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Ranking the Star Wars films — Page 163

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I rewatched about half of the films since the last time I posted in this thread and I think I’ve arrived at my definitive ranking until IX comes out.

  1. Star Wars
  2. The Empire Strikes Back
  3. The Last Jedi
  4. The Force Awakens
  5. Return of the Jedi
  6. Solo
  7. Rogue One
  8. The Phantom Menace
  9. Attack of the Clones
  10. Revenge of the Sith

The PT is still kind of a toss-up, but the middle part of the list seems to have stabilized for me.

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My personal (and probably controversial) ranking list:

  1. Star Wars: Just an overall fun adventure that works great on its own.
  2. The Empire Strikes Back: Great most of the time, but has some clunky dialogue and plot holes.
  3. Revenge of the Sith: Even more clunky dialogue, but when it’s good, it’s great.
  4. Return of the Jedi: Has some great moments, but mostly just tries to be kid-friendly.
  5. Rogue One: Not the plot I expected, but it takes the franchise in a great new direction.
  6. The Force Awakens: Tries to be a fun movie like Star Wars, but filled with cliches and plot holes.
  7. The Last Jedi: Ruins everything good about TFA with massive plot holes and “subverting expectations.”
  8. Solo: Tries to explain too many things at once, and ends up failing miserably.
  9. Attack of the Clones: One of the most boring Star Wars movies, and the plot is terrible.
  10. The Phantom Menace: Somehow manages to be both kid-friendly and dull.
  11. The Holiday Special: Why. Just why.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

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StarkillerAG said:

My personal (and probably controversial) ranking list:

  1. Star Wars: Just an overall fun adventure that works great on its own.
  2. The Empire Strikes Back: Great most of the time, but has some clunky dialogue and plot holes.
  3. Revenge of the Sith: Even more clunky dialogue, but when it’s good, it’s great.
  4. Return of the Jedi: Has some great moments, but mostly just tries to be kid-friendly.
  5. Rogue One: Not the plot I expected, but it takes the franchise in a great new direction.
  6. The Force Awakens: Tries to be a fun movie like Star Wars, but filled with cliches and plot holes.
  7. The Last Jedi: Ruins everything good about TFA with massive plot holes and “subverting expectations.”
  8. Solo: Tries to explain too many things at once, and ends up failing miserably.
  9. Attack of the Clones: One of the most boring Star Wars movies, and the plot is terrible.
  10. The Phantom Menace: Somehow manages to be both kid-friendly and dull.
  11. The Holiday Special: Why. Just why.

Why is this controversial?

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 (Edited)

LordZerome1080 said:

StarkillerAG said:

My personal (and probably controversial) ranking list:

  1. Star Wars: Just an overall fun adventure that works great on its own.
  2. The Empire Strikes Back: Great most of the time, but has some clunky dialogue and plot holes.
  3. Revenge of the Sith: Even more clunky dialogue, but when it’s good, it’s great.
  4. Return of the Jedi: Has some great moments, but mostly just tries to be kid-friendly.
  5. Rogue One: Not the plot I expected, but it takes the franchise in a great new direction.
  6. The Force Awakens: Tries to be a fun movie like Star Wars, but filled with cliches and plot holes.
  7. The Last Jedi: Ruins everything good about TFA with massive plot holes and “subverting expectations.”
  8. Solo: Tries to explain too many things at once, and ends up failing miserably.
  9. Attack of the Clones: One of the most boring Star Wars movies, and the plot is terrible.
  10. The Phantom Menace: Somehow manages to be both kid-friendly and dull.
  11. The Holiday Special: Why. Just why.

Why is this controversial?

