Star Wars rankings by series: part three

Contains Spoilers

This week we finish out the official ranking of the Star Wars saga. Last week, I placed the original trilogy in second place, and this week you get to see what has earned itself the top spot in this ranking. Be forewarned—the following ratings do include some spoilers!

1. The prequel trilogy

Many people have strong feelings about the Star Wars prequel trilogy; for a long time, the majority of those feelings were unwaveringly negative. Fortunately, though, the opinion of the majority of Star Wars fans has shifted as the movies have aged. Are the prequels perfect films? No, but they are a fun ride, and provide exactly what a Star Wars film should: a creative fantasy world with characters you can connect with. 

Starting with 1999’s The Phantom Menace, you can already see the seismic shift between the second incarnation of Star Wars movies and the originals. First of all, the CGI is far better, and it is completely due to director George Lucas making the conscious decision to wait until the technology was developed enough to make more films. Seeing side characters like Jar Jar Binks, Watto, Sebulba, and the Hutts be completely computer generated and look like real “aliens” added so much more to the universe than characters like Greedo in the original Star Wars films, who was obviously just a human actor wearing a mask.

Speaking of characters, The Phantom Menace introduced the coolest one of them all in the Sith apprentice Darth Maul. Maul’s face, spikes, and inventive double-sided lightsaber completely reshaped the looks of the Star Wars world. On the other side of the light/evil fight were the Jedi. The introduction of Qui-Gon Jinn and a young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the foreground of the film, along with Mace Windu and the rest of the Jedi Council in small spurts, really brought the audience into the era of Jedi rule.

The film also introduced, arguably, the two most important characters in the entire nine-film series. One of these is found in a young Anakin Skywalker, a slave from the desolate planet of Tatooine who thought to have great potential and was therefore taken to train to join the Jedi. The other is Padme Amidala, the teenage queen and later senator from Naboo—a planet amid a trade war. The film sets up the rest of the trilogy perfectly and leaves the audience hungry for more.

Moving on to the second installment, Attack of the Clones, is admittedly the low point of the prequel trilogy. The movie does contain some important scenes and plot points such as Anakin’s first experiences dealing with the dark side of the force and his budding anger (sorry Tusken Raiders). During the course of the film Padme and him are also secretly wedded. What this film does have going for it, though, is the extensive battle scene towards the end of the movie. It is one of my favorites in all nine films, and we also get to see Yoda in action against a Sith for the first time in the entire series as he demonstrates why exactly he has garnered the reputation he has in the original films. 

Although Attack introduces more enjoyable characters such as bounty hunter Jango Fett and new Sith apprentice Count Dooku, it fails to do much more than set up the viewer for the final film. There is a lot to like about Attack of the Clones, but the thing it does best is set up Revenge of the Sith along with The Clone Wars TV show. 

That brings us to Revenge of the Sith. Honestly, I could write three articles about just this movie alone. The final chapter of the prequel trilogy is by far the best of the three and, in my opinion, the entire series. It makes up for any shortcomings that the first two films displayed and then some, making this trilogy the best in the entire series. 

Revenge of the Sith has everything you could ever want in a Star Wars film: love, loss, political drama, the two best fight scenes in all of the movies, and Anakin Skywalker on an absolute scorcher and taking out everything in his path. Finally seeing the completion of Anakin Skywalker’s character arc throughout the series and the absolute heartbreak Obi-Wan is faced with in their duel. The film also saw the births and origins of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, which was a huge plus. Seeing the prequel and original trilogies weave and connect so perfectly together is my favorite part for the satisfaction of it all alone. This stands to be the reason I’ve watched this movie probably 40 times in my life, and I’ll probably watch it at least 40 more.

Thumbnail Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons