Sorry but TFA merits at least 3rd over all for the simple fact it doesn't have Ewoks or Gungans. Seriously, a teddy bear army with literal sticks and stones beating the most elite force of Stromtroopers the Empire can muster is a smaller plot contrivance than anything in TFA? Really? REALLY?

Sorry but TFA merits at least 3rd over all for the simple fact it doesn't have Ewoks or Gungans. Seriously, a teddy bear army with literal sticks and stones beating the most elite force of Stromtroopers the Empire can muster is a smaller plot contrivance than anything in TFA? Really? REALLY?

There used to be a torture when the English conquered Ireland where they'd put a steel bucket over the captive's head and batter the bucket with sticks. It was called, imaginatively enough, "the bucket". I imagine even with the helmet on, being dragged down and battered around the head with stout sticks is pretty disorientating and un-fun. Also, Storm Trooper armour is designed to deal with blasters whilst still being light and flexible - it has plenty of gaps where a piercing melee weapon can get through. An ewok-spear into the armpit (remember they thrust upwards due to height) ain't going to end well. A technologically inferior force with the advantages of numbers, forest environment and home-terrain knowledge defeating better equipped invaders has real world precedent. Ewoks are basically the Vietcong but cannibals and motivated by a divine, golden deity that walks amongst them.

I kind of imagine one of the Stormtroopers as Hudson from the Aliens movie. Most of the quotes are easily adapted:

"They're coming out of the ferns.... They're coming out of the goddamn ferns!"

"How can they build a giant log trap? They're animals, man! They're animals!"

"Game over, man! Game over!"

Right now, my ranking is:

1. The Empire Strikes Back
   
2. A New Hope
   
3. The Force Awakens
   
4. Revenge of the Sith
   
5. Return of the Jedi
   

I am unaware of any other Star Wars films. I did enjoy the short films Lightsaber Diplomacy and Duel of the Fates featuring Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan. Those deserved to be in a full-length feature film. Too bad they weren't. As for RotS and Rotj, its a toss-up. I'd have put Jedi over Sith, but... Ewoks.

1. Return of the Jedi

The Force Awakens (to me A better New Hope)

Is not The Force Awakens our new hope?

I love Phantom Menace because we get Jedi being jedi at last. That was a long wait. Innocent fun. Dads relate to Quigon

1. Return of the Jedi

2. The Force Awakens (to me A better New Hope)

3. The Empire Strikes Back (Good movie but slow)

4. Revenge of the Sith (Not as bad as every seems to think to me)

5. A New Hope

6. Attack of the Clones

7. The Phantom Menace

If I may ask: how old are you?

Asking simply because your ranking (and justification) is one of the most stark examples I've seen of a trend I've seen among friends of mine in their very early 20s, and a few children of family friends who are in their mid-to-late teens.

I'm curious if you follow that age trend as well.

1. Return of the Jedi

2. The Force Awakens (to me A better New Hope)

3. The Empire Strikes Back (Good movie but slow)

4. Revenge of the Sith (Not as bad as every seems to think to me)

5. A New Hope

6. Attack of the Clones

7. The Phantom Menace

If I may ask: how old are you?

Asking simply because your ranking (and justification) is one of the most stark examples I've seen of a trend I've seen among friends of mine in their very early 20s, and a few children of family friends who are in their mid-to-late teens.

I'm curious if you follow that age trend as well.

40 years old

Wow, then you're the oldest person I've encountered who views the films in that particular way. (And the *only* person I've come across with the "TFA does ANH...but better" perspective.)

Wow, then you're the oldest person I've encountered who views the films in that particular way. (And the *only* person I've come across with the "TFA does ANH...but better" perspective.)

Well, I'm 43 and, in terms of polish, TFA is ANH re-done better. It is, in many ways, my childhood joy given a power-up. However, TFA its an Abrams reboot / redo "I can do that better" special. Its not an original film. What ANH lacks in technical perfection, aesthetic style, and polish is made up for in actually being original. ANH had the spirit, vision, boldness, rawness, and newness of laying out an original idea. It took vim and vinegar to make ANH, and no one had touchstone for what SW was supposed to be.

TFA was a play-it-safe franchise reboot - and for all its "done better polish" it lacked a beginning, a middle, and end because its not written or intended to be a stand-alone film. Its a beginning leading to a middle. It is not a complete story. No one knew ESB and RoTJ would get made when ANH came out. As a result, ANH was written in such a way that you can watch it and say "I really liked that story." With TFA your left saying, "I really this part of a story whose overall quality can only be judged by what comes next." That's a flaw.

Basically, Lucas created Star Wars (now ANH) ex nihlo. It was something from nothing. TFA is Abrams creating something from something. Is TFA better than ANH? In many ways, yes. Its better. But, its also a pastiche of ANH and a pastiche owes its very soul to its inspiring media. Abrams is to star wars as Tarantino is to exploitation and grindhouse films.

Wonders never cease...

Thanks for chiming in! I guess it's not as age-delineated as I suspected.

