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Rank the Star Wars Movies (so far).

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Revenge of the Sith
5. The Force Awakens
6. Rogue One
7. Attack of the Clones
8. The Phantom Menace
9. The Last Jedi
Have not seen Solo
 
1. Star Wars
2. Return of The Jedi
3. Empire Strikes Back
4. Rogue One
5. The Force Awakens
6. Revenge of The Sith
7. Phantom Menace
8. Attack of The Clones
9. Solo
10. The Last Jedi

Rian Johnson should never have been allowed the blank cheque he seemed to have on The Last Jedi. Starting that movie without a time jump (never happened in a SW saga sequel before) and ending whilst everyone is smiling and happy they lost hundreds of friends and then force powered broomboy was completely mental and unforgivable. Grumpy Luke didn't help. The lack of a time jump at the start means there is no need for the opening crawl and that crawl made even less sense stating "The First Order reigns" after we just saw the resistance get a massive win. But I could list a thousand things I think are wrong with that film.

Solo was unnecessary and just dumb. But to be fair even Lucas did a lot of dumb things in his prequels such as the Jedi kids with blast helmets trying to dodge the tiny drones. I always thought Obi Wan just got Luke to train with that stuff randomly because those were the things available on the Falcon, rather than that it was a proven training technique in a Jedi class.

I can appreciate wrapping the saga up is going to be difficult after episode 8. The music in the new trailer sounds great though and I like some of the visuals and ideas but I hope the leaks aren't true because the movie might then be all over the place.
I have a ticket booked for the triple bill on opening night/morning so will see. If it's no good I doubt I would bother with Star Wars again at the cinema and a TV show doesn't excite me as getting a whole streaming service subscription for that seems crazy and so fragmented for something like Star Wars. Doesn't suit it I think.
 
Howie said:
Not gonna lie - that 2 minute trailer is better than the whole of The Last Jedi. Officially excited for this now. Love the re-worked theme music, very grand.
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I am more enthusiastic about it after seeing that trailer, though there seems to be an awful lot of Rey running around with an ignited lightsaber but no enemies, which seems unnecessarily dangerous! Still not happy about the Palpatine reveal (I'd rather he wasn't in it at all, but definitely would've preferred it to be a surprise in the film) and I also think getting JJ back in was a safe option chosen by Kennedy as a result of the backlash against TLJ (which I personally liked) and we may just be getting a ROTJ rehash. But bits of it do look great and hopefully it will be a decent end to the saga and then they can leave that alone and get on with telling new stories from this universe, which is frankly more appealing now.
 
Are people watching The Mandaloran?
S'odd ; I like it, but there seemed to be so much more going on in Ep1 than has happened in Ep2 or 3 so far.
 
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davidm said:
Are people watching The Mandaloran?
S'odd ; I like it, but there seemed to be so much more going on in Ep1 than has happened in Ep2 or 3 so far.
Click to expand...

I want to, but I <cough> "couldn't get a flight" to go and watch it in a territory where it's been officially released. ;)
Apparently @witchfinder has "been over there" <cough> to watch it though and says it's good. I'm gonna wait until the <cough> "flights are cheaper". ;)

Meanwhile...

20191120_080027.jpg
 
davidm said:
Are people watching The Mandaloran?
S'odd ; I like it, but there seemed to be so much more going on in Ep1 than has happened in Ep2 or 3 so far.
Click to expand...
Yep, I've seen the first 3 episodes. Those flights are pretty cheap you know @Howie if you find the right "airline" ;)

First episode was great, second was fun but felt like a video game side quest, third was better than the second but seemed to retread a lot of the ground that the first one did. I'm hoping for a bit more story progression now it's got going but overall I'm impressed as it feels nice and Star Wars-y with an obvious Western influence, and despite it being Disney they're not holding back on the violence at all. In fact it's arguably the most gritty, violent Star Wars offering to date. :)
 
New film...? Hmmm, not the worst of the movies. Far from the best though sadly. Some good moments, but not great.
 
New film more like hi A New Empire Return of the Endgame. It was good but it wasn’t amazing it literally was 4,5,6 and Endgame.
 
Hyde said:
I'm gonna venture that Palpatine's reveal is not going to very pivotal to the movie. Or at least, not as pivotal as finding out which, exact Skywalker will be rising.
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Lulz.

