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Post #1120081

Author
canofhumdingers
Parent topic
Ranking the Star Wars films
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1120081/action/topic#1120081
Date created
19-Oct-2017, 8:17 AM

It’s a great time to be a Star Wars fan. Just two years ago, my list would’ve only included three films. Now it has five!

  1. Star Wars (tie)
  2. The Empire Strikes Back (tie)
  3. Rogue One
  4. The Force Awakens
  5. Return of the Jedi

My rankings are a mixture of how much I personally enjoy each film combined with how good it is on a more objective, critical level. But mostly it’s just how much I enjoy them.

It’s funny, I used to be a die hard “ESB is the best ever, bar none!” kinda guy. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve really come to appreciate the true, unbridled greatness of the original film (it was always my second place anyway). And I’m now at a point where I just honestly can’t decide which one I prefer. I love them both.

Also, Rogue One has moved up the list with repeat viewings. I really liked it from day one, but I initially felt the characters were bland and held it back. Whereas TFA’s biggest strength is its great characters. So initially I had those swapped. But on repeat viewings Rogue One’s issues melted into the background whereas the problems with story in TFA become more glaring. Even so, I’m amazed that there are now TWO new Star Wars movies that I rank higher tha ROTJ. After the prequels I figured there’d never be a new Star Wars movie I liked.

But rankings aside, I love all five movies. Even ROTJ, easily the weakest of the bunch overall, has a rip-roaring (if not totally logical) opening act and has a wonderful third act that feels like the perfect end to the OT (and served as a template for how to edit the third act of R1…)