Anyone who knows me knows I love Star Wars. It's my favorite series of films and my all-time favorite fandom. But Star Wars, like anything else, is not without its flaws. I'm going to list 5 things that I would change about each of the three film trilogies. Some of these I've known for a while, others like for the original trilogy, I had to really think hard for.
Prequel Trilogy
1. Introduce Anakin at an older age
Do we really need to see the person that becomes Darth Vader at 9 years of age? No. We got introduced to Luke at age 19, why not split the difference and introduce Anakin at 14 or 15 years of age? That's old enough that we could see a bit of his rebellious side already when he is introduced, but still young enough to show some innocence.
2. Either cut out Jar Jar or change him completely
I get why Jar Jar Binks was put in the prequel trilogy, to appease and entertain children. But Star Wars, for the most part, is enjoyed by adults, young and old(er). I would either remove him or change him so he's not the clumsy fool that we know, but is maybe instead a wise-cracking Gungan that tries to bend the rules. A Gungan Han Solo, if you will.
3. Remove midiclorians
Was this a necessary inclusion? Most Star Wars fans would say no. There's no measure of a wizard's power or potential in the Harry Potter universe, why does there have to be that in the Star Wars universe?
4. Don't have Anakin as a virgin birth/created by the Force
Is this even clear yet, 17 years after the release of Ep. III? There's still speculation on how Anakin was created. Anyway, I would have introduced Anakin's father, have him be a scumbag who deserted Shmi shortly after Anakin was born. Maybe have a plot point where Anakin kills him, even?
5. Changing or removing the line, "What have I done?"
For a while, Anakin's full fall to the dark side has kind of bothered me. And I realized the one little thing that's always bothered me. It's after Anakin cuts off Mace Windu's hand to prevent him from killing Palpatine and Palpatine blasts him out the window. Anakin then stumbles back and says in a regretful tone, "What have I done?". Instead, I would have Anakin mad at Mace Windu for attempting to assassinate the chancellor (someone who he had grown close to), and just have him not saying anything. He would simply breath heavily, realizing what he had done and how he had chosen Palpatine's dark side over the Jedi.
Original Trilogy
1. Have things thought out ahead of time
One of the few flaws with the original trilogy is the fact that George didn't plan things out, seeing as when he was writing the original Star Wars, he was not planning on any sequels. I would change how Obi-Wan describes how Luke's father dies, and I would remove any kisses between Luke and Leia and any desire Luke has for her (and have their relationship be more like Harry and Hermione in Harry Potter).
2. Have a little better choreography between Obi-Wan and Vader in their final fight
Their fight scene has not aged well, but keep in mind it was the first lightsaber battle in Star Wars history. If I could, I'd have the choreography be at least a little more intense.
3. Have the Ewoks be the final reason, not the sole reason, the rebellion wins in the end
It's been long criticized how a civilization such as the Ewoks, essentially giant teddy bears, were able to take down "A legion of the Empire's best troops". I would make it so the rebellion had more forces and just needed a tiny bit more help, perhaps with stalling the Empire.
4. Flesh out Boba Fett more or don't kill him off
Somehow Boba Fett developed a cult-like status after the original trilogy. I'd either develop a bit more of a backstory for him (which lines up with the prequel trilogy) or I wouldn't have sent him down the sarlaac pit.
5. Have Han be a bit younger
I'm grasping for straws here, but I'd have Han be a bit younger in the original trilogy. At the start of Ep. IV, he is 31 while Leia is 19. Not exactly an ideal age difference. I'd make him somewhere between 25 and 28, old enough to still have some life experience.
Sequel Trilogy
1. Have Rey be Obi-Wan's great-niece, not Palpatine's granddaughter. Or have her ancestry be inconsequential.
Rey's ancestry is one of the critical points of the sequel trilogy. She is descended from pure evil. This is equivalent to finding out Harry Potter is Voldemort's grandson. I mean, they technically had a common ancestor, but it was back hundreds of years. I think it would have been much better if Rey was related to someone else or no one (that we know of) at all. My ideal choice would have been Obi-Wan. We did see in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series Obi-Wan mention that he had a brother; that would have been a perfect opportunity to create Rey's lineage by making her Obi-Wan's great-niece. Such a shame.
