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Rank the Star Wars Movies (so far).

Firefly was fab, and I loved the first few seasons of Buffy before I realised it was mainly because I was obsessed with SMG. Then real girls and beer drew my attention.
 
My thoughts are mostly in line with @Edward M above:

  1. The Empire Strikes Back. We see how things aren't going as peachy for the Rebel Alliance even though the Death Star is destroyed. Luke receives his training, Han Solo meets an unfortunate fate, Vader has his father-son talk, and the Millennium Falcon has to escape the Imperial Fleet. Among other things. Solid movie.
  2. A New Hope. The original that kicked it all off. A very good movie, although slightly outclassed by its first sequel.
  3. Rogue One. Watched it yesterday, and with it fresh in mind, I'll say it's among the better ones. A worthy addition to the Star Wars saga, which strengthens A New Hope in several aspects. And it might have the best action scenes in the saga too. I can't rate it above the original two, though. I saw it too recently, and the others too long ago, to really trust my judgement and bias on this one.
  4. Return of the Jedi. Still a very good Star Wars movie, although some points are detracted for doing the whole Death Star plot again. Still in the better half of the list, though.
  5. The Force Awakens. I was a little in doubt whether to put this above or below Return of the Jedi. It does nostalgia very well, has some memorable moments, better effects and arguably better acting. But then I remembered why I detracted points from RotJ, and this definitely counts double when the same thing happens again. Also, that they couldn't find a better villain than "The Empire, again, with a different name". So many new settings and characters, and they still went for a pseudo-Empire, as if bad guys can't form any other coalitions in this galaxy.
  6. The Phantom Menace. A bit of a guilty pleasure to me. It was the first Star Wars film I saw. In retrospect, I recognise its bad acting, bad pacing, lack of coherent story and some rather questionable character/directing choices, but it is too imbued with nostalgia to place further down the list. Besides, the next two are worse. Also, it has a pretty epic lightsaber duel, and one of the series' most memorable bad guys (sidenote: killing off Darth Maul was one of the biggest mistakes of this movie. Had they kept him around to kill main heroes in the sequels, prequel trilogy would have been way better).
  7. Revenge of the Sith. Poorly acted, directed and written. I wonder if the actors ever saw sunlight during its filming, there are too many greenscreen scenes to count. Effects fly everywhere, filling every frame. And our main character is completely unlikeable. All around an unpleasant movie.
  8. Attack of the Clones. Revenge of the Sith may be off the rails, but this was where the derailing really happened. Unconvincing acting, greenscreen effects making constant visual noise in the background, main characters making stupid choices, and another introduce-then-kill villain. And what is its story, again?
 
I would put Rogue One at 5th in my list. Bit disappointed by it tbh. I won't say anything more as I don't want to influence other peoples preconceptions if they haven't seen it yet.
 
I thought it was rather good - not a jolly/kid-friendly/joyful kinda movie like TFA at all though. Dark, warfilm like.
Might be the best film of them all?
Has made me want to watch ANH this weekend tho'.
 
davidm said:
I thought it was rather good - not a jolly/kid-friendly/joyful kinda movie like TFA at all though. Dark, warfilm like.
Might be the best film of them all?
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I actually agree with most of those things, and I'm not a fan of war films generally so maybe that's why I was a little unimpressed. There are other reasons I'd go into when potential spoilers are fair game (although I don't really think anything that happens in it would be a huge surprise to anyone!)
 
1. A New Hope
2. Rogue One
3. Empire Strikes Back
4. The Force Awakens
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Revenge of the Sith
7. The Phantom Menace
8. Attack of the Clones


Saw Rogue One last night and I genuinely loved every second of it. It had the right mix of nostalgia with action, and meaningful moments.
 