Because I ranked ROTS so highly. I like it much more than most people here, who hate all 3 prequels equally. Also, I like SW better than ESB. Most fans treat ESB like superhero fans treat The Dark Knight.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

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StarkillerAG said:

My personal (and probably controversial) ranking list:

  1. Star Wars: Just an overall fun adventure that works great on its own.
  2. The Empire Strikes Back: Great most of the time, but has some clunky dialogue and plot holes.
  3. Revenge of the Sith: Even more clunky dialogue, but when it’s good, it’s great.
  4. Return of the Jedi: Has some great moments, but mostly just tries to be kid-friendly.
  5. Rogue One: Not the plot I expected, but it takes the franchise in a great new direction.
  6. The Force Awakens: Tries to be a fun movie like Star Wars, but filled with cliches and plot holes.
  7. The Last Jedi: Ruins everything good about TFA with massive plot holes and “subverting expectations.”
  8. Solo: Tries to explain too many things at once, and ends up failing miserably.
  9. Attack of the Clones: One of the most boring Star Wars movies, and the plot is terrible.
  10. The Phantom Menace: Somehow manages to be both kid-friendly and dull.
  11. The Holiday Special: Why. Just why.

What do you mean by plot holes in TESB?

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StarkillerAG said:

LordZerome1080 said:

StarkillerAG said:

My personal (and probably controversial) ranking list:

  1. Star Wars: Just an overall fun adventure that works great on its own.
  2. The Empire Strikes Back: Great most of the time, but has some clunky dialogue and plot holes.
  3. Revenge of the Sith: Even more clunky dialogue, but when it’s good, it’s great.
  4. Return of the Jedi: Has some great moments, but mostly just tries to be kid-friendly.
  5. Rogue One: Not the plot I expected, but it takes the franchise in a great new direction.
  6. The Force Awakens: Tries to be a fun movie like Star Wars, but filled with cliches and plot holes.
  7. The Last Jedi: Ruins everything good about TFA with massive plot holes and “subverting expectations.”
  8. Solo: Tries to explain too many things at once, and ends up failing miserably.
  9. Attack of the Clones: One of the most boring Star Wars movies, and the plot is terrible.
  10. The Phantom Menace: Somehow manages to be both kid-friendly and dull.
  11. The Holiday Special: Why. Just why.

Why is this controversial?

Because I ranked ROTS so highly. I like it much more than most people here, who hate all 3 prequels equally. Also, I like SW better than ESB. Most fans treat ESB like superhero fans treat The Dark Knight.

I like ROTS too so you’re in good company.

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fmalover said:

StarkillerAG said:

My personal (and probably controversial) ranking list:

  1. Star Wars: Just an overall fun adventure that works great on its own.
  2. The Empire Strikes Back: Great most of the time, but has some clunky dialogue and plot holes.
  3. Revenge of the Sith: Even more clunky dialogue, but when it’s good, it’s great.
  4. Return of the Jedi: Has some great moments, but mostly just tries to be kid-friendly.
  5. Rogue One: Not the plot I expected, but it takes the franchise in a great new direction.
  6. The Force Awakens: Tries to be a fun movie like Star Wars, but filled with cliches and plot holes.
  7. The Last Jedi: Ruins everything good about TFA with massive plot holes and “subverting expectations.”
  8. Solo: Tries to explain too many things at once, and ends up failing miserably.
  9. Attack of the Clones: One of the most boring Star Wars movies, and the plot is terrible.
  10. The Phantom Menace: Somehow manages to be both kid-friendly and dull.
  11. The Holiday Special: Why. Just why.

What do you mean by plot holes in TESB?

Stuff like:
How did they get the walkers on Hoth? There were only star destroyers, no transport ships.
How did Han get to Cloud City on sublight speed? Maybe stars are closer in the SW universe, but if so, why do they need lightspeed in the first place?
Why are the Rebel ships so slow in evacuating after the battle? There are still walkers that haven’t been destroyed, and Darth Vader himself has invaded the base.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

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joefavs said:

I rewatched about half of the films since the last time I posted in this thread and I think I’ve arrived at my definitive ranking until IX comes out.

  1. Star Wars
  2. The Empire Strikes Back
  3. The Last Jedi
  4. The Force Awakens
  5. Return of the Jedi
  6. Solo
  7. Rogue One
  8. The Phantom Menace
  9. Attack of the Clones
  10. Revenge of the Sith

The PT is still kind of a toss-up, but the middle part of the list seems to have stabilized for me.

That looks about right. I may have shifted the top 5 around a little but only 3-5.

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Like I’ve said it the best, RotS is one my all-time favorites, despite its flaws.