Updating rankings with regard to Rise of Skywalker (will revisit once we have the last episode of the Mandalorian out, but assume that is in the upper half):

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. Last Jedi - While Force Awakens carried an aura of rediscovering the franchise, Last Jedi provided further build-in of the third story arc and let us get to know the new cast even more. Really enjoyed the weaving of stories and reverse of archetype from jedi-trainings and rebels-outrunning-empire of old - cinematography of Rian Johnson was also top notch. I hope others will appreciate the movie more once Star Wars 9 is released, as this really moved the story from the Force Awakens reboot. If this were a simple regurgitation of Empire Strikes Back (As Force Awakens was for A New Hope) - I feel the fan hate would be very real.
3. A New Hope - Bumping this up, now thinking more through the general story of Star Wars. I mean, how can you not like A New Hope?
4. Rogue One - So I've bumped this up: 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.
5. 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.
6. Return of the Jedi - I just really love the Battle of the Second Death Star.
7. Rise of Skywalker - Oh JJ, you have never been known as a strong closer. I believe the movie did justice to the saga. I believe it helped wrap up the Skywalker story pretty well. I enjoyed a number of moments, found myself on the edge of my seat, yada yada (or is it Yoda Yoda?). BUT, I also recognize this was not as strong a close as we've seen in Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith. Abrams' directing style often involves glossing over details, throwing the viewer into the action (think Star Trek reboot, Super 8, Lost) and focusing more on key drivers of characters vs. painting the entire scene. The movie would have been better if it zoomed out a bit more, go in deeper dialogue with other characters, elongate the dogfight/action sequences. At the end, this entire new trilogy really did revolve around Kylo and Rey; I would have liked to get to know more nuanced details of the Star Wars universe along the way however. It was very good, however.
8. Revenge of the Sith - My favorite of the prequels... but that isn't saying a lot.
9. Solo Movie - Gah, I wanted to love this one so much. There was a lot going for it: good acting, intriguing background plot, old Star Wars era stormtroopers and regalia. The plot just felt bogged down however. You mean to tell me that is how Solo and Chewie met!? The plot twist also felt a bit of a stretch for who the true master villain was... and I do not want to go down the rabbit hole of Star Wars animated series to find out more. Would gladly watch again, and still ahead of the prequels - just a bit haggard of a story.
10. Phantom Menace - Redeemed for having Qui-gon Jinn.
11. Attack of the Clones - Crap acting, horrible love story, and Hayden Christensen can suck it.

Also rotated Solo movie down one, Rogue One up one. I wonder, especially in watching the Mandalorian, if there are threads between the big 3 trilogies that could be better filled in by spin-offs, and improve the "story gaps" even more (I really do think so, actually).
 
Have only seen the Sequel trilogy but Rise of Skywalker is my favourite of the lot. Great ending and does feel like the end of the whole series.

Do love the way they've inserted Carrie Fisher into this film. Considering it's supposedly all archive unused footage from the previous films, it works really well, just like it was filmed for this film

Would rank the Sequel Trilogy as follows:

1. Rise of Skywalker
2. Force Awakens
3. Last Jedi (Still a good film and doesn't deserve a lot of the hate it gets. Definitely weaker than the other two though)
 
