Welcome back everyone! I hope you are all doing well and staying safe during these trying times. I wanted to take this week to rank all of the Star Wars movies from worst-to-best. For this list I will be including every film from the Skywalker saga, but I will also be including the two standalone films (Solo: A Star Wars Story and Rogue One). I will NOT be considering the animated films, or holiday specials for this ranking just so you are all aware. With that all being said, let the “wars” begin!
#11 – Solo: A Star Wars Story
Oof…I know this is going to be disagreed with for sure, but I really did not like this film much. It’s not a terrible movie; however, it isn’t a good Star Wars movie. Disney really took a chance on a film like this, but with the Star Wars brand under their ownership you just knew they were going to create every spin-off possible to squeeze all of the revenue they could out of the brand.
Alden Ehrenreich obviously had big shoes to fill with taking on the Han Solo character, and I actually believe they did make a good choice with this casting. He is a great actor and at least has the look that they were looking for. However, I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I was just never sold on him as Han Solo at any point in the movie. There were too many times during my viewings when I just didn’t feel connected to what was happening in the story, or with the characters unfortunately.
I felt like this movie really lacked creativity, and didn’t take many chances with the story. This film could’ve went in a variety of directions to build the characters to setup who they end up being in future movies. Han is a young mouthy scoundrel throughout the entire movie, so that part adds up. However, I don’t feel like there was enough emphasis on building him as a smuggler, and ace pilot. The movie focuses on trying to establish him as a wiseass ladies’ man so much that it just felt like I was watching someone trying to be Han Solo, if that makes sense? It just felt too forced for me.
Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, is another example of this for me. I actually enjoyed Glover’s portrayal of Lando more than I did of Ehrenreich’s portrayal of Han. I thought the young Lando worked better, but it still wasn’t quite as crisp as I would’ve wanted. There was never going to be a perfect movie to begin with because of the massive feat that this movie tried to tackle. I just wasn’t excited at all whenever I heard that a young Solo movie was going to be released. This movie is loved by a lot of Star Wars fans, so I know I’m sort of on an island with this opinion.
Something that did work for me was Chewbacca’s introduction into the film. I liked that he was a chained up “beast” that was being used to maim or kill those that were thrown into his pit. It sets up Chewbacca being dangerous really well while also creating an unlikely bond between him and Han. I could’ve done without Han speaking Wookie with him because it just felt a little cheesy to me, but it does setup the notion that Han can actually understand him in the future installments. In the original trilogy, Han was the only one that really understood Chewie for most of it, so I thought they did a nice job at creating their friendship in this one.
What I liked the most about this movie was the inclusion of Darth Maul at the end. Unfortunately, he only briefly appears in the film, but it does hint that he could come back in future live-action Star Wars movies! Maybe we could finally get a live-action movie that shows him after the battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn during The Phantom Menace.
The part of this movie that I will never forgive though was the scene where Han gets his name. Why did we need this scene at all? I would’ve rather had just believed that Solo was a family name, and that he had lost all of his connections with his lineage or that they had died. I don’t know, something like that. Just anything besides what we got. The scene still makes me cringe every time I watch it, and it’s probably one of the biggest reasons I hate this movie as a part of the Star Wars canon. I’ll leave a link to that scene here, if you haven’t seen it yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6VXLoK0BJo
#10 – Episode I: The Phantom Menace
The Phantom Menace came out 22 years after the debut of the Star Wars franchise, and the movie had a lot of hype to live up to leading up to its release. Now, I’m here to say that I don’t think very many films could have survived with the kind of build-up that Episode I had prior to its debut. However, I definitely believe this movie could have been a little better still. Creator and Director George Lucas introduced some new concepts with this film (midichlorian count, podracing, “The Chosen One” prophecy, etc.), so you have to give him credit for at least taking some chances.
Ughhh and then there is this guy! ^^ Mesa thinks this was a big doo doo. Now, but seriously; Jar Jar Binks has to be one of the worst characters ever created in film. Certainly, the worst Star Wars character and I would gladly defend that stance against anyone. How could a film that introduced one of the worst characters (Jar Jar), then also welcome the Star Wars community to one of its best with Darth Maul?! It’s amazing that Maul went on to be one of, if not, the most notable character from the prequels while Jar Jar remains to be one of the most hated. However, that is the beautiful and horrific mind of George Lucas.
Looking at the film itself, Episode I is rather boring…dare I say. There is a huge chunk of time spent dedicated just to intergalactic trade talk negotiations. That’s right…trade negotiations, in a Star Wars movie. Not that every moment has to be filled with action, or amazing force inspired moments, but this was a terrible decision. The slow pace of this movie, where it felt like nothing was really happening, really made the film drag on at times.
