Your post TLJ ranking of Star Wars movies

I love AOTC. I feel it's the most human of all the Star Wars movies. All of Lucas's six movies portray the characters as pretty real people with real emotions, but to me AOTC does this the most, and not these idealized caricatures of people that audiences have come to expect to see, with perfect speech, and perfect emotions, and perfect things to say at every turn...

Temper tantrum Anakin at 19/20 years old... I can remember having some anger issues at 19/20 years old, blaming the world for my shortcomings. It was my bosses fault, it was my professors fault etc etc.. I think a lot of people... A LOT... have selective memory loss as to how they were like in their youth. They like to think they weren't like that, but, I bet if they had honest conversations with their parents, guardians, old friends from those days, teachers, bosses etc etc.. they might get a broader picture of what they were really like. Like Padme alludes to when talking to Anakin about mentors seeing our faults. We tend to build up an idealized image of ourselves as the years go on.

Anakin and Padme love story.. lol... If there's one thing I have learned is that it seems that every male Star Wars fan that ever lived is some kind of Romeo or smooth operating ladies man. I looked at Anakin's awkwardness in AOTC and the awkwardness between Padme and Anakin as a mirror of some of my early relationships.. as we struggled to find the right things to say to one another..

Hell, I've been with my wife for 22 years now, married for almost 17 of them, and I still find my self struggling to say the right thing at times.... So yeah... I must be in the minority in the Star Wars fandom, because I can completely relate to Anakin and Padme. I just wish I knew more Star Wars fans back in my youth, because it seems all these other Star Wars fans seemed to be complete love machines...

I loved the detective story that Obi Wan was on. I loved the start of the Clone Wars. I loved seeing Palpatine's machinations, his hidden agenda and plans starting to play out and take form. The realization that it was Dooku was his pawn and was helping him play both sides to create this war.

The powerful death of Shmi reflecting Yoda's warning from TPM... Fear leads to anger, Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering... Anakin feared for his mother, it lead to him hating the Tuskens, and thus he caused tremendous suffering, even to those that may not have had a role to play in his Mother's death.

I think AOTC is by far the most underrated of all the Star Wars films. It has the most to say about us as people thru Anakin's character, because if we are honest with ourselves, I think most of us could see a lot of ourselves in his character. How many of us haven't had a meltdown? How many of us haven't blamed others for our shortcomings? How many of us, if we had the power too, wouldn't have killed those responsible of murdering one of our loved ones? How many of us are perfect Romeo's or Juliet's that were so comfortable with ourselves in our youth as to have the right things to say at every moment?

 

That's pretty cool, man. Refreshing to see a pretty unique take on this film, outside of the easy criticisms (of which I definitely am guilty of myself).

I do have to say, in the past year if I choose a Star Wars film to watch in the background as I paint or something, a lot of times I choose AotC. Not sure why I feel so drawn to it- generally I assume it's because it's the one I've seen the least- but maybe I should try seeing the silver lining in it more. Even as a kid I never thought it was my favorite, but I definitely still really liked it.

That's what's great about Star Wars- technically it's all pretty enjoyable.

 

Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group just gave his ranking of the Star Wars films:

 

Pablo and I are nearly right on at the top.....I also like that he calls it SW and not ANH

I know I go against conventional wisdom with my ranking of TESB #5.....I actually prefer ROTS over TESB.

1. SW
2. R1
3. TLJ
4. ROTS
5. TESB
6. ROTJ
7. TFA
8. AOTC
9. TPM

 

"The greats" tier:

• TESB
• ANH
• TLJ

"The good ones" tier:

• RotJ
• TFA
• R1

The rest:

7. TPM
8. RotS
9. AotC

I don't consider TCW theatrical release to be a film, but four episodes of a show forcibly stitched together.

 

1.) The Empire Strikes Back
2.) Revenge of the Sith
3.) Return of the Jedi
4.) A New Hope
5.) The Force Awakens
6.) The Phantom Menace
7.) Rogue One
8.) Attack of the Clones
9.) The Last Jedi

 

@cawatrooper Yes exactly! I mean if I am going around the dial and I see AOTC or TPM, we are stopping right there and watching! Even though they "are at the bottom of my list" when compared to other SW movies, doesn't mean I won't watch them!! Hey, AOTC has some pretty sweet ground battle scenes!!

 

Alright so after a few more watches and months to digest the film...

... I'm ready to do it.

