Saga Favorite closing shot(s) in the Skywalker Saga

The final moment of a film can fill you with a sense of completion, excitement, anticipation, joy, sadness, indifference, disappointment, frustration... The possibilities are endless!
How that closing shot makes you feel depends a great deal on the buildup towards it - and the movie as a whole, of course.

Is there one that you find particularly pleasing? Maybe you have several favorites?
The reasons don't have to be emotional or in any way tied to the story. They can be purely aesthetic as well.

The screencaps below are from the last seconds before the iris-out in each episode. Take a look and think it over!

Spoiler: Screencaps

Peace!


Lake Wedding


Binary Sunset


Cheers for the Heroes


Rebel Fleet in Hiding


Happy Friends


Lightsaber Offered


A Child's Dream


Binary Sunrise

You're welcome to rank the endings too, if you want

 

TPM peace

ROTJ Happy Friends

TFA Lightsaber offered--- the possibilities were endless, but they went...there ...

 

1. Binary Sunset (ROTS) - Ties the prequels back to the OT perfectly and inspires hope (Luke) after just witnessing disaster for the good guys.

2. Lightsaber Offered (TFA) - When TFA came out this ending got us excited to see Luke in Episode 8. Unfortunately it turned out to be a major letdown but at the time this was an exciting ending.

3. Happy Friends (ROTJ) - Probably the most feel good ending of the saga. Even more so than ANH.

 

Binary Sunset
Cheers for the Heroes
Happy Friends

 

Of these I like the AOTC ending the best. The music helps.

 

Binary Sunset.
Not only is it (A relatively small) part of what makes ROTS merge so seamlessly into the OT, it also adds a little bit to Luke's character to know one of his most famous pastimes in the OT was inherited from his Adopted parents in a way.

 

My two favorite would have to be ROTS & TESB.

I love TPM & ANH's ending sequences as well though. The Naboo parade & Rebel award ceremony are both really cool.

 

Binary Sunset

Rebel Fleet in Hiding

Binary Sunrise

 

TESB and ROTS are my top two. I really like the scene of Palpatine overseeing the clones, however that's not the closing shot.

 

Lake Wedding (AOTC)
Cheers for the Heroes (ANH)
Peace! (TPM)

 

1) Peace!
Fantastic art direction, and along with the music, is such a joyous moment.

2) Cheers for the Heroes!
Ditto. There's a storybook quality to this shot that I like.

3) A Child's Dream
Nice way to show the impact and importance of the legend of Luke and SW in general.

Lake Wedding is beautiful, but the cap on a lackluster relationship.
Binary Sunset would have been better if not for the poorly lit shot prior.
Happy Friends is a nice frame, but feels a bit like Sesame Street with Lando clapping.
Binary sunrise would have been better if it was earned.
Offering the lightsaber would have better if not for the drawn out sequence. Michael Bay style rotating drone shot is a bit underwhelming.

 

Lake Wedding, for me. The last moments of AOTC really sell a sense of doom - not only for Anakin and Padmé, but the galaxy as a whole. After the preceding beginning of the Clone Wars and the Empire's formation as Palpatine is watching his army, this following wedding seems like a last hurray to the Republic and the beauty Naboo represents in that way. However, we all know by then that it's ill-fated. In the shot that @Lulu Mars posted, you can see that shimmer of sunlight still streaming through, but it's starting to be pushed aside and as the Droids are watching our fateful lovers, we know that this is the beginning of the end.

This No. 1 would be followed by Binary Sunset, Cheers for the Heroes and Peace! as they all work thematically and visually. Happy Friends is a wonderful ending montage, but I think that particular shot is too mundane to be ranked higher. Same for Rebel Fleet in Hiding, it's a good ending but quite forgettable as an individual shot, although I like that shot more than the specific shot from ROTJ.

Out of the ST, I like A Child's Dream simply from a visual point of you. Offering the Lightsaber had momentum as a scene, but I don't really like the way it's shot. Binary Sunrise looks like a cheap copy of THX's end and lacks any depth for me.