For the sake of keeping this moving, let’s move ahead to the climatic portions of the film. In the third act, we see the great warrior Jar Jar Binks take on the massively terrifying droid army…Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi are met by the dangerous Sith Lord, Darth Maul. Chances are if you have clicked on this post, then you have seen the film, so I won’t spend time recapping the intense battle. However, this is an important moment in the franchise’s history.
Master Qui-Gon is slain right in front of his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the battle that ensues between his slayer and apprentice is one to remember. John Williams created a masterpiece with “Duel of the Fates” making its debut, and since then has become one of the greatest musical additions in any film. The music has always been superb in setting the tones throughout the entire franchise, but perhaps Williams’s best piece comes in one of the lesser films in the Skywalker saga.
Back to the climatic finale though. We did not have as much of an emotional build-up leading to the death of Qui-Gon; however, you still feel the raw heartbreak in Ewan McGregor’s reaction. Ewan is an amazing actor throughout the entirety of his films, and I am certainly looking forward to the Kenobi series set to begin its filming next year.
The fight between the young Obi-Wan and Maul was terrific in storytelling purposes. As you probably know, Jedi are not to show anger as it could lead to the dark side. Although, Obi-Wan displays a side of hatred towards Maul as he is on the offensive for most of their duel. Balance is brought into the encounter whenever Maul overpowers Obi-Wan and knocks his lightsaber down the chute before kicking him down the same hole. Obi-Wan is barely clinging on for his life whenever Maul begins to taunt him by hitting his saber against the ground just above Obi-Wan’s face.
The force would prevail though as Obi-Wan uses his connection to the force to leap from the chute while pulling his fallen master’s saber towards him to unleash a striking blow to Maul. The sight of Maul’s severed body and shocked face as he falls into the darkness left me in awe of what I had just witnessed. I can still remember sitting in the theater as the credits rolled (eating most of a large popcorn by myself) just waiting for more.
In conclusion, I believe they could have done a lot more setting up of the universe to tease future events in the Star Wars series. For example, how great would it have been to actually some scene with Darth Plagueis? Perhaps scenes could’ve been in this film that would’ve shown Count Dooku leaving the Jedi Order? Those are just a couple of ideas, but I just felt like this movie didn’t do as good of a job setting up the storylines of future installments. There was a lot of wasted time spent on discussing the politics of the universe, and introducing us to Jar-Jar.
#9 – Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
The Disney era of Star Wars films can be defined by one word: daring. These movies took a ton of risks, but none took more than The Last Jedi did. First, Luke has given up on the force at the start of this movie. We end up uncovering more about his reasonings for this; however, I didn’t like what they did with his character in this movie. Even Mark Hamill has been outspoken against director Rian Johnson’s creative decisions of Luke Skywalker. You can check that out for yourself here.
Another risk that was taken here was the introduction of a new force power…flying?! Let me say that again, flying. Leia is standing in a command dock of a ship whenever it is blown to pieces by the First Order. Just cheating death by surviving the explosion itself wasn’t enough though, no no no. Leia spends moments floating around in space before we get a close-up of her eyes shooting open and she then lifts her hand up before flying over to the nearest Resistance ship.
Now I’ve heard arguments in defense of this moment that mentions she was using the force to pull her to the ship, as opposed to flying. However, this goes against how force pulling has been used previously in the series. Either way (pulling or flying), I feel like I shouldn’t have been laughing at this scene, but I remember laughing pretty hard whenever this happened in the theater. I wasn’t the only one either. I saw the movie on the night it premiered for the public, and this moment wasn’t accepted the way it was intended to I’m sure.
I haven’t gotten to the two huge ones yet either. Did anyone else find Snoke’s death totally unfulfilling? I was definitely surprised whenever it happened, but it was more because I felt like his death made the character less important the moment Kylo cuts him in half. We obviously learn more about him in The Rise of Skywalker, but that felt like a blatant cover up for the poorly written character. Snoke always had a mystery about him. It felt like we were building to some grand battle where we would see his raw power. The closest we got to that was the “throne room” scene whenever he is torturing Rey for information on Skywalker.
Anyways, Snoke’s death did make way for Kylo Ren to become the new Supreme Leader. This was a part of this decision that I loved though. We never had a moment in the original trilogy whenever Vader was in full control of the Empire, but here we got to see Kylo take the reins as Supreme Leader and I loved it. Snoke’s death was a mixed bag of emotions for me, but it mostly felt like a missed opportunity of validity to the Snoke character overall.
The reason this movie is ranked at #10 and not in the top-5 somewhere is because of these creative decisions, mostly. Another piece to this whole ranking of The Last Jedi was the ending of the movie. We see Luke sacrifice himself during a battle with Kylo in a way that resembles how Luke witnessed Obi-Wan die (and his body fade away) whenever he fought Vader in A New Hope. I had a feeling that we were going to see Kylo kill Luke at some point because it just made sense that the two would fight eventually. I even enjoyed Luke’s stance against the First Order army, but I needed to see that he was just a force projection to explain how the hell he survived the bombardment of attacks that Kylo ordered on him.
