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Thread: Star Wars Rankings

  1. #1
    Member NebraskaRed's Avatar
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    Star Wars Rankings

    I spent the last 10 days watching one Star Wars movie a day in order of the story (rather than the order in which they were made). Meaning, I went Episode 1, 2, 3, Solo, Rogue One, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

    Instead of ranking them best to worst, I'd rather rank them in order of most to least favorite. Which means that I can see the obvious flaws of something like Return of the Jedi, but I can admit that I enjoy it nonetheless. This type of ranking also allows for a nostalgia bias.

    So, here are my rankings from favorite to least favorite. I'm curious what everyone else's rankings might be.

    Empire
    Return
    Last Jedi
    New Hope
    Rogue One
    Force Awakens
    Revenge
    Phantom
    Solo
    Attack


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  3. #2
    I wear Elly colored glass WrongVerb's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Hope
    Empire
    Rogue
    Return
    Awakens
    Solo
    Revenge
    Last
    .
    .
    Attack
    .

    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    Phantom
    Last edited by WrongVerb; 06-24-2019 at 03:30 PM.
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    Daffy Duck RedTeamGo!'s Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Star Wars
    Empire
    Return of the Jedi
    Rogue One
    Awakens
    Solo
    TLJ
    Phantom
    Revenge
    Attack of the Clones

    I hate the prequels, but I think Phantom is better than the others because the podracing scene is actually kinda cool and the lightsaber duel at the end is pretty rad with Duel of the Fates playing.

    Attack of the Clones is one of the worst movies in history.
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  6. #4
    Member Kingspoint's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Depends upon what year you originally watched them.
    "One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."

  7. #5
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Return of Jedi
    New Hope
    Phantom Menace
    Empire Strikes Back
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    Revenge of the Sith
    Attack of the Clones

    I haven't seen the enough of the others to rank.
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  8. #6
    Member NebraskaRed's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Quote Originally Posted by RedTeamGo! View Post
    Star Wars
    Empire
    Return of the Jedi
    Rogue One
    Awakens
    Solo
    TLJ
    Phantom
    Revenge
    Attack of the Clones

    I hate the prequels, but I think Phantom is better than the others because the podracing scene is actually kinda cool and the lightsaber duel at the end is pretty rad with Duel of the Fates playing.

    Attack of the Clones is one of the worst movies in history.
    I hadn't seen Attack of the Clones in years before rewatching it the other day. I really tried to give it a chance, but it's so bad in so many ways. And it's frustrating because there are good ideas in there, but they're quickly taken in the wrong direction. The only section that even remotely works is Anakin going back to try and rescue his mom. Other than that, it's such a boring, embarrassing movie.

  9. #7
    Titanic Struggles Caveat Emperor's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Empire
    Rogue One
    Star Wars
    ROTJ
    Awakens
    Revenge
    Solo
    Phantom
    Attack
    Last Jedi

    Attack and Last Jedi are both awful for completely different reasons -- but at least Attack understood, at it's heart, that Star Wars is about adventure / heroism, even if it just horridly botches everything it tries to do with hack writing, wooden acting, and awful pacing. If both films are "F" grades, I'll give the nod to the one that at least tried to show it's work as opposed to just drawing a middle finger on the paper and declaring the assignment to be dumb.

    Also, unless things change, "Attack" is the closest film we'll ever get to "A Day in the Life of Obi-Wan Kenobi," and it really just works in that aspect. The film falls apart *hard* every second the camera isn't on Ewan McGregor.
    Last edited by Caveat Emperor; 06-24-2019 at 12:50 PM.
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  10. #8
    Member marcshoe's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Empire
    A New Hope
    TLJ
    The Force Awakens
    Return of the Jedi
    Rogue One
    Phantom Menace
    Spaceballs
    Revenge
    Attack of the Clones

    I haven't seen Solo, so I put another in its place.
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  11. #9
    Member redsfanmia's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Empire
    Rouge
    Hope
    Return
    Solo
    Force
    Phantom
    Revenge
    TLJ
    Attack
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  12. #10
    Bullpen or whatever RedEye's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    I actually have started to develop very different rankings depending on criteria.