 

ESB. After watching our heroes get battered and beaten for two hours straight, it left me with the impression that the Empire had finished striking back, but the Rebels had regrouped and now, it's our turn to do the striking. After all the doom and gloom, the hope in that shot was even more inspiring.

The other endings all struck me as corny or rehashes.

 

1. ROTJ ending. I don't care if it's corny, I love the happy ending. It feels earned by the end of the saga and fits with Star Wars' hopeful and optimistic feeling.

2. TESB ending. Lovely final shot and after all of the running and separation of our heroes through the story it's nice to see the rebels regrouped and ready to strike back. The uncertainty of Han's fate and Darth Vader's revelation hang over the otherwise hopeful ending which just leaves me dying to see what happens next.

3. ANH ending. Features one of my favorite themes in the saga. I enjoy it for similar reasons to ROTJ, though I think ROTJ has more impact.

 

1. ANH: Pretty much perfect. Wish Chewie got the medal, though.
2. ROTS: Very beautiful and hopeful after the darkest film in the saga.
3. ROTJ: A final shot of seeing so many characters we love together.
If Empire ended directly on the shot of Luke, Leia, and the droids, it would be the best.

 

I'm still trying to decide!

One thing that strikes me as I look at the pictures, though, is that every trilogy has its distinct style - and that the shots from the third trilogy differs from the others in that they are more minimalistic. In fact, it's like they look less and less expensive as the Saga goes on (except for the expensive looking ships in TESB) - but the shots from the first two trilogies have more of a "final shot look", if you know what I mean (with the possible exception of TESB & ROTJ). It's like they were made to look more like paintings than scenes from a movie.
I guess that's mainly GL's style, though.
It's also interesting that TESB is the only episode where you don't see people in the final shot. The preceding shot, where Luke, Leia and the droids look out at the Falcon and the protostar, has more of that painting feel and is a perfect inversion of the lake wedding in AOTC since Anakin and Padmé watch the sun set while their children watch the birth of a new star.
But I also like the feel of the final moment in the film being the Rebels sailing off to strike back against the Empire. Together with Lando and Chewie flying away to pursue Boba Fett, it gives the ending a much needed sense of hope. The story isn't over; things are still moving forward.

 

I kinda dispute calling the RotJ ending ''corny''. I mean, maybe it is, but I rather like how humble and happy it is. The heroes aren't in a grand medal-giving ceremony or posing to make some epic cool shot in front of the sun. The last shot is something more akin to a family photo, and I think that's pretty perfect.

 

I agree! It is a story of a family, after all. It's very fitting that the last thing we see is one "family photo" of the old generation (the ghosts) followed by one of the new.
Corny? Sure! But what's wrong with that?

EDIT: Now I regret not calling that shot "Happy Family"

 

Agreed that the ROTJ ending is kind of corny, but it's perfect that way. I wouldn't have it any other way. A perfectly happy and wholesome ending.

 

My favourite is prob Empire strikes back, would be Jedi of the last shot had been the three ghosts.
3.force awakens
4.The last Jedi
5.Attack of the clones
6.Rise of skywalker
7.Revenge of the sith
8.a new hope
9.phantom menace
Ps Rogue one beats then all

 

Lake wedding.I'm a romantic.

 

After careful consideration, I decided to pick the closing shots from all six Lucas episodes:

Peace!
Lake Wedding
Binary Sunset
Cheers for the Heroes
Rebel Fleet in Hiding
Happy Friends Family

To me, those shots combined represent a complete story and if I leave out just one, that story is significantly lesser.
It's ultimately the ring composition of Episodes I-VI that I am a fan of.

It should be noted that I don't dislike any of these nine shots. A special mention to Lightsaber Offered, as it provided a great deal of anticipation. That is mostly due to the buildup, but the closing shot certainly added to the TESB-esque feeling that the story had just begun; that it was still being told as the credits rolled.
This was the first trilogy opener in the Skywalker Saga that ended in such an unresolved way and that was exciting!

 

All of them have their own music written by John Williams!