It’s nice to see a TLJ hater who doesn’t blow things out of proportion, personally attack Kathleen Kennedy or start namecalling the director. Lots of people, including one on this site, could learn from you. Then again, you’re new, so for all I know it could rapidly degenerate, but so far so good.

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Anakin Starkiller said:

It’s nice to see a TLJ hater who doesn’t blow things out of proportion, personally attack Kathleen Kennedy or start namecalling the director. Lots of people, including one on this site, could learn from you. Then again, you’re new, so for all I know it could rapidly degenerate, but so far so good.

It won’t, I promise. I don’t blame Kathleen, Rian, or any one person for “ruining” the movie. I have the same opinion about people who blame Lucas for “ruining” the prequels. He made the franchise you love, show a little respect.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

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StarkillerAG said:

Anakin Starkiller said:

It’s nice to see a TLJ hater who doesn’t blow things out of proportion, personally attack Kathleen Kennedy or start namecalling the director. Lots of people, including one on this site, could learn from you. Then again, you’re new, so for all I know it could rapidly degenerate, but so far so good.

It won’t, I promise. I don’t blame Kathleen, Rian, or any one person for “ruining” the movie. I have the same opinion about people who blame Lucas for “ruining” the prequels. He made the franchise you love, show a little respect.

I do blame both of them:

  • Kathleen for not better managing the new sequel trilogy and franchise overall, not having a cohesive plan for the movies in making them actually work as a proper trilogy or tie in respectfully to the existing saga.

  • Rian for using the first draft of his script (while tossing out JJ’s story treatments for 8 and 9) and purposefully making a movie that would make half the audience love it and the other half hate it (ie. if not purposefully then unwittingly dividing the fanbase). The messages, tone and body language I get from him when dealing with the fans and original cast (such as Mark Hamill) is that of dismissive entitlement and a man on a ego ride because he’s been allowed to make a STAR WARS movie. He didn’t care what happened in TFA apart from carrying over the characters in name and simply pursued his own vision and ideas (ie. essentially a fan fiction on the level of some of the wackier EU books) regardless of how well it meshed with the pre-existing story , openly mocking fans (“Your Snoke theory sucks”) for simply theorising on events and questions setup by TFA, to which his answer was effectively “nothing”. He didn’t ruin the movie, he made a bad movie that significantly lowered the quality of the one that came before, character assassinated one of the biggest and most popular characters from the OT and in pop culture and threw insults at fans who dared criticise the mess he made.

In regards to Lucas:

  • He didn’t “ruin” the PT but he did have some odd ideas and creative decisions that resulted in a lot of cheese and cringe. Thankfully the efforts of many fan editors really help to make the awesome parts of these movies shine and become pretty enjoyable again for adult viewing.

  • He HAS ruined the OT in many of the retrospective changes made that not only change elements of the story but also undermine, diminish or outright replace the original ground breaking effects and work of people that worked on the movies and got them nominated for multiple awards. All of that would of course not be anywhere near so bad if the OUT was readily available but he has made it his mission to revise history instead and try to make the original masterpieces disappear from existence and memory. It is mainly for this reason that despite the respect I have for him as the creator and creative genius of the OT (of which I love the movies, not the franchise) that I personally find it very hard at times to still view him in a positive light.

Just because he created Star Wars does not absolve him from any and all criticism, especially if I consider him to have butchered and vandalised his own creation which I grew up with and came to love over many years. It would be akin to a artist coming back to one of their world famous paintings that’s been around for 20 years and graffiti tagging it with a spray can because they felt like it. Sure it’s within their rights to do so but you have to expect a lot of people to be upset about it and at some stage such a work becomes so culturally significant that it should be considered part of the public domain and preserved. That doesn’t even get into the height of hypocrisy shown by George in light of him standing in front of Congress in 1988 citing the very issue of preserving culturally significant films.

Val

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Pssh, making stuff up? These are legitimate facts, Dom.

EDIT: Did want to chime back in say that although your ST blame feels a bit premature, that I do somewhat agree with your points regarding Lucas, Val.

