My Top-6 Star Wars Movies

May the force be with you! Earlier this week, the cast of Star Wars Episode VII was announced. The movie will not be out until 2015, but I decided that I’d want to show everyone my favourite Star Wars movies.

I’m a huge Star Wars fan and I can’t wait for the new movie, not just because the old guard from the original trilogy is back, but also because I’m interested to see what the new and fresh cast is capable of. And if they manage to slip in a cameo from a prequel trilogy actor *cough*LiamNeeson*cough* I wouldn’t mind too much.

In this case, I’m sticking only to the prequel and original trilogies, though if there is one other Star Wars related thing I could give an honourable mention to, it’s probably the second Ewok TV movie, Battle for Endor (I especially recommend it over the drawn out and rather dull Caravan of Courage).

Anyway, let’s get on with it…

6. Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Middle-parts of Trilogies are always tricky and they can go one of two ways: lame or awesome. Even at their finest they can still feel a little incomplete. I’ve never had more mixed feelings towards any Star Wars movie as I did with Attack of the Clones and it was the first time that I started to feel a little uneasy about the prequel trilogy, mainly on how overbearing the CG felt.

Attack of the Clones is supposed to be a romance movie, but in that its hampered by its unsurprising qualities and Hayden Christensen’s ridiculously wooden acting. Ewan McGregor tries his darnest to make the film’s conspiracy plot-line work, and it does have its awesome highlights, but inevitably, the film just turns into a gigantic CG extravaganza with none of the characters achieving anything noteworthy. This movie is literally just a prelude to the Clone Wars series.

To point out some of my favourite aspects of the film though, I did enjoy Kaminoans, the whole clone-army storyline was interesting at least up to the half-way point of the film, C-3PO’s antics inside the battle-droid factory were great and I still did enjoy gladiator arena match. Also, Anakin slaughtering the Sand People after his mother’s death was a very dark and compelling scene. Unfortunately everything in-between falls really flat. I got a kick out of seeing the CG Yoda fighting Count Dooku at the finale, but considering that this lightsabre fight didn’t even resolve anything, made me feel it was a really superficial and pandering add-on to the end of the scene where Dooku takes down Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Also, I know they were setting up Anakin’s fall to the dark-side, but did they really have to make Obi-Wan look like such a tool for 90% of the film? As you can see, I find so many annoying nit-picks with this film that I’m hard-pressed to enjoy it – but it does at least have some highlights. Regardless, I think easily the weakest of the canonical Star Wars films.

5. Episode IV: A New Hope

I’ve also had a very mixed relationship with the very first Star Wars movie of the bunch. Unlike Empire and Jedi, I never saw this one growing up and only much later. As a result, I don’t have as much nostalgia attached to it. George Lucas made an amazing film under a very strict budget and although the film holds up surprisingly well, still not as well as its immediate two sequels. After watching this film in its original form, you too will understand why Lucas wanted to make the Special Editions.

At the same time, the low-budget feel is actually part of the charm. Lasers fly every which way (even in directions that make no sense), dialogue gets cut off, the imperial officers have massive 70s sideburns and the aliens in the Cantina scene look like extras with cheap Halloween masks (which they were). At the same time, a lot of the special effects still look impressive, as do the sets and although you laugh at the film’s mistakes, you are also impressed by the dedication and seriousness of the story.

At least, until you come to the slowest lightsabre fight in the history of Star Wars. No matter how much you love Star Wars, Alec Guinness and Bob Anderson carefully waving their glow-sticks around just looks incredibly embarrassing. And that’s where my inner conflict comes from. Sure, the Special Editions had a lot of unnecessary CG, but they also added funny lines of dialogue (“Open the blast doors, open the blast doors!”), polished up some of those sloppy parts and made the movie far more respectable looking. At the same time, like everyone else, I wasn’t a fan of how they messed around with the Greedo scene, which again makes me uneasy to declare either version of the film superior.

It’s still a fun-filled ride and a great adventure flick, but because of some of its flaws, I find it hard to declare as one of my favourites.

4. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

The third prequel movie probably received the most amount of praise back in the day for its dark story and finally bridging the gap between the prequel and original trilogies. And I have to say, I really did enjoy the movie after the slight let-down I experienced with Attack of the Clones. Everything came together in this part and those plot-threads that were left waving in the wind at the end of Episode II finally got resolved.

Firstly, I just loved the locations and the character of General Grievous, even if he was a bit of a red herring. I felt Anakin’s inner struggles were now much better played out (thanks to Christensen’s vastly improved acting), the character drama felt fresh and I even loved seeing the confrontation between Yoda and Palpatine. Even if it again, didn’t really resolve much, it at least gave us a bit more context for why Yoda would have to go into hiding – considering that the prior movie established that he could clearly kick ass at this point. And of course, I really got a kick out of all the subtle references to Episode IV that were thrown at the end, as well as the Frankensteinian rise of Darth Vader.

