Rank The Star Wars Films

[JTN 2,030]

Let’s rank the Star Wars movies.
You can include Rogue 1 and Solo, even the two Ewok movies and the Clone Wars animated film. 

[Groovygoth666 670]

If it's by what we think is the best my list would be - 

 

1. TESB

2. ANH

3. ROTJ

4. TPM

5. ROTS 

6. Rogue One

7. Solo

8. AOTC

9. TFA

10. Ewok Films 

11. Clone Wars Movie 

12. TLJ/TROS

 

If it's what's our personal best - 

 

1. ROTJ

2. TESB

3. ANH

4. Everything else 

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

Very similar list here.
 

1. TESB

2. SW77

3. ROTJ

4. TFA

5. ROTS

6. R1

7. Solo

8. TPM

9. AOTC

10. TCW

11. TLJ/TROS

 

Haven’t seen the Ewok movies.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

My favourite - favourite, mind - and of the films that I have seen, are:

 

1/ RETURN OF THE JEDI

 

2/ THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

 

3/ THE PHANTOM MENACE

 

4/ THE LAST JEDI

 

5/ REVENGE OF THE SITH 

 

6/ ATTACK OF THE CLONES 

 

7/ A NEW HOPE 

 

8/ ROGUE ONE

 

9/  THE FORCE AWAKENS 

 

10/ SOLO 

 

11/ THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

 

 

 

[JTN 2,030]

1. Star Wars

2. The Empire Strikes Back

3. Return of the Jedi

4. The Phantom Menace

5. Revenge of the Sith

6. Attack of the Clones

---------------------------

7. Rogue One

8. Solo

9. The Force Awakens - The Last Jedi - The Rise of Skywalker

 

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Here's mine:

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. The Force Awakens
4. Revenge of the Sith
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Attack of the Clones
7. Rogue One
8. The Phantom Menace
9. Solo
10. The Rise of Skywalker
11. The Last Jedi
12. The Clone Wars Movie

 

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

The Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

Star Wars

The Phantom Menace

Revenge of the Sith

Rogue One

Attack of the Clones

The Sequel Trilogy

Solo

The Star Wars Holiday Special

[JTN 2,030]

8 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

The Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

Star Wars

The Phantom Menace

Revenge of the Sith

Rogue One

Attack of the Clones

The Sequel Trilogy

Solo

The Star Wars Holiday Special

Ranking STAR WARS the lowest of the OT is admirable.  

Thanks for your list!

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

Now waiting for @Jurassic Shark's counter "Don't Rank the Star Wars Films" thread.

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

There's only one film named Star Wars so I don't see the point. 

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

There's an argument to be made...a very good argument...that over 45+ years, 11 films, 9 animated series, 7 live-action series, and countless shorts, specials, comics & books, Star Wars has produced only two truly great, classic pieces of pop culture art, the last happening over four decades ago. The rest range from merely "good" to mid to bad.

[GerateWohl 4,370]

My ranking hasn't change much.

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Rogue One
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Attack of the Clones
7. The Force Awakens
8. The Phantom Menace
9. Solo
10. The Last Jedi
11. Ashoka: Sabine's Loth-Cat
12. The Rise of Skywalker

 

[JTN 2,030]

35 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Now waiting for @Jurassic Shark's counter "Don't Rank the Star Wars Films" thread.

I was waiting for him to put The Rise of Skywalker at the number one spot, you know, because if everyone hates it, he has to love it.

 

Btw @Nick1Ø66would you care to share your rankings? 

 

[Schilkeman 964]

I only count the six and clone wars, which is tv so:

 

Attack of the Clones 

The Empire Strikes Back 

The Phantom Menace

A New Hope 

Revenge of the Sith

Return of the Jedi

 

But I love them all dearly and frequently watch all of them just about equally. Each one brings something I like that the others don’t.

 

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

14 minutes ago, JTW said:

 

Btw @Nick1Ø66would you care to share your rankings? 

 

 

It's impossible for me to rank these movies. I put Empire and Star Wars at the top, AOTC at the bottom, and the rest in the muddled middle of the mediocre to merely good to almost great. I enjoy most of the post-Empire films to one degree or another. Many have some amazing bits. So that's not a slam on their quality. I just can't really rank them.

 

Two caveats: Jedi gets a pass/credit by being part of the OT, so if pushed out of sentimentality, I'd put it at #3. But there are other entries that work better as cinema. And TLJ is unranked because I don't consider it a Star Wars film, it's a Rian Johnson vanity piece. But if I did rank it, it would be well below the Holiday Special.