2. Have the Jedi appear as ghosts to help Rey
In TRoS, we hear from many different Jedi calling out to Rey. I think what would have potentially saved the film is having them appear as Force ghosts and rallying behind her to help her. Imagine seeing Obi-Wan, Anakin, Yoda, Mace Windu, Qui-Gon (potentially), and Ahsoka (also potentially) gathered behind her to help her. It would have been equivalent to seeing all of the heroes and Avengers in Avengers: Endgame at the end fighting Thanos. It would have given many Star Wars fans like myself goosebumps.
3. Don't kill off Snoke in TLJ and replace him with Palpatine
I'm okay with Snoke being an altered clone or whatever he is, but I'm not okay with bringing Palpatine back. It was Anakin's way of returning balance to the Force, and they undid all that. Instead, I'd have Snoke survive TLJ and be the main antagonist in TRoS. Not much needs to change.
4. Have Finn somewhat explore his force abilities and train with Rey
Another wasted opportunity. We basically have it confirmed that Finn was Force-sensitive, so what they should have done was have his abilities be discovered in TFA (which they almost were), then in TLJ, he and Rey could be training together with Luke. They don't have to necessarily be joined at the hip, but it would be cool to see two Jedi learning together.
5. Handle the OT characters better
The overall treatment of the OT characters was pretty bad, to put it nicely. I'd have Luke and Han reunite, I'd have Leia and Luke reunite, likely with Luke leaving Ahch-To with Rey (and Finn in my version). Also, imagine if it was Leia who talked to Ben in TRoS and was able to bring him back to the light. We didn't even get to see Leia interact with her son.
Honorable mention: Don't kill off Ben/Kylo Ren
I had to include a sixth, just because there are so many things I would change. I would have Ben survive Exogol and form a bond with Rey (doesn't have to be romantic). I know they wanted to end the Skywalker lineage, but they didn't have to kill off Ben. Maybe, like Luke, he just doesn't have kids.
Again, I can't stress this enough, I still love Star Wars. I love the music, special and practical effects (outside of the prequel trilogy, maybe), and the action. There are just a few plot points that could've made each trilogy even better.
Showing posts with label Prequel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prequel. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2022
Five Things I would change about each Star Wars trilogy
Friday, July 10, 2020
Ten Things Wrong with the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
After having a lot of time to digest the final film of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, I have realized the trilogy is not perfect. In fact, it's far from it. I've come to realize it is actually a fairly big disappointment. It had so much potential. It had the potential for people to argue for eons on which trilogy is better: the original or the sequel. Nobody will ever legitimately think the prequel trilogy is better than the original trilogy, and now nobody will ever think the sequel trilogy is better. I have ten reasons why this is the case; ten ways Disney, JJ Abrams, Rian Johnson, and Kathleen Kennedy screwed up. These are in no particular order:
1. Rey is too much of a Mary Sue
You knew I was going to mention this. She executes flying maneuvers you'd expect only out of a very experienced pilot. She fixes the Millennium Falcon with ease. She uses a Jedi Mind trick without practice. She wields a lightsaber with competency against someone who's trained their entire life (although he was wounded). Kylo should have easily been able to handle her in TFA. It's hard to relate to a character that is so good at everything she does. More on Rey later.
2. The back and forth between JJ and Rian
The sequel trilogy suffered from the inconsistency of directors. Rian undid some of what JJ did, and then JJ undid some of what Rian did. It left the trilogy feeling more like three separate barely connected films. There's very little connecting the three films other than the characters. One example is JJ hyping up Luke's lightsaber, only for Rian to have Luke toss it over his shoulder.
3. No good romance story
Something prevalent in the first two trilogies is a romance sub-plot. In the prequels, we had Anakin and Padme. In the original trilogy, we had Han and Leia. In the sequels, we have nothing even close. We had a kiss between Finn and Rose in The Last Jedi, but that romance was forgotten about in the next film. We then had a kiss between Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and Rey, but there was very little to zero romantic build up. He had just barely turned to her side. The kiss felt forced and out of place. If they had started building up the romance in The Last Jedi (or TFA) then it would have made a bit more sense.