Overall, I had a really good experience viewing this one. It’s not even close to being my favorite of the series though. In fact, if I was considering the animated shows or The Mandalorian then I would have to rank those shows above this film even. However, it is still a solid Star Wars experience. I don’t think it deserves as much hate as it receives, but there are a ton of plot holes (and that terrible casino storyline) that make this movie not nearly as good as other installments on this list.
#8 – Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Thankfully Episode II jumped ahead several years, and we didn’t have to see another movie with young Anakin. Instead, we get to watch him develop as a Jedi Knight serving as a Padawan to, now, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. He’s much more grown than when we first saw him on screen, and so are his powers with the force. I liked this movie much more than its predecessor for a lot of reasons. The storylines were much more interesting, and there was an emphasis on more action.
From the get-go we see attempts made on Senator Padme Amidala’s life from a bounty hunter, then as Anakin and Obi-Wan are closing in on her, Jango Fett makes his debut to kill her before she can give information to the Jedi. The start to this movie felt different than any other Star Wars movie and it was really refreshing to see new parts of the galaxy. Thankfully, we get to see more of Jango throughout the film battling Obi-Wan and eventually Jedi Master Mace Windu.
I really enjoyed this movie. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s certainly not perfect. I mean go back and watch any of the “romantic” scenes between Anakin and Padme. Each one is increasingly more uncomfortable. The worst one by far is the scene by the fireplace though. Padme is wearing a dress that reveals some skin, it’s a dark room, and Anakin can’t help but repeatedly talk about fighting his desires for her. I liked their chemistry more in the coliseum scenes on Geonosis, but most of the movie had my eyes rolling out of my head at the forced romance.
Back to the good though because there is a lot of good in this movie. I loved the expansive galaxy that we got to see in this installment. I found Kamino to be fascinating as we are introduced to the notorious clone army that is being developed for the Republic. These scenes were some of my favorite in the movie because you get a glimpse at the power of this massive army just before Obi-Wan and Jango clash in a unique fight that the series has never seen anything like prior. The fight between Jango and Obi-Wan helped show how dangerous the Fetts really are. Which we desperately needed because I always thought that Boba Fett wasn’t that dangerous in the original trilogy.
Obi-Wan is forced to escape from Jango in space following a brief chase through an asteroid belt. I thought it was kinda humorous though that poor Obi-Wan couldn’t really catch a break in this movie. Following his battle with Jango, he is later captured by former Jedi Master Count Dooku before being sent to the coliseum to be reunited with Anakin. Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padme are sentenced to death as various creatures are brought in to kill the prisoners. Sure the special effects don’t quite hold up super well, but it still serves good enough to make the individual battles fun to watch.
I’m always a sucker for lightsaber duels, so you would think that the end of this movie would be my favorite part; however, the portion I loved the most was when Master Yoda rode in on a republic transport ship to rain hell down on the droid army, Dooku, and Jango. Hundreds of Jedi are brought in to help rescue Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padme including Mace Windu. He ended up being one of my favorite side characters in the entire series, and this is when the fandom really took off for Windu.
Mace kills Jango fairly quickly which made me question why Jango’s battle with Obi-Wan lasted so long. Either way, it was amazing to see such a vicious finish to a fight from a Jedi with the beheading of Jango…in front of his son. That is still crazy to think about now.
A simply smooth and badass finish to their fight. Look at the way Mace just stares off into the distance like he just dunked on someone’s mom. He’s one of the best warriors that the Jedi have ever known.
I loved everything about the chaos that transpired with the all-out war between the droids and clone army. Yoda riding in on a Republic gunner ship? Hundreds of Jedi fighting together against a countless onslaught of droids? Exploding massive ships with Republic tanks? It all just WORKS. In fact, if it wasn’t for the first half of the movie then I would rank this a lot higher on the list.
I was so excited to see the lightsaber duels at the end too, but unfortunately those didn’t have the same payoffs that the coliseum scenes did. Obi-Wan is disposed of rather quickly, then we get some cool moments of Anakin wielding two lightsabers and attacking at Dooku with anger just before Anakin is defeated when Dooku cuts off one of his hands then force pushes him across the room. The only thing that saves the two Jedi from being slain is Yoda.
This is whenever the whole end of the movie left me with a weird feeling leaving the theater though. Of course we all know that Yoda is all CGI in the prequels, but his fight against Dooku just looked really…well, awkward. I mean even the puppet version of Yoda (from the original trilogy) would look hilarious trying to fight a full size person, but the CGI Yoda just did not look that good jumping all over the place. It doesn’t ruin the movie for me, but we didn’t need to see Yoda at the end. Maybe he comes in to use the force somehow to save Obi-Wan and Anakin from Dooku? I don’t know. The lightsaber combat just didn’t work for me though in this one.
#7 – Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
The culmination of the Skywalker saga comes in this action-packed movie that does its best to tie together loose plot points while also raising new questions for the entire series. There is so much going on from start-to-finish, and just before you have time to digest what happened there is something else that captures your attention. First off, I enjoyed seeing this movie. It was a great theater experience, but by the end of it I didn’t know how I felt about it.
In trailers leading up to it we already knew that Emperor Palpatine was going to be coming back, so I was eager to see how J.J. Abrams would make this work. After having some time to really evaluate his return, I can’t help but feel like they only brought back the Emperor to serve as the big “bad guy.” I understand that the Emperor has hinted at cheating death in the prequels with the notorious tale he told Anakin about Darth Plagueis the Wise. Originally, the story was used as bait to sway Anakin towards the dark side, but here it is used as a way to explain how the Emperor survives a catastrophic explosion of the second Death Star. To not dwell too much on this part of the movie, I just need to say that I wasn’t a fan of the return and I honestly wish that Snoke would’ve served as the main villain throughout this Disney trilogy.
What worked for me in this film was the progression of the Rey and Kylo storyline. I don’t believe that their bond ever felt romantic though, so I had a problem with their kiss later in the movie. It just seemed a little forced to me and I would’ve rather their bond just be from their strong connections to the force. Anyways, their ability to talk to one another from across the galaxy grew as they were able to eventually use this technique to transfer Kylo a lightsaber in the finale. I loved it! Now I didn’t care so much for Kylo’s turn to the light because it felt like more retreading from previous films, but I guess it still makes sense for his arch as a character.
Another part of the movie that I really loved were the fight sequences (besides Rey and the Emperor’s battle at the end). When Rey fought Kylo on top of the wreckage of the Death Star, I was completely hooked. Visually, the shots of these two fighting in the rain as the waves crash over them was so well done. Their lightsabers added beautiful contrast as the red and blue crashing together in the mostly gray background just worked for me. I would’ve loved to have seen this fight go on a little longer though. The disappointment for this climatic clash was the end of it whenever Rey defeats Kylo only to heal him using the force to heal his wounds. This opens up many questions about that ability itself, and also made me wonder why Rey needed to do this at all. Rey hates Kylo throughout the series for his vicious acts (murdering Han, “striking down” Luke, and the countless innocent deaths at his hands). I was just confused at the fake outs in this movie. If you are going to fake out an audience in any film, you shouldn’t do it more than once…and they do it several times.
I’m jumping around a little here, but in the first half of the movie we are faked out with the death of Chewbacca. Rey accidentally blows up a transport ship whenever her anger from seeing Kylo flows through her, and she shoots lightning at the ship blowing it into pieces. The scene was shocking because not only did we believe Rey accidentally killed Chewbacca, but we see Rey use a dark side power for the first time. What really destroyed this scene for me was the fact that Chewbacca survived because he was on another transport ship.
It just did not work for me at all because we were intentionally only shown one transport ship that was being force pulled in the air, then they just act like the audience is completely stupid by faking us all out immediately with the second transporter. I also believe that if you let it play out that Rey accidentally kills Chewbacca, then it adds more emotional weight to her toying with the dark side. Disney didn’t have the courage to kill him off though for good. Shame. This trilogy took chances throughout, but not with major decisions like this (similar to the fake out with Leia in The Last Jedi).
I could make separate blog posts where I elaborate more of the points I did and didn’t like from these movies, but I really need to keep this moving along at this point. This is already ending up to be more of a book now…sorry everyone! I’ll just wrap up my opinions for The Rise of Skywalker with this, it was a great movie that had to fix a lot of issues from its predecessor. There are visuals in this one that go unmatched by any other installment in the series, but overall I really enjoyed the movie even if I didn’t agree with some of the creative directions of the characters.
#6 – Episode VII: The Force Awakens
The Force Awakens was the first time there was real mystery and speculation of the series since the original trilogy. When the prequels were released in the early 2000’s there weren’t too many surprises because we knew, for the most part, how the prequel trilogy would end. This movie welcomed a new era of Star Wars fans while uniting loyalists of previous generations. Obviously, based on this ranking I think this is the best of the Disney trilogy that we’ve seen. There were a lot of reasons I loved this movie, even if it does retread story beats from A New Hope.
Something I didn’t expect going into this viewing was how much Han Solo was in it throughout, but that ends up making sense with how much the movie ends. We are introduced to our lead hero and villain for the new trilogy with Rey and Kylo Ren. Rey is a scavenger salvaging parts from ships that have been sitting in ruins for years to trade them in for rations in the slum-ridden Jakku. Meanwhile, Kylo first appears raiding a village in search for BB-8, so that he can track down Luke Skywalker.
