So with this massive Star Wars universe about to really get going with episodes and spin
offs and all kinds of crazy stuff, I thought I would talk about all 7 of these movies,
going in order of their release.
There are going to be spoilers for all of these movies, but I’ve put the times of
the movie’s in the description, so you can skip around as you please.
Alright, let’s get into this.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope I’m gonna be honest with this movie up front,
this is a hard movie to review because everything is so iconic in this.
Everything in this movie is a staple of pop culture and has been parodied to some degree,
so it’s hard to look at this movie and just talk about it as a movie on it’s own.
But I’ll try.
As a movie on it’s own, it’s pretty awesome.
The characters and performances in this of course are great.
This kind of became the model most movies of this genre go by nowadays.
There’s the hero, the Han Solo type, there’s the comic relief, etc.
Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Alec Guinness are all really god, but Harrison Ford is by
far the most fun and Han Solo is by far my favorite character in this series.
Having a sort of realist smartass character played by a really funny and charismatic guy
was a brilliant move.
Darth Vader is also one of the most intimidating and cool movie villains of all time.
John Williams’ score for this movie and the entire series is one of the best scores
ever written.
I say this everytime I talk about a John Williams score, but it fits the world perfectly and
it just totally immerses you in it.
This movie is also really well paced.
It is a little bit slow towards the start, where the droids wander around the desert
for half an hour, but there’s always something interesting going on and the story moves along
briskly.
All of the special effects look just incredible, especially for 1977, and nowadays they really
hold up.
There isn’t any bad CGI, at least not in the original edition, and it’s just mindblowing
to think about the effort that went into doing all of these effects.
The lightsaber effects look great, one of the coolest movie weapons ever.
That whole fight between Obi Wan and Vader, sure it isn’t super exciting per say, but
it’s not meant to be epic action.
It shows the characters, how they think, and it’s more interesting to me than crazy Yoda
flipping around Christopher Lee.
But we’ll get to that later.
The world this movie creates is also just fascinating.
There all these weird creatures and ships and droids and worlds, it’s so unique and
strange and you feel like anything can happen.
As far as what I didn’t like, C-3PO gets kind of annoying.
He isn’t bad comic relief, but at some points it was drawn out a bit too much and he just
should’ve been quiet.
There are also some cheesy moments, but I can forgive that, it’s Star Wars, cheesy
moments just add to the fun.
Also, once you know the ultimate outcome, Luke having a crush on Leia is a bit cringy,
I’m just saying.
So in the end, this is a great, fun movie.
The first time I saw this, I was like, yeah, that was pretty good.
The second time I watched it to make this video, I kind of loved it.
It isn’t up there with something like Indiana Jones or Harry Potter for me, but I get the
hype a bit more now.
It is a really entertaining well put together movie.
I’ll give Star Wars a 9.2/10.
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back So this is a film that a lot of people call
“the best movie of all time.”
Do I agree with that.
Well, I wouldn’t go as far as calling it the best ever, but it’s still pretty spectacular.
Now while that first movie had some dark moments, it was a
fun adventure movie.
This is still very much a fun adventure movie, but it adds some darker themes and more emotional
moments.
*I love you.
I know*.
It still has some funny moments, but it’s different tonally from the first one.
Also, instead of just being a straight ahead adventure sci-fi movie, this is more of a
romance, and unlike other Star Wars romances it actually works here, because the acting
and the writing is great.
This film does exactly what sequels should do.
It doesn’t redo the first movie, instead it takes everything the first movie did well
and makes it better.
Better action, better special effects, more great music, fun new characters, everything.
Then it adds things, for example by having the greatest movie plot twist of all time.
This movie, on the whole, is just so entertaining, between Luke training with Yoda and Han, Leia,
and Chewy escaping from the Empire, something interesting is always happening and it keeps
you engaged.
As the film’s title implies, we learn a lot more about the Empire in this movie.
We get a lot more of Darth Vader and we get to meet the Emperor, who is also a fantastic
new addition to the series.
And then after an epic lightsaber fight, the movie ends not only on a cliffhanger, but
basically with the bad guys winning.
Which is a ballsy choice, but it totally works.
So in the end Empire Strikes Back is a really entertaining, really fun yet darker movie.
It’s a film that I was never once bored while watching, it’s unique and doesn’t
rehash the first movie, it’s what sequels should be like, and I’ll give Star Wars:
Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back a 9.6/10.
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi So after the critical success of Empire Strikes
Back, the director was switched up again and the conclusion to the trilogy came to be,
Return of the Jedi.
And I know a lot of people who say this is a bad movie, which I understand, but I don’t
agree.
I think this is an extremely enjoyable film with some flaws that I can look past.
Straight up, this movie is tonally a lot more fun than the last film.
It’s more of a romp and that’s something that puts a lot of people off, but I like
that.
I can enjoy a fun movie as much as I can enjoy a dark movie, as long as they’re both well
executed.
