The only one that can really be considered high art is ESB and that’s not to say that SW and TFA aren’t great films but if we compare those films to some of the all time greats they won’t hold up nearly as well as ESB would. Then if we bring Rogue1 and ROTJ into the fold any kind of argument for why those are as great as ESB (or the other all time greats) would wither and die very swiftly.
I disagree. The overall writing in Empire may be better than in Star Wars, but stylistically Empire isn’t nearly as bold as its predecessor. In my opinion, the cinematography in Star Wars is unmatched by any other movie in the franchise.
I think cinematography (and style in general) only goes so far when we’re talking about all time greats. In my opinion strong writing in terms of plot and characters trumps all.
That’s why I said “in the franchise”.
If I only cared about stories and characters, I could just as well read a book. This doesn’t mean I don’t care about these things, they are just not the most important aspects of a movie to me. A simple story, like in Star Wars, told in a visually interesting way trumps a very complex story, filmed in a rather basic way.
For example, the way the fighter movements are created during the attack on the Death Star, by moving the ship in one direction and moving the background relative to that to create this complex sense of motion, is fantastic. It’s a very unique stylistic element, that sadly hasn’t been used since then. Now the spaceship movements in Empire or Jedi are much more realistic, since they were created by thinking where the ships are moving in 3D space, but they are not as visaully engaging, at least for me.