Today, I will discuss all the main “episodes” of Star Wars. Naturally spoilers ahead:
Episode 4 - A New Hope (1977):
For an “action movie”, there isn’t a lot of action here, and the action we see is quite goofy for the most part. And that’s great. I quite enjoy the rusty futuristic aesthetic. Also, James Earl Jones’s performance as Darth Wader is nothing short of brilliant. I find it kinda weird that Luke Skywalker takes the murder of his family a little too easily, especially after he also loses Obi-Wan; this all makes it somewhat difficult to emotionally resonate with his arc. Yet still, it is a quite pleasant, easily-digestible look to a different era in movies and science fantasy[1].
Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back (1980):
This movie has a lot of Darth Vader in it, so naturally it’s very good. Yoda’s scenes are also enjoyable. The AT-AT machines are quite funny, as if the Empire designed them to be as vulnerable as possible, but Han Solo is a hit-and-miss character to me. Cocky charming guys are usually not that interesting, in particular, his creepy advances towards Leia are cringeworthy. Overall it is still an iconic film, making Star Wars the franchise we know today, perhaps more so than A New Hope.
Episode 6 - Return of Jedi (1983):
In isolation, the ending of the movie is very powerful. Palpatine is excellent, so is the moral struggle between Luke and Darth Wader, crowned with a tastefully bittersweet ending. However, I don’t buy Luke’s personality shift; probably because there is too much action in this movie, there isn’t the time to show his resolution growing organically, and his “don’t fight hate with hate” thesis has a shaky foundation, since the first time we see him is his epic takedown of the fat creepy alien who is into human women for some reason. Neither do we see Luke coming to terms with the dead Stormtroopers. This movie is one of the iconic examples of redemption being granted only to a select few villains, usually ones with the worst crimes. Does the movie mean to say Darth Vader is inherently deserving of redemption because he was “good before” or due to his status as a father? Unlikely. Rather, we ought to think of action and character scenes separately; characters simply don’t “fight with hate” when the swelling orchestra music is playing. This makes it very difficult to take the movie seriously, This is the very thing video games are often criticized for: “The game indulges the player in senseless violence only occasionally reminding that violence is bad”, as the usual complaint goes. Except of course, not only are games a young medium that is still exploring what “narrative” and “gameplay” mean in the first place, movies don’t have the structural limitations of games. It’s strange that the response when these issues are brought up is often “it’s a movie.” No, my issue isn’t that I wouldn’t personally forgive Darth Vader, rather, I don’t know enough about Luke as a character as to why he does it and I don’t know what “dark side” is. I’m not asking the movie to explain to me how the Death Star functions, I just want it to deliver the themes it sets up. And the rest of the movie is mediocre. The Ewoks on the other hand are the second best thing in the film after Palpatine. It’s still worth watching to finish the trilogy, but this film in particular is a strong argument that Star Wars works best as simple adventures.
Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace(1999):
Nowadays, most mainstream movies and shows (Disney, Marvel etc.) are in a weird place. They are obviously aimed for children, but are also overly self-conscious about looking childish. TPM provides a breath of fresh air by being openly and proudly a kids movie. A kid protagonist that builds his own robot, wins a deadly race and defeats a space armada by his own, colorful backgrounds, copious usage of slapstick, funny droid enemies, lots of goofy aliens and the whole princess rescue part that’s just impossible to watch without a chuckle.
The movie also rejects the dichotomy of “being childish” and “serious themes”. For such a lighthearted movie, the action truly feels dangerous at times. It has such a bittersweet ending too. Anakin is deprived of his father figure, left with an institution that clearly is unable to understand him, vulnerable to the influence of Palpatine and Obi-wan is forced to grow into a role he is clearly not ready for. We see a clearly flawed side of the Jedi. Even Qui-gon, despite his progressive outlook is quite passive against the slavery all around him on the Tatooine. This is a very strong setup for a trilogy.
