Everyone has their favourite Star Wars film. It depends on a great many things; The films you watched as a child are likely to rank high, some may suggest the prequels are simply inferior, while others say that the modern era of Star Wars lacks the originality of the first trilogy. Some prefer the direction and writing of George Lucas, while other fans enjoy the one-off stories that are based in the galaxy.
Choosing the best Star Wars films can change with the wind or your mood. One day you want the darkness of The Empire Strikes Back, while on another you fancy something more lighthearted. We’ve thought long and hard about how we’d rank the 12 Star Wars films and this is how it all shook out.
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Perhaps the most memeable of all the Star Wars films, it’s also the weakest of them all. The story is all over the place, much of it is frightfully boring, and Hayden Christensen had to balance a fine line while also taking on the role of one of the greatest villains of all time. His flirting with the dark side is more enjoyable than his flirting with Padme, but there aren’t many highlights in this one. Sure, there are standout characters, but they’re better utilised in other instalments of the franchise.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
If this was an original film by Genndy Tartakovsky, it probably would rank higher but instead, it was simply the first few episodes of the TV series cobbled together in a badly plotted movie. Of course, the show went on to please millions of fans, but the film is just a mess. Its only redeeming feature is the animation, which is of its time, but still starkly different and went in a unique direction. Hopefully, one day we’ll see a fully-fledged animated Star Wars film in the cinema.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker
A devastating finale to the nine-film saga, it only gets worse the more you look back on it and explore the ideas that were not followed through. Finn was wasted, as was Rose, Poe never really lived up to the possibilities we were shown in the other two films, and Rey became just another Jedi by the end. Then, of course, we have to talk about the stinker of them all, Palpatine returning and instantly reducing all of the tension of Snoke and Kylo Ren to being nothing more than pawns. It’s nice to look at and there are some decent performances, but ultimately this finale fell very flat.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Can I say that Solo is only in this spot due to Donald Glover’s turn as Lando? No? Well, the film that was never really needed isn’t terrible. In fact, it does have some highlights. However, Alden Ehrenreich had none of the charisma brought to the role by Harrison Ford and him meeting Lando only made him look more average. Ron Howard did a reasonable job moving the action at a pace and the reveal at the end linked together with The Clone Wars wonderfully. It would be easy to forget this film even exists, to be honest. It’s fine, but that’s all it is.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
On the one hand, you have the brilliance of Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson playing Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, two perfect introductions to Jedi for the prequel trilogy. On the other hand, you have Jar Jar Binks and George Lucas’ terrible writing for child Anakin. There are many great things about The Phantom Menace but they’re dragged down by some wooden acting, Lucas’ ‘passion’ for CGI, and the struggles of the dialogue. The pod racing is, of course, brilliant as is the fight between Darth Maul and the Jedi. Shame Darth Maul was the focus of the marketing and then completely underused.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
I know, some people would put The Phantom Menace above this entry, however, it was all leading here and there’s no denying the drama that ensued when Anakin finally started properly turning to the dark side. Then we have some amazing fight scenes (some still spoiled by CGI) and the horrific moments after Order 66 was given. For all the flack he got at the time, Hayden is great when he embraces darkness and then Ewan McGregor puts in a great turn as a betrayed friend. Then there’s the battle on Mustafar and seeing Anakin put on the suit and become Darth Vader. There are still problems with the pacing and writing, but for ‘Oh my God’ moments, this is a good one.
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
I hate the Ewoks. I know I’m not the only one. This film is great until the Battle of Endor. We get to see Jabba the Hutt, Luke is finally a proper Jedi, and Darth Vader and Palpatine are on the ropes yet still swinging at the rebels. It’s a good continuation of the darkest part of the trilogy. There was always going to be a happy ending of sorts, and the characters get that, which is great. However, this is where the toy sales really got to the franchise, and the Ewoks were born; a race of small teddy bears that somehow managed to overthrow an empire built on technology. Sure, Luke got in the final swings of the lightsaber and Vader redeemed himself for his son, but the whole mood of the film is off. It felt like Lucas ran out of ideas. We expected a huge war, but what we got was a battle in the aisles of Toys R Us.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
Star Wars returned and boy it was something special. For so long the franchise had laid dormant besides the animations on Cartoon Network. The Force Awakens came along and it felt great to be a fan again. We got a cool new villain, a female lead, a stormtrooper on the run, and even Han Solo and Chewie came back. There was a proper sense of mystery around the dark side of the force given the toppling of the Empire in the original trilogy and the story felt refreshing. We were asking questions and sitting on the edge of our seats. Of course, there was a sense of feeding the hungry, we would have gobbled up anything, but we didn’t have to. Star Wars was back and it was good. Better than good, it was great.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi
Then came The Last Jedi which turned everything up to 11. It was a dividing film for the fanbase and one that seemed to get better after repeat viewings. The story and direction were very different. It was still a blockbuster, but it was more artistic, and it took more chances. Some of those chances didn’t pay off (Leia’s space revival) but we saw Luke again and he was a very different man. Finn and Poe felt less like sidekicks and more like fully realised central characters. The repetition of the original trilogy’s story was broken apart too, with the handling of Snoke, and the film put the power into the hands of the people, not just the Jedi. The rebel alliance was reborn for a new generation, the epitome of what this new trilogy was going to be for young fans. Plus it was a gorgeous film - the use of red underneath white is stark on the screen and constantly brilliant.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
You could call this film the spark that started the new era of Star Wars in which we currently find ourselves. But, of course, it was also the spark for A New Hope, too. Not only did we finally see how the plans for the Death Star got to Leia, but we met a cast of all-new characters, ones that didn’t have decades of expectations on their shoulders. It also took Star Wars into a new genre; sure it was still sci-fi, but there was espionage here, it felt like a spy film. And this was more refreshing than anything else until now. We got to see new people, new aliens, and most importantly, a galaxy under the rule of the Empire. We finally saw the people under oppression which gave the audience more to root for, and more to hate.
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Made for a paltry (by today’s standards) $11 million, Star Wars, as it was known in 1977, changed the world. It’s almost a perfect film, in relation to the rest of this list. George Lucas took the traditional tale of good versus evil and put it in space. Not only that, but he did it with a charismatic cast and the most accomplished use of physical special effects seen to that point.
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More than anything else, Star Wars, dubbed A New Hope in 1981, was downright cool. It had everyone watching, young and old. It had it all; plucky young nobody with a big destiny, a dark villain who freaked out audiences, space magic, laser swords, gorgeous visuals, larger-than-life depictions of aliens, and a solid story that took viewers on an intergalactic journey. It couldn’t be topped.
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
That is until the sequel came along. One of the few examples of the sequel bettering the original. Why? The Empire Strikes Back was darker, and there was more threat. Luke was still a plucky hero, but he was lost in a big galaxy. The rebels looked under duress, the Jedi who were once a myth became real once again and suddenly the story was more than good versus evil. There were hundreds of stories being told even if only in fragments; the galaxy got bigger, introducing us to new allies and new villains. And you can’t deny the last 30 minutes are some of the best cinema ever created, minutes that left the audience on a cliffhanger - a very rare thing in film back then.
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There were double-crosses, revelations that shook up everything, blossoming romance, buddy comedy jokes, and an epic sense of history and scope. The effects were better, too. It was like George Lucas had levelled up and he delivered one of the best stories in the genre, a story that creators have been chasing for decades. In Star Wars filmography, it’s simply perfection.
Topics: Star Wars, TV And Film, Opinion, Disney