4. Force Powers introduced that add plot holes, ruin integrity of Star Wars
I'd say one of the things that bothers me most about the sequel trilogy are some of the force powers introduced in it. I'm ok with the mind extraction power Kylo used on Poe (although why didn't Vader learn this power?). But what I don't like are the dyad, force heal, and new force ghost powers. The dyad allows matter to be transported thousands if not millions of miles. This means people could be transported, right? They basically introduced teleportation in Star Wars, which belongs more in Star Trek. Force Heal means no one has to die, and makes us wonder why no Jedi ever learned it before. I like how JK Rowling said that once a character dies in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, they're dead. That is no longer the case in Star Wars. And the last thing that really bothered me was Force Ghosts and their new "powers". Apparently now they can cause lightning strikes, use the force to lift objects, and even hold solid objects (Luke holding the lightsaber). Why don't they help out the living world more often, then? What rules are there?
5. Missed opportunity at the end of The Rise of Skywalker
When Rey is laying down and the Jedi are speaking to her, we hear Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Anakin, Mace Windu, and even Kanan Jarrus I think. It would have been a million times more awesome to see them as Force Ghosts. To see all of those characters rally behind Rey and help her would have redeemed TROS and even the entire trilogy, more or less. It would have been a way to tie all the films (as well as a couple TV shows) together and probably would have instantly become a Top 5 Star Wars moment. But instead, all we get is their voices and it has nowhere near the impact it could have.
6. The handling of the original trilogy characters
I feel like Luke, Leia, Han, and Lando all could have been handled better. Even R2D2 and C3PO were mere afterthoughts, although I understand wanting to focus on BB-8 (and sell merch). But there were so many things I wish we had seen with the four human characters. I wanted to see a Han and Luke reunion, a Han and Lando reunion, and maybe even a Lando and Leia reunion. The only "reunions" we got were Han and Leia who were "separated" (don't agree with that), and Luke projecting himself to Leia. Meh. And the way they all were killed off... did they even have to be killed off? Why can't they just live out their last days in peace? At least perhaps Lando does. Han dies so violently at the hands of his son? That's an awful fate for a fan favorite. Luke dying from overprojecting? Ok...
7. Rey's lineage is a massive head-shaker
My absolute preferred lineage for Rey would have been to have her somehow descended from Obi-Wan, perhaps a (great) niece. What Rian Johnson did in TLJ was have her parents be nobody, which I definitely would have preferred over her being a Palpatine. At least as a nobody, that teaches kids (mostly girls) that even if your parents are nobodies and not that successful, that doesn't mean you can't be. Instead, it shows that there has to be some lineage in your family tree in order to make a name for yourself. And knowing the main "hero" of the ST be descended from ultimate evil is just an unsettling feeling.
8. There is no clear villain throughout the trilogy
In the prequel trilogy, the main villain was Palpatine AKA Darth Sidious. In the original trilogy, it was Darth Vader and then the Emperor. In the sequel trilogy, there is no consistency. It goes from Kylo/Snoke to Snoke dying leaving just Kylo to Palpatine and then Kylo turns. There is no clear number one villain in the trilogy. It's not Snoke, he was only in a film and a half. It's not Palpatine, he was only in one film. And it's not Kylo, because he turns and betrays his own "master". There's no one clear villain for the audience to root against.
9. Side characters that are discarded or boring
The sequel trilogy introduced a lot of side characters: Captain Phasma, Rose, Finn, Poe, General Hux, and Zorii Bliss. Captain Phasma was built up with a bunch of hype but dies in a lame fashion in TLJ. Rose was basically forgotten about in TROS. Finn was possibly force-sensitive but we get no resolution on it. Poe was an ace pilot and former smuggler... but what else? His character had no substance. General Hux was a villain who turned for a petty reason. Zorii Bliss was someone from Poe's past who no one cared for. There was very little to no depth for the secondary characters in the ST.
