Here’s something you don’t see every day. Something no one on the internet has ever thought to do. With a new Star Wars movie in theaters, the first in seven years, we’ve decided to put it up against the rest of the series in what we’re calling a ranking of “Star Wars” movies.
All kidding aside, while ranking Star Wars movies is a pastime fans have enjoyed since there was a second Star Wars movie, we here at io9 haven’t done one in a long, long time. If ever. So, the team put their heads together, and all agreed that this list, right here, is the definitive one. At least among us.
So sit back, grab your lightsaber, and let’s rank all 13 theatrical Star Wars movies.
1. The Empire Strikes Back
Really, is there any other way to go at the top of the list? Probably not. The Empire Strikes Back is just everything you love about Star Wars, on screen for the first time, capturing your imagination and never letting go. It’s bold, it’s exciting, it’s emotional, it’s incredible.
2. A New Hope
The only film that we think even comes close to challenging Empire for the number one spot is this one, the number one Star Wars movie. Without A New Hope, none of the rest would exist. Every time you rewatch it, it sucks you in with its scope, ambition, and imagination. You almost forget just how many places the story goes. How epic it all becomes. It’s a perfect movie that, when compared to its sequel, is just the one you might rewatch a little bit less.
3. Return of the Jedi
After those first two films, the controversy of this list starts to rise exponentially with each pick, starting here. For some, ranking Return of the Jedi third is a no-brainer. It completes the story told by the previous two in a wholly satisfying way. There’s amazing action, character beats, locations, creatures, all of it. Star Wars as a whole gets better because of everything in this movie. But, of course, it does get a little kiddie at the end and lacks a bit of the complexity of the previous two. We love it unabashedly, but others might rank it a little lower. We do not.
4. The Last Jedi
And here we go. *Dodges blaster fire* When it comes to The Last Jedi, there are primarily two paths of thought. There are those of us who think it’s a Star Wars masterpiece that boldly attempted to infuse new ideas into a series that desperately needed them. That took risks and reaped big rewards. Then there are others who think all of that sucked because Leia flew through the sky, Poe Dameron made some jokes, and Luke Skywalker had the most poetic, heroic ending ever. You either love it or you hate it. And we love it.
5. Rogue One
No Star Wars movie since the first one did what Rogue One: A Star Wars Story did: introduce an (almost) entirely new cast of characters, make you care about them, and then put them through the wringer. It told a crucial story that fans had been talking about for years, and put human (and non-human) faces to it. Even though they’re only in one movie, we love Jyn Erso, Bodhi Rook, Chirrut Îmwe, Baze Malbus, K-2SO, and the rest. That’s a testament to the power of Rogue One. Plus, it gave us two seasons of Andor, which helps its ranking considerably.
6. The Force Awakens
When Disney brought Star Wars back in 2015, there were a million ways it could go. The choice, ultimately, was to basically just retell the story of A New Hope with a seemingly random person on a desert planet who gets sucked into an adventure aboard the Millennium Falcon, taking them to a large base run by the bad guys, with the reveal that they’re the answer to the galaxy’s problems. And guess what? It worked. The Force Awakens didn’t reinvent the franchise, but it gave us great new characters and reminded us why we love Star Wars in the first place.
7. Revenge of the Sith
Oh, right. The prequel movies. Once again, when it comes to the first three films in the Skywalker Saga, there’s a pretty widely accepted ranking with the third film, this one, at the top of the list. Mostly, that’s because we get to see Anakin and Obi-Wan at the height of their powers, and after two movies eking towards the main event, we finally got to see what we’d all been waiting for: the fall of the Jedi and birth of Darth Vader. It’s just a massive, massive movie in the history of Star Wars, with the performances and a finale to match.
8. The Phantom Menace
The Phantom Menace is a flawed film. There are so many things you can point at and be like, “That’s bad.” Trade Federations, Jar Jar Binks, etc. But it also has so much undeniably Star Wars magic in it. Darth Maul, podracing, Qui-Gon Jinn, you name it. The good stuff very much outweighs the bad, and for that reason, we put it here.
9. Solo
Look, we like Solo: A Star Wars Story. It’s a whole movie about maybe the most fun character in the entire series. And thanks to it largely being from director Ron Howard, it mostly works as a solid, straightforward adventure story. It doesn’t challenge us. It doesn’t really make us feel too much. But it’s fun and reminds us why we like Star Wars in a way that expands the galaxy and its mythology. It does the bare minimum.
10. The Mandalorian and Grogu
Yes, unfortunately, the latest film in the Star Wars saga ranks way down here on the list. Why? Well, it’s similar to Solo in that it’s a very straightforward, entertaining film. Which is fine. But, unlike Solo, where that showed our main characters achieve cool, big goals and changes, this film doesn’t do that. It’s just a story in the Star Wars universe. It’s not bad. It just doesn’t live up to the films above it.
11. Attack of the Clones
Each Star Wars trilogy has one entry that’s obviously not as good as the rest, and for the prequels, it’s Attack of the Clones. There are lots of things to like about Attack of the Clones, like Yoda fighting, Jango Fett, its cliffhanger ending, and more. But compared to not just the other two prequels, but Star Wars as a whole, it’s just a little flat. The performances aren’t quite there. The story isn’t super compelling. It’s not a film we hate, it’s just not as cohesive and satisfying as the others.
12. The Rise of Skywalker
Ben Solo. Lando. Wedge. Rey embracing the Force. There are definitely good things in The Rise of Skywalker. But there are also bad things. Lots of them. This is just such a wild pivot from the previous film, and such a cowardly conclusion to the series, that we can’t help but still feel stung by it. There’s no regard for stakes, the ending is dissatisfying, and we’re still trying to come up with a reason for its title. It’s just, almost without competition, the worst Star Wars movie… in live action.
13. The Clone Wars
To be perfectly honest, Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie almost feels like it didn’t happen. Yes, it’s the official introduction of Ahsoka Tano into the Star Wars universe, but in the years that followed, Dave Filoni took the pieces here and made things that were so much better than this introductory film. As a result, it has become largely forgotten. We don’t like The Rise of Skywalker, but we will never, ever forget it. The Clone Wars can’t even do that. We’re glad it exists for everything that followed, but as a movie, it’s pretty bad.
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