Do you like over-the-top space battles? Or do you prefer for "Star Wars" to open with a joke?
We have our opinions, so here's every "Star Wars" movie's opening scene ranked.
None of these opening scenes are outright terrible, but one has to come in last,
and unfortunately, that honor goes to the most recent film, "The Rise of Skywalker."
The most poorly-reviewed of the sequel trilogy, the opening sequence begins promisingly enough.
As the starfield fades, we see Supreme Leader Kylo Ren as he plows through a
group of enemy combatants on the trail of the resurrected Emperor Palpatine.
From there, however, things quickly fall apart as the sequence reveals the scene's true intention.
Ren's sole goal in his slaughter is to find a tracking device that will take him to the stormy
planet Exegol. It foreshadows the rest of the film's interminable fetch quest plot structure.
More importantly, the sequence walks back not only the plot, character,
and even design elements of the previous film, Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi," but
even director J.J. Abrams' own sequel trilogy opener, "The Force Awakens."
The opening scene of "The Phantom Menace" thrusts Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and his
young apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi into a bureaucratic taxation conflict between the
Trade Federation and the Galactic Senate, with the small planet of Naboo caught in the middle.
The sequence is not all dry negotiations, of course. The Trade Federation, under the
command of a mysterious cloaked figure, sends droid soldiers to kill Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan,
and a blaster against lightsaber battle ensues. But many of Lucas' most questionable
choices in the film, and indeed the prequel trilogy as a whole, are already present.
We see the flat direction and stilted dialogue that defeats normally charismatic actors like
Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor. Then there is the decision to model several alien
species after specific ethnic caricatures. And of course, there's the preference for lightweight,
frictionless CGI over the more tactile, familiar textures of models and makeup.
Every "Star Wars" opening scene works best as a preview of the style and thematic concerns that
the rest of the film will follow, and "Phantom Menace," for better or worse, is exactly that.
The last of the original trilogy premiered in 1983, and "Return of the Jedi" is a film
whose structure bears more than a little resemblance to the first "Star Wars" film.
As in the original film, "Jedi" spends much of its first act on the desert planet Tatooine
and climaxes with the Rebels' victory over the Empire's newly constructed Death Star.
One gets the sense that Lucas wanted a do-over on certain parts of "A New Hope," as if he wanted to
take advantage of the technological and budgetary leaps made since 1977. He effectively re-does the
Mos Eisley cantina scene with a far more complex menagerie of aliens in Jabba the Hutt's palace.
And he stages a bigger, busier Death Star battle than was possible the first time around.
"Jedi's" opening scene establishes a new, under-construction Death Star.
It also establishes that Darth Vader is back in a role as a subordinate as he was
with Grand Moff Tarkin in "A New Hope." As he arrives on the Death Star, Vader reveals
to the commander that the Emperor will be coming to oversee the completion of the base.
It's an ominous scene that sets up the climactic stakes of the last film in the original trilogy.
"That is correct, commander."
"Star Wars" was risking serious audience fatigue when it released "Solo:
A Star Wars Story" less than six months after "The Last Jedi." Not only that,
but the production went through a high-profile shakeup when original directors Phil Lord and
Chris Miller were fired and replaced by filmmaker Ron Howard, resulting in well-publicized reshoots.
If that weren't enough, the film was attempting to recast Harrison Ford's Han Solo,
one of the most iconic pairings of actor and character in film history.
The resulting film is torn between delivering a fun space adventure
and hitting every recognizable part of Han Solo's backstory.
It bounces from important moments like meeting his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca and winning the
Millennium Falcon from frenemy Lando Calrissian to trivial beats like how he got his blaster.
In the opening scene, Howard directs a speeder chase through the broken down
shipyards of young Han's home planet. The scene is set to a rousing and romantic new
theme from composer John Williams. But it becomes bogged down by references to thermal detonators,
the gold dice that will one day hang in the Falcon's cockpit, and the laughably
unnecessary moment in which Han's clearly symbolic last name is bestowed upon him.
"Attack of the Clones" opens with an explosion that rocks queen-turned-senator Padmé Amidala's
ship as it lands on the Republic capital planet Coruscant. The identity of the
bomber and their reasons for wanting Padmé dead are treated as an important mystery.
As a result, Obi-Wan Kenobi plays detective while his apprentice Anakin Skywalker violates
his Jedi oath by falling in love with Padmé while serving as her bodyguard.
Intrigue is not a color that "Star Wars" paints with very often, and it's particularly difficult
with prequels. Audiences know from the start that the ultimate culprit is newly-elected
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who will use a phony war to consolidate power on the way to becoming
Emperor and destroying the Jedi. Still, "Attack of the Clones" leans into a 1940s detective vibe,
even down to a bizarre retro diner where Kenobi gains a vital clue.
But while it's fun to imagine a full-on film noir "Star Wars," the movie ultimately isn't
interested in sustaining that vibe, and "Attack of the Clones" soon returns to the
more-is-more aesthetic that marks the prequel trilogy as a whole.
The second "Star Wars" film produced by Disney, 2016's bleak prequel "Rogue One:
A Star Wars Story" was beset by reshoots and behind-the-scenes shake-ups just as "Solo" would
be two years later. But the finished film hangs together remarkably well as a stark
consideration of wartime sacrifice that affords no last-minute rescue for its doomed Rebel spies.
That tone is set in the film's opening scene, a flashback in which the pastoral life of young Jyn
Erso and her family is shattered by the arrival of Imperial troops. Her father Galen was an Imperial
scientist whose moral objections to working on the Death Star forced him into hiding.