    1) Personal appreciation

    The Empire Strikes Back
    A New Hope
    Rogue One
    Return of the Jedi
    The Force Awakens
    The Last Jedi
    Solo
    Revenge of the Sith
    The Phantom Menace
    Attack of the Clones

    2) Historical significance

    A New Hope
    The Empire Strikes Back
    The Force Awakens
    The Phantom Menace
    Return of the Jedi
    Revenge of the Sith
    Attack of the Clones
    The Last Jedi
    Rogue One
    Solo

    3) Aesthetic significance

    A New Hope
    Attack of the Clones
    Rogue One
    The Phantom Menace
    The Empire Strikes Back
    Return of the Jedi
    Revenge of the Sith
    The Last Jedi
    The Force Awakens
    Solo

    __

    A few comments...

    It should be clear that my overall favorite recent film is Rogue One. In every respect, I think it is the most compelling and significant contribution to the recent reboot. Gareth Edwards has my respect for how much he altered the tonal approach of the franchise. While I have really enjoyed watching the films in the main series (TFA, TLJ), I'm sort of "meh" on them overall, mostly because their stylistic and narrative attributes seem entirely derivative. That's the curse of making a Star Wars film, I suppose. Other than Rogue One, my only real "wow" moments in the recent films were in the first half of The Force Awakens.

    As you can also see, one of the biggest movers between list one and list three is Attack of the Clones, which I hate to sit through still, but has recently gained a lot of credit for its contributions to aesthetic film history. I still don't like it very much, but I grant some begrudging credence to the argument made by many of my colleagues about its importance in terms of visual effects as well as its status as a meta-reflection on the era of digitized blockbusters. Lucas had unparalleled creative control when he made the three prequels, and while that was a double-edged sword to be sure (*ahem* Jar Jar Binks) it also led to some pretty off-the-wall ambitious visual ideas -- especially in the first two films.

    Finally, while The Empire Strikes Back is certainly my favorite Star Wars film of all time, and also deserves historical merit as likely the most important sequel of all time -- full stop -- it does suffer a bit on the purely aesthetic rankings due to being merely a "solid" Hollywood film in terms of direction. Really, A New Hope was the game changer there, and Empire is mostly significant for how it maintained and even amplified the momentum of the first film. On its own, though, I just don't think the presence of the Imperial walkers merits a top all-time aesthetic ranking in the franchise.
    Last edited by RedEye; 06-24-2019 at 01:43 PM.
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  13. #11
    Titanic Struggles Caveat Emperor's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Quote Originally Posted by RedEye View Post
    Finally, while The Empire Strikes Back is certainly my favorite Star Wars film of all time, and also deserves historical merit as likely the most important sequel of all time -- full stop -- it does suffer a bit on the purely aesthetic rankings due to being merely a "solid" Hollywood film in terms of direction. Really, A New Hope was the game changer there, and Empire is mostly significant for how it maintained and even amplified the momentum of the first film. On its own, though, I just don't think the presence of the Imperial walkers merits a top all-time aesthetic ranking in the franchise.
    Really? I felt Empire was a massive step up in direction from ANH. The movie is shot beautifully and lingers without becoming dull or tedious. Every moment on Dagobah is magic, and the puppeteering with Yoda is a level of god-tier that it had no right accomplishing. It also deserves a lot of credit for serving up it's big "set piece" at the very start of the movie and then using the remainder of the film to dive deeper into the characters that inhabit the world and their relationships to one another. Probably gives up the most iconic plot twist in film history as well -- and it's so well delivered and so perfectly paced, that you don't even stop to think how ridiculous it is (and how much awful retconning they'd need to do in the next film) until after the credits have rolled.

    Compared to where the rest of these movies sit, Empire is a on a completely different level of filmmaking.
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  15. #12
    Bullpen or whatever RedEye's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Quote Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor View Post
    Really? I felt Empire was a massive step up in direction from ANH. The movie is shot beautifully and lingers without becoming dull or tedious. Every moment on Dagobah is magic, and the puppeteering with Yoda is a level of god-tier that it had no right accomplishing. It also deserves a lot of credit for serving up it's big "set piece" at the very start of the movie and then using the remainder of the film to dive deeper into the characters that inhabit the world and their relationships to one another. Probably gives up the most iconic plot twist in film history as well -- and it's so well delivered and so perfectly paced, that you don't even stop to think how ridiculous it is (and how much awful retconning they'd need to do in the next film) until after the credits have rolled.

