Saga Rank the Star Wars Films, TPM to The Last Jedi (Final Stats posted in Last Post)

When the fan reviews are less than 50%, it clearly means that most fans didn't like it. Fan reviews speak volumes no matter how we try to spin this. Your reasoning to bring it all they way down to just 10% is grasping at straws. It's simply not the case.

I do accept that people like it, just like I accept that people like the Transformers movies. There are many people who like poor movies for various reasons because they're satisfied with less... which is a good thing for them i guess!

 

The Empire Strikes Back. No question.

A New Hope and Rogue One tied for 2nd.

 

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Revenge of the Sith
3. Rogue One
4. A New Hope
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Attack of the Clones
7. The Phantom Menace
8. The Force Awakens
9. The Last Jedi

 

My full rankings.........

1) The Empire Strikes Back
2) A New Hope and Rogue One = tie
4) The Force Awakens
5) The Last Jedi
6) Return Of The Jedi

I don't rank the PT, as I do not like them at all, never watch them, and have cast them from my mind. To me, the only SW that matters, are the above 6 movies.

 

Detailed statistics after 104 rankings:


(PS: Proportional chart here - useful for comparison over time as it gives a better picture than absolute numbers.)









Link to spreadsheet.

 

I like @Alienware 's Top, Mid, Bottom 3 bar chart.

If you take the Top 3 and rank the movies by % from best to worst AND
Bottom 3 and rank the movies by % from least disliked to most disliked AND THEN
average between the two, you get:
1. TESB
2. ANH
3. RotS( (tie)
3. RotJ (tie)
5. TLJ
6. TFA (tie)
6. R1 (tie)
8. AotC
9. TPM

 

I second Jester J Binks' sentiment. The top/middle/bottom bar chart is very helpful for visualizing the relationship between the films now that there are so many of them.

Thanks to @Alienware for doing all these calculations!

1. ROTS
2. TESB (#1 and #2 very close)
3. ROTJ
4. ANH (#3 and #4 very close)
5. TPM
6. TLJ
7. R1
(gap)
8. ATOC
(big gap)
9. TFA

 

Data's awesome.

 

There is what I believe could qualify as a tie between Anakin Skywalker's fall and his redemption. Interesting.

It's also good to see that after all these years The Empire Strikes Back is still in the pole position. A timeless classic, obviously.

 

My current ranking:

1. TESB
2. ANH
3. ROTJ
4. ROTS
5. RO
6. ATOC
7. TFA
8. TLJ
9. TPM

 

1. TESB
2. ROTJ
3. ANH
4. TLJ
5. TFA
6. RO
7. AOTC
8. TPM
9. ROTS

 

1. ANH
2. TESB
3. ROTS
4. ROTJ
5. TPM
6. AOTC
-
7. RO
8. TLJ
9. TFA

 

1) TESB - 10.0 out of 10.0

2) ANH - 10.0 out of 10.0

3) TLJ - 8.8 out of 10.0

4) ROTS - 8.4 out of 10.0

5) ROTJ - 8.4 out of 10.0

6) TFA - 8.2 out of 10.0

7) RO - 8.0 out of 10.0

8) TPM (graded as a little kids
movie for the youngest fans) - 6.9 out of 10.0

9) AOTC - 6.4 out of 10.0

 

It’s also drastically different than the extremely large sample size of over 300,000 people who rate TLJ 7.5 out of 10 collectively. Including the angriest who likely gave our trolling 1 star reviews like that concerned RT tank that Conservatives also did on the second Al Gore documentary.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/an_inconvenient_sequel_truth_to_power/

Or the reverse of this with Dinesh Desusa’s right wing propaganda hit piece on Obama:
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/2016_obamas_america/

The IMDB score of 7.5 is closer to critics scores for IMDB but still lower than these:

TESB
ANH
RO
TFA
ROTJ
ROTS

but within 0.5-0.8 of those bottom 3 and nearly tied with ROTS.

That seems more like the real consensus which includes plenty of angry fans and the general audience.