The only problems I had with this movie, the same as with Episode II, is that I felt the movie had a little too much flash in its action-scenes and especially the lightsabre fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin was borderline ridiculous. However, the action-scenes were a lot more memorable than Episode II and the generally improved mood of the film also helped the scenes stand out. There were still some rocky transitions and, like I said, I would have preferred a more down-to-earth confrontation between Obi-Wan and Anakin, but beyond that, I did enjoy the movie a lot. Still, didn’t crack the Top-3 for me.

3. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

This film is a classic and for a good reason. While the Special Editions definitely improved Episode IV, both Empire and Jedi still hold up thanks to their excellent production quality. The variety of amazing worlds was also great. I’ve always loved the opening battle on the ice planet Hoth and the dark swamp of Dagobah. This film also diversified the character drama with Han and Leia, as well as with the student and teacher relationship between Luke and Yoda. And the finale, of course, is legendary.

Besides, the strong storyline, the film also has excellent highlights like the Giant Worm, the lightsabre battle between Luke and Vader, the gutting of the Taun-Taun and Luke trapped in the ice-cave. This film is just filled with iconic scenes and its easy to see why its most people’s favourite Star Wars movie. I even like the goofy one-of characters like Admiral Ozzel and Vader generally just strangling everyone who fails him during the progress of the film. The movie works well, even when there aren’t big action-scenes going on and that is what sets it above Episodes II, III and IV for me.

So, why isn’t Empire my favourite? As I mentioned before, the Middle-Parts of Trilogies are really tricky and while Empire is probably one of the best examples of how to make a really good middle-chapter, one filled with memorable moments and important character development, it still ends on a cliffhanger. And considering how much I love Return of the Jedi, you can understand why the film always leaves with a sense of extreme anxiety once the heroes are standing in front of the that window looking into space.

Still, a must-see film from the franchise, absolutely.

2. Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Easily the most hated Star Wars movie, but for me it will always be a classic. There is admittedly a lot of nostalgia involved with all my Top-3 picks and with Phantom Menace, I have to admit that my opinion of it is heavily coloured by the fact that it was the first Star Wars movie I ever saw in a theatre. That said, it’s never lost its charm with me and I hate that everyone just nit-picks story details and isn’t able to just enjoy it like me, as an epic space-adventure with great action.

Particularly, the story of the young Anakin Skywalker has always been the reason I loved this movie. It’s sort of similar to the feeling I now get when rewatching Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: “That kid has no idea what’s in store.” Still, it’s the dramatic core of the film and it gives it a lot of strength, when Anakin pulls off his heroics at the end of the film. Also, the relationship between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan is one of my favourites, reminding me a little bit of the relationship between Obi-Wan and Luke as well as a little bit of Yoda and Luke.

Now, I’ll admit that the film has its flaws, mostly in how the younger cast didn’t benefit from Lucas’s lack of interest in rehearsing lines (just look at how overly stoic Natalie Portman is in this film) and some of the exposition scenes may feel a tad flat. However, everything else is so fresh with this instalment, I’m still surprised why people can’t appreciate it for what it is, even if they don’t think it’s on par with the original trilogy. If you need a little bit more convincing check out this prior blog as well as this one on the subject.

Either way, it’s always going to be one of my favourites, but there is one movie in the series that is unbeatable in my book.

1. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

This movie has always held a special place in my heart. Understandably, when I saw it for the first time, there really wasn’t anything to compare it to except Empire and Masters of the Universe with Dolph Lundgren. What I love is how this movie sets off on a quest to complete the storyline from Empire and then has its own strong narrative. We follow-up on Luke’s quest to reconcile his relation to Darth Vader and we get some epic space action on the side. Also: Ewoks!!

The Ewoks were always my favourite element of the film and I love the idea that they could kick the imperial soldiers asses. They are easily the most under-rated element of the film, not simply for comedic value, but also because they’re treated as characters within the film (I cry a little inside every time I see the mid-battle scene of the Ewok caressing his dead friend). In addition, the confrontation between Luke, Vader and Palpatine is one of the darkest and most powerful moments in the entire film series and really a pivotal moment.

Plus, I haven’t even gotten to the awesomeness of Jabba the Hutt and the Rancor. The same way Empire serves as a blue-print how to do a middle-chapter of a trilogy properly, Return of the Jedi shows how to properly bring a story arc to a close: with a lot great highlights and memorable moments, but also giving the story time to breathe and handling it with conviction. This movie just plain kicks ass!

Looking forward to Episode VII…