Oh boy...

1. The Last Jedi
2. The Force Awakens (I just had the experience of watching TFA/TLJ back to back for the first time today. I actually think TLJ strengthens it)
3. Star Wars
4. The Empire Strikes Back (ANH/ESB have always been interchangeable for me... today I feel like putting ANH before it)
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Revenge of the Sith
7. Attack of the Clones
8. Rogue One
9. The Phantom Menace

 

1.The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Return of the Jedi
4. The Last Jedi
5. Rogue One
6. The Force Awakens
7. The Phantom Menace
8. Revenge of the Sith
9. Attack of the Clones

 

@Flyboy Why no love for R1? I respect your choices 100% however.....

 

I don't really know, I still enjoy it. I enjoy all the films (my previous rankings where I had the Ewok/fan films above TPM was a joke).

I think part of the reason was because it wasn't a saga film. I had almost zero interest going into it. That's a personal thing that I know I'm gonna have to get over pretty soon considering who knows what the future holds after IX.

I do have problems with the film itself, especially in the second act. I think the whole thing on Eadu takes way too long and it honestly started to bore me. I didn't have much emotional attachment to the characters, and while the third act was great... I feel like because of that, I felt a bit empty when the film was over. Also... I full and well realize I'm in the overwhelming minority here but I didn't LOVE the Vader scene at the end. It was fun and enjoyable to watch but it also reeked of... I don't think desperation is the right word but it felt purposely shoe horned in, it didn't feel organic.

I ragged on the film a lot more than I wanted to, there's some things I absolutely love about it. The ground stuff on Scarif was fantastic as was the stuff in space. Krennic was awesome. The whole film looks beautiful, there's a lot to enjoy.

 

I’m with you on R1. I actually think it’s a solid movie with an adult tone that doesn’t sell out to gags like certain Saga films do to appeal to a younger audience. I like R1 as a film overall.

The problem with R1 is the Saga films are the only ones that have true replay value because they tie together and the characters resonate with me. The Skywalker lineage is what truly drives my love for the films, and that why I will probably move on from my favorite franchise after Episode 9.

 

@Flyboy and @Jedi77-83 Totally respect your opinion on R1. It was really different, can understand your feelings. We all come at it from a different perspective. As a war movie buff (and military historian) I think you can see why R1 appealed to me.....

 

Surprisingly, I agree with Pablo’s ranking. I guess miracles do happen.

 

Yeah, even though I place R1 much higher, I totally agree.

Two or three years from now, we'll all remember Vader, Luke, and Leia, of course. And Kylo Ren, Rey, and Finn will very much be iconic, too, as well as Anakin, Obi Wan, and Padme.

But "Raddus" will probably be more associated with the Resistance flagship rather than the Mon Cala it's named after. All but the most diehard fans will probably forget who "Bodhi" was, and we'll presumably have gotten several more tentacle monsters since Bor Gullet (especially if the Solo trailer is any indication).

Speaking of which, I expect Solo will experience similar struggles. Sure, Han as a character is already iconic, but I think Alden's got his work cut out for him if he expects to be anywhere near as iconic as Harrison. Glover, too.

And characters like Beckett and Qi'Ra? They could be amazingly well written, but unless they're further incorporated into future movies, I expect they'll share the fate of Bodhi... well, the meta fate in the minds of fans not necessarily that they'll be blown up in a shuttle.

 

Difficult very difficult.
1. Revenge of the Sith
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. Phantom Menace
4. Force Awakens
5. Return of the Jedi
6. A New Hope
7. Attack of the Clones
8. Last Jedi
9. Rogue One

 

1. TLJ
2. ESB
3. TFA
4. ANH
5. ROTJ
6. RO
7. ROTS
8. TPM
9.AOTC.

 

1. A New Hope
2. Empire
3. ROTS
4. ROTJ
5. TFA
6. Rogue One
7. TLJ
8. AOTC
9. TPM

 

The Last Jedi Cantina Forum Poll Snapshot March 29, 2018 (93 votes)

Top 3: 39.9% (plurality)
Middle 3: 25.9%
Bottom 3: 34.4%

Top 4: 49.6% (plurality)
Middle 1: 5.4%
Bottom 4: 45.2%

Largest shares
9th place 19.4% (plurality)
1st place 15.1%
3rd place 15.1%

 

That's nice. Great datas. I would like to see something like that with the OT and PT movies. Great job.