GameSpot Q&A: What's Your Personal Ranking of the Star Wars Films?

6>5>3>2>1>4>7

I think the prequels are incredibly underrated. The dialogue was awful, some of the acting was suspect, and there was zero chemistry between Anakin and Padme, but they still left me with that feeling like I watched Star Wars. The action was good, and they couldn't have done a better job bringing Coruscant to life. In my opinion, 3 was the best movie in the whole series right up until after Palpatine kills Windu, but from there the transition from Anakin to Darth Vader was too rapid. The main reason why I rank Return of the Jedi as 1 is because it stood out the most when I was a kid, even more than Empire Strikes Back. The the throne room showdown was like a perfect climax to the original series. A New Hope was epic in the sense that it started the whole thing, but without Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi it would be nothing. As a true SW fan, I was really disappointed with The Force Awakens. I was worried when Lucas sold to Disney, and my worries came to life after watching the movie. What it felt like to me was that multiple people were in charge of the story and were battling for control in which direction to take it, and in the end combined elements of each. The plots were rushed, and they added multiple plots rather than focusing on character development that made sense. There is a lot of room to improve upon that, so I'm hoping the next two movies can deliver for true fans.

1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. Return of the Jedi

3. A New Hope

4. The Force Awakens

5. Revenge of the Sith

6. Attack of the Clones

7. The Phantom Menace

A New Hope

The Empire Strikes Back

Return Of The Jedi

Revenge Of The Sith

The Force Awakens

Attack Of The Clones

The Phantom Menace

I really do consider the ORIGINAL TRILOGY the only real Star Wars films out there, they embody what Star Wars represents, the prequels were just okay, out of the three, 'Revenge' was the best one.....

The Force Awakens was good, not great but it was good....Dredcrumb9 brought up an interesting point about Rey and Finn just picking up light sabers and all of a sudden, they are Jedi masters, that was a hard sell plus another surprise I didn't expect that I didn't think was a great idea in the first movie of another Trilogy but it's done so....whatever, I wonder what other shock and awe surprises we're in for.

How do Rey and Finn pick up light-sabers and automatically become Jedi Masters? Luke, in the original trilogy had to go through hell to become a Jedi Master. O wait, Luke was a stupid white male, only women and black characters can master a light-saber first try. . If they focused on making a good story, with a good cast, rather than being Politically Correct, this movie could have been great.

Maybe it was fun watching it 30-40 years ago, but let's be honest - It's time to move on ! They are milking it way too long .....

After watching the First Awakens today I'd have to put it in the top three. It was able to capture the feeling of the first three Star Wars lines. There were no cringe worthy moments involving bad dialog or childish characters. This does say something about the prequel trilogy though. It means there is something about it that I personally didn't like. I think it was the emphasis on politics and bad dialogue. The force Awakens was almost all action/fighting which is in line with the original saga. It also did a lot better job of hitting the right moments to use music scores and knowing which just to show the characters instead of inserting an over the top cheesy dialogue or scream.

1. Return of the Jedi: Not necessarily the best as a film but the most enjoyable despite the slow middle act & Ewoks. Jabba's palace, while stretched was pretty great and the final act in the throne room is so well done.

2. Empire Strikes Back: Pretty much held up as one of the best examples of a sequel better than it's predecessor. Amazing set pieces (Hoth, Bespin), great character exploration and dialog. Overall just a great movie that expands on an already

3. A New Hope: A tightly crafted adventure that you can watch easily on it's own. Sure the acting isn't top-notch and there's a slow first act, however it does a great job on the world-building (Something modern films forget when they hope to make a franchise).

4. The Force Awakens: Definitely a great start to the new trilogy. The new cast are great and the best compliment I can give it is that I actually care about what happens next in their adventures, in the same way I did about the OT cast. While there's nothing 'bad' about the movie, my major issues with the movie is that it's way too safe with the re-tread of A New Hope. It also suffers from this awful trend in modern franchise movies where the first movie is just a giant set-up and ends on un-earned cliffhanger making it not great for watching in isolation. For examples of good first movies, look at A New Hope, The Matrix, Iron Man & Batman Begins.

