Ranking the Star Wars Movies

[JMick]

Agreed. The worst part of the prequels was the directing, which manifested with poor performances from good actors. But the writing was still mostly solid stuff.

The Disney movies' writing just plain blows, with the exception of a Force Awakens because A Force Awakens was copied verbatim from A New Hope.

The writing for the prequels was terrible. That's why you got bad performances from good actors. No amount of directors prowess could save those scripts.

 

[Scalito]

The writing for the prequels was terrible. That's why you got bad performances from good actors. No amount of directors prowess could save those scripts.

The stories told were just fine even if they could have been improved on. There were no meaningless subplots like in The Last Jedi, where a previously important character aimlessly runs around a space casino with a chunky little Asian chick for no reason. And the timelines make basic sense; we don't watch Anakin go through his training in the same amount of time it takes for a parallel battle sequence to unfold.

No, the problem wasn't the writing. It was the fact that Lucas took it upon himself to direct after not directing a thing for twenty years. He made Euan McGregor and Liam Niesen, both great actors, look like highschool drama group members.

 

[tzznandrew]

Pretty hard to defend placing the Force Awakens above any of the originals because there was nothing, and I mean nothing, original about it. It was a carbon copy of A New Hope. Yes, it is the best of the Disney movies, but only because it was basically the original with new actors.

I don't think Jedi is very good. It has nostalgia appeal, but the ewoks are pretty bad.

I think TFA is better, and less beat by beat, than it gets credit for. It's eminently rewatchable. I also liked Rogue One.

 

[tzznandrew]

The stories told were just fine even if they could have been improved on.

I think the stories themselves were fine on the macro level (though who would ever care about the Trade Federation, etc.). The writing was brutal on the micro level. No one could pull of the lines that Lucas asked McGregor/Nieson/Portman read.

That said, the directing was also trash, which contributed to the deadening effect of watching the films.

 

[Penfield]

The stories told were just fine even if they could have been improved on.

The prequel plot lines were idiotic, especially Attack of the Clones.

C-3PO was created by baby Darth Vader. WTH?

People are mad that Snoke died in TLJ, well the bad guys in the prequels were Darth Maul (criminally underused) and Count Dooku (combined 15 minutes of screen time between the 2 movies he was in).

 

[Scalito]

The prequel plot lines were idiotic, especially Attack of the Clones.

C-3PO was created by baby Darth Vader. WTH?

People are mad that Snoke died in TLJ, well the bad guys in the prequels were Darth Maul (criminally underused) and Count Dooku (combined 15 minutes of screen time between the 2 movies he was in).

I couldn't care less about Snoke's untimely demise. That was actually a plus in my mind because it was surprising and helped develop the Kylo Ren character in a non-whiny manner.

P.s. Give me Darth Maul or Dooku over Hipster Ren any day. At least those two convinced me they have balls.

 

[Penfield]

I couldn't care less about Snoke's untimely demise. That was actually a plus in my mind because it was surprising and helped develop the Kylo Ren character in a non-whiny manner.

P.s. Give me Darth Maul or Dooku over Hipster Ren any day. At least those two convinced me they have balls.

Maul was better than Ren, but it's because there was nothing to complain about really. he was just a cool looking dude who did back flips. No character beyond that.

Dooku was the blandest sci-fi villain ever.

 

[tzznandrew]

Maul was better than Ren, but it's because there was nothing to complain about really. he was just a cool looking dude who did back flips. No character beyond that.

Dooku was the blandest sci-fi villain ever.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Well, I mean, we'll see if that continues to hold up.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I can't agree w/ the writing for the prequel trilogy was fine. The entire point of the trilogy was seeing Anakin's transformation into Vader. That aspect of the films was bungled horribly. Lucas had more than 20 years between the release of the original film and Phantom Menace, and that's all he managed to come up with? It was pathetic. Although the Frankenstein rip off, Vader rising for the first time saying "Noooooooooooooo!" was unintentionally hilarious. I don't think Lucas was trying for comedy though.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Solo is going to gross $300 million plus, so it won't exactly suck at the box office. It will be weak by Star Wars standards, but still a solid number in its own right.

I will try to see Solo in the next week to see how bad it really is. The reviews have been fairly kind to it. I think the hostility may just be nerds run amuck.

lol it cost 250 million to make. Made 143 in opening weekend (which was a holiday weekend)

Will need home release and probably some other gimmick to turn a real profit. Atrocious for anything related to Star Wars.

Go figure Subbabum put it in his top 3

 

[SubbaBub]

All Star Wars writing is bad writing. That is canon from the very beginning. Everyone knows this and has repeated as much in any series retrospective.

In 1977 it was new. New special effects. Iconic character archetypes and the best villian in film history presented in a kurosawa samurai/spaghetti western in space, with laser swords.

In 1979 it was knew that the villan actually won.

Hasn't been new since and every attempt at new was either poorly executed or derivative of past SW films.

TLJ, RO and Solo come closest to new. That is why they are the best of the non original trilogy.

Do you people even Star Wars?

 

[Rocktheworld]

lol it cost 250 million to make. Made 143 in opening weekend (which was a holiday weekend)

Will need home release and probably some other gimmick to turn a real profit. Atrocious for anything related to Star Wars.

Go figure Subbabum put it in his top 3

You know what I didn’t even factor marketing in to that 250 million cost. It needed 250 its first weekend to tread water. It doesn’t sound so bad in other media because Disney owns how many publications?

Will probably have to make 400 to break even

Third best Star Wats ever won’t even cover its own costs lol

Edit the best thing to come of this is that pissed off nerds on the internet are calling it “Soylo”

 

[nelsonmuntz]

In reading this thread, the Star Trek franchise was definitely better.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I can't agree w/ the writing for the prequel trilogy was fine. The entire point of the trilogy was seeing Anakin's transformation into Vader. That aspect of the films was bungled horribly. Lucas had more than 20 years between the release of the original film and Phantom Menace, and that's all he managed to come up with? It was pathetic. Although the Frankenstein rip off, Vader rising for the first time saying "Noooooooooooooo!" was unintentionally hilarious. I don't think Lucas was trying for comedy though.

The biggest problem with the prequels is that the key storyline around the emergence of Darth Vader, and the Empire, should have been a better story than the one told in Episodes 4-6. And they completely bungled it. The whole pod race, and time spent of that stupid planet was wasted. Then they skip almost all the important parts and focus on his teenage love interest in a much older woman who is out of his league. Even the clone wars is a great, core story line and is just barely touched upon. Just awful.

I would list them

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

I've not yet seen Solo. It's almost impossible that it could be worse than Phantom Menace.

 

[Excalibur]

I don't think Jedi is very good. It has nostalgia appeal, but the ewoks are pretty bad.

I think TFA is better, and less beat by beat, than it gets credit for. It's eminently rewatchable. I also liked Rogue One.

TFA gets worse with every re-watch with me -- really crappy writing and I'm still struggling with how the First Order managed to build something so dominant coming out of the destruction of the second Death Star and the annihilation of the Empire's entire fleet. The scenes with Luke with the Emporer and Vader on Endor and the Death Star save Jedi and move it ahead of TFA, despite all of the cheesy stuff with the Ewoks and even the Scenes from Jabba's palace.

My list

1) Empire
2) Star Wars (I'm not calling it "A new Hope")
3) Rogue One
4) Return of the Jedi
5) The Force Awakens
6) The last Jedi

big gap

7) Revenge of the Sith -- best of the prequels, but still bad
8) Phantom Menace -- much truer to the originals than the next two prequels, despite the pod race and Jar Jar stuff.

bigger gap

9) Attack of the Clones -- one of the worst movies ever made. It was "Jaws -- The Revenge" bad. Horribly acted with cheesy lines (bad combination). Christensen was far worse in this one than he was in Episode III, and he was horrible in that. There were people cracking up in the theater during his "nightmare" scene. Even the battle scenes at the end can't save it.

 

[Penfield]

TFA gets worse with every re-watch with me -- really crappy writing and I'm still struggling with how the First Order managed to build something so dominant coming out of the destruction of the second Death Star and the annihilation of the Empire's entire fleet.