TPM also has the best action scenes in any Star Wars movie by a good margin. The podracing sequence is so exhilarating that I cannot watch it sitting down. Darth Maul’s duel is simply excellent. All pieces fit perfectly the music, the environment, the choreography and the straightforwardly menacing villain. The best part is, the movie knows how to make the action breathe. It feels very close to ANH in this respect. A large part of this film allows us to feel the mood and the scenery; such as with the often-maligned trade deal scene. It’s quite energetic but never overwhelming, nothing overstays its welcome.
This is the best Star Wars movie. Of course, it has some Certified Lucas Moments like Midiclorians, Jar-Jar Binks’ Jamaican accent and star-crossed romance between Padme and Anakin; but honestly, the original trilogy is also guilty of similar sins. Maybe because I saw this movie in 2020 it made me feel a vibe that I have never found in another movie, again in much the same way as ANH, but even stronger. I highly recommend this film to anyone who wants to have a jolly time.
Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones(2002):
This movie fails at its responsibilities. We should have seen the both the fire-forged-brotherhood and communication problems between Anakin and Obi Wan, the ways Palpatine is corrupting Anakin and the conflict between surrogate fathers. The movie should have also explored the flaws of Jedi philosophy: Anakin slaughters an entire village of desert aliens and the council doesn’t take any action. What am I supposed to think about the Jedi here? If we keep the previous movie in mind they come off as detached, immoral and incompetent glorified cops. However, I am not sure that the movie thinks the slaughter of an entire village is that big of a deal; like we ought to agree with the fantastic racism towards the aliens, after all we saw them as nothing more than stereotypical violent barbarians in ANH. We only get the vague “ dark side” stuff, here it’s even more confusing than it is in RoJ. I would say Anakin is already “dark” enough to be put down, or at least be deprived of his sword or something, but the movie insists he is being gradually corrupted. The great setup of The Phantom Menace is thoroughly wasted. We only see the glimpses of what could have been: like the infamous “I don’t like sand” scene. That’s a brilliant portrayal of an emotionally stunted teenager, the movie should have focused on that.
Instead we get action scenes. Lots of action scenes. One after another So… many… action ...scenes! At least the car chase and the fight with the bounty hunter is fun to watch, even though the surrounding plot isn’t that exciting. But the latter half of the movie is completely off the rails.
Oh my god Darth Saruman and Yoda are fighting, woah look at the coughing robot with the multiple lightsabers, wow big alien animals, pew-pew-pew clone battles. We are never allowed to absorb anything; the movie constantly wants to be bigger, cooler, more explosive. And the worst part is, the film loudly makes it clear that the war is meaningless: Palpatine is no longer a merely shadowy figure, we are supposed to solemnly watch him to gain power but also clap at the very battles he is causing in order to do so. Darth Saruman doesn’t matter, droids don’t matter, the bounty hunter especially doesn’t matter.
This is a film without a coherent language, mostly a collage of “epic” scenes. It’s perfectly skippable.
Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith(2005):
This movie’s main weakness is that it tries to build upon AotC. A lot of scenes that should have been legendary feels slightly off because of the shaky foundation: such as Anakin’s confrontation of Palpatine or the Obi Wan vs. Anakin fight. The confusing language strikes again when Anakin kills Saruman, we are probably supposed to think it as an escalation of Anakin’s darkness, but it cannot be that, he did worse in the previous movie to people not responsible for an interstellar war.
The movie’s plot additions aren’t that strong either. The whole Padme plot is a bit messy. Anakin should have become a Sith because he shares the worldview of Palpatine and should have lost Padme because of his lust for power. The desperation angle weakens this, it makes it so that Anakin is more or less duped into being Darth Vader, it comes off as hilarious rather than tragic: “He said he would save Padme for realsies, but he didn’t, NOOOOOOOO”
That being said, RotS is still worth watching. The action scenes have good tension, Christopher Lee’s talents aren’t wasted this time. The movie feels appropriately suffocating, as if it itself is falling into the dark side. And of course, Ian McDiarmic completely owns every scene he is in. The film is quite enjoyable in isolated movements, at the very least it feels like George Lucas directed the movie as he exactly wanted, for better or worse, which is quite interesting in its own way.