3. Revenge of the Sith: While it still has some major issues with dialog, characterisation and pacing, it definitely is a marked improvement over it's prequel predecessors. The relationship between Ben and Anakin is actually somewhat meaningful as well as the interaction with Palpatine and Anakin. The final fight is really good too, albeit it goes on way too long and there are some ridiculous sequences in there (swinging and lava surfing).

4. The Phantom Menace: Jar-Jar, the convoluted politically-muddled plot, Anakin (he's kind pointless), has no real impact on the rest of the story. The best parts of the movie are actually pretty enjoyable: the Pod-race (even if it's a tad long), Qui-gonn, and the now legendary 2v1 saber fight with Darth Maul.

5. Attack of the Clones: Over time this movie feels worse and worse to me. The awful romance scenes almost ruin the entire movie; The plot also makes no real sense. The dialog is somehow worse than before. it feels like no one learned anything from the mistakes made in The Phantom Menace. The only redeeming parts I can think of is Obi Wan vs Jango asteroid fight and the Coruscant chase sequence.

Honorable mention:The Clone Wars Animated Series - (2003-2005) - Seriously, go watch it. It's from the the makers of Samurai Jack - it all the great storytelling that was missing from it's film counterparts all while being confined within the 15min episode length.

1. Empire Srikes Back

2. Force Awakens

3. Revenge of the Sith

.4. Return of the Jedi

5. A New Hope

6. Attack of the Clones

7, Phantom Menace

1. Empire Strikes Back

2. The Force Awakens

3. A New Hope

4. Return of the Jedi

5. Revenge of the Sith

6. The Phantom Menace

7. Attack of the Clones

I used to rank Attack of the Clones above Phantom Menace but rewatching, its really cringe worth. Crazy because i was 13 when it came out and i loved the movie. It still has some cool scenes at least. Other than Jar Jar and kid Anakin though i think The Phantom Menace is better.

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Revenge of the Sith
3. The Force Awakens
4. A New Hope
5. Return of the Jedi
6. The Phantom Menace
7. Attack of the Clones

episodes 4 5 6 3, and then 1 and 2 tied for last since i think they have bad scripting and poorly filmed scenes.

I agree with the one who posted Ep III in his top 3, I totally agree. It's not a great movie, none of the star wars movies are except EMpire, imo anyway but Ep III featured tremendous light saber battles, a cool opening and I fully understood why Anakin would risk everything, his life, his beliefs, all of it for his wife and unborn child.

My list would probably be:

1. Empire Strikes Back

2. Revenge of the Sith

3. The Force Awakens

4. A New Hope

5. Phantom Menace

6. Return of the Jedi

7. Attack of the Clones

lol, the only Star Wars movie I've seen is A New Hope. I just think it's funny everyone seems to be in agreement that Attack of the Clones was the worst.

Finally got to watch The Force Awakens last night and was bitterly disappointed with it.

I was expecting something epic but it just wasn't there for me, not in comparison to A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and of course, Return Of The Jedi.

The main problem with The Force Awakens is that it borrows too heavily from A New Hope - only thing is, A New Hope does it a thousand times better, dare I say it, even the special effects seemed better to me in the original - the sense of scale, foreboding atmosphere, character interaction, story - everything basically.

My list:

A New Hope (the original and best as far as I'm concerned)

Empire Strikes Back

Return of The Jedi

Phantom Menace

Revenge of The Sith

The Force Awakens

Attack of The Clones

WTF? Who on this earth could rank Revenge of the Sith over The Original Star wars? Nothing with Hayden Christensen is any good. He is the worst actor alongside the young kid in Phantom. Bad enough the dialogue is shit, but the actors trying to deliver it aren't helping.

1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. A New Hope

3. Revenge of the Sith

4. Return of the Jedi

5. The Force Awakens

6. The Phantom Menace

7. Attack of the Clones

@nomailx: your taste is garbage.

@nomailx: exactly ... the prequels are garbage

@nomailx: are you 12?? You can not badmouth Empire and then rank Return of the Jedi ahead of it and expect to be taken seriously.

It is your opinion and you're allowed to have it but it's a shiity one.

