Most Rewatchable Star Wars Film?

I'm new to the forums here, so I first wanted to say hello to everyone. I am 28 years-old and have been a Star Wars fans since I can remember. I have a tatoo of the Rebel Alliance on my right leg...and I have camped out for tickets for the last two films. I also teach a class each summer for talented and gifted children on Modern Mythology, which gives me an opportunity to talk about Star Wars from an educational framework.

A friend posed a question to me earlier in the month, and I have been debating it for awhile now. Basically:

What is the most rewatchable Star Wars movie?

This has probably been discussed at length on here, but I ended up writing close to a 25-page document in MS Word trying to answer this question. I broke down each movie in terms of: Character Building, Action Sequences, Memorable Quotes, Acting, Music, and Intangibles. I will not post the whole thing here, but you can check it out at a website we are just trying to start up at:

Sports Guy Nation

I'm "Emily's Husband" on the website. I would love to hear feedback from the hardcore Star Wars fans about the column and my conclusion.

 

Welcome! I would say ANH. Of course that was the first SW film I ever saw. ROTS may take that though.

 

Without a doubt....


The Empire Strikes Back


While Episode IV started it all and introduced the characters, it was made to stand on its own. Lucas could have stopped right there and people really wouldn't have cared. Episode V establishes the Star Wars universe and changes the way we view the Force, Vader and Luke, Han and Leia, Empire and Rebellion. The action and acting is better. And the final duel with Luke and Vader is my favorite sequence from any of the films. If I just want to watch one film, it is Empire (and maybe the last 20 minutes of ROTJ).

 

I personally don't think you can come to a definite conclusion about what the most rewatchable film is on an overall scale. It's all about personal preference, just like when someone tries to figure out what the best movie in the series is. Everyone has different tastes, so everyone will make their lists in different ways. Let me try to illustrate what I mean by giving an alternate assessment of the rewatchability issue, from my point of view. I noticed that you grew up with the original trilogy. I was not born until after Return of the Jedi's initial release, and I never really got into Star Wars. When one of them would come on TV, I might watch a little bit of it and have my interest held, but I wouldn't get all wrapped up in it the way I do now whenever I watch one of them. When The Phantom Menace came out in 1999, I was intrigued, but not thrilled. Star Wars is huge, whether you're a big fan or not, and I wanted to see the big movie event of the year. I ended up seeing it about a week after its debut, and I was blown away. For some reason, everything in Episode I - from the characters to the planets to the story - was far more interesting to me than those in the Original Trilogy. I'm not really sure why. The best explanation I can give is that I was not interested in the originals because to a non-Star Wars fan like I was, they tell the classic good vs. evil story, and that's about it. I didn't get very into any of the characters, never tried to find out more about them, didn't look for symbolism in anything. I just watched Luke and his friends try to beat Darth Vader. That was pretty much the extent of it for me. This is probably because I was too young to appreciate things on multiple levels, or to fully understand much beyond that superficial level. Now, I don't mean to suggest that there is something wrong with the good vs. evil story, or with the way Star Wars portrays it. It just wasn't very original to me. When the first film came out in 1977 it was totally different and unlike most films before it, and that gave it a lot of its appeal. But by the time I saw it, all three of the originals had been out for a long time, things like "I am your father" were a part of popular culture, and I knew the basic premise of Star Wars before I even saw the trilogy. They were fun movies, but it simply was not possible for me to experience the same type of magic that people who saw it opening day 1977 did. I had seen the good vs. evil plot plenty of times before, and Star Wars just showed it in a different way. Not a bad way, but not cool enough to me to make me a big fan. But Episode I did something a little different, something that I personally had not seen up to that point. It began a series of films that was going to try to SET UP the classic good vs. evil plot. I was very interested in seeing how things were played out before the story, how Darth Vader and Obi-Wan and everyone else got to where they were, because it was a different approach to storytelling (or at least one I hadn't seen before - similar to the novelty of the original film to 1977 audiences). On top of that, the kid I was then was far more interested in seeing a young, agile Obi-Wan flip through the air and go crazy against a double-bladed lightsaber-wielding red and black tattooed psycho than two old guys exchange a few angry words and trade blows with glowing sticks. This is the type of attitude I had when I saw Episode I for the first time. I simply was not mature enough to appreciate the depth of character present in the original trilogy. I am a college student now, and while I certainly don't pretend to be all-knowing or worldly, I do believe that I have matured enough to appreciate Star Wars as an art rather than simple eye candy. Don't get me wrong, part of the enjoyment I get from watching a Star Wars movie is seeing the fantastic visuals and going on fun trips through space. But as I've grown, I've been able to see that the original movies are much, much more than what I used to think.