 

I think it would be interesting to see a world where Star Wars stopped after one film, and how it would be regarded today. The only problem with that is that we'd lose Empire, which is arguably the best one.
 

[JTN 2,030]

11 minutes ago, Schilkeman said:

I only count the six and clone wars, which is tv so:

 

The Empire Strikes Back 

Attack of the Clones

The Phantom Menace

A New Hope 

Revenge of the Sith

Return of the Jedi

 

But I love them all dearly and frequently watch all of them just about equally. Each one brings something I like that the others don’t.

 

Great list, thanks!

Clone Wars was released in theaters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Clone_Wars_(film)

 

 

8 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Two caveats: Jedi gets a pass/credit by being part of the OT, but if pushed out of sentimentality, I'd put it at #3. But there are other entries that work better as cinema.

The 

Spoiler

death of Yoda/Luke and Obi-Wan conversation

and the Luke-Vader-Emperor scenes are some of the best SW cinema. 

 

8 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

I think it would be interesting to see a world where Star Wars stopped after one film, and how it would be regarded today. The only problem with that is that we'd lose Empire, which is arguably the best one.

Yes, it would be interesting. We'd also lose Jedi, which I love (the score is amazing, and the speeder bike chase, battle of Endor are brilliant). 

 

Oh and there are many people who believe that Star Wars ended after the three films of the OT. :-)

[Schilkeman 964]

7 minutes ago, JTW said:

Clone Wars was released in theaters

Yes, but that doesn’t change that it was three episodes of the show smushed together. I actually like it a lot, it and the first season have grown on me over the years, but it’s a movie the way two-part pilots are movies.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

1 hour ago, JTW said:

Ranking STAR WARS the lowest of the OT is admirable.  

Thanks for your list!

 

Wha'?! What was my ranking of ANH? Chopped liver? 

[GerateWohl 4,370]

39 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Jedi gets a pass/credit by being part of the OT, so if pushed out of sentimentality, I'd put it at #3.

The Special Edition cost Return of the Jedi at least one position in my ranking.

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

31 minutes ago, Slipperman9 said:

 

Wha'?! What was my ranking of ANH? Chopped liver? 

 

What's ANH?

 

3 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

The Special Edition cost Return of the Jedi at least one position in my ranking.

 

What's the Special Edition?

 

5 hours ago, A. A. Ron said:

SW77

 

[GerateWohl 4,370]

3 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

What's the Special Edition?

You are joking, right?

[Tallguy 3,398]

3 hours ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

There's an argument to be made...a very good argument...that over 45+ years, 11 films, 9 animated series, 7 live-action series, and countless shorts, specials, comics & books, Star Wars has produced only two truly great pieces of pop culture art, the last happening over four decades ago.

 

Not necessarily a criticism. That's some trick to build such an empire on two movies. Whatever else you may say about Lucas, he's quite the businessman. 

 

I'd say Jedi cracks the pop culture bubble. It's not really in the same league as the first two (for reasons) but there is a LOT of what the post-GenX fans would consider "Star Wars 101" that comes from Jedi.

 

My lists:

 

Movies:

Star Wars

The Empire Strikes Back (or The Empire Strikes Back then Star Wars depending on the day)

Rogue One

Return of the Jedi (both better and worse than I think it is)

Solo

The Force Awakens

The Last Jedi

ehhhh.... The Phantom Menace? Then?

Rise of Skywalker (I'm really iffy on this part of the order)

And then I don't care anymore. You know the rest. Actually, this line might be after Solo. Might even be after Return of the Jedi. But I still liked Solo. And the ST can be watchable. Sometimes.

 

TV Shows:

Rebels

Andor

The Mandalorian, mostly.

Clone Wars, probably.

Ahsoka? I mean, I loved David Tennant and Ezra.

And then I don't care anymore. You know the rest.

 

Core Star Wars:

The OT

Rebels

Rogue One

Honorable mentions for Solo and Andor

I might like other Star Wars things but when I want to scratch a Star Wars "itch" it's these or nothing.

[Chen G. 3,949]

The Empire Strikes Back 10/10

Star Wars 8/10

The Force Awakens 7/10

The Last Jedi 7/10

Rogue One 7/10

Revenge of the Sith 7/10

Return of the Jedi 7/10

The Phantom Menace 7/10

The Rise of Skywalker 3/10

Attack of the Clones 3/10

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

48 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

The Empire Strikes Back 10/10

Star Wars 8/10

The Last Jedi 7/10

The Force Awakens 7/10

Rogue One 7/10

Revenge of the Sith 7/10

The Phantom Menace 7/10

The Rise of Skywalker 3/10

Attack of the Clones 3/10

 

 

No RETURN OF THE JEDI?