Episode 7 - The Force Awakens(2015)
This movie feels a bit too safe, too interested in re-capturing the magic of the originals. Whoops, the empire is back again. Perhaps this republic thing needs to be reconsidered after all! It sure is helpless against power-hungry leaders and it’s weird that the second rebellion is again led by a princess. But the movie is adamant that the Republic is the ideal to strive for, and won’t elaborate further. Also, the First Order is so obviously made in the image of Nazis that it’s boring, especially because they are still a stand-in for shapeless totalitarianism, not an honest exploration of fascism, not to mention we know the bad guys are designed to look cool. No, this is another Star Wars movie that begins in a desert and ends in blowing ships, nothing too interesting happens. It doesn’t help that Snoke is just hot air, neither threatening nor goofy.
It is not all bad however. Most new characters like Rey and Finn are quite fine. Adam Driver has a puppy face and I also enjoyed that the film is at least willing to wave old characters goodbye. It’s not too offensive nor creative, but it is good enough to develop original ideas upon it.
Episode 8 - The Last Jedi(2017)
This movie is filled with original ideas: We have a tired, defeated and very human Luke Skywalker; a conflict between good guys that goes beyond “recklessness vs timidity”, discussions on heroism, a villain who repeatedly rejects redemption, a smashed Darth Vader helmet, a new understanding of Force and Yoda’s ghost destroying the old and last Jedi temple. The movie directly confronts the failure of Jedi and finally materializes on what the “dark side” is. It’s not an abstract concept of temptation, it is naked lust for power, which has always made more sense for me. It helps that the movie is just solid all around. There is still a bit too much action, but at least it is well-paced and creates a coherent, easy-to-follow story. It doesn’t have scenes that are particularly explosive, but it doesn’t have weird stuff either, it is a good movie in a much more balanced, modern way. It ends in such a way that gives way to endless possibility. Old Star Wars is old Star Wars. New Star Wars can be anything it wants.
Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker(2019)
And it chose to throw that all away in the name of nostalgia anyway…
It’s truly incredible that the movie is so thoroughly dedicated to the sole goal of turning the franchise into an endless nostalgia treadmill, it curses all wisdom of storytelling, any shred of consistency, the older movies it wants to imitate and the future stories of Star Wars. We can go through the many, many flaws of this movie, but I am not inspired to do so: Because not only won’t I say anything too different from what’s already been told in many long analysis videos, the movie is not even inspiring enough to lambaste it. It boldly does not care, and laughs at the audience if they dare to do so. It is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, period.
Conclusions
If you only know Star Wars from cultural osmosis like I did for a long time, are the movies worth watching? Attack of the Clones is kind of empty and Rise of the Skywalker is hot garbage, but otherwise at its best, Star Wars can be profound, and at least usually interesting in its failures. I don’t care about it as a fictional world but it has proven itself to be a trustworthy vehicle for fun adventures; as long as it doesn’t worship itself too much.
Let’s end this by ranking the movies. Ranking media is a little silly, because even media that is not fun to experience can be fun intellectually, and even bad entries contribute something to overall experience. But my Star Wars take wouldn’t feel complete otherwise, so here it goes:
Episode 1 > 8 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 6 > 7 >>>>>>> 2 >>>>>>>>> 9
Notes
[1]: Science fiction makes commentary on technology and scientific development and has one foot in contemporary scientific knowledge. Science fantasy has no aspirations to be plausible, the technology is completely replaceable with magic, and often these stories have some type of magic alongside technology. It’s not really a genre on it’s own, but rather, an aesthetic theme for fantasy stories.
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons, namely: Acelin, Effy, Laura Watson, MasterofCubes, Makkovar, Morgan, Olympia, Otakundead, Sasha. Also thanks to Alex(@jyhadscientist on Twitter) for his perfect editing work
