Kevin Wozniak
Star Wars is one of the most influential franchises in cinematic history. George Lucas changed cinema forever in 1977 by making a film that was a technical marvel, helping pioneer groundbreaking visual effects and sound design, while also telling a story of good versus evil, redemption, destiny, the dangers of power and corruption, and is the template for the “hero’s journey”. It featured heroes and villains we fell in love with immediately, unique creatures and languages, and took us to places in space we’d never even thought we could go.
Since A New Hope, the franchise has grown both thematically and culturally. With over a dozen movies, several TV shows, video games, merchandise, and conventions, Star Wars is everywhere and will always be everywhere. It has amassed billions of dollars at the box office and has gained a massive fan base that continues to grow. It’s a franchise that has withstood the test of time and doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon.
For this list, I ranked all twelve Star Wars live-action theatrical films, excluding the 2008 animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Watching the Star Wars saga in its entirety was fascinating, but ranking the films was relatively easy. You might see a surprise or two on this list, or not agree with any of it, but overall, we know the classics and the bad ones. This is my Star Wars movie ranking.
12. EPISODE IX – THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (JJ Abrams, 2019)
The Rise of Skywalker is the worst Star Wars movie, and it isn’t particularly close. After the divisive The Last Jedi (more on that later), rather than continue the story that writer/director Rian Johnson placed in the trilogy, the people in charge decided to bring back director JJ Abrams and rework almost everything about The Last Jedi. The result is one of the most fan-service films I have ever seen. The Rise of Skywalker is a disaster. There is no heart, no emotion, no excitement, no imagination. It’s just soulless, money-grabbing filmmaking at its purest form. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth after Episodes VII and VIII were so good. The Rise of Skywalker is a disappointing end to the saga.
11. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (Ron Howard, 2018)
Han Solo is one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars canon. Giving Solo his own movie sounded like it could have been cool, as we could have seen Solo be more of an anti-hero smuggler than the hero he had become. But with director changes, reshoots, and rumors of acting challenges, Solo ends up being a real dud with a stale plot, unnecessary surprises and twists, an extremely dark look, and too many fan-service moments. Alden Ehrenreich does his best as Solo, but unfortunately, everything else around the film doesn’t support him enough to make his performance stand out.
The production of Solo was also riddled with controversy, as the original directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, were fired after nearly completing principal photography, and were replaced by Ron Howard. This decision looks even worse now, following the success of Lord and Miller’s 2026 film Project Hail Mary, which showed a glimpse of how the directing duo can make a grand space epic that is funny, compelling, and action-packed, all three of which Solo lacks.
10. EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE (George Lucas, 1999)
The Phantom Menace was one of the most hyped movies in cinematic history. The first new Star Wars movie in 15 years was to tell the origin of Anakin Skywalker and use modern technology to bring the Star Wars universe to life. The result? It was divisive at the time and remains divisive to this day. It is far from a perfect film and has many flaws, such as the unbearable political hearings, the dated CGI, and the problematic characters of Wato and Jar Jar Binks. Surprisingly, the good stuff here mostly outweighs the bad. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor are solid as Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the pod race scene is fun and made for an awesome Nintendo 64 game. The lightsaber battle between Jinn, Kenobi, and Darth Maul is easily one of the best in the franchise and features one of the best pieces of music John Williams has ever produced in “Duel of the Fates”. Though it failed to meet expectations at the time, this isn’t the disaster many claim it to be.
9. EPISODE II – ATTACK OF THE CLONES (George Lucas, 2002)
Attack of the Clones was the biggest mover for me following my rewatch. I used to think this was the worst movie in the Star Wars franchise, but now I have found elements of the film that I really like. Obi-Wan’s storyline of trying to find the assassin who tried to kill Senator Amadala, only to stumble on the start of the Clone Wars, is interesting and fun. It helps that McGregor gives a genuinely excellent performance. There are also some well-constructed set-pieces, including a final lightsaber battle between Christopher Lee and CGI Yoda, which is awesome.
All of that is only half of the movie. The other half revolves around Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) falling in love with Padmé (Natalie Portman), and it completely bogs down the movie. Not only does Christensen give an all-time terrible performance as Anakin, but these scenes in the movie are just so incredibly boring. Christensen and Portman have no chemistry, and their scenes together are awkward and look like a computer background. It’s a shame this part of the film exists because the rest of it is pretty good.
8. EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH (George Lucas, 2005)
I have heard many people have Revenge of the Sith relatively high on their Star Wars ranking, and having it easily outrank the other two prequels, and I don’t see it. Revenge of the Sith does have moments of greatness, like the opening Battle of Coruscant and the Mustafar lightsaber battle between Anakin (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan, played by Ewan McGregor, in what is possibly the greatest performance ever in a Star Wars film.
However, like the first two prequels, Revenge of the Sith has major flaws that counter the great parts. The middle act of the movie drags. Hayden Christensen, while slightly improving on his performance from Attack of the Clones, gives a performance equivalent to that of a 2×4, and Natalie Portman’s Padmé, who was once a queen and then a senator, is reduced to a crying damsel in distress who dies in one of the dumbest ways imaginable.
The prequels are interchangeable for me. Each one has its shining moments, and each one has its flaws. The only reason I’m placing Revenge of the Sith above the other two prequels is because of the darker tone and the benefit of having better CGI, though with six years between Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith, I would hope the CGI had gotten better.
7. STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU (Jon Favreau, 2026)
The Mandalorian and Grogu was the first Star Wars movie since the debacle of The Rise of Skywalker, and I’m not quite sure why they chose this as the first Star Wars movie to be on the big screen in nearly a decade. The Mandalorian saw great success on Disney+, winning Emmys and becoming beloved by fans, even if it started to falter in the third season.