[Chen G. 3,949]

Oops!

 

There it is, now. Right under Revenge of the Sith.

[Bellosh 3,419]

The Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

A New Hope

Revenge of the Sith

The Last Jedi

The Phantom Menace

Attack of the Clones

The Force Awakens

The Rise of Skywalker

[filmmusic 1,836]

The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars

Return of the Jedi

 

 

The others don't exist for me.

(although I did love the one Ewok movie I had seen in my childhood. I should see both now)

[JTN 2,030]

36 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars

Return of the Jedi

 

 

The others don't exist for me.

 

[Schilkeman 964]

I switched my top two to put AotC on top, one, because I believe it, and two, to piss people off.

[Chen G. 3,949]

31 minutes ago, JTW said:

 

I see Kwangchun Youn approves.

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

10 hours ago, JTW said:

Ranking STAR WARS the lowest of the OT is admirable.  

That's how I feel today anyway. Ask me again tomorrow. lol

[GlastoEls 563]

9 hours ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

There's an argument to be made...a very good argument...that over 45+ years, 11 films, 9 animated series, 7 live-action series, and countless shorts, specials, comics & books, Star Wars has produced only two truly great, classic pieces of pop culture art, the last happening over four decades ago. The rest range from merely "good" to mid to bad.

That reminds me of the old Joseph Heller line (how true it is, I don’t know):

 

Interviewer: “You’ve not written anything as good since Catch 22”

 

Heller: “No, but no one else has either!”

 

And that’s how I feel about Star Wars.  Nothing has quite captured me ever since the OT as a youngster and I doubt ever will.  
 

So “good” (Mandalorian, Clone Wars) to “very good“ (Andor) is more than enough for me. 

[Bayesian 1,363]

My list, in terms of personal enjoyment:

 

1.  A New Hope

2. The Last Jedi

3. Revenge of the Sith

4. The Force Awakens

5. The Phantom Menace

6. Solo

7. Empire Strikes Back

8. everything else

 

So the thing about TESB is that I never thought it was all that great, outside of the score and the last hour or so. Han is at his asshole-iest when we see him on Hoth and the movie is slo-o-ow when Luke gets to Dagobah. I know this opinion is unpopular, to say the least, but I figured it was worth getting it out there before the year runs out. 

[Thor 7,512]

Star Wars.

[mrbellamy 6,287]

Star Wars 

Empire Strikes Back 

Return of the Jedi 

The Last Jedi

The Force Awakens 

The Phantom Menace 

Rogue One

Revenge of the Sith 

Attack of the Clones

Rise of Skywalker

Solo

 

First two are obviously essential, ROTJ is more than the sum of its parts and really elevated by its climax. I think it's clearer than ever that the OT was lightning in a bottle.

 

For a little while I thought TFA was #3 but Rise of Skywalker really brings down what I like about it and makes Last Jedi the best of the sequel trilogy imo.

 

Phantom Menace, Rogue One, and Revenge of the Sith, I find mostly boring with great endings. Rogue One could use a rewatch. Watched the prequels again this year and Phantom was better than I remembered while Sith was worse. 

 

Clones, Rise, and Solo, I find pretty hard to rank. But I put Solo last cause it feels like the biggest nothingburger. Clones and Rise are the funniest to think about John Williams having to spend a lot of time watching and thinking deeply about. Clones has the better ending and I guess seniority in a tie so ranked it first. 

[Tallguy 3,398]

2 hours ago, Bayesian said:

My list, in terms of personal enjoyment:

 

1.  A New Hope

2. The Last Jedi

3. Revenge of the Sith

4. The Force Awakens

5. The Phantom Menace

6. Solo

7. Empire Strikes Back

8. everything else

 

So the thing about TESB is that I never thought it was all that great, outside of the score and the last hour or so. Han is at his asshole-iest when we see him on Hoth and the movie is slo-o-ow when Luke gets to Dagobah. I know this opinion is unpopular, to say the least, but I figured it was worth getting it out there before the year runs out. 

 

Very well thought out departure from conventional wisdom. Although "the last hour or so" in a two hour movie should be a respectable percentage. 