I apologize for turning t

 

ESB, followed by AotC.

 

Aotc followed by ESB

 

From the age 4-14 ANH (burned a hole in my parent's wallet, and wore out those old VHS tapes)

From 14-26 ESB (Grown up story, Vader Vs. Luke, no happy endings.)

From 26-present TPM (Weird huh? McGregor as Obi-Wan seems perfect to me. Loved the pod race so long as the kid ain't talking, he does a great acting job! Kenobi Vs. Maul, Duel of the Fates. Introduction of Palpatine.)



This could change with the arrival of ROTS, we shall see.

 

RotJ, it's the most fun in the saga. I'd give AotC second place.

 

I agree with the above post.

For me, it's ROTJ and ESB tied. SW (I refuse to call it "Star Wars: Episode Four: A New Hope," no matter what Old George Lucas tells me to do) is the least of the OT.

 

Its ROTJ for me...i think that scene with Vader, Luke and the emperor is one of the best in the whole saga...some of the emperors lines in this scene are awesome.

 

I probably watch AotC more than any other SW movie, at least at the moment. I love the visual tone of it, the melodrama, the mystery - I just find it incredibly engaging. On the other hand, I hardly ever watch RotJ, and if I do, I just skip to the scenes with Luke, the Emperor and Vader in the throne room - a lot of the rest of the movie is hit-and-miss, some of it is very slow and dull, and Han and Leia's characters are almost destroyed in that movie, but those throne room scenes are always perfect, and redeem the movie for me.

 

ROTJ, followed by AOTC

 

Attack of the Clones

At first i blamed it on the "last/newest of the bunch"-syndrome, but now that all of the dvds (except of course III) are here - and we're 3 years ahead. I still find myself watching, and enjoying AotC moreso than the others.

- O_F

 

Either ESB or AORC.

 

The original star wars, as it has the only story that is not dependent on the other films. Plus it gets bonus points for being the original.

 

For me, ESB is the most rewatchable simply because it's my favorite... I love the lack of a happy ending (yeah, that's kind of depressing ) and watching Luke's training and character development... the ESB duel with Vader has to be one of my favorite scenes in a movie. I also really like the end of RoTJ. I think it would then be a tie between ANH and AoTC, with TPM being last (minus the duel, since that was rather nifty ). I was actually surprised that I liked AoTC when I saw it because I didn't have very high hopes after I saw and wasn't hugely happy with TPM. But I definitely agree with the poster who said that TPM and ANH are more of movies that introduce the characters that you follow for the rest of their respective trilogies. That may have something to do with why I don't like to watch them again very much.

 

it's impossible for me to choose. If I watch one I have to watch them all.

 

ANH has an adventure that... well... just doesn't get worn out like the rest. I mean the plot is a little too complex in ESB, I mean Han and Leia have to go to cloud city because Han remembered an old friend there. Vader gets there first and puts Han Solo in carbonite, meanwhile Luke is learning the ways of the Jedi by an old hermit on a swampy planet. Luke realises IT's A TRAP and has a climatic and complex duel with Darth Vader and makes a stunning revelation. Lol. ANH is simply trying to get to another planet and then having to rescue a princess.

 

STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

 

ROTS for me because: I was a kid when Episode 1 came out so the PT is my favorite, and with all the fights in this new film, it will always keep my entertained, even till the day I die!

Welcome to the boards SWANTON

 

Even though I think ESB is the best movie in the series, ANH is the most rewatchable to me. One reason, it is the first Star Wars, so if you put it in perspective what impact it had on movies in 1977, you realize how hard that movie was to make. Also when Luke blows up the death star and then they have the medal ceremony gives me goose bumps even after several hundred viewings.

 

The Phantom Menace

As much as I love the OT, I have seen them all so many times that whever I go to watch a Star Wars movie it ends up being from the PT. And since AOTC is my least favorite SW movie, TPM wins in my book.

 

I can watch over and over the OT movies.

Spike Edit: Stop with the PT bashing.

 

vong333 are you spoiler free?

 

Yah I think whatever StarWars you remember seeing in theatres as a child is the most rewatchable. So for me its the the Phantom Menace