I definitely agree with most of what you said, differing mostly in my personal take on the points you made (I personally feel that ANH was a lot tighter and more elegant than TFA, which was comparatively haphazard, disjointed, and frenetic...but if one's good with all of that, I could see how ANH may be too spartan, flat, and bland).

I agree ANH had tighter storytelling. I like it's spartan, I would argue Hemingway-like, delivery. Abrams pacing of TFA is a deft bit of slight of hand. He doesn't want us to stop and ask: why wasn't this a complete story? Or, to say, it's not a sequel, it's a pastiche. This is why, in my list, TFA comes in after ANH at no. 3. I put ESB at the top because, while not as mythic as ANH it's a better overall film.

Saw the movie again with my daughter. After watching it and pondering all the previous movies, I'm gonna change my ranking and put TFA at the very top. As the best Star Wars movie ever made. The prequels are beyond hope (not just in filmaking but in the themes). The OT movies were good but each one had a significant flaw. SW was boring, RotJ had the Ewoks, and ESB had the stupid "I am your father" switcheroo.

1) The Force Awakens

2) Empire Strikes Back

3) Star Wars

4) Return of the Jedi

and ESB had the stupid "I am your father" switcheroo.

And award for minority opinion goes to... :D

(that's not a jibe, by the way. All is good. It's just a staggeringly rare viewpoint).

I agree ANH had tighter storytelling. I like it's spartan, I would argue Hemingway-like, delivery. Abrams pacing of TFA is a deft bit of slight of hand. He doesn't want us to stop and ask: why wasn't this a complete story? Or, to say, it's not a sequel, it's a pastiche. This is why, in my list, TFA comes in after ANH at no. 3. I put ESB at the top because, while not as mythic as ANH it's a better overall film.

Well I have to say that I was never a fan of Star Wars/New Hope/IV or whatever. It was Jedi that really brought me around to the star wars universe.

I feel that this poorly acted (except for Harrison Ford and James Earl Jones) and directed movie always gets a pass because of nostalgia.

Empire was ok but I found the pace slow and the fight on Hoth boring as He!!. could be that I saw them when I was a kid who knows.

The Vader as Luke's father was a good twist. and the Lightsaber battle was good for the time.

Jedi while Jabba's Palace went on to long was energetic and active through out.

the acting had gotten much better and it really showed the scope of the conflict (space:Battle of Endor)

the space battle to me is what earned it the Star Wars name.

as for the Ewoks they never bothered me that much, and from what I understand where going to be Wookiees but they did not think they could do Kashyyyk justice.

Phantom is just bad

Clones had its moments but overall was bad

ROTS was good yes Hayden still cant act but you start to see Lucas letting his actor start to emote something he seemed to block in during the first two films.

the battle was great but should have been later in the movie to build it up.

the Emperor vs Yoda was amazing

Anaken vs Obi-wan was good but to long and had a kill joy ending.(the high ground thing)

Padme's death would have been tragic if it wasn't Lucasized to she died of a broken heart.

but over all i found it a good movie.

Okay, mine is slightly different than most others BUT you must understand that I am from germany and dubbed films can change your perspective (But I have seen them all since then in english)

1. Return of the Jedi: That Space Battle! Chewie's really useful! And the Ewoks are a refreshing departure from what people expected. I see them as "cute and cuddly but looks can be deceiving!" A key Star Wars trope that runs through every movie!
2. The Empire strikes Back: Very well done story, the reveal shocked me back 1996 (i watched the Special Editions in the cinema) because I didn't know it yet (absence of Internet be thanked) just overall good.
3. A New Hope: almost perfect opening of a Hero's journey. For his limits very impressive work by George Lucas. Moves too fast sometimes, and then again too slow sometimes.
4. The Force Awakens: Great film, but a bit of a retread. Nice acting though, but not as nicely closed as the previous ones.
5. Revenge of the Sith: Still alot of cringeworthy moments, but enjoyable. I Like the opera scene and the opening battle.
6. The Phantom Menace: Jar Jar is annoying but not bothering me that much, but what I really am mad about is the way we STAR WARS fans treated Jake Lloyd, because we traumatized him. It was really not justified, for a child actor he did okay. The cringe lies with George here. His dialogues are... bad. And the directing was also subpar. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor do a decent job, since they are really good actors. But cut jake Lloyd a break guys! What we did could be classified as mobbing! (Jar Jar is maybe not so annoying since in Germany we don't really care about which accent one has and differentiate between real and fictional beings. The Neimoidians have a french accent in Germany, did we find that offensive? Not really, it was just an attempt to bring the differences between languages in such a galaxy to film)
7. Attack of the Clones: Worst... Star Wars... Romance... ever... The end.

Amazing how differently we perceive the same movies! That alone is fascinating.

In my book Empire strikes back is the best because

• of the dark tone (the rebels are ALWAYS overpowered and ALWAYS on the run),
• the story twist (daddy),
• the filming (duel on Bespin, the chase through the asteroid field),
• the coolness ("I love you!" - "I know" a Star Wars with cool dialogue, what more do you want),
• cool characters (Lando, Boba, Lobot),
• cool starships (first Nebulon-B frigate, Gallofree Yards Medium transport),

what more could you want?