1. Empire Strikes Back - Yes, it is the best Star Wars movie for advancing plot and providing good depth to the 4-6 story arc.
2. Force Awakens - This movie carried even more pressure than Episode 1 for delivering a good story and set pace for the 7-9 story arc. Yes, it's a straight archetype rip of A New Hope... but it also did not disappoint for visual and story work.
3. Return of the Jedi - I just really love the Battle of the Second Death Star.
4. A New Hope - How can you not like A New Hope?
5. Rogue One - this is a damn good Star Wars movie, especially for showing more of the war element for the Rebel Alliance. I also loved how they lean into the lack of Jedis as an important story arc, while also creating my new favorite Star Wars character, Chirrut Imwe.
6. Revenge of the Sith - My favorite of the prequels... but that isn't saying a lot.
7. Phantom Menace - Redeemed for having Qui-gon Jinn.
8. Attack of the Clones - Crap acting, horrible love story, and Hayden Christensen can suck it.

Rogue One is a great addition to the franchise, and does justice as a true prequel for A New Hope. Hoping Disney has set a good pace on which they'll build their Han Solo and Boba Fett movie spinoffs.
 
This is the thing I've realised with The Force Awakens. Yes essentially it is a Rehash of A New Hope but the way they've done it and imo works well they've introduced the old characters which draws older fans in whilst getting the older characters loved by the younger generation of Star Wars fans. It has the simplistic approach to get both generations excited into watching Star Wars again and basically destroying any sign of the prequels. But I definitely think that Episode 8 will be NOTHING like Empire Strikes Back and that Force definitely did set up an amazing arc for 7-9. Anyway here's my list of favourites as followed and I'll write an in depth review when I've seen Rogue One.

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. The Force Awakens
3. Return Of The Jedi
4. A New Hope
3. Revenge Of The Sith
2. The Phantomn Menace
1. Attack Of The Clones.

If Rogue One is anything like how good Force was then maybe it'll be in the Top 3 but who knows.
 
Howie said:
^Uhm... yes.
Well, second only to Buffy.
Your point being?
Click to expand...

Point is, Joss Whedon is a great entertainer, but it's all window dressing. Characters and plot are reactionary rather than planned. That doesn't make them bad (I really enjoyed Firefly), but he misses a depth - much like Lucas does. Which seems odd considering the incredible world Lucas created and the tangled story. The problem was, he laid out the plan as a fantastic arc across the two trilogies, but then couldn't join the dots. I find Whedon is similar, he has a plan, but spends too much time on the "now" and then dealing with the consequences later with plot/character twists.

If you look at the other two big Sci-fi contemporaries of Firefly (well, close enough), Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica - they have story arcs that affect the characters and plot deeply and intrinsically from episode one - sometime you don't even know that the plot arc was there or the twists were there until episodes or even series later. It's the long game. Having said that, on an episode by episode basis, Firefly (and Serenity) are much more watchable and entertaining.

Which is why I mention it, because ESB is the long game in the trilogy. While it does have moments of action and silliness, it's laying down the tendrils of the universe and for the first time, showing us a much bigger picture in the Star Wars universe. ANH is brilliant (and laid actual rules down for how to make films - seriously, there's a document going around Hollywood that unpicks what Lucas does and says "want to make a good action film - here's exactly how Lucas did it - follow this and you'll have a hit") - however, you're on a rollercoaster ride with the characters. Their actions are forced and they literally just ride the story out without any real free will or chance to act on their personalities. This happens to a degree in ESB, but we get to see the consequences (both physical and emotional) of character decisions which gives them more depth than you see in any of the other films. The film feels much bigger than it actually is. That's just one reason why ESB is the best of the bunch, but it also has much more epic and better presented scenes.

You can break down the films into their memorable set pieces, and if you look.

