What's the WORST Star Wars movie?
- Thread starter Morrus
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pukunui
Legend
I voted AotC. Plodding action with terrible scripting and the relationship between Padme and Anakin is just awful. The Yoda/Dooku lightsaber fight is probably the only part worth watching.
If you included the animated SW too, I expect you’d get a lot of votes for the Clone Wars “movie”, which I personally think is unfair as it’s not really a movie. It’s literally just a three-episode story arc that they stitched together into one long episode in order to get the series going with a bang. When you view it in that context, I think it works fine.
If you included the animated SW too, I expect you’d get a lot of votes for the Clone Wars “movie”, which I personally think is unfair as it’s not really a movie. It’s literally just a three-episode story arc that they stitched together into one long episode in order to get the series going with a bang. When you view it in that context, I think it works fine.
Jahydin
Hero
You're missing The Star Wars Holiday Special!
scruffygrognard
Adventurer
I never saw The Rise of Skywalker. After the first two sequels I just couldn't bring myself to watch it. If I ever ran a Star Wars game, there would be only 4 Star Wars movies that would serve as canon:
1] Rogue One
2] Star Wars
3] The Empire Strikes Back
4] Return of the Jedi
1] Rogue One
2] Star Wars
3] The Empire Strikes Back
4] Return of the Jedi
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Benjamin Olson
Hero
To me with a triple vote the answers are overwhelmingly 1, 2, and 9. Nothing else even comes close, in my book. But I would struggle to pick which one of those three sucks the most. I think 9 is a far bigger, more incoherent mess than it's prequel competitors in suckage. They chased a MacGuffin to find a MacGuffin, and one of these MacGuffins worked on a principle of standing in the one particular place she happened to stand, something even someone whose entire education was Lucasfilm movies would instantly recognize the problem with, because it's the reason the Nazi copy of the Staff of Ra didn't work in Raiders. But I still find the movie more fun to actually watch than the the prequels.
On the prequel side, I have a lot more nostalgia for the, if nothing else, memorable episode 1 than the forgettable episode 2, but episode 1 had both lots of Jar Jar screentime and the introduction of midichlorians. Midichlorians ruined the magic of my space wizards, and upon reflection, whereas at the time I gave their introduction some benefit of the doubt as something that might pay some sort of dramatic dividends, I'm now pretty sure their only meaningful plot function in the whole saga was letting Qui-Gon scan Anakin for jediness on his jedi tricorder. Episode 2 seems to just be filler; I struggle to remember it.
I'm going to assume whoever chose Empire Strikes Back is just overcompensating for what they view as excessive praise. That's the same sort of relationship that tempted me to include Rogue One (the Star Wars movie I find fine but nothing special, yet everyone else seems to want to insist it is the gold standard for Disney-era Star Wars). But this isn't a "most overrated Star Wars movie" poll, it is a "worst Star Wars movie" poll, and while there are sustainable arguments for Empire not being number 1, there is no way it is close to being at the bottom.
On the prequel side, I have a lot more nostalgia for the, if nothing else, memorable episode 1 than the forgettable episode 2, but episode 1 had both lots of Jar Jar screentime and the introduction of midichlorians. Midichlorians ruined the magic of my space wizards, and upon reflection, whereas at the time I gave their introduction some benefit of the doubt as something that might pay some sort of dramatic dividends, I'm now pretty sure their only meaningful plot function in the whole saga was letting Qui-Gon scan Anakin for jediness on his jedi tricorder. Episode 2 seems to just be filler; I struggle to remember it.
I'm going to assume whoever chose Empire Strikes Back is just overcompensating for what they view as excessive praise. That's the same sort of relationship that tempted me to include Rogue One (the Star Wars movie I find fine but nothing special, yet everyone else seems to want to insist it is the gold standard for Disney-era Star Wars). But this isn't a "most overrated Star Wars movie" poll, it is a "worst Star Wars movie" poll, and while there are sustainable arguments for Empire not being number 1, there is no way it is close to being at the bottom.
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
For me, worst is Rise of Skywalker followed by Phantom Menace.
Tough decision.
I chose Return of the Jedi as the worst, because I was in my prime Star Wars phase and it was an enormous disappointment. Death Star 2. Superficial redemption arc for Vader. Ugh.
I followed with Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Crappy backstories that didn’t need movies to tell. (I’m a fan of leaving some things in the background. Not everything needs explicit exposition.) These two sucked the joy out of the franchise for me.
Caveat: I didn’t see Revenge of the Sith or Rise of Skywalker.
The first two sequels were fun, I think, but I have no urge to rewatch them and no strong memory of them.
Solo was boring.
I chose Return of the Jedi as the worst, because I was in my prime Star Wars phase and it was an enormous disappointment. Death Star 2. Superficial redemption arc for Vader. Ugh.
I followed with Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Crappy backstories that didn’t need movies to tell. (I’m a fan of leaving some things in the background. Not everything needs explicit exposition.) These two sucked the joy out of the franchise for me.
Caveat: I didn’t see Revenge of the Sith or Rise of Skywalker.