Here we are again, with less enthusiasm than ever sadly. Shame really. In this time, the story of a rebellious group of people taking down an oppressive government has so much potential. But they went a pretty boring route ultimately.
  1. Star Wars/A New Hope: I ultimately had to give it to the OG. While I prefer Empire as a film, rewatching Episode IV reminded me of the insanely rich world the film has. Even if none of the other 10 films were made, this universe would still feel just as expansive from this film alone.
  2. Empire Strikes Back: This is my personal favorite. While A New Hope is largely shot with the camera in a static position, Empire is shot much more dynamically. The cinematography is wildly impressive. It's arguably my favorite sequel because it expands the universe set up immensely but also does so in what's a personal story for these three characters. Plus, that twist still brings me chills.
  3. Return of the Jedi: It has its flaws surely. Most of the stuff on Endor I just don't enjoy. The ewoks have their moments, but they drag the film down as a whole. Luckily, it features two of the best sequences of the whole franchise: Jabba's Palace and the Throne Room. It was my favorite as a kid, and it holds a lot of nostalgia for me as well. While I think the sequels try to capture that feeling of Star Wars, there's something about the gritty 80s aesthetic of the original trilogy that can't be replicated. Plus, that Jabba puppet is just the best.
  4. Last Jedi: I can see why die hard fans hate this because it's a reversal of many Star Wars tropes, and I think it's flawed. However, it's a visually beautiful film filled with great performances and a script full of great ideas. I like the transition of the Force from religious to spiritual. I think Finn's arc wasn't established well, but what was done with Rey, Luke, and Kylo certainly makes up for it. I do feel sad that its backlash caused Disney to reverse some of their bolder decisions from the Last Jedi in Rise of Skywalker (more on that later...). Still, I really respect a tentpole movie like this being so experimental and trying something unique, not enough blockbusters do that these days.
  5. Force Awakens: I quite liked it, but it doesn't have too much originality. Still, a very well made film with practical effects. Now that the trilogy's complete, it does feel a tad pointless. There was the promise of a greater story when this came out that simply didn't end up panning out.
  6. Solo: Surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Thought the whole cast did well and just had a good time. Color grading is awful though
  7. Rogue One: I've warmed to this more as time goes on. I do appreciate how it shoots war and that its tone is distinct, but those characters are awful.
  8. Rise of Skywalker: They really didn't know what to do huh? Every decision they made was the first one I thought back before the Force Awakens came out. Of all the Star Wars films I've seen, it's the least interesting. It was either fan service or backpedaling from the Last Jedi. They are constantly starting plot threads that go absolutely nowhere. By the end, it feels like the film happened to me. It's just all felt cookie-cutter and lame. Last Jedi at least felt different; this felt like it was made by a committee, which was always my biggest fear with these new Star Wars movies. It wasn't unbearable like the prequels, but I found very little exceptional in it. The fact they obviously came into this trilogy with no game plan baffles me.
  9. Phantom Menace: After rewatching the prequels, I was shocked to find I thought the Phantom Menace was by far the best. Sure, it's still stilted, awkward, and baffling in its decision-making. However, Lucas actually tried with this one. There are real sets, practical effects, and a tone that at least kind of feels like Star Wars. It's a shockingly bad film, but I think the two below it are worse.
  10. Attack of the Clones: I would say this film has the worst dialogue and effects. Everything is blue screen, and it feels grossly fake. The romantic subplot is eye-roll inducing but also pretty entertaining in its complex awfulness. I'm trying to think of positives and I really have nothing. I think Yoda pulling out a tiny lightsaber may be the single worst idea I've ever heard for a Star Wars movie. It wasn't quite as big a mess as
  11. Revenge of the Sith: I know this is the one prequel that people like to defend, but I thought it was just awful this time around. Anakin didn't have much character development in any of these films, but, here, he goes 0 to 100 almost immediately. He really had no reason to go to the dark side in Like, he murdered those younglings without even thinking about it, and, for what, a half-baked promise about his wife dying from childbirth? Then, Yoda fights Palpatine for like 2 minutes and gives up for absolutely no reason "Go into hiding I must" Why Yoda? Hey, hey Yoda, why? It has more fun moments than Attack of the Clones, but that film at least didn't try to be the origin of Darth Vader. In the end though, I will say that the prequels are fascinating films. They have some worthwhile things in them actually, mostly character design and world building. It's, just, as films, they don't work very well.
 
My updated list with Rise of Skywalker:

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

For me The Rise of Skywalker is the best of the Disney bunch and I prefer watching the Disney trilogy over the prequel trilogy in fact. Even if the stories aren't the best, the movies are far better executed with Force Awakens and TROS being especially great. Wish JJ Abrams had done the entire trilogy with an extra year in between each sequel as with the original movies and Prequel Trilogy.

As I watched the entire new trilogy again in Imax on TROS opening night my rankings of Force Awakens and Last Jedi have actually jumped up a little bit. They really aren't the worst and watching them all in sequence was quite satisfying.

TROS was quite good in the end, with a good menacing bad guy, some great set pieces, and satisfying conclusions. Will watch it again a few times before it leaves the cinema.
 
Here's my review of TROS with no spoilers (assuming you've seen the trailers): http://www.moviemuse.net/movie-review-rise-of-skywalker/

TLDR: It had quite a few issues but none of them stopped me enjoying it and I was satisifed with the conclusion to the saga.

Revised ranking of the movies with Solo and TROS included and having re-watched TFA and TLJ recently again...