ANH: Droid escape from Tantive, Jawas, Sand people, Cantina, Death Star rescue, Death Star escape, blow up death star, medals.
ESB: Wompa, AT-ATs, Asteroid Field, Meet Boba Fett!!!!, Yoda, Bespin, Jedi Training, Han gets frozen, Jedi duel, Father reveal, miserable end.
ROTJ: Rancor, Leia in bikini, Yoda dies, Teddy bears, Force Lightning, Teddy bears, Not David Prowse, Teddy Bears, medals.
TPM: Dull ****, pod race, dull ****, Jedi Duel ruined by cuts to dull ****, medals.
AOTC: Lots of mixed action scenes - none individually memorable, floating food with worst ever CGI, riding cows = love, R2 flies, Jedi Battle, more Jedi Battle, more Jedi Battle, bollocks.
ROTS: Dull fight, dull fight, dull fight, fight that goes on too long, dies of broken heart, NOOOOOOOOOOO!
TFA: See ANH :p

It's clear that (and I will happily concede to people putting ANH top) the first two have the best and most memorable set pieces ;)

As for my list - after watching Rogue One (R1?)
So the actual list is:
ESB, ANH, TFA, R1, ROTJ, TPM (just - but it's bad) and ROTS (because it failed to do its one job). Witchfinder is right, 2 is best just forgotten.

Including the expanded universe (canon) I've subjected myself to:
ESB, ANH, any Star Wars Lego show, R1, Rebels, TFA, Tarkin, ROTJ, New Dawn, The Clone Wars (animated film series), Lords of the Sith, Twilight Company, Aftermath, Aftermath: Life debt, TPM and then ROTS.
 
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Your opinion is void though, you just used the "rollercoaster ride" metaphor on a roller coaster forum... :eek:
 
Still banging on about ESB huh? Thou dost protest too fervently, good sir. Insecure in your own judgment, you are.
I especially liked the way you just casually tossed in the 'Leia in bikini' thing right there, like, as if that was 'no big deal' or sumat.
 
Howie said:
Still banging on about ESB huh? Thou dost protest too fervently, good sir. Insecure in your own judgment, you are.
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Sorry, it's the same conversation. Unfortunately, I don't get a lot of time to post. So it isn't a time thing, it's just like the fourth turn in a conversation. Obviously you're living post to post rather than seeing the big picture - this explains things :p



Howie said:
I especially liked the way you just casually tossed in the 'Leia in bikini' thing right there, like, as if that was 'no big deal' or sumat.
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Never a casual toss... ;)
 
Anyways... saw Rogue One last night at the LieMax.
It was good. I enjoyed it lots.
I'd need to watch it again before I can rank it properly alongside the others, but it's somewhere in the middle, more towards the top half than the bottom half.

So not as good as Jedi, obviously, but waaaay better than Empire.
 
1. Empire Strikes Back- arguably one of the greatest films ever made. I really have no issues with the film (which is rare for me). Every aspect is fantastic.
2. New Hope- has a good amount of prevalent problems (acting can be pretty poor at moments), but it is just so iconic and memorable. I can't help but love it. It has a special feeling to it that many films don't have.
3. Force Awakens- I was torn between this and Return of the Jedi, but I have to go with Force Awakens. I just blew me away when I first saw it on the big screen, and I can't forget the excitement I had in the theater that night.
4. Return of the Jedi- This was my favorite as a little kid. However, it is a lot worse than I remembered upon rewatching. The whole Ewok subplot just angers me, and it is a huge portion of the movie. Other than that, it is an enjoyable Star Wars movie with a few fantastic moments.
5. Rogue One- I have mixed feelings on this one. I enjoyed but found it oddly boring. Despite all the amazing visual effects, I just didn't care about any characters (except the robot). It just lacked soul to me. However, the action is very well shot, and the world feels authentic and lived in. Overall, a solid movie.
6. Phantom Menace- a bit of guilty pleasure for me. It is awful, just absolutely awful, maybe even one of the worst films ever made, but there is something so baffling about it that I can't help but be entranced by it. It is such an interesting watch, and I would highly recommend checking it out. It is just amazing how poor the film is. Amazing. (Moved it up after having a really fun movie night with some friends laughing at this.)
7. Revenge of the Sith- not nearly as bad as the other prequels but not good either. I find it perfectly alright. Acting seemed better, and the story at least seemed to have something to do. Still not a good movie (pretty poor honestly) but a masterpiece compared to the other two
8. Attack of the Clones- I can't even remember the plot of this movie, and I've seen it many times. So boring and, worst of all, just simply unmemorable. Nothing about it is good, nothing.
 
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