[MrJosh 892]

TESB

Star Wars

ROTJ

TPM

ROTS

RO

TFA

AOTC

TROS

TLJ

Solo

 

[Bayesian 1,363]

4 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

Very well thought out departure from conventional wisdom. Although "the last hour or so" in a two hour movie should be a respectable percentage. 

Thanks for appreciating my ranking, @Tallguy! It’s been a long time since I watched it, but thanks to Disney+, I can confirm that I start really liking TESB only once they get to cloud city, with only 43 min remaining. 
 

In another dose of contrarianism, my high esteem for TLJ stems from the fact that it’s an eminently rewatchable Star Wars movie, second only to ANH. And it’s great fun to watch Kylo lose his shit on crait. (Mind you, the less said about seeing Rey use the force to lift four thousand tons of rocks like it was nothing, when Luke could barely free his lightsaber from a snowbank three episodes earlier, the better…)

[HunterTech 994]

Based on the films I can comfortably say I have familiarity with:

 

1). RotJ

2). TFA

3). RotS

4). TESB

5). ANH

6). TLJ

7). TRoS

 

The second and third spots are entirely rooted in the two times I really was invested in the series (as a kid in 2005, and as a teen in 2015), with the first basically going off the great experience I had seeing it on the big screen last year.

 

Everything else is based in the fallout of modern fandom and corporate excesses .

[Tom 4,664]

1) TESB

2) ANH

3) ROTS

4) ROTJ

5) TPM

6) AotC

7) RO (A Williams score would move the whole thing up dramatically)

8) Solo

9) Rey's Theme

10) The Spark and Fathiers

11) Speeder Chase and Rise of Skywalker

12) Obi-Wan's theme

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

18 hours ago, GlastoEls said:

And that’s how I feel about Star Wars.  Nothing has quite captured me ever since the OT as a youngster and I doubt ever will.  
 

 

Pretty much sums it up for me. And I think you had to have seen Star Wars at a certain age to get that feeling. TESB, an objectively better film, comes close, very close, but nothing can top seeing Star Wars the first time when you're young.

 

And the closest I came as an adult to that kind of experience was Fellowship of the Ring. But even then, it's a completely different feeling.

[Tallguy 3,398]

17 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

but nothing can top seeing Star Wars the first time when you're young

 

Not just young. It's also when there was nothing even remotely like it. Not even all the things it borrowed from. It literally changed the game.

 

18 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

And the closest I came as an adult

 

Hmmm. There are new things I love. There are still things I obsess over. (The Expanse.) There are other film scores I play into the ground. But something that hit me like Star Wars? I'm trying to think of something more recent that The Wrath of Khan that even comes close.

 

Again, how much of that is a factor of how much of a game changer Star Wars was and how much of it is not being 8 anymore? Dunno.

[GlastoEls 563]

Watching the OT makes me feel 8 years old again in all honesty!

 

(and thank goodness that George Lucas resisted calls to make the ending of Jedi bittersweet so my childhood is forever happily locked at a party on a forest moon!)

[Tom 4,664]

2 minutes ago, GlastoEls said:

Watching the OT makes me feel 8 years old again in all honesty!

 

(and thank goodness that George Lucas resisted calls to make the ending of Jedi bittersweet so my childhood is forever happily locked at a party on a forest moon!)

Lucas understands the logic of fairy tales.  Seemingly, not many others do.  

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

1 minute ago, Tom said:

Lucas understands the logic of fairy tales. 

 

@Chen G. in 5...4...3...2...

[Tallguy 3,398]

46 minutes ago, Tom said:

Lucas understands the logic of fairy tales.  Seemingly, not many others do.  

 

At one time he understood the logic of Westerns.

 

44 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

 

@Chen G. in 5...4...3...2...

 

[Chen G. 3,949]

3 hours ago, Tom said:

Lucas understands the logic of fairy tales.

 

I'll put it like this: What about Star Wars is fairytale-like?

 

Actually wait, I can answer that:

 

We have the damsel-in-distress storyline. That's one. Even though, strictly speaking, Luke doesn't undertake the quest to save the princess until they're on the Death Star: prior to that, his quest is to get the Droids to the Rebels (we'll get to where that's from soon enough).

 

But a damsel-in-distress story...hmm... I wonder if there's pulp sci-fi author, whose works Lucas knew well, referenced often in interviews and even quoted from verbatim, who wrote literally dozens of books based on that premise... if only there was one... Oh wait, I know!

