I know a lot of people grew up with Star Wars’ Skywalker Saga. I did not. No idea why though, because I did see pretty much ever other film franchise. But things have changed: I’ve seen the entire Skywalker Saga! I’ve had some time to think about it and have come up with a verdict: Star Wars has meant a lot for the development of today’s films and everybody should absolutely see all films.
Disclaimer: I’m in no way whatsoever an expert on the topic. Please forgive me if I say something wrong and don’t be afraid to correct me.
I must say I wasn’t always hooked on the story. There were so many characters and sometimes I forgot what name belonged to what person. That made it a little confusing at first. But as I continued, I developed fondness for a few of the characters. Speaking of continuation, this is the order in which I watched everything:
I liked the entire franchise. Except for one thing: I just wished there was more of a variety in antagonists. The villains are always the same: men in black clothing with the same goal. I wished at least the sequels had a different villain. Don’t get me wrong though, Kylo Ren was a good villain but when I first saw him, I immediately knew that he was going to be pretty much the same as Darth Vader and Darth Sidious.
All in all, I would say I liked Star Wars a lot and will definitely continue watching upcoming films and series. But I’m in no way whatsoever part of the fandom. (Alright, I am subbed to r/prequelmemes and that’s kind of a fandom in itself)
So, what did I think of every trilogy? Let’s take a look at all of them.
This was, without a doubt, the best trilogy. Groundbreaking in its technology and story, but not outdated 40+ years later. That’s quite a feat, considering that some movies from the early 21st century didn’t stand the test of time. The introduction of different characters and the growth of those characters (ahem, Han Solo) is very well visible and that’s what I liked most. The magic of this trilogy is capturing different storylines in one while still making sense. Easily one of the most iconic movie franchise ever, and it all started with A New Hope back in 1977. It does kind of suck that the internet and pop culture is filled with spoilers and that might have ruined the magic of watching it for the first time for me. How amazing would it have been to be there in the cinema hearing “No, I am your father” for the first time. There was no surprise left for me and it was even less climatic than I hoped it would be, because it would be said at the exact same time someone decided to stand in front of the TV. So I kind of missed the biggest moment in tv-history…
I know that the prequel trilogy is the most hated trilogy of them all. And while I get that, I wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, actually. Okay, Hayden Christensen wasn’t a great actor, the romance between him and Padme was really wrong and the pod-racing part was unnecessary. The understanding of how Darth Vader came to be was important to understand the rest of the trilogy and I absolutely get that there had to be a backstory for the best villain of all time. But I can’t get my head around some of the CGI used in these three movies. I guess CGI was on the uprise and every movie wanted to have computer animations. But some of them were really bad… Like, really bad.
All in all, I can understand the hate it got because it wasn’t anything like the original trilogy. But I actually think it wasn’t as bad as some people say. Don’t forget we got young Obi-Wan Kenobi out of it, our lord and savior.
Having been finished with the original Star Wars trilogy and the prequels, I actually didn’t have much excitement left for the sequels. Totally ungrounded though, as I liked the sequels much better than the prequels. I liked that the hero was finallly a badass female and how friendships, for example between Poe and Finn, were formed. And I absolutely loved seeing old characters coming back – Lando Calrassian was a surprise, I knew of the other ones but not him. And while I kept hoping that Ben would return and Kylo Ren would be gone, I accept the fate that happened to him. The connection between him and Rey was also a refreshing thing that was of great importance to both of their stories.
I think the sequels are better than I thought they would be, although not one movie will ever be better than the original trilogy.
I was hooked from the first movie onwards. Some of my interest dissappeared when I finished with the prequels, but I came back as soon as I started with the sequels. The prequels were enjoyable, but not as good as I hoped they would be and the sequels where better than I thought they would be. I must say I am a bit rusty on the story here and there, as there is quite a big gap between watching some of these films but I tried my best to come up with a good ranking. So, without further ado, here’s my definite ranking of all the Star Wars films in the Skywalker saga:
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