Ranking All Star Wars Movies

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away...

TOP TWELVE STAR WARS MOVIES

Spoiler: NUMBER 12

The Rise of Skywalker

In some respects the ninth episode is better than the prequel movie (especially I and II) but the story is a mess: it's confusing and many times it makes no sense to the point of becoming ridiculously convoluted and even dumb. From a storyteller's perspective it's the worst of the saga (The Holiday Special actually makes more sense).

Spoiler: NUMBER 11

The Phantom Menace

A lot of people put this above the second one, and I can see why.

Spoiler: I too prefer a "Yippie!" Anakin instead of a creep looking pervert (if I had to choose at gunpoint)

But I have a big problem with Episode I (even though it contains Qui Gon Jinn and Darth Maul, two of my favorite characters in the EU) if you really think about it: We don't need Episode I. It serves no purpose. If someone skipped the entire first episode of Star Wars I would miss out on any important information about the story (except the midichorian and Jar Jar).

The Duel of Fates (about Anakin's fates) is a fantastic fight, but neither Darth Maul or Qui Gon had a impactful meaning to the rest of the saga, if we didn't know them nothing really changes.
Episode I have no impact on the overall story which is why I personally consider it worse than Episode II.

Spoiler: NUMBER 10

Attack of the Clones

This is totally bias, or bs (I don't remember which one is ones).
ATOC contain my favorite scenes of the entire saga, and my favorite monster.

Spoiler: I'm talking about the Arena scenes and the Acklay, I don't know why I love this scene so much.

I know a lot of people prefer Darth Vader in Rogue One, or the Duel of the Fates, or “I'm your father” line, I love them too... but there is something about that scene and the Acklay design that I simply cannot compute. But I know Episode II is a bad: the dialogue, the romance, the political talking, the sand...
And then there is also Syfo Dias that as a kid I always thought was Qui Gon Jinn from the first movie. Episode II almost restart the trilogy like The Last Jedi does and is not what the second episode should do.

Spoiler: NUMBER 9 & 8

ROGUE ONE & SOLO


It's time to talk about the “Anthology films”.
I think exploring different characters in the galaxy other than the main protagonist and story-line is a good idea. But both film are big missed opportunity for me and even if they had great potential, they contain either badly developed characters (Rogue One) or a boring/run-of-the-mill story (Solo) that I don't have any need or interest to listen too. Their lack of originality and new idea put them both behind the Last Jedi, perhaps Solo for me is the worse of the two because was a bigger disappointment (even if it was a better movie overall).

Spoiler: NUMBER 7

Return of the Jedi & The Last Jedi


It's at this point that you should realize that there is something very odd about this list (besides my horrible tastes). We are at number 7 but there are only 4 films left to evaluate.
I liked both films, if I were to rate the films individually and disconnect them from the rest of the saga probably Rogue One and The Last Jedi would be much higher in the ranking, but if I have to consider them as chapters of a bigger story ... they lose a lot points. I don't know why I dislike ROFJ so much, maybe because it's a little too boring? The last episode of a trilogy should be epic and full of action and instead our heroes go around with wild teddy bears?

Spoiler

I can't decide whether to put TLJ behind or on top of ROTJ, because there are things I really like about the Last Jedi but also I really hate the Ewoks, more than the Porgs (if that's possible).
For me Episode VI and Episode VIII are in the "fine" category, I don't like them very much but I can still enjoy their best part. So they're both at number 7.

Spoiler: NUMBER 6

The Clone Wars

Exactly! This ranking doesn't just contain movies, so be prepared: I'll subvert your expectations!
I think Star Wars Universe benefits a lot from the TV series format. And Dave Filoni is one of the few creators who have my full trust in everything Star Wars related.

Spoiler

If I could decide: Dave Filoni will be the "Kevin Feige" of the Star Wars cinematic universe, everything related to Star Wars would have to be overcome by his judgment.
(obviously George Lucas would always be my first choice, but Filoni consults him often and seems to enjoy his trust)

To be honest, though, The Clone Wars isn't an interesting topic: it's a war between Clone and Droids ... nobody cares who wins or dies. I love Clone Wars, I love Ahsoka Tano, I love Darth Maul and there are other great stories, but there are also a lot of droid and clone episodes, a lot of filler episodes that are boring. There are too many things inside that just don't interest me.

Spoiler: NUMBER 5

Revenge Of The Sith

This may surprise many viewers: a better prequel movie than TLJ and ROTJ, are you insane?
Yes, probably ... but I have a very strange relationship with this film.

As mentioned in another discussion: the battle between Obi Wan and Anakin is the only fight in which I have felt emotionally involved I'm very aware how it's like fight with a brother and both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen made a damn good performance.
As with AOTC this is a purely personal choice that many others may struggle to understand, but when ranking it is very difficult to remain objective.

