Star Wars Movie Ranking

Let it be known; I am a MASSIVE Star Wars fan. I have loved this franchise for as long as I can remember. I remember being too young to remember the numbers of each episode or even the titles, but that didn't stop me from choosing my favorite at such a young age. We had every movie on VHS, and I watched them religiously. Keep in mind that there were only three movies out at that time. My oldest memories with Star Wars is asking my mom if I can watch it, which she followed with, "Which one?". My automatic answer was always, and of course, "THE SNOW ONE!!!". If you know which movie this is, you won't be surprised about which is one of my favorites. With Star wars practically playing on repeat in my household, you can imagine my little, fragile nerd brain exploding when the prequels came out.

Leading up to The Rise of Skywalker, I rewatched every movie in chronological order to be as prepared as possible. With that being said, every movie is fresh on my mind, so this list is cemented in my mind, and likely won't change until a new movie is released. Let's get to the ranking!

#11: Episode II: Attack of the Clones

This movie gets a lot of hate, and I absolutely understand why. However, I will still defend it to a certain extent. Yes, some of the writing and acting can be a little whacky and cringe-worthy at times. There is virtually no chemistry between Anakin and Padme (it is somewhat better in episode 3). I also find it a little weird that Anakin would obsess over someone for an entire decade that he met as a kid, but I suppose I'll accept it.

The reason I defend it is due to an interview with George Lucas that I read. George has always stood by Hayden Christensen's portrayal of Anakin and has even said he played him perfectly. He had a detailed idea of the type of person Anakin was before he became Darth Vader while he was creating the original trilogy, and apparently, Hayden knocked it out of the park with what he had in mind. With that in mind, If you don't like Hayden's portrayal of Anakin, blame it on George rather than Darth Vader himself. One thing I really enjoyed about this film was the battle of Geonosis. We see plenty of big battles in Star Wars, but most of them take place in space. Don't get me wrong; the space battles are some of my favorite moments in the entire franchise. But I really enjoyed being able to see the Jedi in full-force heading into battle together.

#10: Episode I: The Phantom Menace

If 6-year-old Dylan were making this list, he'd probably have this movie in the top 3. Now that I'm older, it really does not hold well to more mature audiences. Where I once loved the infamous Gungan, Jar Jar Binks, I now find him incredibly annoying and wish a certain "goober fish" would have spared us the trouble shortly after we met him on screen. He was useful in gathering the Gungans to take on the Separatist droid army on Naboo, but that doesn't buy my appreciation. Sorry Jar Jar. I also found that the writing for Anakin in this film was very cringe-worthy. Blame it on the script, not the poor kid.

Some positive thoughts: Liam Neeson crushed his role as Qui-Gon Jinn. He was the perfect fit for a character that would be the first to show us what a Jedi master was like at the height of their order. Obi-Wan was great in this film as well. But the fight between these two legendary Jedi and the Sith apprentice, Darth Maul, was, and is still today, absolutely amazing! The style of combat was fast-paced and kept you on the edge of your seat. The score during this fight adds a perfect touch that makes this an iconic moment. Then the gut-wrenching death of Qui-Gon brings your emotions to the forefront.

Those who want to know more about Qui-Gon and never knew you could get more of this character, watch the Clone Wars series on Disney Plus! He plays a huge role in the overall story of Star Wars, even after his death. I will say, the force ghosts that you see at the end of Return of the Jedi would not be there if it weren't for Qui-Gon. Intrigued? Good. You can find the answer to this in season 6 of The Clone Wars.

#9: Solo

This movie gets a lot of hate, and I don't quite understand why. My only guess would be that the people who started with the prequels and didn't have that attachment with Han Solo while growing up didn't feel motivated to watch the film. This movie doesn't set out to be the greatest movie ever made, or even the greatest Star Wars movie. Its purpose is to give Han's backstory and reveals how he became the character we know and love in the original trilogy.

This film had great action, intriguing characters, and a good plot that made sense for Han's character. They even showed us great moments that I always wanted to experience. These include how Han met Lando, how he won the Falcon from him, and the Kessel run. My only wish is that they made this movie into a series on Disney Plus. I think it would've been more well-received if they did that, and it would leave things open for more exploration over time. Some things that I still want to find out about is the rest of Qi'ra's story and Darth Maul leading his crime syndicate. Does Qi'ra die? Does Darth Maul kill her? Did Han ever have an encounter with Darth Maul? We may never know. MAKE SOLO 2 HAPPEN!

#8: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

I feel like this film has been the most divisive between fans out of any of the other picks in the entire series. As you can tell, I am one of the people who does not agree with many of its choices. I understand that having plot twists can have a tremendous positive impact on the story. BUT... If you want to introduce certain twists just because nobody expects, it does not mean that it works. If it makes sense and it will ultimately make the story better, then, of course, introduce the twists. The main thing I am speaking about is the revelation of Rey's origin. I will be writing a post containing my rant on episode 9, so I won't go into too much detail about this here because it would simply take up too much room. Be on the lookout for that post! Also, I'm not too fond of the way they utilized Captain Phasma. I believe she could've played a much bigger role and made the story better if they used her correctly.

On a more positive note, I am actually content that they decided to kill off Luke. We already have a trilogy of Luke saving the day. So it makes sense that they want to introduce these new characters and have them at the forefront. He could have made better choices with Rey and maybe even could have traveled back to the Resistance with her, but overall, I am satisfied. Rey, Ben, and Snoke's in the throne room had me in awe on another positive note. It was beautifully shot, choreographed, and actually served as a positive plot twist. This left room for the real villain we want to see ascend to Supreme Leader.

