The Star Wars movies are one of the most beloved movie series of all time and have spanned almost 30 years and now 8 movies with the recent release of Rogue One. With such surging popularity, it is likely that Star Wars will expand even further in coming years.
Yet there has always been one thing that almost every Star Wars fan disagrees on: Best to worst, what is the order they should be ranked in? As an avid Star Wars fan who has seen all of them, I decided that I should offer you my ranking of all 8 Star Wars and why I put them there.
Spoilers for all of the movies including Rogue One.
8: Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Almost every Star Wars fan can agree that this is definitely the worst of the series and not a good movie. This movie features the introduction of the worst character in the series: Jar Jar binks, along with way too much bad CGI, bad child acting and a weird romance between a 9 year old and a 14 year old. It did however have redeeming qualities such as the introduction of three great characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn, one of which sadly also died in that movie. It also had two great scenes, the pod racing scene and the final duel with Darth Maul. Other than those few things it was not a good movie.
7: Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Yes like most people I do not think the prequels were as good as the originals but there is a significant gap in quality between these two. Attack of the Clones does suffer from many of the same problems as its predecessor such as more excessive bad CGI, Jar Jar Binks and a poorly done romance between Anakin and Padme. It also features a less intimidating villain with Count Dooku, albeit one that was used better then Maul. On the bright side though there is much more of what makes the Star Wars series great in this movie which is the lightsaber battles and the origin of stormtroopers, plus the origin of cult-like fan favorite Boba Fett. It also foreshadows Anakin’s fall to the dark side to set up the events of the rest of the movies.
6:Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
This is the first of the series that I would consider a good movie as a whole despite the fact that it still has its flaws like the other prequels. Some of these are below average acting, the continuation of the poorly written Skywalker romance and way too much political discussion that confused and bored many people. On the other hand it featured the fall of the republic, the jedi and Anakin all of which were done well but could have been executed far better. It also feels a few great scenes such as the lightsaber battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin as well as Order 66, both of which carried huge emotional weight because the series has always been about the success of the light over the dark side. However in this movie we see the opposite occur multiple times throughout the movie. It also briefly introduces Darth Vader, Leia and Luke Skywalker all of whom are extremely iconic and important characters in the series.
5:Episode IV: A New Hope
This movie is the start of the whole series and without it none of the other movies on this list would even exist. Still, that does not mean that it is without is flaws and deserves to be on the top of the list. For the time this movie came out it had great visual effects and action but it is almost 30 years old and many parts of it do not compare to the movies that came after it. It did introduce almost every iconic character in the series and set up the ideas of the Sith,Jedi, Empire, The Force and The Rebellion all of which have grown to become integral parts of the Star Wars universe. It also features the trench run that destroys the first the death star and the first ever lightsaber battle.
4:Episode VII: The Force Awakens
This movie introduced a whole new generation to the Star Wars universe after there not being a Star Wars movie for over ten years. It brought back the use of mostly practical effects that made the Series so visually interesting in the first place. It introduced new and more compelling characters who all borrowed aspects of the main trio from the original trilogy as long as bringing back many of the original characters in great supporting roles that did not overshadow all the new characters. It did however borrow a lot of plot elements from A New Hope some of which include: a hero born on a desert planet without their parents,a giant spherical space weapon that can blow up planets, a fascist like evil government and a group of smaller and less technically equipped rebels and many other details. For many people this would put it behind A New Hope but because of the better effects, fight choreography, action and acting I believe it should be above it.
3: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
As the first Star Wars movie to not heavily feature the Jedi vs. Sith as the main conflict, for me it did that almost as well as it could have for a one off movie. The movie introduces you to a main cast that's motivations and desires are much less clear than those in the main cast of movies, who are very obviously good or evil. The only problem with that is that because of how closely the movie occurs in the timeline to A New Hope many of the characters are not given enough screen time to fully develop. That said, the ones who do get that screen time are some of the best and most compelling characters we have seen in the Star Wars universe. It also features the return of minor and major characters from all the other movies most of which are used extremely well especially the likes of Darth Vader and Mon Mothma. There are however a few that only appeared due to CGI, the inclusion of Grand Moff Tarkin was a little jarring because of the amount of screen time he was given unlike Leia who was given quite limited screen time. Lastly it features one of the best scenes of the series in the final moments of the movie with Darth Vader striking down rebels with little effort and emotion.
2: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
This movie works great as the conclusion to the original trilogy and features unforgettable moments and characters. It starts off with the rescue of Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt and a fight between the heros and fan favorite character Boba Fett. This opening works great to get the action going and set up the story and pace of the conclusion of the original trilogy. It also features the final showdown between Luke and Vader with improved fight choreography from the first two as well as Vader attempting to sway Luke to the dark side. The conclusion of this movie ends with perhaps the most important moment in the Star Wars series which is the redemption of Darth Vader when he saves his son Luke from death by killing the Emperor by throwing him into the core of the Death Star. Like A New Hope this movies effects are amazing for the time but are now inferior to what we have today. The final battle on Endor also features Ewoks overpowering the Empire with guerilla warfare tactics but is hard to believe because the creatures that resemble teddy bears do not come off as a race that would be experienced in combat especially against such a strong opponent.
1: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
This is probably no surprise because almost every Star Wars fan has Empire as their favorite, but it for good reason with the many of the best moments coming in this series. First off this movie introduces us to the planet of Hoth, a snow planet where one of the coolest battles not featuring lightsabers takes place. Next it introduces fan favorite character and bounty hunter Boba Fett attempting to hunt down Han Solo and capture him. Also it features look being trained in the ways of the force for the first time by Master Yoda who is one of the series’ best characters despite being a side character in the original trilogy. Finally it features Luke’s grueling first time battling Darth Vader, losing his hand in that battle, the chilling moment when he is almost captured, and, most importantly, that jarring revelation that shocked audiences decades ago: Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. This series of events and the movie as whole are all extremely well done and emotionally compelling and although the effects and fight choreography are not great everything else in the movie make up for that.
