Ranking Every Star Wars Movie

In case you have been living under a rock, a new Star Wars movie is coming out this week. Knowing that, it’s time to rank every single Star Wars movie from worst to best. Remember like all of my other lists, this is my personal opinion. Let’s begin.

8 Attack of the Clones (2002)- The first film to feature Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, Attack of the Clones is a very disappointing film. The film centers on Anakin’s and Padme’s relationship and Christensen and Natalie Portman’s chemistry just isn’t there. The film also suffers from a lackluster villain in Count Dooku. The one true highlight was seeing Yoda with a lightsaber for the first time ever. Too bad it only lasted 1 minute.

7 The Phantom Menace (1999)- One of the most anticipated movies of all-time, The Phantom Menace did not meet expectations. While the film was ahead of its time in terms of special effects, it also had terrible dialog and over the top characters (aka Jar Jar Binks). The one reason this film isn’t the lowest on the list is because of Darth Maul and awesome two-sided lightsaber. But of course he was then killed off at the end of the film.

6 Rogue One (2016)- As the 1^st spin-off film in franchise history, Rogue One had a large hill to climb. It tells the story of how the rebels stole the Death Star plans and for the most part it succeeded. For me personally, I didn’t get that invented into the main characters as much as I should have because I knew that they were only around for one movie. Despite that, the last 20 minutes of this movie are very intense and that Darth Vader scene at the end was something else.

5 Revenge of the Sith (2005)- By far the best of the prequels, Revenge of the Sith shows the fall of Anakin Skywalker and the rise of Darth Vader. I love the concept of this movie as we see the hero become the villain; but like the other prequels, the execution isn’t there. But putting that to the side, I thought the final lightsaber battles at the end were amazing. Watching the Emperor battle Yoda was like watching Muhammad Ali battle Mike Tyson in their primes. This film also did a good job of setting the stage of what will happen for the original Star Wars.

4 Return of the Jedi (1983)- Now we’re getting to the good stuff. Return of the Jedi is the end of the original trilogy and it does it in spectacular fashion. The highlight for me by far is Luke Skywalker confronting his father Darth Vader with the Emperor watching over them. Its classic good vs evil and I love every minute of that scene. When Vader throws the Emperor over the bridge and redeems himself to save his son; that was one of the most satisfying moments in movie history. But the reason I don’t have this movie in my top three is because of one thing. EWOKS.

3 The Force Awakens (2015)- Like The Phantom Menace, The Force Awakens came in with a crazy amount hype. But unlike The Phantom Menace, The Force Awakens met expectations. Taking place 30 years after Return of the Jedi, Awakens introduced us to a ton of new characters and for the most part, we cared about all of them. Rey and Kylo Ren (Ben Solo) especially stood out to me and of course seeing Han Solo and Chewbacca back on screen together was pretty special.

3 The Force Awakens (2015)- Like The Phantom Menace, The Force Awakens came in with a crazy amount hype. But unlike The Phantom Menace, The Force Awakens met expectations. Taking place 30 years after Return of the Jedi, Awakens introduced us to a ton of new characters and for the most part, we cared about all of them. Rey and Kylo Ren (Ben Solo) especially stood out to me and of course seeing Han Solo and Chewbacca back on screen together was pretty special.

2 The Empire Strikes Back (1980)- Not only is Empire one of the best Star Wars movies ever made, it is widely considered the greatest sequel in movie history. What makes Empire so great is that it is so different from the original and it puts the characters in surprising places at the end. Obviously Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo are all fantastic; but this movie is all about Darth Vader. While he was scary in Star Wars, he is absolutely terrifying and he’s irresistible to watch. This film also introduced Yoda and he instantly became my favorite character in the entire franchise. But of course, the highlight of this movie is the twist of all twist when we realize Darth Vader is Luke’s father. Holy Shit.

1 Star Wars (1977)- Sometimes the original is still the best and that is the case with Star Wars. People who love movies have talked about how their lives have changed after they have watched Star Wars and that is the case for me. We were all Luke Skywalker at the beginning of the movie as he was a kid who was looking to be part of a bigger world. He then meets the great Obi-Wan Kenobi and we are off on an adventure with Han Solo and Princess Leia.  Everything is so great in this movie; the characters, the villains, the action, the story, and the lessons learned. Star Wars is one of the greatest movies ever made it’s still the best in the series.

I hope you guys liked my list. However, I am not the only hard core Star Wars fan here a Couch Guy Sports. Here is Nick Katinas’ ranking of the Star Wars movies.

8 The Phantom Menace

7 Attack of the Clones

6 Rogue One

5 Revenge of the Sith

4 The Force Awakens

3 Star Wars

2 Return of the Jedi

1 Empire Strikes Back

Written By: Steven Santoro (SVS_1993)