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Post #1215775

Author
Density
Parent topic
Ranking the Star Wars films
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1215775/action/topic#1215775
Date created
10-Jun-2018, 12:43 AM

Now having seen Solo and having re-watched and re-evaluated The Last Jedi, here are my new rankings:

  1. The Empire Strikes Back

  2. Star Wars

  3. Return of the Jedi

  4. Solo

  5. The Force Awakens

  6. The Last Jedi

  7. Revenge of the Sith

  8. Rogue One

  9. The Phantom Menace

  10. Attack of the Clones

I responded enthusiastically to my first watch of TLJ, and should emphasize that I don’t agree with the haters on the majority of things they love to complain and rave about it for. BUT on re-watching, it didn’t really hold up. Not because of FEMALES or anything like that, but because the main quality that made me feel excited watching it the first time – its subversiveness and unpredictability – no longer applied. Which meant that all that was left was the basic elements of the film – plot, character development, dialogue, etc. – and they had to stand on their own. And that meant an overlong movie filled with too many jokes that didn’t land, situations that made no sense, and characters that behaved stupidly.

Not to mention the hat trick Johnson pulled to make it feel like he was creating something fresh and bold was obvious on re-watch, and consequently it in fact feels even less original than The Force Awakens at times – i.e. the Snoke scene is literally almost verbatim the same as the Emperor scene in ROTJ, just with a TWIST. Luke sacrificed himself like Obi-Wan did, but it was more EXTREME. And so on. It remains somewhat interesting as a deconstruction of Star Wars, but in the end Johnson didn’t really capture what I personally like about Star Wars. That is especially clear when watched back-to-back with Solo, which DID capture what I like about Star Wars to a greater extent.