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. The Force Awakens
4. Return of the Jedi
5. Revenge of the Sith
6. Attack of the Clone
7. The Phantom Menace

1.) swtor

i dont acknowledge any of the movies. the mmo DESTROYS them.

1. The Force Awakens

2. The Empire Strikes Back

3. A New Hope

4. Return of the Jedi

** I dont acknowledge the prequels.

I absolutely loved The Force Awakens. I can't make myself rank it above any of the original three movies, but I know that's purely nostalgia at work. It hits all the right beats and really just feels like Star Wars. I loved what they seemed to be setting up, too-- it's sort of poetic.

But yeah, trying to rank The Force Awakens against, say, The Empire Strikes Back is like asking whether the Daniel Craig Casino Royale is a better Bond movie than Goldfinger. Of course it is, by any objective measurement. But I have a very hard time viewing it objectively, lol.

I can only objectively rank the first 3. I haven't seen the force awakens yet and I didn't like the prequels at all as they revolved almost entirely around politics. I plan to see the force awakens at some point.

When I was young I liked Return of the Jedi the most of all Star Wars movies. I watched the first 3 Star Wars films what seemed about 50-100 times when I was a kid. I memorized most of the lines in the films.

As an adult watching the movies again I like a new hope the best. All the actors a young and bring a nice enthusiasm to the picture. I also find it more fun to watch the characters interacting before they really know each other that well. Luke was still an ignorant farm boy. Han Solo was a fairly dark character for a good guy even though he showed some good qualities here and there. Leia didn't know Luke or Han yet. She was kind of bossy in the first film as she didn't know if she could trust them or not. Darth Vader was a real scary guy in a New Hope. Right from the start of the movie when he crushes a guys throat it is fairly terrifying. This is especially true with James Earl Jones deep voice. Some might argue that he was even more terrifying in The Empire Strikes back. I wouldn't say either of the first two movies would qualify as kids movies these days. Obi-Wan Kenobi was awesome in this one. Even Chewbacca was a little scary because we didn't know him yet and he hung out with the shady Han Solo.

The Empire Strikes back was a fairly good film. Most people like this one the best because it is considered the darkest and doesn't have a happy ending. I like the movie a lot, but find Luke wasn't quite as good in this. He got in a car accident in real life that maimed his face a bit. His character has some memorable but a bit annoying lines like when he screams nooo! IMO. Leia and Han have a lot of romance in this movie. It's done fairly well, but I'm not a huge fan of it. Han starts to be converted into Mr. Nice guy by Luke and Leia.

I think why I liked Return of the Jedi best as a kid was because it had the first young Jedi (in Luke) we had seen. It was someone I could relate to a bit. As an adult I find it a bit more childish then the other two Star Wars movies with things like the Ewoks. I actually like the Ewoks when I was a kid (I had the Ewok village and still do), but as an adult I think they detract a bit form the seriousness of the movies. The plot is very similar to the first movie and so is the ending. Luke is very dour (understandable) now that he's a Jedi, but it makes his character a bit boring at times. The best part of the film is probably the light saber battle as it was the first time and audience had seen anything like that. The emperor was quite scary in this film. He wasn't nearly as scary with his CGI big head and political talk in the prequels (I think this was intended as George Lucas was more and more aiming for a younger audience). The ending is fairly similar to the first movie. Han and Leia complete their relationship with some fairly cheesy lines. Overall it's a decent movie, but not as exciting or dark as the first two. It none the less is a nice ending to the trilogy. I'll give it third place.

Clones was the best one like wtf srs

1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. A New Hope

3. Return of the Jedi

4. Revenge of the Sith

5. The Force Awakens

6. The Phantom Menace

7. Attack of the Clones

A prequel film ahead of Force Awakens? Really? Yes, really. While Force Awakens had great acting and was fun to watch, it was dragged down by an incredible lack of context. It tried too hard to be the anti-prequel, and as such, turned into a story about nothing. It felt more like a checklist of Star Wars themes rather than a story that could proudly stand on its own. The prequel films at least tried to be ambitious, and Revenge of the Sith mostly succeeded in delivering what George Lucas promised.

1) Empire Stikes Back

2) Return of the Jedi

3) A New Hope

4) Ewoks, Battle for Endor

5) Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home (whales rock)

6) The Force Awakens

7) None of 1 thru 3: I'd rather rupture my eyes with a red-hot hot, iron rod...