Spoiler: NUMBER 4

A New Hope (The Force Awakens)


This is another weird choice, but let me explain:
Episode IV and Episode VII are basically the same movie.
If I rank the Star Wars movies based on their creativity, the Force Awakens will be at the bottom of the list, because it's basically a reboot of the original movie.
I think the Force Awakening improves (and modernizes) many things of the New Hope:

Spoiler

Rey's introduction is much better than Luke's
Finn's starting point is more interesting than Leila's.

But even with all his updates he doesn't have the same soul, he's just a copy of the original.

Spoiler: NUMBER 3

REBELS

The more interesting Dave Filoni's show (in my opinion), has the same passion and understanding of the Clone Wars but it's set in a more interesting time frame with more defined protagonists.
There are so many good things about Rebels that I just suggest you see for yourself, it's very very cool, the story is more focused and easier to follow, and some characters are much better than the ones in "live-action" movies.
Probably one of the reasons I love it so much is because it reminds me of one of my favorite TV series of all time

Spoiler: NUMBER 2

Empire Strikes Back

I know a lot of people will hate me for this choice ... how the hell is Empires not number one? What else is left? You're right: ESB is indeed the best film in the franchise. The "I am your father" line is what defines Star Wars, the moment when the villain tells the hero that he is his father is the best plot twist in the history of sci-fi films.
For me Star Wars was never about Good vs Evil but about the interconnected relationship between Good and Evil, the "Taoism" of Star Wars. Without this scene Star Wars could end up being another science fiction movie like many others, what makes Star Wars one of the greatest in the Universe ever created is the relationship between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, what made me love Star Wars it was that Empire reacted.

Spoiler: HONORABLE MENTION

Before I reveal my number one choice, I would like to mention the things I liked but decided to exclude from the list.

Any Lego: Star Wars movie or cartoon, I really love them, I think they are fun and creative, but they are LEGO movies with Star Wars characters.

Then the Clone Wars., 2003 animated series. It has great animation, great characters, the best General Grievous and of course Mace Windu's karate chop. Unfortunately I don't feel entitled to include it on this list, because I don't consider it a Star Wars content, I consider a work by Tartakovsky, one of the best if not the best animator working today. You should watch PRIMAL, not in the future but right now, stop wasting your time with this list and go watch it. I promise you it will be the most thrilling experience you will have watching a cartoon.

And finally: The Mandalorian. A simple story can make a good series. Sometimes I think a lot of Star Wars movies (even Lucas' ones) have tried to be and say too many things, and have lost focus
becoming confusing and hard to follow, they create to many plotholes and narrative problem that the audience lose interest.

Spoiler: NUMBER 1

KOTOR & KOTOR II

Another extremely strange choice. But I firmly believe that the stories and characters in these 2 videogame are the best of any other Star Wars properties in the list. Darth Revan and Darth Kreia are the most interesting and complex characters in Star Wars lore.
For these and many other reason, for me they deserve the number one spot (from a storyteller's prospective).

Spoiler: Final Conclusion

Now have your say, I am curious above all to know which story of the expanded universe has struck you the most. Because I'm pretty knowledgeable about the EU but haven't read a lot of books (I've read a lot of comics though). So if you want to share your ranking of Skywalker saga movies that's fine but I'm more interested in learning about stories beyond the movies, no matter what source they come from (TV series, books, video games, etc ...)

 

I made this list just for fun, I actually didn't think people would really answer. but I'm glad they did. I am a storyteller, I have been making stories since I was a child, I finish my first book at 12. So I tried to create a ranking system based on the Star Wars stories that I liked the most. Revan's is the most interesting to me, it's like a Bourne Identity story. I also find the story of the Phoenix squadron very interesting, since Firefly and Battlestar Galactica have always liked sci-fi where the main focus of the story are the interaction between the crew instead of focusing on a single character (but I never like Star Trek, for some reason).
Either way, the goal of this ranking was to share my opinion and find out if there are some amazing EU stories that I miss out and should be read. I started to read the Trawn Trilogy but after a few pages I immediately give up. I prefer to read comics, I have read a lot of books in the pat but I think Star Wars is such a visual universe that "simple words" don't make it justice to the scope of it.
So if anyone has any suggestions about a book, a comic or even a video game with a good story set in the Star Wars universe, I'm open to listening.

Thanks to you! I wish other people would do something similar. I get that not everyone has the time to explain all of his answers. I tried to be honest and explanatory. I know many of my choices are quite unconventional, but reading the previous answers it seems that many people are unconventional answers. In the end your preferences are completely subjective, I mentioned in another topic that one of my favorite scenes in the whole saga is the duel between Anakin and Obi Wan, but the reason is absolutely personal.
I'd like to see someone else explain their choice of preference, like #cawatrooper that said:

It's his favorite movie ... I'm fascinated by it. Because I thought there was a silent rule among the SW community that we have to answer that TESB is the best film in the original trilogy without any doubts.
So I'm interested in hearing some "out of the box" opinions to help me rethink my own opinions: maybe there is something else that I miss, there are always multiple points of view on a story. We never just see a movie or read a book, we see content through our experiences, our feelings, etc. A single movie could mean different things to different people at different times.