I loved his introduction because he is an intimidating presence just destroying the town before using his powers to freeze lasers in mid-air just before they could reach him. This was a great way to get newcomers behind the legitimacy of his power while letting us get to see the wise-mouth of Poe Dameron whenever he comes face-to-face with Kylo. Add his powers with the obsession to follow his grandfather (Vader), and you have all of the makings for a great villain to lead the new generation of Star Wars movies.
I even really enjoyed Finn’s storyline as a runaway stormtrooper who knows nothing of a life before being stolen away by the First Order. Unfortunately, this is the best of his character that we see in the trilogy because we never really see his arch pay off. Poe and BB-8 really work as a good pair of new characters too, but I don’t feel like we ever got enough time to really learn about Poe’s past. The acting across the board was superb though between all of the side characters and main cast. I actually think these Disney Star Wars films were the best acted in the entire Skywalker series.
Something I didn’t like was the retreading of familiar story beats from A New Hope though and they are hard to deny. Here are just a handful: Rey is introduced as a scavenger on a desert planet (similar to Luke), Rey is captured and tortured for information (like Leia), there are plans for a massive planet destroying weapon (like the Death Star), the planet destroying weapon is used to strike fear into the galaxy, and there’s one weakness that is found that can be used to explode the entire planet killing weapon (like the end of A New Hope).
Something they did do a lot better in this movie than they did in A New Hope was the lightsaber combat. The fights are impactful and it looks like every swing has purpose behind it. Kylo wields his saber like a heavy medieval sword, and Rey holds her own against him! This confused me a little because Kylo has been training for years, but I guess it can be justified by her connection to the force and skills with her staff. The end fight between Kylo and Rey is emotional and it really looks like they both are trying to kill the other, even though they most likely wouldn’t have killed each other even if given the opportunity.
The biggest spoiler of the movie comes with the most heart-wrenching moment in the film, Han Solo’s death. Seeing Han confront his son in one last ditch effort to save his life was so well acted by both Harrison Ford and Adam Driver. You can feel the tension rising, and even the imagery of the night spilling darkness over Kylo’s face just before he pierces his saber through his father…it all is done so beautifully. It’s a shame that J.J. didn’t direct each of the movies in the Disney trilogy because I think one coherent story told by one director would’ve turned out way better given the great acting performances and stellar special effects.
#5 – Rogue One
I’ll spend a little less time elaborating on this movie, then I did with The Rise of Skywalker (or some of the others) because there were less controversial moments that I had to digest in this standalone. I loved Rogue One. These standalone films excite me because they can work within this universe without being handcuffed to specific characters or plot points. This movie did a great job at giving reason to a major plot hole from the original Star Wars. I always wondered when watching A New Hope, why does this seemingly indestructible and massive empire have a planet destroying weapon (the Death Star) with one womprat-sized hole that can destroy the whole damn thing?!
Well, we learn that research scientist Galen Erso was forced into working with the Empire to study the power of using Kyber crystals to destroy planets. Before being taken away by Orson Krennic and his platoon, Galen is able to hideaway his daughter, Jyn, along with a special message that ends up revealing how the Death Star can be destroyed. This was terrific writing to me. It even makes A New Hope better to re-watch now knowing the events that led up to the destruction of the first Death Star.
I’m jumping forward here to, again, try to keep these lengthy ranking explanations moving along. My favorite parts of the movie are the massive battles on Scarif at the end, and all of the Darth Vader scenes. First, I’ll touch on the war on Scarif. Once the raid begins, we do not see a dip in action until the credits roll. One by one our heroes fall and I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching something like Saving Private Ryan. There are heroic sacrifices, tragic deaths and climatic battles in both ground and space. The emotional end with Jyn hugging Cassian Andor as the planet explodes around them created a devastating visual that pulls at the heart strings of both Star Wars fans and non.
The one character that stole the entire movie though was one that had very minimal screen time, Darth Vader. His introduction to the film was perfect in that it showed Vader as a leader that will not take any failure. He chokes Krennic and puts him in his place to remind him that neither he nor the Emperor will stand for any delays in the creation of the Death Star. The best Vader scene in this movie, and perhaps the whole series (yeah I said it), is the moment when he is boarding a Republic ship at the very end of the movie to take back the Death Star plans. He is shot like a horror movie villain as the dark hallway is only illuminated with his red saber just before he mows down a whole squadron of Rebels. We see him force pull guns out of hands, choke several soldiers, cut a man in half and just throw around Rebels like ragdolls. All-in-all I freaking loved this scene, and this movie is damn good for everything it does to make A New Hope better too.
