Ranking the Star Wars Movies

[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.

 

[August_West]

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

I disagree that Portman was terrible.
I dont disagree with your other 2 takes

But I contend that it is better acting than we are getting now.

And better actors. (except Driver)

 

[Penfield]

I disagree that Portman was terrible.
I dont disagree with your other 2 takes

But I contend that it is better acting than we are getting now.

And better actors. (except Driver)

I really cant agree. There are performances in the Prequels that take away from the movies. The portrayal of the main character (both actors) is cringe worthy. It is impossible to take him seriously. There may not be any Oscar worthy performances from any of the other movies, but nothing even remotely as bad as Lloyd and Christensen. I honestly feel bad for those two. George cast very inexperienced actors and gave them nothing. Half the scenes the actors were not even on the same set. It was nearly an impossible feat to pull of a decent performance, which is why the only decent ones came from the most experienced veterans.

As an aside George would have been much better off focusing the prequel story on Obi-Wan instead of Anakin.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Phantom Menace can be skipped entirely except for the few brief scenes w/ Darth Maul. The rest of it is crap. My opinion of AOTC comes w/ the caveat that you have to skip all the romance scenes w/ Anakin and Padme, truly cringe worthy. The rest is somewhat interesting and compelling to me. ROTS is just so busy and so jam packed full of CGI it was utterly mind numbing to me. Then you had Anakin murdering a bunch of children (Jedi and Tusken), accidentally killing Padme and blaming it on Obi Wan, ridiculous Vader transformation, executive order 66 and all of the Jedi other than Yoda going down like a bunch of chumps, and probably more. There were a few good elements but a lot of crap in this one as well. AOTC appears to be a popular choice for worst of all of them but it's my favorite of the prequels (faint praise though).

I thought McGregor was good throughout the trilogy, probably the biggest bright spot. Most of the rest of the actors either performed poorly or weren't given much to work with.

 

[Kolumbo]

This is great. I am by no means an expert on the Star Wars series. I enjoyed the prequal trilogy, including the pod race. Just recently watched The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi and all I kept thinking to myself was, this scalitoing sucks. Reading these posts made me think that there is plenty of material for some MST 3000 footage. Got me to thinking, which had a better look, Crow T. Robot or Kylo Ren? I'll go with the Robot. Ren was completely, 100% awful.

Rey is the only new character I liked about the new sequals. Han is always entertaining.

 

[Penfield]

ROTS is just so busy and so jam packed full of CGI it was utterly mind numbing to me.

The entire opening 30+ min of ROTS while visually interesting was so completely unnecessary. The only purpose was to introduce the worst CGI characters in the history of Cinema - General Grievous. yes he is worse than Jar Jar.

 

[ZooCougar]

I really cant agree. There are performances in the Prequels that take away from the movies. The portrayal of the main character (both actors) is cringe worthy. It is impossible to take him seriously. There may not be any Oscar worthy performances from any of the other movies, but nothing even remotely as bad as Lloyd and Christensen. I honestly feel bad for those two. George cast very inexperienced actors and gave them nothing. Half the scenes the actors were not even on the same set. It was nearly an impossible feat to pull of a decent performance, which is why the only decent ones came from the most experienced veterans.

As an aside George would have been much better off focusing the prequel story on Obi-Wan instead of Anakin.

Nah, great idea. Terrible execution.

Darth Vader was the most compelling of all Star Wars characters telling his backstory and how the Empire came to be was attractive to most fans.

Instead we got a bunch of goofy kids movies with bad acting.

 

[Penfield]

Nah, great idea. Terrible execution.

Darth Vader was the most compelling of all Star Wars characters telling his backstory and how the Empire came to be was attractive to most fans.

Instead we got a bunch of goofy kids movies with bad acting.

I am fine w/ telling that story. I just think the main protagonist should have been Obi-Wan instead of Anakin.

Also the Separatists should have become the basis for the Rebellion in the end.

 

[B1GEast]

Why Lucas killed off Darth Maul is probably one dumbest movie descions ever made.

Maul was mysterious, scary and evil. Somebody should have tapped Lucas on the shoulder and said "Maybe we should keep this guy around for a couple of more movies"

Phantom was a terrible movie, all three prequals sucked.

The Force Awakens sucked

The Last Jedi was horrible

Rogue One was beautiful and fit in the mold of the original three.

I'll go see Solo, but I'm not going to expect much.

I thought that Disney would add value to the franchise, they've managed to take what should be a slam dunk into a circus. Shame, and I'm a big fan of JJ Abrams

 

[Rocktheworld]

Why Lucas killed off Darth Maul is probably one dumbest movie descions ever made.

Maul was mysterious, scary and evil. Somebody should have tapped Lucas on the shoulder and said "Maybe we should keep this guy around for a couple of more movies"

Phantom was a terrible movie, all three prequals sucked.

The Force Awakens sucked

The Last Jedi was horrible

Rogue One was beautiful and fit in the mold of the original three.

I'll go see Solo, but I'm not going to expect much.

I thought that Disney would add value to the franchise, they've managed to take what should be a slam dunk into a circus. Shame, and I'm a big fan of JJ Abrams

Don’t give them your money (although by now a good cut goes to the theatres)

 

[Penfield]

I'm a big fan of JJ Abrams

Why?

 

[tzznandrew]

Why Lucas killed off Darth Maul is probably one dumbest movie descions ever made.

Agreed that it was a bad idea. Villains need screen time, especially one as badass (in theory as Maul).

Spoiler: Solo Spoiler

But you're about to--sort of--get your wish, as Maul will be the antagonist in the background of any future Solo films.

 

[ZooCougar]

Why Lucas killed off Darth Maul is probably one dumbest movie descions ever made.

Maul was mysterious, scary and evil. Somebody should have tapped Lucas on the shoulder and said "Maybe we should keep this guy around for a couple of more movies"

Phantom was a terrible movie, all three prequals sucked.

The Force Awakens sucked

The Last Jedi was horrible

Rogue One was beautiful and fit in the mold of the original three.

I'll go see Solo, but I'm not going to expect much.

I thought that Disney would add value to the franchise, they've managed to take what should be a slam dunk into a circus. Shame, and I'm a big fan of JJ Abrams

Lucas hates the rule of cool.

 

[JMick]

Agreed that it was a bad idea. Villains need screen time, especially one as badass (in theory as Maul).

Spoiler: Solo Spoiler

But you're about to--sort of--get your wish, as Maul will be the antagonist in the background of any future Solo films.

Your spoiler makes me want to see Solo. How that's not part of the trailer is beyond me

 

[tzznandrew]

Your spoiler makes me want to see Solo. How that's not part of the trailer is beyond me

Spoiler

Because that character appears only at the very end and in a hologram. It's sort of the Emperor in Empire.

 

[ZooCougar]

Your spoiler makes me want to see Solo. How that's not part of the trailer is beyond me

Then that would give away the most redeeming aspect of the movie.