10. Missing an epic lightsaber fight scene
There was no epic lightsaber fight scene in the ST. The closest we got was in TLJ when Rey and Kylo teamed up to take out Snoke's guards, but that fight had flaws and wasn't exactly a fair fight. There was no fight scene with the magnitude of any of the OT fight scenes. There was no fight scene that left us thinking how awesome it was after it finished. This is just my opinion, but I think it's an opinion generally agreed upon by the Star Wars fanbase.
The sequel trilogy was not entirely awful. I only pointed out its flaws. It had its strengths, too. Kylo Ren had more depth than Anakin did in the PT, and Adam Driver killed it in the role. The visual effects and music were all top-notch, with the visual effects the best Star Wars has seen so far. They blended practical and visual effects better than the PT ever did. The acting, even outside of Driver, was pretty good for the most part. But it just pains me as a huge Star Wars fan to know that the ST could have been so much more. I think someday we will get a Star Wars trilogy or movie series that people will universally regard as magnificent, but the sequel trilogy is unfortunately not that trilogy.
1. Rey is too much of a Mary Sue
You knew I was going to mention this. She executes flying maneuvers you'd expect only out of a very experienced pilot. She fixes the Millennium Falcon with ease. She uses a Jedi Mind trick without practice. She wields a lightsaber with competency against someone who's trained their entire life (although he was wounded). Kylo should have easily been able to handle her in TFA. It's hard to relate to a character that is so good at everything she does. More on Rey later.
2. The back and forth between JJ and Rian
The sequel trilogy suffered from the inconsistency of directors. Rian undid some of what JJ did, and then JJ undid some of what Rian did. It left the trilogy feeling more like three separate barely connected films. There's very little connecting the three films other than the characters. One example is JJ hyping up Luke's lightsaber, only for Rian to have Luke toss it over his shoulder.
3. No good romance story
Something prevalent in the first two trilogies is a romance sub-plot. In the prequels, we had Anakin and Padme. In the original trilogy, we had Han and Leia. In the sequels, we have nothing even close. We had a kiss between Finn and Rose in The Last Jedi, but that romance was forgotten about in the next film. We then had a kiss between Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and Rey, but there was very little to zero romantic build up. He had just barely turned to her side. The kiss felt forced and out of place. If they had started building up the romance in The Last Jedi (or TFA) then it would have made a bit more sense.
4. Force Powers introduced that add plot holes, ruin integrity of Star Wars
I'd say one of the things that bothers me most about the sequel trilogy are some of the force powers introduced in it. I'm ok with the mind extraction power Kylo used on Poe (although why didn't Vader learn this power?). But what I don't like are the dyad, force heal, and new force ghost powers. The dyad allows matter to be transported thousands if not millions of miles. This means people could be transported, right? They basically introduced teleportation in Star Wars, which belongs more in Star Trek. Force Heal means no one has to die, and makes us wonder why no Jedi ever learned it before. I like how JK Rowling said that once a character dies in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, they're dead. That is no longer the case in Star Wars. And the last thing that really bothered me was Force Ghosts and their new "powers". Apparently now they can cause lightning strikes, use the force to lift objects, and even hold solid objects (Luke holding the lightsaber). Why don't they help out the living world more often, then? What rules are there?
5. Missed opportunity at the end of The Rise of Skywalker
When Rey is laying down and the Jedi are speaking to her, we hear Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Anakin, Mace Windu, and even Kanan Jarrus I think. It would have been a million times more awesome to see them as Force Ghosts. To see all of those characters rally behind Rey and help her would have redeemed TROS and even the entire trilogy, more or less. It would have been a way to tie all the films (as well as a couple TV shows) together and probably would have instantly become a Top 5 Star Wars moment. But instead, all we get is their voices and it has nowhere near the impact it could have.
