Star Wars from Best to Worst

It is interesting to see the phenemenon of Star Wars today, and to then look back at this film. The franchise has garnered a reputation of being this large, complex, and somewhat convoluted (okay, VERY convoluted) storyline. But at its heart, the 1977 original Star Wars film is merely an innocent adventure, a self-contained story with no need prequels for context, or sequels for a complete experience.

What makes this film the best, or at least a strong contender for the best, is how active and vibrant the direction and pacing are. No scene goes on for too long or is too short. The direction allows for smalls nuances that give life and depth to the characters and the worlds around them. Despite all of this wordy jargon, the film itself never crosses into being too full of itself. It knows what it is, and knows what it isn't. Overall, it is an exciting, fun-filled, and occasionally heartwarming space adventure that's a little closer to home than you would expect.

What hurts this movie is its lack of originality and poor pacing in the Endor section. It also struggles to find something to do with majority of the main cast. The extra material forced into the Special Edition do the movie no favors either. However, it still has it trademark Star Wars moments, and still ends the Classic Trilogy on a satisfying note, even though there is still a lot of room for improvement.

The very first Star Wars movie where I had no idea what was going to happen upon my first watch. Overcrowded in some areas, and a little muddled in others, but still a thematically intriguing experience. It pulls many ideas from the prequels that were either utilized poorly or not utilized at all and explores them to their maximum potential. It's the first of the Disney Star Wars films where I find myself legitimately caring for the characters involved, and find their development throughout surprisingly thought-provoking and introspective. Despite popular opinion, this is easily my favorite Disney Star Wars film thus far, and it finally sparked life back into this well-worn and weary franchise.

And porgs. Porgs are cute.

A long list of great ideas dashed by a poor script containing bland action and unlikable characters.

The best thing The Phantom Menace has going for it is its aesthetic and soundtrack. It is my favorite of the prequels because it is the closest of the three to find a proper balance between CGI and practical effects. John Williams delivers an excellent score, and it might just be my favorite of the series. The story, however, suffers from dull characters acting out a mostly uneventful story. It is pretty to look at though.

Like Return of the Jedi, what hurts this film is its lack of originality and nonsensical story elements. I am also not a huge fan of J.J. Abrams' previous works. However, it is paced decently, not allowing a moment of boredom. The returning characters are well utilized and the new ones are fun. However, there is too much petty fan service throughout for me to love it.

Borders more on a "so bad it's good" level. Ian McDiarmid shines as an over the top, cackling hyena of an Emperor. This movie falls flat on its face otherwise. The story (and the rest of the prequel trilogy for that matter) completely hinges on the audience to like and feel sympathetic for Anakin Skywalker. However, Anakin was never written as a particularly likable or sympathetic character, so the attempt here is unfortunately all for nothing.

A compilation of all the bad things about Star Wars: bland characters, uncreative direction, slow pacing, abuse of CGI (Tarkin and Leia are the most terrifying things ever put into a movie) petty fan service, and attempting to alter or "enhance" the original trilogy, which does not need anymore "enhancement" than it already has.