 

When I wrote the word "most fans" I was referring to hard-core Star Wars fans. - The ones who are really passionate about the saga. I could've chosen my words better. And sure, rotten tomatoes may not be entirely accurate. I can accept that, however, after scrolling through pages upon pages of audience reviews I tend to think it is quite accurate. It's the leading site people go to when they want to review a movie. And now it's down to 48%. Also when we look at the reviews for all the Star Wars movies on rotten tomatoes we are comparing apples to apples. They were all reviewed on the same website.

At the end of the day… Who really knows? I just know personally that to me as hard as I think about it and believe me I analyze the movies TO DEATH. Lol... TLJ is my least favorite. It makes me sad but it is what it is.

 

You didn’t acknowledge the clear conservative presence I observed and shared on those other two films in comparison to IMDB (an equally known film site worldwide for film lovers) and how IMDB has over 303,000 people counted and a 7.5 rating out of 10.

That rating there still puts it below the OT and closer to the middle tier of RO, TFA and ROTS (7.5-8.0 range).

7.5 is also in the range of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Strar Trek II Wrath of Khan.

 

Ok, I acknowledge it. You got me. All I can say is TLJ is a very very problematic film. Some people like poor films for various reasons. Transformers has a 7.1 rating on IMDB. That must be almost as good as TLJ.

 

To be fair, the very first Transformers from 10 years ago was a bit of a crowd pleaser with almost an E.T. / Pete's dragon / Iron Giant structure around a boy and his robot / first car combining with a geek gets the girl trope. We can bash it for being silly obviously but it had a fairly tight 3 act structure with some timeless and proven elements so I'm not surprised that it's remained easily the most popular of those there. If you look at the other sequels for the Transformers on IMDB you'll see that they're not nearly as liked as that first Transformer film was though.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1055369/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_8
6.0 out of 10

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399103/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_7
6.3 out of 10

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2109248/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_6
5.7 out of 10

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3371366/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_4
5.2 out of 10

 

I find IMDb to pretty accurate usually.

 

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Revenge of the Sith
3. Rogue One
4. A New Hope
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Attack of the Clones
7. The Force Awakens
8. The Phanton Menace
9. The Last Jedi

 

I'm part of the 5.8% that have ESB in the bottom 3

 

Aww shucks! Thanks! I am 44 and I just simply love Star Wars. My favorite aspect is the story. I don't care about technicalities like CGI usage or whatnot. I just love the story they choose to tell.

 

This is a simple update of my post from last year:

Near perfect tier:
1. ESB
2. TLJ

Great tier:
3. ANH
4. TFA

Good tier:
5. ROTS
6. ROTJ
7. RO

Flawed but decent tier:
8. TPM

Not so good tier:
9. AOTC

ESB - this is in near perfect tier because, thematically, it achieves everything that it sets out to. Relationships are developed (the comradery and friendship between Luke and Han is more fleshed out, Leia and Han get entire scenes dedicated to build up to their love announcement), characters become more tightly defined (Luke suffers for his arrogance, Han must become a leader and not run away, Leia learns to love after being detached for so long), the plot is slowed and scaled downward to create stronger plot points (it's no longer about the Empire or Rebels as much as it is about Luke, Leia, and Han versus Darth Vader and Boba Fett). The score is perfect and the film has great editing. Wonderful cinematography. It's slower than the rest of the movies but I think that leaves more breathing room.

TLJ - this is an interesting one because of just how ambitious and epic the themes and development of the characters are compared to the rest of the movies, only Revenge of the Sith being close in terms of sheer scope, despite being quite limited in terms of plot. Maybe not all of it works, such as the entire Rose and Finn infiltration arc, but I feel everything is wrapped together quite tightly and nicely as they explore things we've never quite looked for in Star Wars: failure and learning/growing from our faults. Everyone loses at some point in this film - Luke, Rey, Finn, Kylo, Snoke, Poe, Holdo - and they either choose to learn from their mistakes (like Luke and Poe) or they totally consume and lose themselves as their failure either leads directly to their demise or their loss of humanity and goodness (Snoke and Kylo). It also just might have my favorite "duel" in the saga, even if it technically is not one. Love the score to this one.