6. The handling of the original trilogy characters
I feel like Luke, Leia, Han, and Lando all could have been handled better. Even R2D2 and C3PO were mere afterthoughts, although I understand wanting to focus on BB-8 (and sell merch). But there were so many things I wish we had seen with the four human characters. I wanted to see a Han and Luke reunion, a Han and Lando reunion, and maybe even a Lando and Leia reunion. The only "reunions" we got were Han and Leia who were "separated" (don't agree with that), and Luke projecting himself to Leia. Meh. And the way they all were killed off... did they even have to be killed off? Why can't they just live out their last days in peace? At least perhaps Lando does. Han dies so violently at the hands of his son? That's an awful fate for a fan favorite. Luke dying from overprojecting? Ok...
7. Rey's lineage is a massive head-shaker
My absolute preferred lineage for Rey would have been to have her somehow descended from Obi-Wan, perhaps a (great) niece. What Rian Johnson did in TLJ was have her parents be nobody, which I definitely would have preferred over her being a Palpatine. At least as a nobody, that teaches kids (mostly girls) that even if your parents are nobodies and not that successful, that doesn't mean you can't be. Instead, it shows that there has to be some lineage in your family tree in order to make a name for yourself. And knowing the main "hero" of the ST be descended from ultimate evil is just an unsettling feeling.
8. There is no clear villain throughout the trilogy
In the prequel trilogy, the main villain was Palpatine AKA Darth Sidious. In the original trilogy, it was Darth Vader and then the Emperor. In the sequel trilogy, there is no consistency. It goes from Kylo/Snoke to Snoke dying leaving just Kylo to Palpatine and then Kylo turns. There is no clear number one villain in the trilogy. It's not Snoke, he was only in a film and a half. It's not Palpatine, he was only in one film. And it's not Kylo, because he turns and betrays his own "master". There's no one clear villain for the audience to root against.
9. Side characters that are discarded or boring
The sequel trilogy introduced a lot of side characters: Captain Phasma, Rose, Finn, Poe, General Hux, and Zorii Bliss. Captain Phasma was built up with a bunch of hype but dies in a lame fashion in TLJ. Rose was basically forgotten about in TROS. Finn was possibly force-sensitive but we get no resolution on it. Poe was an ace pilot and former smuggler... but what else? His character had no substance. General Hux was a villain who turned for a petty reason. Zorii Bliss was someone from Poe's past who no one cared for. There was very little to no depth for the secondary characters in the ST.
10. Missing an epic lightsaber fight scene
There was no epic lightsaber fight scene in the ST. The closest we got was in TLJ when Rey and Kylo teamed up to take out Snoke's guards, but that fight had flaws and wasn't exactly a fair fight. There was no fight scene with the magnitude of any of the OT fight scenes. There was no fight scene that left us thinking how awesome it was after it finished. This is just my opinion, but I think it's an opinion generally agreed upon by the Star Wars fanbase.
The sequel trilogy was not entirely awful. I only pointed out its flaws. It had its strengths, too. Kylo Ren had more depth than Anakin did in the PT, and Adam Driver killed it in the role. The visual effects and music were all top-notch, with the visual effects the best Star Wars has seen so far. They blended practical and visual effects better than the PT ever did. The acting, even outside of Driver, was pretty good for the most part. But it just pains me as a huge Star Wars fan to know that the ST could have been so much more. I think someday we will get a Star Wars trilogy or movie series that people will universally regard as magnificent, but the sequel trilogy is unfortunately not that trilogy.
Friday, January 24, 2020
Ranking the Nine Skywalker Saga Star Wars Films
Star Wars is my favorite film franchise of all time, and probably always will be. There's not a single film in the series that I do not enjoy. As a huge Star Wars fan, I obviously have my preferences and opinions on the films. For this list, I am ranking the Nine "Skywalker Saga" Star Wars films, so Episode I through Episode IX.
And in my usual fashion with ranking things, I assign each one attributes and sort them. The attributes are Rewatch-ability, Believability, Quality, and Lore.
- Rewatch-ability is pretty self-explanatory, but to further explain, it's how much I look forward to watching the film if I am to rewatch the entire nine episode series.
- Believability may seem odd for a sci-fi film, but it's more of if the Star Wars universe existed, how believable are certain actions and events that unfold.