#4 – Episode IV: A New Hope
Yes, this is where all of the fun begins! The first film in the entire saga also has the least amount of lightsaber combat, but it didn’t really need it. What carries this movie are the well-written characters across the board. Luke is a hopeful desert boy that wants to join in on the wars in space, but more importantly he wants to escape Tatooine altogether. Unfortunately, he does get to achieve his dreams, but has to pay an ultimate price for it. Luke meets R2-D2 just before he is attacked by Tusken raiders only to be saved by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, but introduced as Ben Kenobi (real sly…).
We get introduced to the history of the Jedi with several teases to Luke’s father, and the wars they fought years ago together. After seeing all of the other films in the franchise, this scene only gets better and more impactful years later. Luke then finds his aunt and uncle burnt to a crisp by the empire which only ensures Luke’s desires to escape the planet even further. Another couple of introductions that were great to me were Han Solo and Chewbacca. The whole cantina scene is a great display of the diverse galaxy, and the various walks of life that exist in the universe.
This movie does a great job at bringing Vader into the fold as a powerful dark lord. He chokes several of his own men, and Rebels throughout the film while inflicting terror without ever needing his lightsaber. The Empire tests out its Death Star on Princess Leia’s home of Alderaan and we witness the power that this massive army possesses. Something else this movie does really well though is by not making Leia completely helpless. Sure she does need saved, but in her escape with Han, Luke and Chewie you see her grab a blaster to make herself useful by even taking out several stormtroopers on her own.
The storytelling in A New Hope is superb. You really get a sense at how small the Rebel fleets are compared to the Empire. The ending battle is an all-or-nothing effort to save their hidden base on Yavin 4. We see Luke as an inexperienced pilot really fall into his own skills as he is blasting away TIE fighters left and right (kind of similar to how good Rey was right away with a lightsaber). My only defense for that would again, perhaps, be his connection to the force. This is more reasonable with Luke though as we see Obi-Wan reach out to him to encourage him to believe in the force to help him hit the impossible target.
Obviously, he does narrowly make the shot and the Death Star is destroyed, but I don’t know if that was even the best part of the space battle. I would actually argue the whole trench run is the best part of the climax to the film. The sounds of the ships and targeting systems are really well done. Plus, it’s amazing how great all of the ships look in-combat given that they are using practical effects (models built by hand). The only downside to this whole movie for me has to be the lightsaber combat. Obi-Wan looks very old and incapable as a fighter altogether. The whole fight just seems like Vader is toying with him. Obi-Wan’s death is fine too, but I’m not really a fan of him just vanishing. It may sound dark, but I think death scenes are way more impactful when you can physically see the body. I couldn’t talk about this movie without mentioning that scene.
#3 – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
The final film of the original trilogy comes in at #3 for me on this list for several reasons. First, we get to see more of the universe as the movie starts with Chewie, Leia and Luke on a mission to save Han who has been frozen in carbonite. Jabba’s palace is full of various creatures and outlaws which just helps make the galaxy feel that much more expansive. Luke comes in a little cocky that he can talk his way into Jabba releasing his friend, but this proves to be a wrongful method of rescue as eventually Luke, Leia, Chewie and Han are all captured. They are sentenced to die in the Sarlaac pit, then R2-D2 helps Luke with getting his lightsaber and all hell breaks loose.
SPOILER WARNING FOR THE MANDALORIAN: I’m glad Boba Fett doesn’t actually die here because I always thought this was such an anti-climatic way for him to go. His people are cunning warriors, and he has so many weapons on him at all times that I just couldn’t believe that this was how he died.
Anyways, a death I did love in this whole sequence was Jabba’s. Leia chokes him out with the very chain that is being used to restrain her, and I just love how strong of a character Leia has been throughout the trilogy. Probably the most capable princess of any movie or TV show.
It is after all of this that we get the passing of Yoda. The scene is an emotional one as Luke intended on completing his training, but Yoda informs him that he knows everything he needs to at this point. Yoda passes shortly after confirming the truth that Vader had hinted in The Empire Strikes Back, this being that Vader is indeed Luke’s father. The ghost of Obi-Wan appears to reveal that Leia is his sister as well which explains the strong connection that they have felt through the force with one another. This ends with Luke being told he must defeat Vader once and for all to complete his training and to end the empire.
Again I’ll jump ahead here a little to save some time, but the climatic finale has a lot to it. First the not so good, I don’t hate Ewoks as much as the average Star Wars fan does; however, I do HATE how much of a role they play in taking down the empire at the end. This massive, supposedly dangerous, army is just picked apart left and right by these little furry fucks things. The Ewoks outsmart them at nearly every turn, and it became almost comedic to watch.
The movie for me is all about getting to the final battle between Luke and Vader. This fight has everything. It is well choreographed, the music matches the heartfelt drama of their encounter, visually it looks amazing with the green and the red clashing through the darkness, and I really love that you see the anger come out through Luke as he strikes down his father. He doesn’t kill him, but he clearly wins the duel. Even after his anger is exposed though Luke remains strong enough to resist the dark side.