Director Jon Favreau made sure The Mandalorian and Grogu was worthy for the big screen. It’s an explosive, fun, grand adventure that leans heavily on the space-western idea George Lucas had for the franchise from the beginning. Mando (Pedro Pascal) and his adorable apprentice Grogu go on an intergalactic mission to find the son of Jabba the Hutt, Rotta the Hutt (voiced by Jeremy Allen White), which will help lead them to a mysterious Warlord. More than just an extended episode of the TV series, but light enough that it wouldn’t warrant an entire season, The Mandalorian and Grogu does enough to wash the bad taste of The Rise of Skywalker out of our mouths, but doesn’t move the needle very much in the overall Star Wars universe.
6. EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS (JJ Abrams, 2015)
While it saw success at the box office, the prequels ultimately underwhelmed fans and critics following their conclusion. Ten years after Revenge of the Sith, The Force Awakens was released, and Lucasfilm and Disney put JJ Abrams in charge of reigniting the Star Wars franchise and giving us a sequel to the original trilogy, bringing back beloved characters while introducing us to new characters who would carry the franchise into the future.
The Force Awakens perfectly balanced nostalgia with new. It introduced new fans to the Star Wars universe without making it complicated, while going back to the roots of the original trilogy. Seeing Han (a great performance by Harrison Ford), Chewbacca, Luke, and Leia again on the big screen was a pleasant sight, and Rey (Daisy Ridley), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Finn (John Boyega), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) were interesting new characters played by exciting actors. With a stellar cast of old and new characters, thrilling action, and tons of emotion, The Force Awakens launched the new trilogy perfectly.
5. ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (Gareth Edwards, 2016)
Rogue One was the first Star Wars film to deviate from the Skywalker storyline and be its own movie, which was a rather risky move considering the fanbase that came from all the Skywalker movies. Taking place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the film looks at the team of misfits who stole the Death Star plans for the Rebellion, so it doesn’t stray too far from the classic storyline, but it is its own unique film. It felt like a science fiction heist film, with a lot of mystery, action, and a stellar cast. It also features the single greatest Darth Vader scene ever in a Star Wars movie.
Rogue One gets an added boost from the Star Wars Disney+ show Andor, which shows what led up to the building of the Death Star and the events of Rogue One. Andor is easily the best Star Wars show and could be argued the best piece of Star Wars content to be released since the original trilogy.
4. EPISODE VI – RETURN OF THE JEDI (Richard Marquand, 1983)
The first three Star Wars films are all damn near perfect, so I must really nitpick when it comes to ranking these. I absolutely love Return of the Jedi. I thought it was a perfect ending to a legendary trilogy. It combined the dark tone of The Empire Strikes Back and the more fun tone of A New Hope seamlessly. It perfectly finished off the arc of every character. It didn’t seem rushed, and nobody was neglected. The only problem with this movie is the Ewoks, who are fun but a little too cute for the series, and the events on Endor slow the pace and excitement considerably. Regardless, Return of the Jedi is a great film and one of the best endings to any trilogy.
3. EPISODE VIII – THE LAST JEDI (Rian Johnson, 2017)
Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi is arguably the most controversial movie in the Star Wars franchise. Following The Force Awakens, a global phenomenon that reignited the Star Wars franchise, Rian Johnson was tasked to helm the second film in the new trilogy. This decision had the internet buzzing after the success of Johnson’s time-traveling crime film, Looper. Despite receiving critical acclaim and making over a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, The Last Jedi was met with division from fans, with some loving the film and others despising it.
The Last Jedi is far and away the best modern Star Wars movie. It furthered the story of Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver, in one of the best performances of his career, Star Wars or otherwise), gave us thrilling action sequences, and, most importantly, expanded the Star Wars universe. It showed us planets and places we’d never seen before and introduced us to new ideas about what the Force can be. It also took characters and story arcs in different directions than expected, which I think especially made people online angry, but was an aspect I loved.
While most of Johnson’s ideas got egregiously retconned in The Rise of Skywalker, Johnson showed that there was more to Star Wars than just Luke, Leia, and the Force.
2. EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE (George Lucas, 1977)
It’s pretty clear what the top two Star Wars films are. They are head and shoulders the two best films in the franchise, both changing cinema forever. While a close battle for the top spot, A New Hope ended up as the runner-up. It cannot be emphasized enough how big an impact A New Hope had on the cinematic landscape. The world that George Lucas brought us into is something that we had never seen on screen before. We are introduced to unique and legendary characters and iconic scenes all within a classic story. The special effects were mind-blowing for the time and still hold up today. The film won a slew of awards and redefined the blockbuster just three years after Jaws coined the term. A New Hope is a landmark film in cinematic history.
1. EPISODE V – THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
A lot has been written and said about The Empire Strikes Back, and there are many reasons why it is the best Star Wars film of all time. Like every great sequel, the movie is bigger, in both story and scale. We get new planets, new characters, like Yoda, Lando Calrissian, and Boba Fett, more action, and the story hits a new height and progresses the already established characters, giving them more depth and emotion. The Empire Strikes Back is the darkest film in the series and ends on such a bleak note. Han is frozen in carbonite, the Rebellion is in flux, Luke lost his hand, and the twist of finding out Darth Vader is Luke’s father is still one of the greatest twists in cinematic history. It took the franchise to a whole new level, and it still hits on an emotional level with every rewatch. Kershner’s filmmaking is sublime, and the visuals remain extraordinary to this day.
The Empire Strikes Back is not only the best Star Wars movie, but is, in the writer’s opinion, the greatest movie sequel ever made.
