending (predictable, but new for the franchise), no love-struck romance to slow down the movie or devalue the female character too much, Donnie Yen's character, and a great nostalgia fest done in a new story package.

3. Episode VII: Yeah, basically New Hope, but I liked it as a kid. You could probably switch it with the next one due to the Ewoks.

4. Episode VI: Also thoroughly enjoyed (Cloud City!) but @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl I totally see the points you made.

5. Episode I: Darth Maul. Best light-saber fight ever, on par with Errol Flynn's duel with Basil Rathbone in Adventure of Robin Hood. Anakin was a bit young though... story suffered from too much going on and not really going anywhere. But Darth Maul was enough for me.

6. Episode VIII: It was ok (all the movies are worth the watch) but the nostalgia train can only go so far for me. Rogue One did it for me, Force Awakens was a bit much. Especially that scene where they displayed the holograms of the Death Star and the Starkiller Base next to each other (see guys, this enemy starbase is WAAAAY worse than that other one!!)

7. Episode IX: I was mostly disappointed with this one.

Spoiler: just in case

seemed like a combination of parts of EP 6 and 7. Luke didn't bother me too much surprisingly, it was mostly the poor use of Captain Phasma (again), along with Finn and his new friend. Porgs didn't bother me much either, thank goodness!

8. Episode II: Anakin Skywalker. The poor love story. Too much going on, and the CGI only looks worse with age.

9. Episode III: Anakin Skywalker. In my opinion it was a poor portrayal of what could have been a much more epic downfall of a great hero turned villian. Partially the actor's fault, mostly the writers. Cool battle scenes though, but the plot is what ruined it for me. AND Padme's death.

Spoiler: rant about padme's death

Episode III took what was a strong female character and had her die like a punk because she "lost the will to live" when her whiny husband beat her and abandoned her, instead of fighting for the survival of her kids. What about all that fancy medical equiment of the futuristic galaxy far far away?? They have no cure for loosing the will to live??? We got drugs for that in this century, they could have kept her alive in a coma for crying out loud.

What was the reason she died? It was part of the plot and the script said so.

It would have been a better story arc if she had been hurt so bad by an enraged Anakin-Vader that she had to make a choice at the birthing table: choose between life and loosing her children OR (heroically) sacrificing her own life to save her unborn children.

~end rant~

 

I'd find it hard, and this is by no means a definitive list for me, but off the top of my head I think I'd go something like this maybe:

1. Rogue One
2. The Last Jedi
3. Empire Strikes Back
4. A New Hope
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Force Awakens
7. Revenge of the Sith
8. The Phantom Menace
9. Attack of the Clones

If I were to include the TV shows I'd probably put them around three or four. My reasoning:

Rogue One: It's tough between this and The Last Jedi, but I think this one takes it due to the brilliance of seeing all this Easter Eggs. Is it normal to have a massive grin when Red Five gets shot down over Scarif? It doesn't help that my viewing experience for both were incredible.

Last Jedi: Definitely my favourite out of the main saga. There were loads of scenes that put a massive grin on my face, and it's hard not to feel an immense satisfaction from being able to watch something when you arrive to an early screening with cast and crew with 25 seconds to spare!

Empire Strikes Back: It's tough between all the Original Trilogy but I think this one takes it due to the brilliant battles and Yoda.

A New Hope: It's the classic, the one that started it all. It would be hard for me not to rank this one highly.

Return of the Jedi: Again, the Originals are hard to rank, but I think this one comes third not because of any shortcomings, but because the others have even more upsides.

Force Awakens: Great CGI, but ultimately pretty similar to A New Hope.

Revenge of the Sith: Great battles and exploration of the Clone Wars, but not so keen on the Anakin and Padmé scenes.

The Phantom Menace: Watched it again on May 4th while in hospital, and while it's definitely not the strongest it's not all that bad. I was laughing at Jar Jar and enjoying many scenes. Just view it from a less cynical viewpoint.

Attack of the Clones: Still had a few good moments, but ultimately they're outnumbered by all the other films upsides

If I were to include the TV shows, I think they'd rank pretty highly. The quality in them is definitely equal to the films, and I found I was more invested in their characters as the stories go on then many of the film's characters. Rebels is especially good for this.

Most of this is off the top of my head, and this is by no means definite, but these are my overall thoughts I think. I don't dislike any of the films, but there are just some I like more than others.

 

From what I have heard/read, the Superlaser on the first Death Star would take 24 hours to charge after unleashing a planet destroying blast. Not sure if that makes you feel better about it!

I'm not complaining that they didn't play out the romance angle, but I'm curious as to why you think it would have devalued the female character. In a "standard" story with a male protagonist, a supporting female character might be viewed as nothing more than a love intersest / plot device, however in Rogue One our protagonist was the female character. Since that is the case, wouldn't the love angle devalue the male (supporting) character? So the question is, why is it assumed that the female character is devalued and not the male character?

I know it has nothing to do with the topic at large, but I'm just curious!

Brilliant. I couldn't have said it better!

 

The only problem is that Vader is surprised to hear the circumstances of her death as told by Palpatine. So for him to have caused the injuries you are suggesting he would have had to have done so inadvertently. Obi Wan even checks on her prior to his battle with Anakin and doesn't seem that concerned with her status; from his reaction it appears that she is nothing more than unconscious.

 

It's interesting, but the only piece of evidence supporting your proposed theory are the words of Palpatine who we know to be an extremely deceitful character and a person who was manipulating Anakin throughout the prequels.

 

Good point...

However if the Death Star had just blown up the planet Yavin instead, their is a good chance the moons of the planet (including Yavin IV) would also be destroyed due to the sudden loss of the giant planet they were orbitting around, an/or flying debris from the planet's core.

But on the same token, the Death Star was using the planet of Yavin's gravity to rotate around the planet to get to Yavin IV in the first place, so the Death Star would have been in a tight spot once either the planet or a moon was suddenly gone, needing to be able to withstand the monstrous gravitational forces that would have been out of whack the second anything was destroyed...

So many potential problems when you start bringing gravity into the equation!

Forgetting the science, it was a great way to keep the audience in suspense having the death star ominously around the planet!



Also I realized another reason why I liked Star Wars: the location for the shooting of Yavin IV:

Spoiler: Yavin IV

Mayan Ruins of Tikal:



If I ever get some X-Wing fighters, you can bet I will be using some of my Lizardmen Jungle Terrain!

 

The same shitty person who eventually fell for this gem of a pick-up line:




Did we honestly expect any better from her?

 

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

 

I just noticed that @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl and I agreed on something!

















I attribute it to random mathematical chance .... either that or the world is about to come to an end.

 

That has to be the front runner. No good can come of this!