1. Star Wars (A New Hope) (Outstanding music, great plot, intriguing universe (not well developed), totally improbable ending, but still fun. Incredible shitty sword fight. Come on, I know obi wan is old, but at least for Vader they could have hired a professional fencer)

2. Phantom Menace. (Duel of Fates and the best sword fight in the series. And... Duel of Fates)

2. The Empire Strikes Back (Great plot (they do not destroy a death star!) The Imperial March.)

3. Return of the Jedi (Nice story, good adventuring, Luke is finally a Jedi Knight, Vader becomes Anakin once again, Destroying death star again... mmm ok)

4. Revenge of the Sith (Great effects. Battle of Heroes. Unreasonable Anakin side change, (seemed rushed). Awful Sidious vs jedi fight. Good length.

6. Attack of the Clones (Interesting to see Coruscant golden days, the Academy, Geonosis. Across the Stars. So many cheesy lines... Hayden Christensen managed to be the worst actor by far.)

7. The Force Awakens. (Good movie overall, but not at the height of the previous ones. My complaints about it are: WTF is that story? Luke's missing, Leia and Han are divorced, and with familiy issues, so stupid setting. Seems far-fetched, only to give the movie a Sith. If you wanted to do a sequel and not a prequel, I'll be fine withouth a Sith. So Anakin didn't bring balance to the force. This movie should have shown Luke Academy teaching new jedi with Han and Leia happily married. Oversimplified action, bad special effects for 2015. Destroys death star a third time (In the first movie of the trilogy, so at least we can expect a fourth death star destruction in the next two movies. Cheesy moments, awful acting from new main actors, incredible lucky moments and impossible coincidences. (Sorry for the size of the font, dont know how it got like this and don't know how to fix it)

1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. A New Hope

3. The Force Awakens

4. Return of the Jedi

5. Revenge of the Sith

6. Attack of the Clones

7. The Phantom Menace

The The Star Wars Holiday Special is KING..the end!

1 - The Force Awakens

2 - Revenge of the Sith

3 - Attack of the Clones

4 - The Phantom Menace

5 - The Empire Strikes Back

6 - Return of the Jedi

7 - A New Hope

I guess i'm kind of a modern film guy. I absolutely loved the new Force Awakens. Its even got my name in it (Ken) lol.

After watching the Force Awakens I can honestly say the best thing that happened to the Star Wars franchise was to get rid of George Lucas.

Don't want to be a douche. But if Zorine didn't watch any movie but The Force Awakens, she shouldn't be in this list.

1. Empire Strikes Back

2. A New Hope

3. Return of the Jedi

4. The Force Awakens

5. The Notebook

6. Revenge of the Sith

7. The Phantom Menace

8. Attack of the Clones

Yeah! Prequel movies are that bad!

Im surprised return of the jedi is ahead of a new hope for a lot of people... ewoks and nothing for Han and Leia to do the whole movie... At least empire seems to be on top where it belongs. Id probably put Force awakens ahead of Return of the Jedi. Probably this..

Empire Strikes Back
A New Hope
The Force Awakens
Return of the Jedi
Revenge of the Sith
Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones

Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

The Force Awakens

A New Hope

Revenge of the Sith


Yes, I intentionally left out those other "films" as I don't see them as worthy to even be on the list.

Empire strikes back

Return of the Jedi

Force Awakens

Revenge of the sith

A new hope

Attack of the clones

...

Ewoks movie

Ewoks sequel

Thumb wars

Phantom menace

1. Return of the Jedi

2. Empire Strikes Back

3. The Force Awakens

4. Revenge of the Sith

5. A New Hope

6. Attack of the Clones

7. Phantom Menace

1. Empire Strikes Back

2. A New Hope

3. Revenge of the Sith

4. Force Awakens

5. Return of the Jedi

6. Attack of the Clones

7. Phantom Menace

I don't think Revenge of the Sith gets enough credit... And Ewoks brought down ROTJ sooooo much. But 1-5 in my list are all somewhat close to each other in preference, whereas the last 2 are soooo far behind