A New Hope:

• the original
• amazing effects (the battle in the beginning gets me every time)
• coolness ("Sorry for the mess")
• Obi Wan Kenobi

Return of the Jedi:

• Space Battle (though the battle is too complicated (Luke vs. Emperor, space ground, ground inside bunker, ...))
• The awesome Han Solo rescue - how many layers of contingency plans did they have? To those who know Leverage: THIS is the ultimate heist.

The Force Awakens:

• character driven story and character development
• great acting
• good bridge from OT to sequel
• WHY DID THERE HAVE TO BE ANOTHER DEATH STAR???? No more superweapons please. Ever. Don't even mention them anymore.

Revenge of the Sith:

• Dark tone
• Best screenplay and acting of prequel (still terrible despite fantastic line-up: George, you're a good producer, but as a director... nah)
• Nice ships

The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones:

• Music (Duel of the Fates is awesome) in PM and Gungans (just not that one special one) in AotC
• Wanna know the difference between Jedi and Sith? Darth Maul vs. Qui Don Jinn when the force fields separate them!
• Rest is pretty bleak, most importantly the story either contradicts OT or makes no sense, or both.
• But they have their moments

(Edit: spelling)

This ranking is VERY subjective, and subject to change upon a second viewing of E7, but here we go.

Empire Strikes Back

New Hope

Revenge of the Sith

Return of the Jedi

Force Awakens

Attack of the Clones

Phantom Menace

Also, for the record - I like them all*. And not in a begrudging "well, its Star Wars, so I guess I'll like it" sort of way. I genuinely like Clones and TPM right along side with Empire and New Hope.

*Again more viewings are needed for TFA before final judgement.

Why Revenge so high up?

I'm not all squee squee with Star Wars personally, especially after I found out they were just remakes of older stuff some down to the same exact fight sequences.

I can only list from bottom to I don't care.

4-1-7 are the exact same movie that puts them at the bottom for me, but since 4 was the original copy it gets a pass

Worst

4 : pod race, little bugs are the force.

7 : JJ Abrams(actually this is only second to last because the 3 are back if they hadn't agreed it would be worsest)

6

I don't care after that.

5,7,4,6,3,1,2.

I'm 32 and never got to experience the OT in its original cinema release and personally 1,2&3 where a big let down. For now 7 is not and I feel I have gotten to experience some of the joy that slightly older people must have had when seeing Ep 5&6.

TFA was a play-it-safe franchise reboot - and for all its "done better polish" it lacked a beginning, a middle, and end because its not written or intended to be a stand-alone film. Its a beginning leading to a middle. It is not a complete story. No one knew ESB and RoTJ would get made when ANH came out. As a result, ANH was written in such a way that you can watch it and say "I really liked that story." With TFA your left saying, "I really this part of a story whose overall quality can only be judged by what comes next." That's a flaw.

I don't know if it can be objectively said that that's a flaw. It worked alright for The Fellowship of the Ring.

Now that I’ve seen TFA, I would put it somewhere after ESB and maybe before RotJ or after it.

Definitely better than the PT, and it has lots of good elements, but there are also what I consider to be some serious flaws — not to do with any of the acting, but certain story elements.

But I won’t post any spoilers here.

Oh, and I’m 49, and I’ve seen each episode during first run in the movie theaters.

I waited longer to see TFA than I have with any other Star Wars movie to date, mostly because I wanted to see it with my wife, I knew it would be at least decently good based on everything I had heard and learned so far, and I figured I could probably manage to avoid most of the spoilers for a couple of weeks.

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Return of the Jedi
3. A New Hope
4. The Force Awakens (this is still under consideration, so it's a temporary ranking)
5. Revenge of the Sith (this may end up above TFA)
6. The Phantom Menace
7. Attack of the Clones

That is my official ranking, that I will tell people who would like to know about Star Wars because they are interested but don't know much.

If they ask about viewing order, I usually leave out TPM as it's not necessary to watch if you want to just get the story. AotC, while a really really really sickeningly badly edited film (mainly due to the too many and frequent horribly written and directed love story scenes), it tells the necessary story. I do also recommend the 4, 5, 2, 3, 6 order. If they really want the complete picture, I shrug.

Return of the Jedi

Empire Strikes Back

The Force Awakens

A New Hope

Revenge of the Sith

The Phantom Menace

Attack of the Clones

TFA was a play-it-safe franchise reboot - and for all its "done better polish" it lacked a beginning, a middle, and end because its not written or intended to be a stand-alone film. Its a beginning leading to a middle. It is not a complete story. No one knew ESB and RoTJ would get made when ANH came out. As a result, ANH was written in such a way that you can watch it and say "I really liked that story." With TFA your left saying, "I really this part of a story whose overall quality can only be judged by what comes next." That's a flaw.

I don't know if it can be objectively said that that's a flaw. It worked alright for The Fellowship of the Ring.

It was a flaw for FotR too, it was just a good movie in spite of that flaw.