    Compared to where the rest of these movies sit, Empire is a on a completely different level of filmmaking.
    Well, I definitely acknowledge that separating aesthetics from story is a bit of an academic exercise (no surprise since that's my job LOL). I like to think my esteem for the film is reflected in its place atop the other two lists. It's my favorite SW film.

    And yet, for the sake of these rankings, the character development and plot twist you cite, while brilliant, are part of the film's narrative innovations as opposed to its aesthetic ones. The imperial walkers, to me, don't age well when I watch them, and certainly don't compare to the wow factor I still get when I see A New Hope (which was also a lot more risky given Lucas wasn't really Lucas yet in terms of reputation).

    I do take your point about Yoda and the puppetry though... hmmm... maybe that should vault the film up a slot or two. How innovative was that at the time? I mean The Muppet Movie is, what, 1979?

    Seriously though, Attack of the Clones and The Phantom Menace are both gathering respect as they disappear in the rearview mirror. They were not successful films at the time, but they do merit a second look now, especially in light of what happened afterwards.

    And Rogue One. Love it.
    Last edited by RedEye; 06-24-2019 at 02:50 PM.
    “Every level he goes to, he is going to compete. They will know who he is at every level he goes to.” -- ED on EDLC

  16. #13
    Member NebraskaRed's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Quote Originally Posted by RedEye View Post
    Well, I definitely acknowledge that separating aesthetics from story is a bit of an academic exercise (no surprise since that's my job LOL). I like to think my esteem for the film is reflected in its place atop the other two lists. It's my favorite SW film.

    And yet, for the sake of these rankings, the character development and plot twist you cite, while brilliant, are part of the film's narrative innovations as opposed to its aesthetic ones. The imperial walkers, to me, don't age well when I watch them, and certainly don't compare to the wow factor I still get when I see A New Hope (which was also a lot more risky given Lucas wasn't really Lucas yet in terms of reputation).

    I do take your point about Yoda and the puppetry though... hmmm... maybe that should vault the film up a slot or two. How innovative was that at the time? I mean The Muppet Movie is, what, 1979?

    Seriously though, Attack of the Clones and The Phantom Menace are both gathering respect as they disappear in the rearview mirror. They were not successful films at the time, but they do merit a second look now, especially in light of what happened afterwards.

    And Rogue One. Love it.
    to that end, the influence of Phantom Menace (and maybe Attack of the Clones) seems to be popping up in the MCU lately. Look at the final battle in Black Panther. I can't be alone in seeing how much that battle borrows from the look of the Naboo battle in Phantom Menace.

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  18. #14
    Bullpen or whatever RedEye's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    One further point about Yoda -- after thinking about it a bit, I concede my oversight. There's an argument that later CGI meddling with the character by Lucasfilm and Disney have actually obscured the importance of that puppet to the history of the genre. I honestly think I forgot the importance of puppetry in light of the way that Yoda has lately become a purely CGI character.

    FWIW, lots of my friends who specialize in the history of effects cite Jurassic Park as the height of the puppetry/CGI partnership that really brought us the best overall effects.
    “Every level he goes to, he is going to compete. They will know who he is at every level he goes to.” -- ED on EDLC

  19. #15
    Member NebraskaRed's Avatar
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    Re: Star Wars Rankings

    Quote Originally Posted by RedEye View Post
    One further point about Yoda -- after thinking about it a bit, I concede my oversight. There's an argument that later CGI meddling with the character by Lucasfilm and Disney have actually obscured the importance of that puppet to the history of the genre. I honestly think I forgot the importance of puppetry in light of the way that Yoda has lately become a purely CGI character.

    FWIW, lots of my friends who specialize in the history of effects cite Jurassic Park as the height of the puppetry/CGI partnership that really brought us the best overall effects.
    they used a puppet in The Last Jedi


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