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars (A New Hope)
3. The Last Jedi
4. The Force Awakens
5. Return of the Jedi
6. The Rise of Skywalker (this may move after another viewing or two)
7. Solo
8. Rogue One
9. Revenge of the Sith
10. The Phantom Menace
11. That other one from the prequel trilogy :(

I've moved ROTJ out of the top three because if you take the definitive version of the film to be Lucas's special edition with the Jabba's palace musical number and Hayden Christiansen at the end then it's almost unwatchable. If it was still the original cinematic version then it would go back to being third.

Still one episode of The Mandalorian to go but I'd probably rank it just above TROS at the moment. It's been very enjoyable without having that strong a story as yet, though I expect that will develop in the next season.
 
Coming from someone who has only watched Star Wars films from 2015 onwards so I don't have the same level of nostalgia for the original triology.

1. Rise of Skywalker
2. The Force Awakens
3. The Last Jedi
4. Rogue One
5. Solo
6. A New Hope
7. Empire Strikes Back (seriously don't get any of the hype for this film)
 
I won't go through the whole ding dang deal - but at least the last installment had a "Do it!" from the emperor. Literally spit coke and a laugh out loud moment for me and the kids.
 
HeartlineCoaster said:
Hmmm... Solo.
<Stuff>
Hmmm...
I'll get back to you.
Click to expand...
I never did get back on that, but hey there's another one now and I've had a week to digest it.

Revenge of the Sith
Rogue One
The Last Jedi
The Force Awakens
Empire Strikes Back
A New Hope
Return of the Jedi
Attack of the Clones
Phantom Menace
Rise of Skywalker - Oooooh, ouch, thoughts below.
Solo - Sadly had no desire to rewatch it since the cinema, only one I don't own, excluded it from the latest binge.

I really wanted to like this conclusion. And I did, for the most part I really enjoyed it. It just didn't really go how I wanted it (selfishly) and I haven't had the experience of dealing with that in this franchise before.
OT always just was what it was, I wouldn't change it.
I lived through RotS being my all-time favourite, building to perfection.
This built to... confusion.

I'm more of a Kylo man, so in the end, that sucked. My favourites are always the two sided characters and it's why the whole Anakin origin thing works so well for me.
I was rooting for him in that duel. When he got sabered hearing Leia's voice I immediately thought 'well, I don't like this any more, that was cheap'.
Then he got healed. 'ok there's hope again?'.
Follow me on this chain now.

The healing thing, I'm not currently a fan of where they went with the powers this time. Something about the force and associated powers has always seemed rather grounded and limiting in a positive way. It got jarringly excessive in the last film for me, with negative repurcussions to the rest of the series.

People used to die from simple sabre wounds, it happens.
'No-one can kill a jedi', 'If only that were true' - Sucks for you, Qui-Gon.

Force lightning-ing one bloke left you scarred.
Now you can do it to a million ships simultaneously, no sweat.

Yoda slowly lifting a dead ship was a huge deal. 'That is why you fail' gives me goosebumps just typing it, it's such an epic moment.
Now we can just stop thrusting spaceships in mid air.

That spaceship then gets blown up and we were left thinking Rey had killed Chewbacca. This premise I LOVED. Main 'good' characters killing other main characters is always a powerful, ballsy moment and it could have really upped my feeling on this film. (HTTYD2 anyone?). I like dark stuff, unhappy endings, things that really get you in the feels.
As it turned out to be fake, I never at any point in the film bought the idea that she was at risk of turning bad. The whole conflict of sitting on the sith throne felt very forced and had no real grounds (whereas I buy Anakin 1000%, the ultimate tragedy, move along Shakespeare). She didn't care enough about anyone or anything specifically. I still don't really know her motive other than goody two shoes and parent issues and the whole Palpatine revelation never really added to that either.

In the first couple of minutes I did actually like that he was back, but in hindsight that was only because he quoted the unnatural abilities line from RotS to which I almost verbally screamed. After that, it didn't feel like his presence was earned. It undoes a lot of stuff the first 6 films stood for and with no real pay-off. He just comes back, magics a million death stars out of nowhere, sucks the soul out of two younger people and then lightnings himself back to dust. None of which are very Star Wars powers, again. Oh I do hate a final battle to end all battles that hinges on some beam of light deciding how good someone is vs how evil someone is, extra lame (HP anyone?).