 

 

How many times John Carter have to rescue Dejah Thoris from implicit rape? Probably several dozen times. Then they bump uglies and have a son Cathoris, and now he has to save Thuvia. Then we get to Tar Hadron, and he has to save Sanoma Tora. And what about Tarzan and Jane? Same idea. Ditto with David and Dian in Pellucidar. What's in common with all of them? They're all written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. And would you look at that, John Carter's adventures are on a desert planet, with two moons, run-down earthen cities, padwaans (okay, they're called Padwars, tomato tomato), Sith, Jedi (Jed). Hmmm....

 

Okay, so we have the damsel in distress. That's one. What else? Oh, well, we have the everyman hero. Well, at least BEFORE Luke became the son of the dark lord and "our last hope" thing. Before that, sure, his father was a great pilot, but in and of himself, Luke is just an everyman farmer, a clumsy orphan living in a hole in the ground. Well, that's certainly not John Carter: he's an army captain, and when he shows up on Mars he's practically superman. Flash Gordon? Nah, doesn't fit either. Bugger! If only there was a book we knew Lucas read, which is about an everyman orphan, with a glorious forefather, who lives in a hole in the ground...hmm...no, nothing comes to mind. OH WAIT!

 

 

And what d'ya know? Its two for the price of one! Both the everyman, orphan hero from a hole in the ground, AND the tetchy old wizard mentor figure. Actually, its three in one: what's the ostensible "moral" of the parable that is Star Wars? I need only quote that old tetchy mentor figure: "Trust your feelings." Well, that's pretty much what this short bloke above has to do. Funny, that.

 

There are other little flourishes: we have a cranky old uncle in the guise of the "fairytale" foster parent. For my money, I'd sooner bet on The Searchers being the model than Sneewittchen. Then we have the fact that Luke doesn't know about his father's glorious past. THAT's probably Lucas thinking of King Arthur, although its scarcely some profound insight borne of a lifetime of studying Chrétien and Mallory. He's also given his father's sword as an heirloom, but I don't want to make the parallel to Excalibur just yet because Luke scarcely gets to do anything of substance with that sword before he loses it, and then in the prequel trilogy we see his dad and his future mentor ran through laser swords as though through tissue-paper...

 

Actually, you know what Star Wars film is the most fairytale-like? Its CERTAINLY not any of the prequels, Lor knows its not The Empire Strikes Back by any means. Its DEFINITELY not the Holiday Special. Its not Return of the Jedi, and its not even the original Star Wars. Why, its:

 

 

Yeah, that's some quality Star Wars if ever there was one.  Its pretty much a ripoff of The Hobbit (and a nearly beat-by-beat dry-un for Willow): we have a diminutive hero, Mace (Bilbo) joining a group of Ewoks (Dwarves) on a quest to rescue his parents from the Gorax (Smaug) who lives under a solitary mountain peak (Erebor). There's even a giant spider and a wolf attack. Then there's a sequel, with yet ANOTHER old man with a staff and pointy hat. Our heroine stumbles upon his house when he's away and cleans it up, because Lucas lives on planet earth so he knows how Snow White (Disney, not Jacob Grimm) goes...

 

 

And yes, I know it's overkill for a joke-prompt, but its therapeutic! 

[Tallguy 3,398]

It's like watching Babe Ruth point to center field!

[Chen G. 3,949]

I just find it ironic: the original Star Wars, where Lucas inadvertantly tapped into these fairytale-like conceits (mostly thanks to the stuff he was reading at the time) is in this particular regard the most successfull.

 

But then in later entries where he's consciously trying to tap into fairytale storytelling (mostly via Tolkien, to a lesser extent Disney) - namely Return of the Jedi, the Ewok films and Willow - it comes off forced, cloying and ultimately works to the detriment of the films.

 

And at no point does it square off with the scholarly spin Lucas tries to put on it. Yes, Lucas did read in Bettelheim's book that fairytale heroes face trials in sets of threes, but he never really does that: it was probably on his mind when he wrote the Jabba short: first C3PO comes to free Han, and fails. Then Leia, and she fails. And then Luke and he seemingly fails. They're...not exactly trials, certainly not for Luke. So even that doesn't really hold water, and more importantly, it slows the film down almost to a screeching halt.

[Giftheck 916]

Here's my rankings

 

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Rogue One
3. A New Hope
4. Revenge of the Sith
5. Solo
6. The Phantom Menace
7. Return of the Jedi
8. The Force Awakens
9. The Last Jedi
10. Attack of the Clones
11. The Rise of Skywalker, The Clone Wars