Witnessing the Emperor’s disappointment, you just knew that he wasn’t going to let Luke walk away. Thankfully for Luke though, Vader finally has had enough of the Emperor’s ways and kills him himself. The ending of Vader sacrificing himself to save his son is a beautiful finish to his character arch. He finally gets to see his son with his own two eyes just before dying. The end of this movie makes up for little issues I had with it, and it’s one I’ll happily re-watch someday soon I’m sure.
#2 – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Say what you want about the prequels, but there is a TON to love in Revenge of the Sith. I have re-watched this one countless times, and there is so much I love about it. If you want to pick out the bad from this movie, then I guess you could point to some of the CGI as there is a lot of it in this one. It’s a far ways away from the practical effects in the original trilogy for sure. However, there isn’t really anything else that I would harp on this movie for. The movie starts off with a bang too! The mission of saving Chancellor Palpatine has space battles, intense moments in crash landing a giant cruiser, and some terrific lightsaber combat. Anakin gets his revenge against Dooku after Obi-Wan is taken out of the fight. Moments after cutting off both of Dooku’s hands and holding his head between two lightsabers, he contemplates beheading the Sith Lord. He may have been unsure, but Chancellor Palpatine convinces him to….
Can’t say those words without doing it in his voice still to this day. Upon arrival from their mission, we learn that Padme is pregnant and this sets up some important scenes later on. “Hyper-jumping” ahead, Palpatine shares a story with Anakin about “Darth Plagueis the Wise” in which he shares about how he could possibly learn how to prevent death altogether. This manipulation tactic just shows how smart Palpatine is though with his control over Anakin. Planting these seeds of ultimate power just pushes Anakin closer to his allegiance. Which Palpatine would obviously later need as he learns that the Jedi Council are investigating him. Anakin’s denial to become Master from the Jedi Council didn’t help matters either. I can’t say I really blame Anakin for being so upset given how much he has accomplished and has been through just for the Jedi to still not trust him. Obviously, it would have been a mistake for them to grant him the rank of Master given what unfolds later, but I still think he earned it at this point.
The big reveal that Palpatine is a Sith Lord ends up forcing Anakin’s hand to turn over this information to the Jedi Council. Then, we get a great scene when we see Anakin toy with his conflicting emotions over what he should do as Mace Windu and several Jedi Masters go over to deal with Palpatine. The music is somber and we see Padme looking outwards towards the temple. You can feel that they are connecting in some way, somehow. Anakin decides to walk away and fly over to interfere with their takedown of the Chancellor.
This is a huge turning point in the entire Skywalker saga, as it is here where Anakin decides to side with Palpatine and his “ultimate power”. After saving Palpatine’s life from Mace Windu, Anakin drops to his knees in tears over what he had just done. It’s a powerful scene that really makes you feel for the tormenting thoughts racing through Anakin’s mind. Palpatine assures Anakin that he has done the right thing though, and tells him they will rule the galaxy side-by-side.
This kind of belief in him, and his new title of Darth Vader, gives Anakin all of the mental tenacity to carry through with the slaughtering of the Jedi at the temple…even the younglings. Then, across the galaxy we witness various platoons of clones turn on their Jedi leaders in a montage of deaths that is so well done that I can’t help, but share in Yoda’s pain as well.
Most of the Jedi are wiped out during Order 66, and it is up to Yoda and Obi-Wan to reconcile on what they should do. After fighting the clones outside of the Jedi Temple, they move in to investigate the deaths of the fallen Jedi. It is then that Yoda informs Obi-Wan of the tragic truth. Obi-Wan witnesses footage of Anakin slaughtering Jedi, and after discussing his pain with Yoda he knows what he must do.
All of the moments on Mustafar, I really loved. Anakin’s anger pushing him to choke Padme, his pregnant wife, really shocked me though. I watch this now and I still can’t believe it sometimes because all he wanted to do was protect her. However, he is convinced that she is working with Obi-Wan after seeing him depart her ship and he wouldn’t listen to anything that Padme had to say. In a way, I get upset with Obi-Wan because if he was going to get involved like that then he could’ve saved Padme’s life by getting involved with their fighting sooner, or arriving by himself…something.
Anyways, the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan is my favorite fight in this ENTIRE series. There is a lot of brutality throughout. You can really see that Anakin doesn’t just want to kill him fast. He wants to make him hurt every step of the way. There are several moments whenever Obi-Wan takes the upper-hand in this fight though, but you can really sense that Anakin is slightly more powerful. They nearly match each other blow for blow which just really points to how great of a warrior they both are at this point in their lives.