- Quality is just how good of a film it is, from the plot to the acting to the visual effects. We know the sound and music are always top-notch, but not always everything else.
- Lore is how well it contributes to the Star Wars lore. Does it contradict other films? Does it introduce too many new things? If it does, I dock it a point or two at least. Obviously the original trilogy will score best here.
Each rating is on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest.
9. Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Rewatch-ability: 4
Believability: 2
Quality: 2
Lore: 3
Total: 11/20
Comment: Most consider Episode I: The Phantom Menace as the worst in the series. For a while, I considered it slightly above Episode II, but it really isn't. It's at least got some rewatch value, as the lightsaber battle is always fun to watch. There's a bit of meme-worthy stuff, as well. It suffers in its believability, such as when Anakin pilots a Naboo fighter and doesn't take it seriously. It's never been considered a great film, and this is probably the Star Wars film where the acting is the worst. It is the earliest in Star Wars chronological order, so it contributes a bit to its lore and doesn't do much to make the OT look bad.
8. Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Rewatch-ability: 3
Believability: 3
Quality: 2
Lore: 4
Total: 12/20
Comment: Episode I for me is a tad more rewatchable than Episode II. I can't explain it. The visual effects are probably the worst, especially the awful green screens they had to use. The worst is when Mace Windu jumps off a Republic warship shortly after the start of the Battle of Geonosis. See what I mean here. It is so clearly obvious he is in front of a green screen. But this film signals the start of the Clone Wars, and I think it does a decent job of getting us hyped for it.
7. Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
Rewatch-ability: 3
Believability: 3
Quality: 4
Lore: 2
Total: 12/20
Comment: Is this really the third worst Star Wars film? It might be. It's not bad; it's just not as good as the others. It may be partially due to my high expectations, but I feel J.J. Abrams started out the sequel trilogy so well only to have it lack in the end. I have seen every Star Wars film at least twice in theaters, and this and the next are the two I just didn't care to watch a third time for a long time. Anyway, Palpatine coming back from the dead? Sigh. At least the film did well in the technical aspects, and a shoutout to Adam Driver for his terrific acting. I've shared my thoughts on how I feel about Force Heal and Force transport items.
6. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Rewatch-ability: 2
Believability: 4
Quality: 4
Lore: 3
Total: 13/20
Comment: That may seem like a low rewatch-ability score, but there's only two scenes I ever look forward to when rewatching TLJ: Kylo turning on Snoke and killing him and the ensuing fight, and Luke and Kylo's "fight" at the end. It's a decently made film in terms of effects and acting and I found it probably the most believable of the sequel films. It started the Force transport items technique, which I am not a fan of.
5. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Rewatch-ability: 4
Believability: 3
Quality: 4
Lore: 4
Total: 15/20
Comment: So many meme-worthy quotes and scenes in this, which makes it very rewatchable. I'm still not a huge fan of how Anakin turned to the dark side, but it's definitely the best made prequel film. I did like how Anakin became Darth Vader physically and they captured that very well.
4. Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Rewatch-ability: 4
Believability: 4
Quality: 4
Lore: 3
Total: 15/20
Comment: TFA is definitely the most rewatchable sequel film to me; I did see it three times in theaters. Everything else was fairly decent and it was such a pleasant experience seeing a well-made Star Wars film with good acting and effects (and a well-written plot). The part that was hardest to get over was how it cancelled out the Expanded Universe where Han and Leia had not just one kid but three, including a boy who turned to the dark side, just like Ben/Kylo. But no one can say TFA is a bad film, and in my opinion, it's the best film outside of the Original Trilogy.
3. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Rewatch-ability: 4
Believability: 4
Quality: 5
Lore: 5
Total: 18/20
Comment: Most would agree RotJ is the worst of the Original Trilogy; but that's like saying The Fellowship of the Ring is the worst Lord of the Rings film. It's still a really, really good movie. I do find myself spacing out a little when I rewatch RotJ, if I'm being honest. The only reason it doesn't get a 5 in believability is because of the Ewoks being able to take out the "entire legion of [The Emperor's] best troops". It still fits in with the rest of the trilogy with being a high quality film and contributing mightily to the Star Wars lore.
