Star Wars in general
TNT has the whole series on "in order" I suppose.
Revenge of the Sith has major flaws in the acting and dialogue. It's really, really, really bad. It is, however, really well done from a visual standpoint. It's a far superior overall visual product than the two most recent.
So I'm going to now rank them.
8. Worst overall -- despite some occasionally really good visual effects -- is Phantom Menace. The kid playing Anakin was the first to be drummed out of the craft for his awful efforts. Trying to jam in the fraudulent note that baby Darth actually built 3PO is obnoxious. Racist Jar Jar was a major blunder. If this had been the first Star Wars movie, there would be no others to rank. It was that bad.
7. The Last Jedi - Stupid story, horrible acting, a major step backward in visual effects. This movie had NOTHING. Nothing but hokey lines delivered poorly and asinine storylines that defied even suspended sense. Kylo Ren was almost Hayden-level bad. Clearly is now a story so in love with its own mythology that it can't get out of its own way and make a fun movie. Far too long and overcome with dumb.
6. Attack of the Clones - Far too much going on. A CGI fascination that bubbled over into cacophony. No real story to care about, noting but business and noise. And jar jar. Thank God there was the noise because the story was so bad it reminded me of something a love-sick eighth grader would write. Wooden lines delivered woodenly by wooden actors. Boo.
5. Force Awakens - Without the nostalgia of Han and Chewie, this would have fallen way back in the pack. It's essentially a retelling of A New Hope (let's blow up a Death Star) with worse dialogue, less fun and more overwrought silliness. The new Vader was a horrible choice. Neither Rey nor Finn resonated. It's not going to hold up over time.
4. Return of the Jedi - Would have been higher without the stupid Ewoks and the eventually re-configured ghostly images at the end. Would have been much worse without the slave-Leia which sustained me for years. With all the crazy characters, it was like Jim Henson had bought the rights. All that was missing was Elmo and the two old grouchy guys up in the balcony ridiculing it.
3. Revenge of Sith - I hate to put this here because the script was terrible and the acting was worse than a porno parody. Hayden Christensen became the second actor all but hounded out of the business for his awful effort playing Anakin. But the concept was good. Even though the story was stupid, the overly busy CGI of Attack of the Clones was reined in. Yoda was given a story that tied things together (and was rendered pretty well). Vader's creation was shown -- even if horribly acted by Hayden and McGregor who both looked like they were choking on their clunky lines -- and that story needed to be told. I still refuse to believe Obi would have just walked away from a flaming Anakin leaving him to roast in agony, so that was dumber than diddly squid, but still at least it gave faux credence to Vader's heartless hate. Every performance in this movie was hack-level bad. Still, the movie looks good and it contained pieces that were important to the pantheon in general, so with reluctance, I land it here.
2. New Hope - One of the most important movies of its time. A game changer on so many levels. It introduced so many things that are iconic to the series: X-wings, storm troopers, wookies, Milennium Falcon, Tie Fighters, Death Stars, Vader, Leia, Luke, Solo, death stars, 3PO, R2, the empire, the rebellion. It was, and remains, a fantastic movie. No it doesn't have the same impact 30 years later probably, but it was a marvel in its day. It was a near perfect mix of drama and comedy, It created an entire world. In terms of importance, it's clearly number one in the series. It would even be the best overall if not for.....
1. Empire - It wasn't as important, wasn't as fun, wasn't as life-altering. But it was a better movie with better lines, better performances and a grandeur that A New Hope didn't have. That's the only reason I put it here. It was deeper, broader and had a bigger story to tell.
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