The first two sequels were fun, I think, but I have no urge to rewatch them and no strong memory of them.
Solo was boring.
My votes:
1. Attack of the Clones - While it might've been reclaimed memetically, it's just not a good movie. I find it dull and lifeless. The other two prequel movies have a mountain of issues, but I feel like there's at least some redeeming value to them. I struggle to find any in AOTC.
2. The Rise of Skywalker - Spend half the movie undoing what was one of the bolder and best parts of the Disney era of Star Wars, and you've lost me. Add that the movie has no stakes and no emotional heart and I just don't care. It's character assassination and retraction and I have nothing but contempt for this movie.
3. Solo - I'll fully admit, TPM should probably have this spot, as Solo is more competently made and better acted. And I hate that it's failure was put on the recasting of Han Solo, leading to the era of digital uncanny valley faces, when Alden Ehrenreich is actually a darn good Han Solo. But this movie has so many problems. First, the plot is pure "fill in the wikipedia of Han Solo", all reference, nothing really interesting going on. I came close to audibly say "Oh, eff off" when the "Alone? We shall call you Han SOLO" moment happened and then the movie never got me back. And Solo also ... the sentience of Droids is a thorny issue and I was perfectly happy to DWAI (Don't Worry About It) until Solo decides to have a droid abolitionist and then play her story for laughs and then imprison her within the Falcon's computer just for a weird line in ESB? Again, Eff OFF.
It's what happens when internet trolls win.
1. Attack of the Clones - While it might've been reclaimed memetically, it's just not a good movie. I find it dull and lifeless. The other two prequel movies have a mountain of issues, but I feel like there's at least some redeeming value to them. I struggle to find any in AOTC.
2. The Rise of Skywalker - Spend half the movie undoing what was one of the bolder and best parts of the Disney era of Star Wars, and you've lost me. Add that the movie has no stakes and no emotional heart and I just don't care. It's character assassination and retraction and I have nothing but contempt for this movie.
3. Solo - I'll fully admit, TPM should probably have this spot, as Solo is more competently made and better acted. And I hate that it's failure was put on the recasting of Han Solo, leading to the era of digital uncanny valley faces, when Alden Ehrenreich is actually a darn good Han Solo. But this movie has so many problems. First, the plot is pure "fill in the wikipedia of Han Solo", all reference, nothing really interesting going on. I came close to audibly say "Oh, eff off" when the "Alone? We shall call you Han SOLO" moment happened and then the movie never got me back. And Solo also ... the sentience of Droids is a thorny issue and I was perfectly happy to DWAI (Don't Worry About It) until Solo decides to have a droid abolitionist and then play her story for laughs and then imprison her within the Falcon's computer just for a weird line in ESB? Again, Eff OFF.
It's what happens when internet trolls win.
Jack Daniel
dice-universe.blogspot.com
Oh, that's easy — it's The Force Awakens, because The Force Awakens was trying so very hard to be A New Hope without actually being A New Hope. It was also the bellwether for the direction of the third trilogy, which means that all responsibility for everything wrong with The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker rests squarely on the shoulders of The Force Awakens.
niklinna
no forge waffle!
Given that Phantom Menace definitively and permanently put me off the franchise, it's the clear winner by 12 parsecs. But to be honest I haven't enjoyed any of the films since the original (which I saw in theaters at the age of 10*). I almost voted for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi too, but they weren't actively awful, just, seemingly more for kids under my age when they came out. (Although the friend who dragged me to see Return of the Jedi SEVEN TIMES was three years old than me, so maybe not? Maybe having to see it seven times was what killed it for me. He also dragged me to see Aliens seven times, however, and it was gripping every single time. (As for why so many repeat viewings of single films: I grew up in a rural area with few theaters...in fact the "local" theater was an hour's drive away through the woods. (Once I moved to San Francisco, I only saw one more film seven times in theaters. Much more choice in the city!)))
* I also had the Kenner action figures (the ones where you didn't actually get the action figures, but coupons for the action figures when they eventually came out!), and the radio-controlled R2-D2, and those silly inflatable lightsaber toys that deflated within minutes, and probably one or two other bits of licensed merch.
* I also had the Kenner action figures (the ones where you didn't actually get the action figures, but coupons for the action figures when they eventually came out!), and the radio-controlled R2-D2, and those silly inflatable lightsaber toys that deflated within minutes, and probably one or two other bits of licensed merch.
schneeland
Hero
My vote is on 2 and 8, since both killed my interest in even seeing the last part of the respective trilogy. What I heard about 9 and Solo also wasn't great, but no vote since I didn't see them personally.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
Ditto.
DMZ2112
Chaotic Looseleaf
No such thing. All Star Wars is good. There are a lot of solid points in the thread, and I even agree with some of them, but at the end of the day, it's Star Wars, and it's good. There's not a single movie on this list I wouldn't be excited to watch again, and when I meet people who don't feel the same way, or worse, who are angry about it, it just makes me desperately sad that they've chosen to feel that way.
Except for the person or people who voted for Empire and Rogue One. They are dead to me.
Except for the person or people who voted for Empire and Rogue One. They are dead to me.
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