2. Episode VII: The Empire Strikes Back
Rewatch-ability: 5
Believability: 4
Quality: 5
Lore: 5
Total: 19/20
Comment: Don't get me wrong, ESB is still amazing. Most people consider it their favorite Star Wars film, and many consider it one of the greatest films ever made. I just prefer the original over this. I took off a point for believability (again) because of Luke heading to Bespin foolishly. He also foolishly ignored Leia's screams of "It's a Trap!". I guess Leia said it first. But everything else is magnificent, and I'd feel overly critical to give this film less than a 19/20.
1. Episode IV: A New Hope
Rewatch-ability: 5
Believability: 5
Quality: 5
Lore: 5
Total: 20/20
Comment: To me, this feels like two movies in one. There's the climax of escaping the Death Star and Obi-Wan and Darth Vader's fight, and then there's a second climax of Luke blowing up the Death Star. This film epitomizes Star Wars, and not only have there been countless parodies of this film, but The Force Awakens is technically a re-imagining of this very plot.
So, here they are in order, from my least favorite to favorite:
9. Episode I TPM
8. Episode II AotC
7. Episode IX TRoS
6. Episode VIII TLJ
5. Episode III RotS
4. Episode VII TFA
3. Episode VI RoTJ
2. Episode V ESB
1. Episode IV ANH
If I were to include Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story, I would put Rogue One fifth behind The Force Awakens and I would put Solo between The Last Jedi and Revenge of the Sith.
And, let's see the average rank by trilogy:
Prequel: 7.3
Original: 2
Sequel: 5.6
A few of these could move up and down a spot, but not far. The original trilogy is the best, and neither the prequel trilogy nor the sequel could live up to it. The sequel trilogy, however, is better than the prequels as a whole.
And in my usual fashion with ranking things, I assign each one attributes and sort them. The attributes are Rewatch-ability, Believability, Quality, and Lore.
- Rewatch-ability is pretty self-explanatory, but to further explain, it's how much I look forward to watching the film if I am to rewatch the entire nine episode series.
- Believability may seem odd for a sci-fi film, but it's more of if the Star Wars universe existed, how believable are certain actions and events that unfold.
- Quality is just how good of a film it is, from the plot to the acting to the visual effects. We know the sound and music are always top-notch, but not always everything else.
- Lore is how well it contributes to the Star Wars lore. Does it contradict other films? Does it introduce too many new things? If it does, I dock it a point or two at least. Obviously the original trilogy will score best here.
Each rating is on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest.
9. Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Rewatch-ability: 4
Believability: 2
Quality: 2
Lore: 3
Total: 11/20
Comment: Most consider Episode I: The Phantom Menace as the worst in the series. For a while, I considered it slightly above Episode II, but it really isn't. It's at least got some rewatch value, as the lightsaber battle is always fun to watch. There's a bit of meme-worthy stuff, as well. It suffers in its believability, such as when Anakin pilots a Naboo fighter and doesn't take it seriously. It's never been considered a great film, and this is probably the Star Wars film where the acting is the worst. It is the earliest in Star Wars chronological order, so it contributes a bit to its lore and doesn't do much to make the OT look bad.
8. Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Rewatch-ability: 3
Believability: 3
Quality: 2
Lore: 4
Total: 12/20
Comment: Episode I for me is a tad more rewatchable than Episode II. I can't explain it. The visual effects are probably the worst, especially the awful green screens they had to use. The worst is when Mace Windu jumps off a Republic warship shortly after the start of the Battle of Geonosis. See what I mean here. It is so clearly obvious he is in front of a green screen. But this film signals the start of the Clone Wars, and I think it does a decent job of getting us hyped for it.
7. Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
Rewatch-ability: 3
Believability: 3
Quality: 4
Lore: 2
Total: 12/20
Comment: Is this really the third worst Star Wars film? It might be. It's not bad; it's just not as good as the others. It may be partially due to my high expectations, but I feel J.J. Abrams started out the sequel trilogy so well only to have it lack in the end. I have seen every Star Wars film at least twice in theaters, and this and the next are the two I just didn't care to watch a third time for a long time. Anyway, Palpatine coming back from the dead? Sigh. At least the film did well in the technical aspects, and a shoutout to Adam Driver for his terrific acting. I've shared my thoughts on how I feel about Force Heal and Force transport items.
6. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Rewatch-ability: 2
Believability: 4
Quality: 4
Lore: 3
Total: 13/20
Comment: That may seem like a low rewatch-ability score, but there's only two scenes I ever look forward to when rewatching TLJ: Kylo turning on Snoke and killing him and the ensuing fight, and Luke and Kylo's "fight" at the end. It's a decently made film in terms of effects and acting and I found it probably the most believable of the sequel films. It started the Force transport items technique, which I am not a fan of.
5. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Rewatch-ability: 4
Believability: 3
Quality: 4
Lore: 4
Total: 15/20
Comment: So many meme-worthy quotes and scenes in this, which makes it very rewatchable. I'm still not a huge fan of how Anakin turned to the dark side, but it's definitely the best made prequel film. I did like how Anakin became Darth Vader physically and they captured that very well.
4. Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Rewatch-ability: 4
Believability: 4
Quality: 4
Lore: 3
Total: 15/20
Comment: TFA is definitely the most rewatchable sequel film to me; I did see it three times in theaters. Everything else was fairly decent and it was such a pleasant experience seeing a well-made Star Wars film with good acting and effects (and a well-written plot). The part that was hardest to get over was how it cancelled out the Expanded Universe where Han and Leia had not just one kid but three, including a boy who turned to the dark side, just like Ben/Kylo. But no one can say TFA is a bad film, and in my opinion, it's the best film outside of the Original Trilogy.
3. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Rewatch-ability: 4
Believability: 4
Quality: 5
Lore: 5
Total: 18/20
Comment: Most would agree RotJ is the worst of the Original Trilogy; but that's like saying The Fellowship of the Ring is the worst Lord of the Rings film. It's still a really, really good movie. I do find myself spacing out a little when I rewatch RotJ, if I'm being honest. The only reason it doesn't get a 5 in believability is because of the Ewoks being able to take out the "entire legion of [The Emperor's] best troops". It still fits in with the rest of the trilogy with being a high quality film and contributing mightily to the Star Wars lore.
2. Episode VII: The Empire Strikes Back
Rewatch-ability: 5
Believability: 4
Quality: 5
Lore: 5
Total: 19/20
Comment: Don't get me wrong, ESB is still amazing. Most people consider it their favorite Star Wars film, and many consider it one of the greatest films ever made. I just prefer the original over this. I took off a point for believability (again) because of Luke heading to Bespin foolishly. He also foolishly ignored Leia's screams of "It's a Trap!". I guess Leia said it first. But everything else is magnificent, and I'd feel overly critical to give this film less than a 19/20.
1. Episode IV: A New Hope
Rewatch-ability: 5
Believability: 5
Quality: 5
Lore: 5
Total: 20/20
Comment: To me, this feels like two movies in one. There's the climax of escaping the Death Star and Obi-Wan and Darth Vader's fight, and then there's a second climax of Luke blowing up the Death Star. This film epitomizes Star Wars, and not only have there been countless parodies of this film, but The Force Awakens is technically a re-imagining of this very plot.
So, here they are in order, from my least favorite to favorite:
9. Episode I TPM
8. Episode II AotC
7. Episode IX TRoS
6. Episode VIII TLJ
5. Episode III RotS
4. Episode VII TFA
3. Episode VI RoTJ
2. Episode V ESB
1. Episode IV ANH
If I were to include Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story, I would put Rogue One fifth behind The Force Awakens and I would put Solo between The Last Jedi and Revenge of the Sith.
And, let's see the average rank by trilogy:
Prequel: 7.3
Original: 2
Sequel: 5.6
A few of these could move up and down a spot, but not far. The original trilogy is the best, and neither the prequel trilogy nor the sequel could live up to it. The sequel trilogy, however, is better than the prequels as a whole.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)