And I’d say, for an 80s sci-fi action movie, this was executed pretty fantastically.
The action is now really cool, the lightsaber battles are badass.
The opening action set piece in Jabba’s Palace and the Sarlacc Pit is one of if not
my favorite Star Wars scene.
It is just so much fun.
Sure, Boba Fett goes out in a really stupid way, but I can enjoy this scene for what it
is and just have fun with it.
They introduce a couple of new characters in this, and we get more of some old characters.
We get a lot more of the Emperor in this which is cool, and we get introduced to Admiral
Ackbar, who has one of the best catchphrases in movie history.
The final confrontation between Luke, Vader, and the
Emperor is absolutely fantastic.
Not only is the lightsaber fight intense, but the dialogue and the conflict between
characters is really interesting and is what this entire series has been building up to.
Then Vader finally getting redemption by saving his son and killing the Emperor, that whole
bit is really satisfying to watch, and this movie has a fun, happy ending.
People complain that this movie is too light hearted, but I like a happy ending.
And besides, we all knew this wasn’t really going to be the end of the story.
Now to address the main issue with this film, it does slow down a bit towards the middle,
specifically the whole segment on the Forest Moon of Endor.
I find it pretty entertaining, but it is a bit of a step down from the rest of the film.
I also don’t hate the ewoks like most people do.
I don’t love them and they get a bit annoying, but everyone rips these things to shreds,
which I find odd.
I get that they were made just for toys and not creative integrity and that irritates
people, but as characters in the movie, they’re fine, cute teddy bears that I don’t really
have a problem with.
Although I do find it odd that they can defeat stormtroopers with rocks and sticks.
I get that stormtroopers were never that tough and kind of became a bit of a joke.
But come on, they should be able to stand up to this kind of stuff, right?
So I really like Return of the Jedi, a lot more than most people.
I think it’s fun, exciting, and has some really great movie moments.
The cast is still great, the music is still great, and while it does sag a little bit
in the middle, I can look past that.
This is a great Star Wars film in my opinion.
I’ll give Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi a 9/10.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace So now things get….interesting.
Star Wars: Episode 1 the Phantom Menace is seen by many to be the biggest disappointment
in film history and one of the worst movies ever made.
I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily either of those things, but at the same time, it’s
pretty awful.
The problems with this movie start before any character enters the frame.
The opening crawl for this is weirdly and unnecessarily complicated.
There’s all this stuff about taxes, trade federation's, blockades, galactic congresses
or something like that, and it just leaves you wondering what’s going on.
Compare this to the opening crawl for Episode 7, spoiler alert for that movie right here,
mute this video now.
It just says, Luke Skywalker has vanished.
In his absence, the sinister First Order has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will
not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.
It goes on for a bit more but you get the idea.
Simple, to the point.
And that’s really the main problem with this film.
It misses the point of what made Star Wars so great.
But hey, let’s be fair here.
What did I like about this, because yes, there are a few good things here.
First up, some of the cast isn’t that bad.
Liam Neeson is pretty badass as always, Ewan McGregor is pretty good, Natalie Portman isn’t
bad, Sam Jackson is good.
They do the best with the material they’re given.
Some of the lightsaber stuff is pretty cool.
It does feel a bit choreographed, but it’s still fun to watch.
Darth Maul, mainly design wise, is an awesome villain.
The final battle between him, Qui-Gon, and Obi Wan is kind of amazing.
That lightsaber fight has some dumb moments but overall it is the best scene in this film.
The pod race is pretty exciting I suppose, although it is obvious it was made for video
games and it also goes on for too long.
Really, the best I can say for this movie is that I can see small children liking it.
If I had seen this as a little kid, I probably would’ve enjoyed it.
That being said, the other Star Wars movies were films that everyone could enjoy.
They might’ve been made a little bit more towards children but there were enough good
characters and dark moments to keep anyone engaged.
Alright, that’s it.
Now what does this movie get horribly wrong.
First up, the writing is really bad.
Again, simplicity is part of what made the original trilogy so enjoyable.
No one goes to a Star Wars movie for politics, at least I don’t think they do.
And the dialogue is pretty terrible.
Some of the good actors can work around it and make it sound alright, but when you give
a bad kid actor bad writing, it ends up being hilarious.
*are you an angel* And look, I don’t wanna be mean towards this kid actor, I believe
his name is Jake Lloyd.
He has a whole lot of problems and so I don’t want to be a jerk.
So keeping it brief, he...is...not very good.
Secondly, this movie is overly CG heavy.
This has less CGI than the next movies I think, but this also came out in 1999, where CGI
isn’t gonna look amazing.
The original movies used practical effects at pretty much all time, and that’s why
those movies hold up.
The weirdly rendered CG characters and backgrounds in this feel very fake.
Not all the visuals are bad, there are some cool effects and some practical ones, but
way too much of this is computer generated.
Also, the humor in this isn’t funny.