Anakin’s emotions get the better of him as he goes against Obi-Wan’s warning of trying the better positioned man. He leaps to the high ground that Obi-Wan is standing on, and Anakin is cut down to pieces as his body rolls down to the edge of the lava. The moment that still brings a tear to my eye is the exchange between Obi-Wan and Anakin at this moment. Obi-Wan screaming out to him that he was his brother, and that he loved him…damn that just hurts. Anakin was supposed to be this “chosen one” that brought balance to the force, but instead he was leaving it all in darkness.
This movie will always hold a special place in my heart for the variety of emotions it inflicts throughout it all. The prequels may not be perfect, but Revenge of the Sith really stands out as something special.
#1 – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Rounding out this list (finally), is my favorite movie in the whole Skywalker saga…The Empire Strikes Back. This movie accomplishes a lot and there are a ton of people that aren’t even Star Wars that admit that this film is a masterpiece. I will say though that this wasn’t an easy decision for me though. In fact, if Revenge of the Sith had slightly better acting from a few of its characters and relied a little less on CGI for some of the sequences then I would’ve ranked Episode III as my number one. Might be surprising to some of you out there, but I just love these two films so much and I don’t think it’s as obvious of a choice as some might think.
Jumping into the movie right away, I really loved every bit of the Hoth scenes. Something about Star Wars and the snow just looks badass, is it just me? We see Luke captured by a wampa that has scratched him up (to make up for the real life car accident that left him with a scar on his face between A New Hope and this movie). Luke ends up escaping after force pulling his lightsaber out of the snow in a scene that would only be replicated by Rey in The Force Awakens. Then, he strikes down the wampa and escapes into the blizzardy abyss. Han takes a tantaun out to rescue him despite warnings of the dangerously low temperatures, and thankfully he does because he ends up finding Luke who is already suffering from hypothermia. Thanks to Han’s efforts of cutting open the tauntaun he is able to keep both of them warm enough until help arrives the next day.
Unfortunately, they get no rest though as the next day the Empire launches a massive onslaught on the Rebels to destroy their base. This forces the Rebels to flee, so Luke takes this defeat as a time to go finally train as a Jedi from Master Yoda. The scenes between Yoda and Luke are great because you can see that Luke doesn’t take Yoda serious for so long. He just thinks that he is a crazy old man living on this swamp planet (Dagobah). It isn’t until he sees Yoda lift the X-wing from the swamp using the force that Luke really sees how powerful he is. Luke learns about the force and himself on this planet in his teaching from Yoda. I really love the cave sequence as well where Luke is fighting a Vader in his vision whenever he strikes him down and sees that it is Luke under the mask. That revelation hints at the truth that would be spoken by Vader later.
The scenes on Cloud City are great too as we are introduced to Lando Calrissian. You can see that he and Han have a deep connection that goes back years, but what really brings the two together are their love for the Falcon. Lando ends up betraying Han, Chewie and Leia though after being forced to turn them over to empire by Boba Fett and Vader. The two strike a deal that Han is to be returned alive to fulfill a bounty on him by Jabba the Hutt. Lando can’t resist trying to help in the end though and is able to at least help free Leia and Chewbacca (despite Chewie nearly strangling him to death). Han is frozen in carbonite by the time Luke can make it there, but it sets up a thrilling fight between he and Vader.
This is their first duel against one another and you can really see how much more powerful Vader is than Luke. There are moments when he is just toying with Luke. He force throws several objects at him, at one point, forcing him onto a ledge just over the city’s central air shaft. Vader continues to press Luke in the fight pushing him backwards on the platform before finally cutting off Luke’s hand and sending his lightsaber down the shaft. It is then that we hear the infamous words that spans cinema history, Vader tells Luke that he didn’t kill Luke’s father…he IS his father. Mark Hamill really sells the pain of this truth with his performance as Luke as he cries out in disgust. Vader tries to convince Luke to join him finally, but I mean come on…you just cut off his hand! Why would he side with you after that?!
Anyways, Luke then jumps down the airshaft and is left hanging on an antenna just below the shaft before Leia, Lando and Chewie can circle back to rescue him. I even really loved seeing Luke get his robotic arm at the end as well. These effects were really great for when this movie came out and looking back at the movie in recent viewings…it still holds up! I love Episode V so much, and this is a film that I would recommend to anyone. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like sci-fi or haven’t seen any of the Star Wars movies. I would argue that anyone jumping into this movie, or even Revenge of the Sith would have a great viewing experience.
Well, that is all I have! Phew…this was a long one, but if you read this whole thing then I thank you. I really have fun writing all of these blog posts. I’m not going to be able to keep making lengthy posts like these all of the time (and it wouldn’t be good for the blog either), but this one just had to be lengthy so I could do it right. I hope you all enjoyed reading my opinions on the films and let me know if there is anything you would like for me to write about in the future. As always, send me your comments, questions, or blog topic ideas to my email: kimmelnbits@gmail.com. Stay safe and may the force be with you!
KimmelNBits 