But now the Empire, represented by the slimy Orson Krennic, has come calling once again.
"You're a hard man to find, Galen. But farming? Really?”
Young Jyn flees to an underground bunker as her mother Lyra is shot down by Stormtroopers
and Galen is taken away to finish his work on the deadly space station. The scene effectively
lays out the narrative and emotional stakes of the rest of the film. Though, it's also a prime
example of the Disney tendency to have everything important to a character happen all at once.
After a prequel trilogy's worth of Trade Federations, separatists, Count Dooku, and General
Grievous, J.J. Abrams' 2015 sequel "The Force Awakens," announces its back-to-basics intentions
in the first line of the title crawl. Here, the original trilogy's characters have become legends
and inspirations to the series' new characters. When ace X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron refers to
Leia by her newly established rank of General, an old Rebel ally smiles warmly and replies,
"The general? To me, she's royalty."
The opening scene concerns the battle for a star map that will reveal Luke Skywalker's whereabouts,
and it structurally serves to introduce most of the sequel trilogy's new characters.
There's Poe, a hotshot pilot whose cavalier personality gets him into a fair bit of trouble.
We then meet dark lord Kylo Ren, who attacks Lor San Tekka's desert village in search of the star
map. Next, there's conflicted Stormtrooper Finn, whose first taste of combat leaves him traumatized
and looking for a way out. Then there's BB-8, a next-gen R2-D2 with more charisma and personality
than many of the prequel trilogy's human performers. Only Rey is missing from the sequence.
Just like Luke in "A New Hope," she shows up after the intense opening action sequence.
After two films of political conspiracies, 2005's "Revenge of the Sith" finally lands
viewers in the middle of an actual star war, as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker race to rescue
Chancellor Palpatine from the clutches of Sith Lord Count Dooku and the four-armed Jedi-killing
droid General Grievous. Little do they know, Palpatine is in fact Dooku's evil master,
and that the kidnapping was staged as part of his years-long plan to rule the galaxy.
"Star Wars" rarely takes full advantage of the three-dimensionality of outer space,
which makes it a pleasant surprise when the camera pans down from Obi-Wan and Anakin's
solitary interceptors to settle on the gigantic battle raging just below them.
Hayden Christensen still struggles to infuse Anakin with much charm or passion,
but overall the film is invigorated by being the final entry in the prequel
trilogy. At last, Lucas can show all the things audiences have been waiting for,
from the fall of the Republic to the rise of Darth Vader.
"Star Wars" has had its share of humor, often powered by the charisma of its actors,
but it rarely tries to tell jokes. And among the types of jokes that a "Star Wars" film
would try to tell, a prank phone call would certainly be one of the more unexpected.
But that's exactly what happens at the start of Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi."
In the sequence, Poe Dameron stalls for time while his rocket-boosted X-Wing powers up.
He hails the First Order commander, General Hux, and then pretends not to hear him.
As Hux blusters about in confusion, one of his captains has to explain the joke:
"I believe he's tooling with you, sir."
But Johnson has more on his mind than making "Star Wars" intentionally funny again, as seen
in the rest of the opening scene. It features an intense battle sequence that culminates in a
disastrous bombing raid, the first of many defeats for the Resistance over the course of the film.
Like "Rogue One," "The Last Jedi" is concerned with what it means to sacrifice oneself for
a cause and how to find hope within hopeless situations. Johnson works through those themes
in both plot and character, building a poignant relationship between Poe,
the cocky flyboy who's never lost, and Leia, the hardened pragmatist who's lost too much.
In the 1970s and '80s, sequels, particularly sci-fi sequels, gave audiences more of the same,
but cheaper. However, the James Bond series kept the franchise fresh by offering interesting new
variations on the central theme with each new entry. And 1974's "The Godfather Part
II," directed by George Lucas' friend and collaborator Francis Ford Coppola,
delivered a sequel that was both more epic and more intimate than its predecessor.
"The Empire Strikes Back" takes its cues from both Bond and "The Godfather."
It establishes many of the elements that are essential to every "Star Wars" film
that followed, while also being unafraid to challenge its audience with dark material.
Its quick-and-dirty opening scene strikes several opposites from "A New Hope."
Gone are the brown, dry deserts of Tatooine. In their place,
we see the white frozen wasteland of Hoth. Luke Skywalker gets a hero's entrance in both films,
but this time he's suddenly attacked and dragged away by a wild wampa.
The stakes are immediately set when a floating probe droid discovers the Rebel base and Luke
awakens in the frozen cave of the vicious beast that attacked him. Our heroes are not safe here,
and their achievements in the previous movie cannot save them.
After 45 years and nearly a dozen films in the series, there is no opening scene in "Star Wars"
that can match that of "A New Hope" in impact, spectacle, and pure storytelling potential.
As the film opens, the screen is filled with the impossibly large shape of a Star
Destroyer chasing the fleeing Tantive IV blockade runner. Within minutes we meet Princess Leia,
Darth Vader, R2-D2, C-3PO, and even the ever-present stormtroopers. But really,
it's that scrappy Rebel blockade runner fleeing laser bolts as the endless leviathan of a Star
Destroyer slowly fills the screen as it pursues that truly sets the tone for the entire film.
Even if audiences hadn't read the opening crawl
establishing the broad strokes of the Rebellion's battle against the Empire,
they would be able to know whose side we are meant to be on from the visuals alone.
The "Star Wars" mythology has grown for decades across movies, books, toys, comics, and games,
but it has never outgrown the iconography of those first indelible minutes from 1977.
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