ANH - it's the one that started it all and responsible for much of what cinema has become today (warts and all). The film mostly relies on archetypes (the wise old man, the innocent adventurer, the kind but cold woman) and standard plot points, which is okay as they use this as a solid foundation and frame a well-made movie around them. A lot of the physical effects still look great for their time and while the Tatooine half can drag on a little bit, George's directing makes a lot of good choices, allowing us to sink into a foreign universe that entices us and draws us in. It's only by pure preference that I have it lower than Empire.

TFA - think of the plot threads of ANH, put them in a jar, shake them around and twist. You'll get similar ideas with completely different execution. This is what we got with The Force Awakens. To some, this might be considered a negative, but for me, this allowed us to get tropes we've long grown with and watch them twist in different ways. Rey is like Luke but she is also different - a pure siphon of Force energy that no one can quite explain. Han is like Obi-Wan's role in ANH but also told through a much more personal and humanizing manner, as a father seeking the redemption of his son. This was just the movie it needed to be at just the right place in time.

ROTS - sometimes I think it is far better than Jedi, sometimes I think it is far worse. Objectively, as a whole, I'd probably place it above since there was nothing as bad as the Endor segment in Sith. The film has good acting by Ewan McGregor and Ian McDiarmid and gives them just as much spotlight in this one as Anakin. The story is more grand and epic in scope compared to the other two prequels - we get to see the consequences of the Clone Wars. We see beloved Jedi die in different moments in different worlds. We see friends turn on friends. We see Anakin's fear turn against him and ironically against the love of his life. The score is gorgeous and my favorite of Williams's prequel scores. Padme's Ruminations is a highlight.

ROTJ - good but the writing gets a little sloppy between the bizarre Tatooine rescue and the Endor segment in general. Han and Leia are both kind of phoning it in after Han is rescued from the sail barge; Luke's development as a character is a bit of an abrupt change following Jedi. The movie is saved by how powerful the throne room confrontation between the Emperor, Vader, and Luke is. Lighting and cinematography are on point throughout that entire battle (Luke half-bathed in darkness as he hides in fear, wondering if he can resist the dark side) and the music is so well done. It's a great personal story of redemption hidden underneath the Rebel/Empire plot.

RO - there is a lot of mixed feelings I have with Rogue One. To be completely clear, it is a good movie and different from what we see in other Star Wars movies. There is a lot of death and I feel they do a decent job of showing us the horrors of war as well as the determination and hope of those who fight. The characters are all good archetypes but I feel like their development is lacking save for Jyn, Cassian, and maybe Bodhi. The entire last third of this movie, starting with the crash into the Star Destroyer and ending with Leia's surprise cameo, is sublime perfection. Darth Vader showing up at the end is what makes it.

TPM - I like this one more than most. It was the first movie I had ever seen in a movie theater and my cousins and I would rewatch it over and over again and have parties where we would portray different characters. The political intrigue speaks to me personally - the conflict itself is so small but the ramifications set the whole saga into order. The art is some of Star Wars's best - Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala and Ray Park's Darth Maul became iconic figures of the 90s because of it. I don't dislike Jar-Jar because I kind of find his waifishness a bit charming but it was too pronounced throughout the movie for me. The pod-racing scene is favorite of many but I never really liked it or much of the Tatooine segment (or maybe I just don't like Tatooine in general lol). The tone seems a bit off, going straight to kiddy simplicity to high politics. I like it.

AOTC - this one was a favorite of mine for a couple of years when I was about eight or so. The best moments of this movie are when Obi-Wan is on his own, investigating and fighting his own battles on Kamino, looking to find the answers he needs. It was different for Star Wars. The dialogue in Clones, especially the romance plot, falls flat and sounds a bit strange at times. I think that Hayden and Natalie had great chemistry with each other; you could see it in how they reacted with each other. A lot of the dialogue failed them in developing their romance. A lot of the digital effects aged poorly for this one. I wouldn't skip it but it wouldn't be my first choice to watch.