Star Wars fans are celebrating May The 4th Be With You on Saturday, the unofficial holiday for franchise creator George Lucas’ sprawling, blockbuster space opera.
Of course, the official Star Wars saga didn’t kick off on May 4, 1977, but 21 days later on May 25. Since that point, Lucas finished his original Star Wars trilogy with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Clearly compelled by the power of The Force, Lucas returned to the Star Wars Universe in 1999 with his prequel trilogy, which started with The Phantom Menace, which was followed by Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
Just when Star Wars fans thought they saw the last big-screen Star Wars adventure, Disney’s blockbuster purchase of Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012 brought the franchise back to life. As such, the final three films in what came to be known as the Skywalker Saga came to be with the release of The Force Awakens in 2015, followed by The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.
But with Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm, the company had bigger plans in mind than just completing the Skywalker Saga. A pair of spinoff films — Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story were produced in 2016 and 2019, respectively — and a slate of live-action Star Wars streaming shows were produced for Disney+, beginning with the release of The Mandalorian in 2019.
As someone who actually saw Star Wars during its release in 1977 and all eight of its subsequent Skywalker Saga film episodes, I’ve come to know the franchise quite well. Here’s a list of the films in the core franchise ranked in descending order. Happy Star Wars Day and May the 4th Be With You.
9. ‘Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones’ (2002)
After the exhilaration of Star Wars returning to the big screen with Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones just felt like a massive letdown. Perhaps the toughest thing to watch was the utter lack of chemistry between the future parents of Luke and Leia — Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen).
The chemistry did eventually improve between the two, but not in enough time to save the second prequel movie. Plus, Liam Neeson’s monumental presence was sorely needed after his Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was killed off in Episode I. At least Samuel L. Jackson’s Jedi Master Mace Windu stepped up, but it wasn’t enough.
8. ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi’ (2017)
The most divisive of all Star Wars films between fans and the filmmakers, The Last Jedi first disappointed fans by not following through properly on the grand set-up at the conclusion of Episode VII – The Force Awakens.
To conclude the film, Rey (Daisy Ridley) finally finds Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) living as a hermit on a desolate island — and extends her arm toward him as she tries to hand him his lightsaber. The scene leaves fans with the impression that the Jedi master is back, but at the start of The Last Jedi, Luke takes the lightsaber and tosses it over his shoulder. Everything goes downhill from there with an introduction of settings and characters that felt too far out of the ordinary.
The Last Jedi isn’t a bad film, just a disappointing one and the least Star Wars-like film out of the nine movies in the Skywalker Saga.
7. ‘Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker’ (2019)
Trouble in the Star Wars camp began brewing mere months before the release of The Last Jedi when the original Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow was fired by the studio and The Force Awakens filmmaker J.J. Abrams was brought back to direct the last film in the Skywalker Saga.
Like The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker isn’t a bad film, it just feels like its potential wasn’t fully realized — especially judging from what was revealed in the leak of Trevorrow’s purported script, which was subtitled Duel of the Fates. Instead, The Rise of Skywalker is a total fan service film that eventually encompasses many elements from the entire Star Wars saga. If it were a vinyl album, The Rise of Skywalker sort of feels like a Star Wars Greatest Hits sort of compilation with a safe ending.
6. ‘Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith’ (2005)
Fortunately, the pairing of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala worked a lot better for Revenge of the Sith, and the looming threat of how Anakin gave into the forces of the Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) didn’t disappoint.
Best of all, the brutal dual between Anakin and his Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) was a perfect setup for the final transformation of his fallen apprentice into the suited Darth Vader, even if the Sith Lord’s proclamation of “Noooo!” upon learning of Padme’s death was mocked relentlessly by fans.
5. ‘Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens’ (2015)
This may not deserve a No. 5 slot based on the content of the movie, but the impact it had surely makes it earn its keep. The Force Awakens was exciting — if not for any other reason — because Star Wars was given new life after the property laid dormant for 10 years, apart from some animated projects.
On top of that, it was exciting to see characters introduced to the Star Wars Universe to expand the depth of the Skywalker Saga. Daisy Ridley’s Rey had a great presence as did her fellow Resistance fighters Finn (John Boyega) and Poe (Oscar Isaac).
Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren got off to a great beginning as a Star Wars villain as Darth Vader’s grandson in The Force Awakens, even the character’s path became jumbled in the trilogy’s final two episodes.
It was also wonderful to see the return of Luke, Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), whose death proved meaningful given it was at the hands of his estranged son. Topping it off was the return of the “walking carpet” Chewbacca, which put Peter Mayhew back into the Wookie’s fur.
4. ‘Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace’ (1999)
Like The Force Awakens, The Phantom Menace ranking is based on the film’s impact and not its all-around story. It was the biggest of all Star Wars comebacks since it marked the first franchise film since the end of the original trilogy.
Writer-director George Lucas was certainly well-intentioned with the first of his three prequel films. Thankfully, he found a pillar of strength in Liam Neeson’s Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and a worthy apprentice in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Topping it off, though, was the introduction of the iconic – and very cool-looking -– villain Darth Maul (Ray Park)
Fans, however, criticized the casting of Jake Lloyd as the young Anakin Skywalker. None of the hate by fans over the casting decisions or the introduction of Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) was warranted, though — for reasons I’ll explain below — because the Skywalker Saga is ultimately bigger than all of its characters.
3. ‘Star Wars: Episode V – Return of the Jedi’ (1983)
By this point, you’ve probably realized that nothing can top the original Star Wars trilogy and Return of the Jedi served as a solid bookend to the film that redefined cinema in 1977. True, while Return of the Jedi doesn’t come closer to either of its predecessors, it’s still a great movie.
The pinnacle, of course, is the ultimate showdown between Darth Vader (James Earl Jones/David Prowse) and his son Luke Skywalker and Vader’s ultimate redemption after he tossed Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) down a chasm. The film is truly completed, though, with Luke trying to save his father despite all of his sins, and the unmasking of Darth Vader (Sebastian Shaw) so he could look at his child with his own eyes.
Somewhat lost in the story were Han Solo and Leia as they were mostly stuck on the forest planet of Endor with the Ewoks. Some fans detest the furry bear-like creatures, but George Lucas made it clear from the beginning that his Star Wars episodes are ultimately family films, so characters like the Ewoks and yes, Jar-Jar Binks certainly serve their purpose.
2. ‘Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope’ (1977)
What more can be said other than Star Wars — which helped define the blockbuster film era in the mid-1970s— is one of the greatest films ever made. It kicked off a sprawling film series and created the ultimate story between good and evil, and all of its characters instantly became endearing to moviegoers.
Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) and the film’s main droids C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) encompassed the good, while Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) represented evil.
On top of that, the film had among the best space battles ever created for the screen, including the showdown between the Rebellion and the evil Empire, concluding, of course, with Luke blowing up the Death Star via his X-Wing after Han Solo and Chewbacca helped clear his path. Key to the movie, though, was Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter being accidentally spun into space, setting up the best Star Wars movie of them all.
1. ‘Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back’ (1981)
The Empire Strikes Back is easily the best Star Wars film of the Skywalker Saga, mainly because it dodges a case of a sophomore slump by laying out a narrative that is the opposite of the events of A New Hope. The film shows just how massive the evil Empire is and we learned that the Death Star from the first film was merely a weapon of the evil organization.
The middle episode of the original Star Wars trilogy has many revelatory moments as we’re introduced to Jedi Master Yoda (voiced by puppeteer Frank Oz), which expands the Jedi narrative. The environment is completely different by moving the Rebel base to the ice planet of Hoth. The love affair between Leia and Han Solo also grows and we learn more of Han’s backstory with the introduction of fellow scoundrel Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams).
Best of all, there’s the revelation that Darth Vader is Luke’s father, which is revealed in a climactic lightsaber battle, which comes after Han Solo is frozen in Carbonite — which happens in one of the coolest scenes ever put on film.
All of these roads lead to one of the biggest cliffhangers in movie history, where Luke, Leia and their fellow Rebels’ future is in complete doubt. Directed by Irvin Kershner, the Empire didn’t just strike back, it packed so much punch that it left Star Wars fans on their behinds.
