9 Star Wars (Classic 70s' film. A little slow-moving at times, some cheesy dialog, and the special effects weren't quite all there with time/budget constraints, but this is legendary.) 10 Empire Strikes Back (As a "Star Wars' film goes, this is perfection. Everything is just right, from pacing to performances to script to a sense of wonder.) 7 Return of the Jedi (Major downgrade in characterization, tone [more childish], and esp. performances [Ford sleepwalks through it]; the middle-third is remarkably weak, but the first part is great and the ending is satisfying as a resolution to a trilogy.) 1 Phantom Menace (Good God. I waited 16 years to see a Star Wars film in the theater, and I fell asleep watching it. A few years ago, I went back to see this again and see if it was as bad as I recalled, and amazingly it was even worse.) 2 Attack of the Clones (An abomination; a travesty. Worst dialog, perhaps, of any high-budget film ever made.) 3 Revenge of the Sith (Improvement on what came prior, but that also would apply if this had been 'Howard The Duck'.) 8 The Force Awakens (Very well done, perhaps missing only that sense of wonder. [And yeah, the plot is a 1977 rehash.] But good.) 5 The Last Jedi (Yawn. I wanted more of the central character, Rei, who seemingly wasn't in this film. A lot of that boring villain, though.) ? The Rise of Skywalker (Haven't seen it yet. Might not.) 6 Rogue One (Okay, I guess, but it's like watching a Vietnam war movie, not 'Star Wars'.) 6 Solo (Passable, but pointless and not memorable at all.)
Burn the heretic !!! In all seriousness, a very interesting article. Is Empire overrated? I actually think it is somewhat (it lacks a proper climax, for example), but the author of the above article is essentially criticizing it for being a sequel, building upon and elaborating on themes and beats from it's predecessor... to which I would say "... and...???" That's the nature of serialized storytelling in a nutshell since time immemorial... even Homer did it, and he was no slouch in spinning a compelling yarn!!! But again, an interesting read and a refreshingly different perspective on a film that has been built up to almost-mythic stature when in reality it's simply a really good film and an excellent sequel... but not the transcendent, game-changing masterpiece that was it's predecessor. The same author of the above also wrote an equally-interesting article; Why Star Wars should have stopped at just one film As much as I still enjoy the OT overall to this day - despite being thoroughly burned out on all things SW, that trilogy remains untainted and evergreen to me (regardless of the rather rocky road the franchise followed from 1997 onward that has somewhat tainted the innocent enjoyment we had beforehand), even more so if they properly remaster and re-release the original theatrical versions! - but even I sometimes wish that the 1977 film had been a one-off, one-and-done, singular installment... either by accident or design, George Lucas captured lightning in a bottle that the franchise has never captured again since, and I think the fact that the 1977 film is seen as simply one installment of a multi-episodic story actually demeans what a truly magnitudinal accomplishment it was... in film-making, in technology, in culture... everything that came after simply stood on it's shoulders, but Star Wars was the true (and perhaps only) original in that franchise... Besides, even if George had wanted the '77 film to be a one-off (which, of course, he didn't), he would have had to make the two sequels... they were part of the initial contract with FOX, and if he didn't make them, the studio would have (and almost certainly would have mucked it up!)... although he did briefly consider selling the rights back to the studio at some point and washing his hands of the whole thing after the making of the '77 film nearly put him in hospital and the thought of going through that again was too much to bear. I dig that whole trilogy, but there's something so wonderfully self-contained about the 1977 film, whilst it also hinted at a larger story as yet unseen... I sometimes wish it had remained so...
Originals: Star Wars from 1977 is my favorite of all of them...2nd would be Empire Strikes Back, then Return of the Jedi. For the prequels, Revenge of the Sith, Phantom Menace, then Clone Wars last. Disney Era: Rogue One, Force Awakens, Rise of Skywalker, Solo, Last Jedi.
I'm with you in that I only consider all the movies with the exception of the sequel trilogy canon, and "Solo" is borderline. I'd also agree with your categorizations listed above. I guess when I consider the hits-to-miss ratio the prequels and "Solo" straddle that demarcation in various degrees; I can enjoy them but they are not up to the level of the OT and "Rogue One" so closer to 'misses' for me. I simply expected far better modern era Star Wars movies after the OT and walked out of the theaters, far more often then not, somewhat disappointed/let down (prequels/Solo) or 'well, I'll completely burn those out of my mind' (sequels). "Rogue One" was the only movie since 1984 that really captured the essence of Star Wars for me and is the only BluRay post prequels that I own. This.....100%.... Concur with all of this too... I've had the exact same thoughts; out of all the Star Wars movies the original is still the one for me, by far. It's status has only reached higher levels of greatness when compared to everything that has followed.
Empire (superb) Star Wars (superb but needed a Biggs intro and was made worse with later edits) Rouge 1 (loved it) Return Jedi (fun but a little "by numbers" - actually liked the Ewoks) Rise Skywalker (enjoyed but return of Snoke not all that good) Force Awakens (really enjoyed but too much of a rewrite) Solo (really fun but just a long chase scene) Clones (pretty exciting, especially with Obi-Wan but poor romantic scenes) Revenge Sith (pacing is bad, especially for the most dramatic moments and too digital at the end) Last Jedi (some humor but pretty much a disaster - just bad filmmaking) Phantom Menace (even worse filmmaking, especially the pacing and dialogue)
Posted in a similar thread with a few switched around after re-watching all the films again within the last month. 1. The Empire Strikes Back (the very best) 2. Return of the Jedi (almost no.1) 3. Revenge of the Sith (The best prequel trilogy film, and almost on the level of ROTJ and TESB) 4. Episode IV (Star Wars) 5. Rogue One (The best thing to come out of new (2015 onwards) Star Wars films) 6. Solo (A great time and I enjoyed this film a lot more than I thought I would) 7. The Phantom Menace 8. The Last Jedi 9. The Force Awakens 10. Attack of the Clones 11. The Rise of Skywalker (The very worst)
I only like the original unaltered trilogy: Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back Return Of The Jedi I couldn't care less about prequels, sequels, cartoons, or any of that 'special edition' nonsense.