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  1. Star Wars original '77 version. Because it’s the original and first, also a great movie.
  2. The Empire Strikes Back '80 version. Rare that a sequel is as good as the first movie.
  3. Return of the Jedi '83 version. A lot to live up to and pulled it off, just.
  4. And the rest. All uniformly not up to the original trilogy, not even close IMO. Some more dismal than others ie Phantom Menace.
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hello.

first post here!

  1. Empire
  2. Star Wars
  3. Jedi
  4. Rogue One
  5. Force awakens
  6. Solo
  7. Phantom Menace
  8. Revenge of the Sith
  9. The Last Jedi
  10. Attack of the Clones
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Chances are that no one really cares but here we go lol.
10. AOTC(Hate)
9. TPM(Dislike)
8. Solo(Dislike)
7. Rogue One(It’s Fine)
6/5(tied). TLJ/ROTS(Decent)
4. ROTJ(Good)
3. TFA(Great)
2. SW(Amazing)

  1. ESB(One of the best films ever made)
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This thread would not exist in its current size if no one cared 😉

You have a different way of listing them though for sure 😛

Val

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openly mocking fans (“Your Snoke theory sucks”) for simply theorising on events and questions setup by TFA

Tbf, all the Snoke and Rey theories did suck. There were a couple for Rey that were decent (memory wiped student of Luke and new Chosen One), but I wasn’t actively rooting for them to come true. Everything else it was blatantly clear wasn’t gonna happen if you have any basic understanding of storytelling and the direction of these movies. Seriously, why did so many people think Snoke would be revealed as that guy Palpatine mentions once a film that these new ones are clearly ignoring? I got both what I hoped for and expected with these two mystery boxes, and no plausible alternatives were presented within the films themselves.

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Anakin Starkiller said:

openly mocking fans (“Your Snoke theory sucks”) for simply theorising on events and questions setup by TFA

Tbf, all the Snoke and Rey theories did suck. There were a couple for Rey that were decent (memory wiped student of Luke and new Chosen One), but I wasn’t actively rooting for them to come true. Everything else it was blatantly clear wasn’t gonna happen if you have any basic understanding of storytelling and the direction of these movies. Seriously, why did so many people think Snoke would be revealed as that guy Palpatine mentions once a film that these new ones are clearly ignoring? I got both what I hoped for and expected with these two mystery boxes, and no plausible alternatives were presented within the films themselves.

For me at least, it’s strange to see one character receive six films of buildup and another very little explanation of where he came from (or what his faction is). Something as simple as a casual mention of Palpatine’s secret apprentice would have been fine.

Maul- A Star Wars Story

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Anakin Starkiller said:

openly mocking fans (“Your Snoke theory sucks”) for simply theorising on events and questions setup by TFA

Tbf, all the Snoke and Rey theories did suck. There were a couple for Rey that were decent (memory wiped student of Luke and new Chosen One), but I wasn’t actively rooting for them to come true. Everything else it was blatantly clear wasn’t gonna happen if you have any basic understanding of storytelling and the direction of these movies. Seriously, why did so many people think Snoke would be revealed as that guy Palpatine mentions once a film that these new ones are clearly ignoring? I got both what I hoped for and expected with these two mystery boxes, and no plausible alternatives were presented within the films themselves.

I’m not saying that many of them weren’t either ridiculous, wishful thinking or illogical and inconsistent with Star Wars itself. It was the fact that he openly mocked fans and in retrospect it’s more inline with directly insult since in the end his own explanation was: nothing.

It’s akin to a group of co-workers coming up with different plans to resolve an issue (some of them legitimately good and interesting) but the boss turns around and says all their ideas and plans suck. When they ask him what his grand plan is then - “oh sorry, I don’t have a plan either…but yours sucks regardless”.

Personally I had no theory myself or cared about any particular one other people came up with. I just had a lot of questions from TFA and was genuinely interested to learn more about this character. That interest was actually massively stoked by how powerful and threateningly imposing he is shown to be in TLJ (it finally felt like there was a credible and real threat behind the First Order since the rest of them are bumbling fools), right up to the point he is killed off without so much as a tidbit of background info that would not only tell me about him but why the fuck was the universe in the situation it was in after the previous 6 movies and the ultimate triumph over the Empire and the Emperor!

Val