This is the combined ranking of two of our pop culture writers, Dashran Yohan and Samuel Lim.
Star Wars forever changed the landscape of popular culture and cinema and redefined the term blockbuster when it first hit the big screen back in 1977. There’s simply no denying its importance. But what really separates Star Wars from the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, etc is that Star Wars blankets multiple generations. The Skywalker Saga started with the Original Trilogy back in 1977. Both Samuel and I weren’t even born then. My dad caught the OT in cinemas. I watched it on dusty old VHS tapes on box TVs.
In 1999, George Lucas made the Prequel Trilogy that centred around Anakin Skywalker, the man before he became the iconic villain known as Darth Vader. If you’re 26 years old this year, like I am, you would’ve been six when The Phantom Menace graced the silver screen. My sister, who’s nine years younger than me, didn’t watch the Prequels in theatres. She watched it, along with the Original Trilogy on Cable TV. The first Star Wars movie she caught in cinemas was The Force Awakens back in 2015. Star Wars is longform storytelling unlike any other. And perhaps its story that spans generations is one of the biggest reasons why Star Wars is so polarizing. But this is more a gift than it is a curse.
Samuel and Dashran decided that now’s a good time as any to celebrate this beautiful franchise by counting down all the theatrically released live-action Star Wars film from worst to best. A Star Wars ranking from the perspective of 90s kids who have a fondness for different eras of Star Wars respectively. So, what does their combined list look like?
Here are all the live-action Star Wars movies ranked from worst to best.
*Keep in mind, this list is the personal opinion of both our pop culture writers.
11. Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace
Passage by Dashran Yohan
Why did we need an entire subplot about baby Anakin racing around in his silly toy car? And stupid convoluted politics? Midichlorians? Don’t even get me started on the cancerous, brain cell killing Gungan named Jar Jar Binks. There are no characters no actual plot details in this movie, only horribly written lines scribbled on a piece of paper with crayon.
Having said that, over the years, I’ve come to soften up a little when it comes to The Phantom Menace. The film birthed one of the coolest looking characters in Sci-Fi fantasy in Darth Maul. Sure, Maul only becomes a fully realised character in the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series, but he’s still an intriguing presence in the film.
The lightsaber battle between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul isn’t my cup of tea — I prefer the more raw lightsaber fights as seen in Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and the new trilogy, but there’s no denying the stellar martial arts choreography on display. Then there’s John Williams’ score during the scene, titled Duel of Fates, which is easily my absolute favourite Star Wars track of all time.
10. Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones
Passage by Samuel Lim
Attack of the Clones is mostly awful. The plot would have been at least serviceable if it so wasn’t utterly bogged down with so much of Anakin’s pointless romance. And while the film does give us an interesting look into clone troopers who will eventually become the proto-stormtroopers, the rest of the political manoeuvring between the Sith and Jedi are a complete bore. Why? Simply put, the performances leave much to be deserved.
The greatest offender here being Hayden Christensen having only two modes throughout this film, wooden plank and whinny, creepy teenager. This is the man that’s supposed to carry out some of the most brutal atrocities of the galaxy? The same son of darkness who coldly dispatched insubordinate officers and yet also said with stunning awkwardness “I don’t like sand… it’s rough”.
The film suffers from some tonal discrepancies, by way of some seriously questionable scenes in this film. Attack of the Clones nearly destroys an icon of cinema, almost gave me a hernia from all the ironic laughing I did and most definitely deserve its spot as penultimate worst on this list.
Having said that, the lightsaber duel between Yoda and Count Dooku? Pretty damn good.
9. Solo: A Star Wars Story
Passage by Samuel Lim
The plot is your basic heist film with your cliche double-triple crosses that the audience sees a mile away wrapped inside Han Solo’s origin story. Actor Alden Ehrenreich had some big, Ford-sized shoes to fill and the man does it decently, unlike Christensen. He brings a fresh new swagger to the character that I don’t hate, maybe even get behind in time. Donald Glover killed it as Lando. Everyone else did okay I suppose.
The action sequences however really were something man — edge of your seat thrill rides. Solo gives the Fast and the Furious franchise a run for their money. Each set piece just got bigger and bigger, culminating in the legendary Kessel Run. That scene alone when the Falcon narrowly escaped death’s jaw and maw was enough to have a brought a tear to this old nerd’s eye. The weaker parts of the film were definitely the subplots dealing with the cartel and Enfys Nest. The whole idea of Han before New Hope is that he’s apathetic to the circumstances around him, looking out for numero uno in this big, bad universe. So to have him give up a fortune to aid the Rebellion betrays the character we have come to know and love. Solo would make a great fan film but its place in the wider franchise is dubious at best.
8. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Passage by Dashran Yohan
The Rise of Skywalker is a frustrating final chapter, one whose skeleton is feeble and made out of nothing but nostalgic candy, whose flesh is see-through, blood is thin and whose heart doesn’t pound like the drums at the back of Dragon boats but whimpers softly.
It’s not a terrible film by any stretch of the imagination. It is, aesthetically speaking, beautiful. A lot of the frames (JJ Abrams’ frequent collaborator Dan Mindel is back handling the camera) look like paintings that belong on the walls of pipe-smoking art collectors. The action sequences are always glorious to behold — Lightspeed skipping is genuinely a moment of pure visual ecstasy. John Williams is once again furnace hot and the performances are brilliant across the board.
That said, what becomes blatantly obvious as the film lumbered along, oftentimes choppily, is that JJ Abrams desperately wants to tell the story that he had in his mind while penning The Force Awakens. Whatever it takes. Even if it’s artless. Even if the revelations aren’t going to make sense. Even if it means pushing characters around inorganically. Even if he has to wrestle The Last Jedi to the ground.
At points, the film even contradicts JJ’s own The Force Awakens to a baffling degree. The Rise of Skywalker is messy, clunky, obsessed with the past to a detrimental degree and is basically just a compilation of Reddit fan theories.
7. Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith
Passage by Dashran Yohan
So, we didn’t actually get the Darth Vader origin story we were promised. Think about it, at the end of the movie, we still do not get Vader, at least not the Vader we see in A New Hope (we don’t see the progression towards that, either). We just get Anakin Skywalker in Vader’s outfit. But the outfit is not what makes Darth Vader, well Darth Vader.
But looking at the movie, not through the prism of what was promised but what is, Revenge of the Sith is pretty damn good. While the romance nonsense between Anakin and Padme doesn’t work at all in Attack of the Clones, here it does. And that’s because somehow, for whatever reason, both Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman upped their game big time here. Here, I buy that Anakin and Padme are in love and I buy that Anakin would do anything in his power to protect her, even if it means learning from the Dark Side. I also buy the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan, so when the climactic duel on Mustafa takes place, I am on the edge of my seats every single time I watch this movie. The battle on Mustafa isn’t just the best lightsaber duel in the prequels, it is also one of the best duels in all of Star Wars.
But what really makes the movie work is Chancellor Palpatine AKA Darth Sidious AKA The Emperor. Palpatine’s slow and calculated manipulation of Anakin is heartbreaking and Ian McDiarmid plays the character to perfection.
6. Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi
Passage by Samuel Lim
As the final chapter of the original trilogy, there’s a lot of pressure for Return of the Jedi to be great, to leave on a high note. Three years after one hell of a cliffhanger in Empire, fans were eager to find closure with what they anticipated to be a worthy finale. And they did, sort of…look it’s complicated. There’s so much that this film nails right! There’s Luke’s growth and maturity since the last film, the gripping drama between him and Vader, the latter’s redemption and the defeat of the Empire. These all the story beats that fans came to expect in the final chapter of the Skywalker saga and for the most part, creator George Lucas honoured it.
Then there are these other strange and downright infuriating parts of this film that bogs it down from reaching its true potential. Is the Empire building another Death Star just to have it be blown up again? How is an organized, war-ready army taken out by a bunch of brown teddy bears with pointy sticks and rocks?!
Return of the Jedi was a clear departure from its predecessor in both tone and quality. In many ways, this would signal the shape of things to come with the prequels and the eventual correction of Disney’s new trilogy. But while it isn’t perfect, it still has a story worth telling. And a pretty damn good way to close Luke’s story arc if I do say so myself.
5. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Passage by Dashran Yohan
The first anthology film in the Star Wars universe is GREAT not only as a standalone movie with a singular vision but also because it enhances the already beloved Star Wars universe tenfold. One problem I’ve always had with the main saga, is the treatment of the soldiers AKA the rebel/resistance army.
More often than not, the rebel army feels nothing more than filler characters who shoot at stuff just to kill time while the Force wielders handle the so-called “important” stuff. Rogue One changes that by highlighting how integral the rebel soldiers are in the war against The Empire. The scene during the climax, when all of them sacrifice themselves and Admiral Raddus says, “Rogue One, may the force be with you” brings tears to my eyes every single time.
We also, for the first time, witness how messed up the galaxy is under the Empire’s rule, as Stormtroopers patrol the streets, injecting fear into civilians. People are suffering, crying, broken. While Rogue One doesn’t have colourful characters like in the main saga, they’re still memorable nonetheless, at times forced to make morally ambiguous difficult decisions in the name of the greater good.
On top of all that, this movie also gives us the best version of Darth Vader ever seen on screen, in a single scene, as we see him ruthlessly and mercilessly kill off Rebel soldiers.
4. Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope
Passage by Samuel Lim
There are great films and then they are the ones that define a genre. Star Wars: A New Hope belongs to the latter. Believe it or not, there was a time in which many thought this film impossible to succeed. If you had told someone back in the ’70s that you wanted to make a space fantasy film incorporating eastern mysticism, samurai culture and revisionist westerns, they’d think you mad. Which is precisely why we love Star Wars beyond the captivating performances of Hamill, Fisher and Ford.
By all accounts, this film should have failed. Nobody on set thought they were making high art and yet they were! It was lightning in the bottle. It was a moment of cinematic brilliance finely preserved with carbonite-like staying power. The reason why it holds such a hallowed place in the cinematic canon and in the hearts of many is that there’s something here for everyone. There’s adventure, romance, war and ultimately a deeply human story about how there’s greatness in all of us. It was a phenomenon in the past, is an endless source of inspiration for the current and a story will undoubtedly be retold once more!
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Passage by Dashran Yohan
This movie reignited the Star Wars flame in me. In many of us. Yes, this is pretty much a remix of A New Hope, but it’s difficult to be mad at that when the film wonderfully harkens back to the golden age of Star Wars while introducing us to a fresh crop of characters who have tremendous screen presence, are brimming with charisma and have electric chemistry with one another.
Daisy Ridley is great as Rey and so is John Boyega as Finn and Oscar Isaac as Poe. But the brightest gem this movie gifts us is the villain Kylo Ren. There’s a duality to the former Ben Solo that makes him an intoxicating character. He’s a broken man, hurting on the inside, and he tries to hide it with a mask and a fictitious regal front. Adam Driver plays him to perfection. Plus, the lightsaber duel between Rey and Kylo Ren is one of the best lightsaber-on-lightsaber duels in all of Star Wars.
Also, what about the scene where Kylo Ren turns around and stops a blaster shot mid-air? Damn.
2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Passage by Dashran Yohan
The Last Jedi is an enchanting, heartbreaking, thought-provoking and all-out beautiful piece of pure cinema.
Rian Johnson understood that for Star Wars to live, Star Wars must first die. That was his philosophy. That was the Gita in which he stood atop of while meticulously painting every frame. But killing the past didn’t mean denigrating it (many will argue otherwise), rather it meant delicately deconstructing and examining the legacy of Star Wars and the legends that reside in the galaxy — a galaxy that for years have oddly felt so small. It meant paying close attention to the lessons of the past without losing focus on the present, the new crop of characters, their psychology, their journey.
Johnson maintained the magical essence of Star Wars without conforming to the formula of Star Wars. He may have driven an unholy wedge through the fandom, but he also shattered the large, rusty shackles that were tightly clamped around the ankles of this franchise (I mean, The Force Awakens, as great as it is — and it is pretty damn great — is just a remix of A New Hope.) And for the first time, in a long time, Star Wars was free. Free to become whatever it wanted to be. The ground wasn’t just broken, it was obliterated. A new path was formed for the next director to journey on and craft a finale that is bold, that is brazen, that is new, that is respectful to the past without being beholden to it.
This is very much a STAR WARS film, made by a Star Wars diehard who is ferociously obsessed with these characters. He loves these characters as much as we do. He loves Star Wars as much as we do. And his passion for this project bleeds through every meticulously crafted story beat.
1. Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back
Passage by Samuel Lim
Empire Strikes Back is a landmark film in the genre of science fantasy and continues to be referenced in pop culture until today. The narrative is poignantly Shakespearean. A major theme throughout the Star Wars film series is family and how familial past and relationships can drive us to do great and terrible things. The struggle to break away from the destructive patterns and shadow of our predecessors is deftly on display in this film. To watch Hamill’s Luke grows from the wide-eyed naive rebel to become a conflicted but great Jedi padawan is both endearing and frustrating. And to witness one of the greatest cinematic reveals of all time was just as shocking as it was tragic. The moment he realized that his entire and journey and life was leading him back to the dark, back to his father carried such weight and gravitas.
The aesthetics of this film are gorgeous, from the handcrafted sets of Cloud City to the models of the AT-AT walkers on the planet Hoth. Everything had so much personality to it, a tall order for a pre-CGI film. It goes without saying that the most impressive and endearing part of the prop work on display is the brilliant puppetry done for Yoda. An element that even The Last Jedi saw fit to incorporate into itself. The chemistry between Fischer and Ford was dynamite, giving us one of the best romantic one-liners of a generation, one that has certainly been quoted ad nauseam. And much like Leia, you know I love this film. The ambition, the care and the poetry of Empire Strikes Back solidifies its place on this list, both as a timeless classic and top pick on this list.
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