Rank the Star Wars Movies (merged)

[Gentlegamer]

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars
3. Return of the Jedi

[huge gulf]

4. Revenge of the Sith

[gulf so huge it cannot be measured]

5. The Phantom Menace/Attack of the Clones

 

[Adeodatus]

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars
3. Return of the Jedi

[huge gulf]

4. Revenge of the Sith

[gulf so huge it cannot be measured]

5. The Phantom Menace/Attack of the Clones

Somebody already said it for me. But make the gulfs a little bit bigger.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm...

1.) The Empire Strikes Back (8)
2.) A New Hope (7)
3.) Return of the Jedi (4)
4.) Attack of the Clones (3)
5.) Phantom Menace (2)

I have not yet seen Rvenge of the Sith, I hated the first two so very much. Sadly, neither is the worst SF movie I have ever seen...

The Auld Grump

 

[Moulin Rogue]

1. Empire Strikes Back. It's just so dark and cold and... haunting. All that snow and swamp. On the bad guy side there are AT walkers, Boba Fett, and Vader taking charge with no Tarkin or Emperor in the way. On the good guy side the characters from the first film get fleshed out and the romanctic stuff actually works.

2. A New Hope. Understandably the most dated-feeling (almost "quaint") due to its age and budget restraints, but that also makes it pure old-fashioned cinematic fun. The fantasy staples of the young hero of destiny, the old wizard, and a princess to be rescued are just so much better on the big screen than watching stiff guys stand around talking about galactic politics.

3. Revenge Of The Sith. Some pretty good payoffs as most of the loose ends get reconciled in a satisfying way. The Emperor's scheming in the middle of the film is terrific. But some of the dialogue is head-shakingly bad, and I can't help but feel that the final opportunity to give a few minutes' screen time to The Man In Black, one of the most memorable characters in cinematic history, was squandered on a cheesy note.

4. Return Of The Jedi. Had this one behind AotC for a while, but Episode III makes the throne room scene, already done very well, even better. Too bad it still has those accursed Ewoks, a lame death for Boba Fett, and a lot of the actors just appearing to mail it in. No wonder Harrison Ford wanted out, Han Solo's character is especially disappointing.

5. Attack Of The Clones. I think this one maybe got a bit overrated when it came out because people were so relieved it didn't suck as bad as TPM. Liked some action scenes such as the Jango vs. Kenobi stuff, but the romance is just plain bad. And looking back, the whole arena scene is a little bit silly. I may yet reswap ROTJ in the #4 slot with this, they're pretty close together in my mind.

6. The Phantom Menace. Let's see.... Jar-Jar, midichlorians, and an absolutely horrible climax to the big space battle. Yeah, Darth Maul was cool but I didn't buy the way he was made to die. Agree with the previous sentiment that a lot of this film didn't feel all that necessary. The core of it could have been done as a few minutes of expository dialogue ("the Force is strong in that apprentice of yours, where did you find him?") and maybe shown in a separate stand-alone kiddie cartoon or something, which would free up a whole movie to cover a better story like the opening years of the Rebel Alliance or something.

 

[Arnwyn]

My ranking:

1) Empire Strikes Back
2) Star Wars
3) tie: Return of the Jedi/Revenge of the Sith (likely this high because it's new)
*) Clone Wars cartoon
5) Attack of the Clones
6) The Phantom Menace

 

[Azgulor]

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

However, they really aren't that far apart in enjoyablility to me, and there's a lot of movies I downright despise compared to even the weakest Star Wars film.

You nailed my list to a T. However, I would like to add that the only thing that kept RotJ from coming in last was that it had the characters that hooked me on Star Wars as a kid. That movie was such a let down compared to ANH and ESB...

Azgulor

 

[Psychic Warrior]

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Return of the Jedi
5. Attack of the Clones
10. The Phantom Menace

WHoa! Me too!

 

[billd91]

My rankings, best to worst:

Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars
Return of the Jedi
Revenge of the Sith
Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones


I have to put Menace ahead of Clones because Menace had 2 interesting characters - Darth Maul and Qui Gon. Clones had NO interesting characters at all. Also, while some action sequences in Menace were too long, improbably and gratuitous (the pod race and space battle), the car chase sequence in Clones was FAR more gratuitous, silly, and ultimately annoying. Plus Menace has the best light saber duel in the series (though the final duel in Sith is also pretty good). Clones also has one of the worst love stories ever put on film. It gets even worse in Sith, but there's a lot more in Sith in general to recommend it.