I watched all of the Star Wars movies that comprise the "Skywalker Saga" in the lead up to the last movie that will be due out tomorrow night. Here's how I'd rank them.
8. Episode II-Attack of the Clones
I don't think anyone would disagree with me when I say that Anakin and Padme falling in love together is portrayed awfully. Hell, when I was watching all of these movies, their scenes together were so bad for me this time around that it brought the movie to a screeching halt each time they were on screen.
The rest of the movie is merely okay. The main plot thread besides the butchered love story revolves around Obi-Wan unveiling the existence of the clone army and the formation of the Separatist coalition. There's nothing particularly show stopping about this thread; that won't come until the next movie.
7. Episode I-The Phantom Menace
Did you walk into Star Wars in 1999 for the first time in 16 years and expect to watch C-SPAN? Probably not. Nor did you expect the horror of Jar Jar Binks. In my mind, Jar Jar is merely annoying, which is why I ranked Clones lower.
Where the good parts of Attack of the Clones were merely good, the good parts of the Phantom Menace are amazing. The two scenes I have in mind are the lightsaber duel between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul, and the pod racing scene. The drawback with the pod racing scene is that it does go on for a long time, a full twenty minutes in a two hour movie, which does kind of bog the movie down. The lightsaber duel, however, is probably the best out of any of these movies. It was action that hadn't been shown in a Star Wars movie before and an epic score by John Williams to match. It's not enough to save the movie as a whole, but on its own, it's one of the best moments in any Star Wars film.
6. Episode VII-The Force Awakens
Honestly, this probably wouldn't be so low were it not for its follow up, which we will get to later. But upon repeat viewing, the Force Awakens doesn't add anything new to Star Wars. It is more or less a rehash of a New Hope, merely playing it safe, not doing anything bold, just playing the hits to please the crowd. In retrospect, that is kind of disappointing.
That being said, the action is great, the effects are unreal, and there is some air of mystery the movie does manage to create makes me interested in what would come next, not that the next movie would do anything with it. It's a solid popcorn flick, nothing more, nothing less.
5. Episode VI-Return of the Jedi
I refuse to believe that the Empire would be overthrown due to the intervention of Ewoks. The Emperor stated his best legion was waiting for the Rebel strike team on Endor, so let's imagine this is the 501st Legion, which was dubbed "Vader's Fist". Is that a squadron that's going to lose to overgrown teddy bears wielding archaic weapons?
Anyway, the other problem with this movie is its opening, which to be fair is not this movie's fault. The Empire Strikes Back froze Han Solo in carbonite because the film makers didn't know if actor Harrison Ford would be back for the third film. So when they realized they would get him, they had to shoe horn in his rescue, as opposed to focus on the main plot thread revolving around Luke's ascension as a Jedi and the defeat of the Empire.
Speaking of which, I think that is portrayed rather well. Luke stood toe to toe with probably the most powerful Force wielder in the whole saga and came out on top because his belief that Darth Vader could be turned back to the light won out over the power of the Emperor. Then there is the Emperor himself. I am so glad that Ian McDiarmid portrayed Palpatine in all three trilogies because he is easily the most interesting character in the whole series.
4. Episode VIII-The Last Jedi
I might have ranked this near the bottom were it not for a repeat viewing I finally had last night. A lot of the problems, not all of them, but a lot, didn't seem to be problems on the second go around. That being said, I still don't think that Last Jedi works as a second movie of a trilogy. Overall, very little happens in this movie when you think about it; the First Order grinds down what remains of the Resistance down to nearly oblivion. Coming out of the film, I thought that it left too much unresolved and found it difficult to see how the Rise of Skywalker could resolve all of the plot threads brought up by the Last Jedi. On top of that, the whole of the Resistance fits onto the Millennium Falcon at the end of the movie and we're supposed to believe that this group will somehow bring down the First Order in the space of a single movie. I find that difficult to believe, though we will see how that goes Friday.
When I knocked the Force Awakens for not trying anything new, I said that as a direct contradiction to this movie. The thing I liked about this movie the most was Luke's lessons on the Force. He showed that the Jedi were deeply flawed and also showed how the Force works. I really liked it on the second viewing. Other than that, the movie was good to okay. The effects weren't up to the Force Awakens level, but still very good. I thought the comedy was really forced and out of place, but that is a minor issue. The film itself was shot beautifully as well, from the shots of Luke's island, the Snoke's throne room, and especially the kamikaze light speed attack by Admiral Holdo.
3. Episode III-Revenge of the Sith
People often seem to lump the prequels together as being universally bad, but the Revenge of the Sith is by itself, a good movie. Here we finally see the machinations of Palpatine brought to fruition and any movie that revolves around that character is going to be a good flick. The problems that plagued the other two prequels are far less noticeable here. Anakin and Padme only have one, rather brief, bad scene of their love and it's easily forgotten by the time Palpatine tells of Darth Plagueis.
The action is pretty good as well. There are more lightsaber duels in this movie than the rest of the series combined, highlighted by Obi-Wan's and Anakin's duel that I would probably rank second behind the Darth Maul duel. I would also argue that this film has the best score out of any Star Wars film as well, which really enhanced, among others, the Order 66 scene. Does the film have problems, sure. Anakin's turn to the Dark Side was a bit haphazard. But compared to the other prequels, the problems didn't outweigh the good aspects of the film.
2. Episode IV-A New Hope
All sagas have to start somewhere and as beginnings go, this was really good. It clearly established the characters and made them memorable, it clearly established the conflict and the stakes of said conflict. It also established some background on the deeper elements of the story, such as mentioning the Clone Wars and a beginner's explanation of the Force.
Really, I'm trying to think of anything this movie did wrong. The only thing I can think of really is that this movie clearly came out in the '70s just by the way it was made, but that's not really a problem so much as an observation. Really, it's a solid opening film.
1. Episode V-The Empire Strikes Back
The follow up to A New Hope outdid the original without undoing it and it is awesome. Considering a New Hope was clearly written without the knowledge that Darth Vader was Luke's father, this follow up film was able to drop that bombshell in a way that made it seem natural instead of forced. The mythology of the series is built on to, as shown with Yoda training Luke in the Force. Really, everything Yoda did in this movie was awesome, from revealing himself by arguing with Obi-Wan about Luke's shortcomings to "That is why you fail."
I ranked Attack of the Clones the worst film because of how is showed Anakin and Padme falling in love, which actually now that I think of it is even worse in light of how this film showed Leia and Han falling for each other. It didn't seem forced like Anakin's and Padme's was, and I found it to be totally believable, again unlike in Attack of the Clones.
Darth Vader seemed more in his element in this film than the previous one. A New Hope kind of portrayed Vader as being somewhat underneath Grand Moff Tarkin, but that isn't the case here. He is clearly in charge and has many dead subordinates to prove his point. We see the Emperor for the first time in this movie as well and while it is basically a glorified cameo, it shows the relationship between apprentice and master fairly well.
Those are my rankings. We will see how the Rise of Skywalker fits into this at the end.
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