#7: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

I only have one complaint with this one, and that is the plot with the Ewoks. This isn't a huge negative due to the fact that the part I don't enjoy only takes up a small portion of the film, but it still throws it off for me a bit. I enjoy the fight between the rebels/Ewoks and the imperials on Endor, but I feel like the scenes before this fight take away from the film's tone. I understand that the target audience for Star Wars was meant to be young teenagers, but this takes away from the seriousness of the story for me.

I really enjoy the tense throne room scene and even the Han Solo rescue mission on Tatooine. The icing on the cake with this film was the force ghost's presence on Endor just before the end credits. I love that Anakin was there. This solidifies his redemption, and I thought it was a perfect addition. My only confusion with this is how he learned how to become a force ghost so quickly... As seen in the Clone Wars series, this took Yoda some time to learn this. At the end of Revenge of the Sith, we also see that Qui-Gon would be training to accomplish this. As we all know, any form of training takes some time. So how did Anakin do this with no training as far as we are aware? Is he just that powerful in the force? Ask George Lucas.

#6: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

With this entry, I learned not to enter movies into rankings shortly after viewing them. You really should wait and digest it before doing so. You might learn to like it more than you originally did or realize it wasn't as good as you first believed. The latter is the case with this one. I am satisfied with the answers we got, and I think this is a fitting end to the saga. With that being said, it was obviously rushed. I am not blaming J.J. Abrams, but rather Rian Johnson and Disney. If J.J. was given full control over all three films, we can be sure that it would have gone a lot more smoothly. Rian took the story in a completely different direction than what Abrams had in mind. Abrams laid the foundation for an excellent story, and Rian just ignored it.

I am one of the people that was relieved that Rey was not just "Rey from nowhere." I loved that Palpatine returned, and the magic with this movie, and rather the entire trilogy, was Kylo Ren. The end of his arc was perfect, and his redemption was original and well-executed. My favorite scene in the trilogy is when Leia uses Han to redeem Ben fully and cast away the darkness in his heart.

I will say I originally had the movie in my top 3, but as you can see, the more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I felt putting it that high. This is mostly due to some news we received after the movie was released. Some of these came from the director; some came from the novelization. I will go into much more depth on these minor inconveniences and my general likes and dislikes in my Episode 9 post.

#5: Rogue One:

I was completely blown away by this film! When I heard that this would be about retrieving the Death Star's plans, my original thought was that it would be a mediocre cash grab. I was happy we would be returning to some original trilogy storytelling, but I wasn't overly excited about going on a heist mission with characters I know nothing about. But man, was I proven wrong.

I loved all of the characters, aside from Chirut. I found them being very relatable and charismatic. They all had great chemistry together, which made it very convincing that what these characters were going through was real. This movie has great tense-filled scenes, which left me on the edge of my seat. The battle on Scariff was executed very well and was topped off by something we have been dying to see for years. Watch the movie and find out what that is!

#4: Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Out of the sequel trilogy, this entry felt the most like a Star Wars movie than the others. That might be due to the similarities between it and A New Hope, But I still loved it all the same. TFA introduced us to new characters that we quickly learned to care about while bringing back some older, beloved characters. "Chewie, we're home." This line still gets me! The ending packs a punch, so go into it with a box of tissues.

#3: Episode IV: A New Hope

Where it all began! This and the next entry on this list often go back and forth with me. On any given day of the week, these two can swap places for me at any time. This movie is packed with nostalgia in every scene, from Luke looking out at the twin suns to the celebration after destroying the Death Star. We can't forget about Old Ben's fight with Vader. After viewing the prequel trilogy, you really learn to love this scene for what it is despite the slow-paced choreography. However, there is a fan-made version of this fight on Youtube. I recommend you look it up because it does a great job of capturing the emotions in this scene. The choreography is also much better than the original movie.

#2: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

"No, I am your father." Who in their right mind doesn't know this iconic line? Did you know only three people knew that Darth Vader was Luke's father when filming this movie? Those being George Lucas, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), and James Earl Jones(Voice of Darth Vader). The only reason Mark was told this was so he could perform accordingly to what Vader would actually be saying. The original line in the script was, "No, Obi-Wan killed your father." George wanted this to be kept secret and didn't want to take any risk of this getting out before the movie released. In an interview, Mark Hamill said he was sitting next to Harrison Ford at the premiere. As soon as Darth Vader dropped that famous line, Harrison leaned over to Mark and said, "Kid, you never told me that..." This really helps you realize how big of a deal this was when the movie was released.

I love everything about this film. We first see Obi-Wan appear as a Force Ghost, the epic battle of Hoth, Han and Leia's relationship begins to take shape, Luke's training with Yoda, and of course, the epic confrontation between Luke and Vader. I also love that the good guys don't win in this movie. This shows that a good story can be told without triumphing the good guys while still delivering a powerful yet, realistic, satisfying conclusion.

#1: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

I absolutely love this movie. I haven't taken the time to compile a list, but this movie would probably crack my all-time top 10 movie list. This story is definitely the darkest in the entire saga, as we all expected it to be. It tells the final chapter in Anakin's fall to the dark side. We see how much of a tragic character Anakin is, which results in us not being able to hate him. In fact, Anakin/Darth Vader is my all-time favorite Star Wars character due to the struggles that he has to live with. These struggles make him so relatable (aside from slaughtering children). We all might not go to the lengths he did, but who wouldn't do anything for the ones they love?

The final fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan looks great, but where it shines is the emotion behind it all. These two powerful Jedi were brothers in all but name. Obi-Wan hated that he had to confront Anakin, and Anakin was so caught up in his rage and desperation that he obviously was not the same person that Obi-Wan knew. My 11-year-old self went to the movie theater three times by myself to see this movie so that. I could see this fight and capture everything in the smallest detail. A good story tugs at your emotions and makes you feel for the characters, and this movie does the best job at that over any of the movies in this saga.