Haha--I guess I am a casual Star Wars fan--I have seen all the films, but I'm not an obsessive where I track down every book, comic and toy that interlocks with the franchise. Having said that--the building of the Death Star and the rag tag team of rebels who assemble to destroy it IS a story, just not one I feel like I needed to see. It kinda felt like Disney was milking the cow a bit with that prequel. But I've seen many praise it as one of the best SW films, so I'm probably in the minority on this.
I don't get the "R1" cult. It's not a bad movie but it's just kinda...meh! Rogue One: A Star Wars Story [Blu-Ray] (2016)
I really think a lot of it is the balsy ending in regards to all the main characters dying and the Darth Vader hallway scene. If the later wasn't added at the last minute and the ending chickened out of killing off everyone, I'd doubt it would be the most beloved prequel film (and yes it's a prequel). It would probably be seen by some as the best Disney era SW film,but not to the degree it is now. I also think the Darth Vader scene set a lot of people up for disappointment in TLJ. I remember a couple of guys behind me coming out of the theater the day I saw RO joygasming over that scene and one of them was like " wow! If Vader kicked that much ass,imagine what Luke will do in the next one! Itll be so badass!" I enjoyed the Vader hallway scene purely for the fan service....but that's all that scene was.
100% - and it makes no sense in the context of "Star Wars". In the original movie, Vader comes onto the Rebel craft after the stormtroopers cleared the way. Now he's out there chopping 'em down on his own? It's definitely a darker movie, and as I note in my review, I should embrace that. But "R1" just feels dark for dark's sake, and I cared too little about the characters to feel much emotion when they died. It's easy to be "ballsy" when the characters are one-offs!
I'm gonna assume the @David Campbell role here and try and do some 'splaining' ... * 'splainer mode on - Yes, Vader took the lead in Rogue One yet let the Stormtroopers clear the corridors in Star Wars... contradiction or inconsistent characterization? Nah, not really... Vader took the hands-on initiative in the former to prevent the rebels getting away with the Death Star plans in the first place (he probably was getting an earful from the Emperor so he was forced to leave the house and deal with matters personally, probably not in the best of moods either!), and he very nearly succeeded. But when they did make their lightspeed escape and the Star Destroyer caught up with them and they were boarded, Vader knew the rebels would put up a fierce firefight once the doors were blown open... so he left that to the grunts, why wouldn't he? - 'splainer mode off * Don't forget also that Vader led the way when the Imperial ground forces penetrated the rebel base on Hoth... he's leading them not standing back and waiting. I'm actually surprised that very little to nothing in Rogue One ostensibly contradicts anything in Star Wars... you likely could find something if you look hard enough but I didn't really notice anything myself. Is Rogue One a masterpiece on a par with The Empire Strikes Back... nope, but I would put it on a relative par with Revenge of the Sith in terms of quality (8/10 or thereabouts); it has it's flaws if you really want to nitpick, but considering what an absolute mess it was (allegedly) in before Tony Gilroy was drafted to rescue the situation, it's a remarkably consistent film in tone and content; it's also a nice little transition between the two trilogies and a nice coda to the overall saga, coming full-circle back to the beginning of the original movie... and apparently, George really dug it, and that's probably the highest praise all involved on that film could have asked for!!!
When I first saw Star Wars in 1977, Vader appeared to me to be more of a Chief of Police type of figure, not this ALL POWERFUL figure in the Galaxy.
Especially since it seemed Tarkin was The Emperor's right hand and Vader seemed to be working for him.
But Vader wasn't at the forefront of the battle on Hoth. He wasn't out there on the attack - he came in after the work had been done, like military leaders do. Generals don't engage in active battle. Now we do know that Vader was part of the aerial battle for the Death Star in "Star Wars", of course, but he only engaged when the Rebel threat seemed serious. I just think it makes no sense that Vader would fight Rebel grunts when he has all those stormtroopers!
Of course, we all know that's because the later legend of Vader didn't exist in 1977. GL retrofitted later films to both make Vader Luke's father and also a more prominent figure in the Empire. Because yeah - Vader came across as Tarkin's right-hand man, not 2nd in command to the Emperor. It's really unclear how much GL had thought out any of the backstory pre-1977. We know "Vader = Anakin" was an invention in the process of writing "Empire". That plus Vader's enormous popularity with fans meant his elevation into the 2nd in command for the whole Empire. I think the original notion of Vader as a Jedi who turned on Anakin and killed him still meant Vader would've been big in the Empire, but not AS big...
Star Wars 9 Empire 10 Jedi 8 Phantom Menace 0 Attack of the Clones 7 Revenge of the Sith 8 Episode seven 0 Episode eight 7 Episode nine 2 Rogue One 4 Solo 6 Clone Wars cartoon series 8 Rebels cartoon series 5
He was extra angry that his relaxing spa session in his bacta tank was cut short in having to deal with the rebels. He cooled down after venting in the corridor and needed a bit of a break heh.
Star Wars - 10 The Empire Strikes Back - 10 Return of the Jedi - 9 The Phantom Menace - 5 Attack of the Clones - 5 Revenge of the Sith - 7 The Force Awakens - 7 Rogue One - 7 The Last Jedi - 6 Solo - 7 The Rise of Skywalker - 4