IMO most of the issues people have w/ TLJ (not the Casino part that is all on Johnson) stem from how poorly JJ constructed the new conflict and the decision to leave Luke out of the first film. His desire to include stupid mystery boxes tied Johnson's hands considerably.

I enjoy the characters he created, and I thought Han was was good. Other than that he really botched the start of the new trilogy.

 

[Excalibur]

IMO most of the issues people have w/ TLJ (not the Casino part that is all on Johnson) stem from how poorly JJ constructed the new conflict and the decision to leave Luke out of the first film. His desire to include stupid mystery boxes tied Johnson's hands considerably.

I enjoy the characters he created, and I thought Han was was good. Other than that he really botched the start of the new trilogy.

JJ did a great job with the look and feel of TFA, and a lousy job with everything else . . .

 

[JMick]

TFA gets worse with every re-watch with me -- really crappy writing and I'm still struggling with how the First Order managed to build something so dominant coming out of the destruction of the second Death Star and the annihilation of the Empire's entire fleet. The scenes with Luke with the Emporer and Vader on Endor and the Death Star save Jedi and move it ahead of TFA, despite all of the cheesy stuff with the Ewoks and even the Scenes from Jabba's palace.

My list

1) Empire
2) Star Wars (I'm not calling it "A new Hope")
3) Rogue One
4) Return of the Jedi
5) The Force Awakens
6) The last Jedi

big gap

7) Revenge of the Sith -- best of the prequels, but still bad
8) Phantom Menace -- much truer to the originals than the next two prequels, despite the pod race and Jar Jar stuff.

bigger gap

9) Attack of the Clones -- one of the worst movies ever made. It was "Jaws -- The Revenge" bad. Horribly acted with cheesy lines (bad combination). Christensen was far worse in this one than he was in Episode III, and he was horrible in that. There were people cracking up in the theater during his "nightmare" scene. Even the battle scenes at the end can't save it.

Thank you. Attack of the Clones is one of the worst movies ive ever seen. The only one worse worth mentioning is the Batman & Robin movie with Mr Freeze

 

[tzznandrew]

Thank you. Attack of the Clones is one of the worst movies ive ever seen. The only one worse worth mentioning is the Batman & Robin movie with Mr Freeze

You can't even hatewatch Batman & Robin. And I love hatewatching movies.

 

[JMick]

You can't even hatewatch Batman & Robin. And I love hatewatching movies.

That and The Astronaut Farmer are the two worst movies I've ever seen. The Astronaut Farmer has the biggest jumping the shark moment of any movie I've ever watched.

 

[August_West]

Thank you. Attack of the Clones is one of the worst movies ive ever seen. The only one worse worth mentioning is the Batman & Robin movie with Mr Freeze

AOTC > TFA >LAST JEDI> ROGUE CRAPFEST

havent (and refuse) to see Solo so I cant rate that.

 

[Penfield]

AOTC > TFA >LAST JEDI> ROGUE CRAPFEST

havent (and refuse) to see Solo so I cant rate that.

This is a stupid hill to die on.

 

[August_West]

This is a stupid hill to die on.

I don't care. I really feel that way. I can die on it. I never cared about not being against the grain before. I personally enjoyed the prequels (flaws and all) way more than this series. I would love to enjoy this series more than I do. I just dont. Could be my age.

better actors too. Much better. Portman, Neeson, MacGregor better.

Adam Driver I like. He's just given a terrible character to play. The rest of them? pfffft.

 

[Penfield]

better actors too. Much better. Portman, Neeson, MacGregor better.

Portman was terrible.
Neeson mailed it in
MacGregor didn't find his footing until Sith

There were 2 decent performances in the whole trilogy -
Christopher Lee as Dooku (did a lot with very little)
and Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine - until he got electrofried of course.

 

[Excalibur]

I don't care. I really feel that way. I can die on it. I never cared about not being against the grain before. I personally enjoyed the prequels (flaws and all) way more than this series. I would love to enjoy this series more than I do. I just dont. Could be my age.

It's your age. TLJ was basically a middle finger to any Star Wars fan over 45.