I enjoy Star Wars in every way I can, whether it be consuming media or spending copious amounts of money on merch. I’ve spent the better part of the past year delving really deep into the Star Wars universe, which means I feel like I need to preface this list with a warning. This list is based purely on my opinion and only on how much I enjoy each movie, not what it contributes to the Universe itself.
- “Revenge of The Sith” (Episode III)
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This movie is my absolute favorite movie in the entire series and here’s why. The story of how corrupt the Jedi had become and how it all began to push Anakin over the edge is just beautiful. It’s a sharp contrast to the original trilogy’s final act; full of energy and the single longest unbroken fight scene in cinematic history. The battle on Mustafar is one of the most iconic scenes from the Star Wars movies. I also love the chemistry between Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, and Natalie Portman.
- “Rogue One”
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Rogue One is somewhat of an unsung hero because it’s not a part of the actual Skywalker Saga, but the continuity that it creates between non-saga and saga is wonderful. An exciting story about the events leading up to the beginning of A New Hope is the definition of a fan service done perfectly. Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso are some of the best anti-heroes of the entire Universe (second only to the Mandalorian). It’s an unexpecting love story and have one of the most beautifully tragic endings of any movie I’ve ever seen.
- “Attack of The Clones” (Episode II)
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Attack of The Clones is strangely high on this list, but I offer you two things. A) The Kaminoans and their entire cloning lifestyle is mesmerizing to understand. B) This is where we get the origin story of the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, Boba Fett. I happen to not only be a Boba Fett simp, but I am also helplessly in love with the rugged Jango Fett. There are so many amazing lines in this movie and they’re utterly quotable, even by characters in later series (See Boba Fett quoting his father’s infamous line “Just a simple man making his way through the galaxy.” in the Mandalorian). This is also the movie in which we are introduced to a budding relationship between Anakin and Padmé, played by Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman respectively.
- “Return of The Jedi” (Episode VI)
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Plenty of people like to point out that this is the movie where we get Slave Leia and while those people are correct, I would like to raise another poin; this is the movie where we are faced with Chanel boots Skywalker and his fabulous hair. This movie is also when we’re truly introduced to Jabba the Hutt and we have a full scuffle with our heroes and our B-plot villains to open the movie. Astride that, we’re introduced to two of the most popular terrible creatures in the universe, the Rancor and the Sarlacc. We are also given the infamous “Who are you?” “Someone who loves you.” exchange between Han and Leia. As well as Boba Fett’s jetpack malfunction and his ultimate hiatus from the series via the Sarlacc and we all know I’m a fan of Boba. The ending of this movie is also probably the most iconic for the original trilogy with the celebration of the fall of the Empire on Endor. Ewoks, fireworks, and the force ghosts of Obi-Wan and Yoda as well as a recently replaced young Anakin Skywalker.
- “The Last Jedi” (Episode VIII)
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Now we get into the mediocre and fuzz area of my ranking. Not to say these movies are bad, they’re just not my favorite. That being said, The Last Jedi is one of my comfort movies as well as the first of the sequels on the list. Many people in the community talk smack about the sequels but I don’t really have a problem with at least two of them. The Last Jedi is a wonderful movie, creating and explaining the force dyad between Rey and Kylo and showing just how much Kylo isn’t really bad, just wrong and unsure of how to handle it. Not only do we get the full fleshed, or rather mainly fleshed (haha because he has a mechanical arm), return of the titular Luke Skywalker but we get some pretty awesome lightsaber training as well as force training. Oh yeah, and Yoda comes back as a force ghost. It’s a great story even though they did throw away stormpilot which really bothers me seeing as both John Boyega and Oscar Isaac seemed to have been 100% on board.
- “The Empire Strikes Back” (Episode V)
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Back to being a Boba stan, this is the movie that showcases my second favorite bounty hunter the most. This movie would be much higher on the list if I had watched it more often. It’s a riveting installment to the original trilogy and houses the infamous “I am your father.” line. This movie offers the most when it comes to finding out who Darth Vader and Luke are to each other and how things fall into place. Most relationships start to develop in this movie, sadly including the whole Luke and Leia kiss which I wish I could scrub from my brain. Vader tries to steal Luke and we get a whole sequence on Bespin, which is one of the most beautiful planets we encounter in this trilogy. New characters are introduced and fleshed out like Lando Calrissian and Boba Fett himself. This movie is just all around a fun watch.
- “The Force Awakens” (Episode VII)
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Disney finally got their grubby little hands on Lucas Films and created The Force Awakens, a movie that I would consider morally neutral with the same amount of bad as good. The new characters are set up for amazing arcs in the trilogy and we get to see even more planets. To many a fan’s chagrin, we’re introduced to Rey who seems to be quite helpless in this movie but is set up to become a wonderful strong female lead. Finn screams Rey a bunch and we’re goaded with a possible romance between Finn and Rey. Poe gets thrown to the side a lot, just being seen as a cocky pilot who will have a learning arc later in the trilogy. All in all, this movie is kind of predictable. The characters are rather basic to start and a decent amount of the movie is still a fan-service.
- “A New Hope” (Episode IV)
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Where it all began. This movie is low on the list not because it’s bad, it’s actually an amazing movie and a massive technological feat for the time. This movie is down here because I personally just find it incredibly boring. It’s a giant setup because George Lucas needed a way to explain his universe and introduce lots of new concepts and ideas that later movies didn’t have to touch. The entire movie feels like the prologue of a book; main character is introduced, then trained by someone who knows who he really is, main character meets some friends, saves a girl, falls in love, love triangle is formed, mentor is killed by bad guy, main character vows to avenge him, roll credits. It’s a simple premise that I don’t really love to watch for anything other that the wonderful score John Williams created and the beautiful cinematography.
- “The Phantom Menace” (Episode I)
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This is the part I was dreading, the movies that I will only watch if someone has never seen them before. The Phantom Menace is a very obvious product of its time, like the other prequels, but worse. We get a little bit of back story for Obi-Wan but the books are definitely much better at showing us why he is how he is. We’re introduced to characters that we will never see in a movie ever again like Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn. This movie almost tries too hard to be the prequels version of A New Hope but annoying. Most of the movie is about pod racing and an annoying little Anakin Skywalker and his insanely high midichlorian count. I just cannot stand watching this movie.
- “The Rise of Skywalker” (Episode IX)
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This movie is the opposite of Rogue One in that it is a fan-service done terribly wrong. It almost completely retconned Return of The Jedi by telling us, “hey uh Palpatine isn’t actually dead and Vader’s sacrifice was all for naught.” It’s also the least structurally sound of the sequels and lots of things don’t add up or make sense. The music is all out of whack because of how it was played around with outside of Williams’ reach and all in all, this movie is just a mess. We do get to see a live action yellow lightsaber though which is super cool for fans who know the significance but then it’s ruined by Rey claiming she’s a Skywalker. I’m not going to say that this movie should be erased from canon but, jeez, I hate watching this movie.
- “Solo: A Star Wars Story”
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This is the one movie I will claim I absolutely despise. I don’t have many good things to say about this movie, the acting was subpar which is saying a lot seeing as Woody Harrelson and Emilia Clarke were both in this movie. I hated the story and the way they set the end up like a cliffhanger. It’s hard to make a movie when you know the fate of the main character and Solo really struggled with making the story interesting and not just showing you all the things Han Solo did before the original trilogy. The movie jumps around so much and it’s just not very entertaining.
A friendly reminder that these are all opinions I have created based on my own preferences and my multiple watches of the movies as well as their show accompaniments and some canon lore. Watch these movies for yourself and come to your own conclusions! The Star Wars fandom can always use more members.