I could have lived with the fact Kylo dies, again, if only Rey had bothered to be a little more upset by it. 5 minutes later flying out of 'not a planet, floating cube in the sea' place beaming from ear to ear after everything that just happened is a bit of a disrespect. Not a fair trade to me.

I could go on, but it's starting to feel unhealthy.
tl;dr disenchantment with the franchise. It used to be better. This one tried to diminish several things about its predecessors and I feel personally offended.
Is this what the PT was like to the rest of humanity?
 
Just for anyone that’s watches The Clone Wars the Seventh Season will be released on the 17th of February.
 
1: Return of the Jedi
2: Empire Strikes Back
3: Solo
4: The Force Awakens
5: Star Wars (New Hope)
6: Rise of the Skywalker
7: Revenge of the Sith
8: The Last Jedi
9: Rouge One
10: The Phantom Menace
12: Attack of the Clones

If we were to count "Clone Wars" that would be the worst for me. It has no structure and is one of the most messy and boring films I have seen.
 
To insert the Mandalorian now we are wrapped up:

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. Last Jedi - While Force Awakens carried an aura of rediscovering the franchise, Last Jedi provided further build-in of the third story arc and let us get to know the new cast even more. Really enjoyed the weaving of stories and reverse of archetype from jedi-trainings and rebels-outrunning-empire of old - cinematography of Rian Johnson was also top notch. I hope others will appreciate the movie more once Star Wars 9 is released, as this really moved the story from the Force Awakens reboot. If this were a simple regurgitation of Empire Strikes Back (As Force Awakens was for A New Hope) - I feel the fan hate would be very real.
3. A New Hope - Bumping this up, now thinking more through the general story of Star Wars. I mean, how can you not like A New Hope?
4. Rogue One - So I've bumped this up: 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.
5. 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.
6. The Mandalorian - Overall, this was a very well written, clever TV series that kept me on the edge of my seat, both through Jon Favreau's great story telling ability and wanting to learn more about bounty hunters and the origins of Baby Yoda. Spoiler It's clear Disney has a multi-season plan for the series, with ALL the questions raised in Season 1 that were very unanswered. So while I really enjoyed the style of show Mando was, I can't definitively call it brilliant knowing there's a lot more story to come. So, overall enjoyed the series, and stick an asterisks in this as we have far more story to come
7. Return of the Jedi - I just really love the Battle of the Second Death Star.
8. Rise of Skywalker - Oh JJ, you have never been known as a strong closer. I believe the movie did justice to the saga. I believe it helped wrap up the Skywalker story pretty well. I enjoyed a number of moments, found myself on the edge of my seat, yada yada (or is it Yoda Yoda?). BUT, I also recognize this was not as strong a close as we've seen in Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith. Abrams' directing style often involves glossing over details, throwing the viewer into the action (think Star Trek reboot, Super 8, Lost) and focusing more on key drivers of characters vs. painting the entire scene. The movie would have been better if it zoomed out a bit more, go in deeper dialogue with other characters, elongate the dogfight/action sequences. At the end, this entire new trilogy really did revolve around Kylo and Rey; I would have liked to get to know more nuanced details of the Star Wars universe along the way however. It was very good, however.
9. Revenge of the Sith - My favorite of the prequels... but that isn't saying a lot.
10. Solo Movie - Gah, I wanted to love this one so much. There was a lot going for it: good acting, intriguing background plot, old Star Wars era stormtroopers and regalia. The plot just felt bogged down however. You mean to tell me that is how Solo and Chewie met!? The plot twist also felt a bit of a stretch for who the true master villain was... and I do not want to go down the rabbit hole of Star Wars animated series to find out more. Would gladly watch again, and still ahead of the prequels - just a bit haggard of a story.
11. Phantom Menace - Redeemed for having Qui-gon Jinn.
12. Attack of the Clones - Crap acting, horrible love story, and Hayden Christensen can suck it.

I also think it's important to point out, as I am adding Mandalorian in: with the Disney acquisition, Star Wars Rebels, The Clone Wars (movie), The Clone Wars (TV), and Star Wars Resistance are officially canon and "in" the universe. As some of these plots play/affect movies that have come out post Disney purchase (Darth Maul in Solo, etc.), it would make sense to rank these too if you've watched. :)[/SPOILER]
 
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