The original movies were really funny when they wanted to be, because the actors sold
it and were naturally funny.
Here, we have Jar Jar Binks.
This character has been torn apart by everyone on the planet, but you just watch this and
wonder what everyone was thinking.
This is bad comic relief at it’s worst, and I’ll leave it at that.
You can find rants upon rants about this character elsewhere, which is why I’m keeping this
brief.
This movie (and all of the prequels for that matter) are also trying way too hard to tie
it into the original trilogy, and it feels very forced and makes those movies feel way
more coincidental and unrealistic.
So ultimately, if I had to sum up exactly how this movie made me feel, it frustrated
me.
Because there are 2 or 3 things in this movie that are kind of amazing.
It’s just the rest of the movie is boring or stupid or vaguely racist.
*clip* So I can’t enjoy this as a so bad it’s good movie.
But I can’t enjoy it as an actual good movie either.
Those epic moments show me that the potential was there, it was just wasted to make room
for this kind of stuff.
*Jar Jar clip*.
I’ll give Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace a 5/10.
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones So here we are at the bottom of the barrel.
Attack of the Clones is pretty terrible.
It does everything the Phantom Menace did wrong and adds one of the worst movie love
stories of all time.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
What did I like here.
Look, some of the cast is alright again.
Ewan McGregor’s good, Natalie Portman and Sam Jackson are fine, great, whatever.
Christopher Lee is pretty great as Count Dooku, even though he shows up one hour and 6 minutes
into the movie.
I’m pretty sure he said something like, even though you’re in a bad movie, it doesn’t
mean you have to be bad in it.
And that pretty much sums up his role in these prequels.
Some of the action is almost a bit cool, but then it gets so nonsensical and obnoxious
that you can’t enjoy it.
There are some cool lightsaber moments, but nothing really that great.
Some special effects are good, but a lot is just CG garbage.
I’m not saying I’m against CGI, but when it’s over used, out of place, and quite
noticeable, then I’m against it.
Jango Fett is pretty cool design wise, although I wish they would’ve left Boba Fett’s
identity unknown.
I just think he’s a lot cooler when he’s a faceless badass bounty hunter.
And look, that end battle where the Jedi fight the clones for a bit, it’s flashy, over
the top nonsense, but it’s pretty entertaining.
And I will say Sam Jackson decapitating Jango Fett like that, I thought it was pretty awesome.
That’s what I wanna see Jedi Sam Jackson doing, cutting off people’s heads left and
right.
Now for everything else in this film.
First off, Hayden Christensen is just hilariously awful in this.
I wouldn’t put it all on his performance though, some of it I would blame on bad writing
and bad directing, but still.
He’s just so weirdly off.
*sorry m’lady, or I hate them*.
And then the romance between him and Natalie Portman is pretty horrendous, again, the dialogue
is just so weird and unrealistic and just bad.
*I like sand.* This also has more of the complicated political
side of Star Wars, which no one ever asked for.
And if you’re gonna put in space politics, at least make it interesting.
Speaking of uninteresting, I mentioned that the final Jedi battle was pretty cool, but
after a few minutes the Jedi leave and it turns into disposable clones vs disposable
droids, it’s still a weird light show but it gets considerably less entertaining.
And then there’s the lightsaber fight between Christopher Lee and Yoda, who let me just
talk about for a sec.
In this Yoda is entirely computer generated, because they wanted him to be able to fight
and jump and flip and whatever.
But he just looks very unreal and it doesn’t feel like he’s there.
The puppet from Empire Strikes Back, sure it can’t do flips, but it felt real.
Great YouTuber Mr. Sunday Movies, linked below, made a point on his podcast the Weekly Planet
that pretty much summarises how I feel about this whole Yoda thing.
*use a fucking puppet*.
Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the whole point of Yoda that he doesn’t
need to fight physically.
He’s this little Jedi master who can murder you using the Force and stuff, not with a
flippy glow stick fight.
I don’t know, again, not the biggest Star Wars nerd, but that was just how I interpreted
it.
So in the end, this is the most hated Star Wars movie and I can totally see why.
It’s poorly acted, poorly directed, and overall just poorly executed.
It has a couple of moments that shine through, and I have to admit I enjoyed watching most
of the movie.
Because when it’s really bad it’s really funny, unintentionally.
*Hayden Christensen clip* However, I’m still gonna give Star Wars: Episode 2: Attack of
the Clones a 4.8/10.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith So now we’ve gotten to what’s often referred
to “the good one,” as far as the prequels go.
And to be fair, it is definitely the best prequel.
Does that mean it’s good?
Not necessarily.
First up, what I liked.
The special effects in this don’t look amazing but they look better than before.
Same with the acting, Hayden Christensen is bad, but he’s better.
He didn’t creep me out in this one.
A lot of the action, from the opening space battle to some of the lightsaber stuff is
quite entertaining.
The final lightsaber fight, while it is very over the top and goes on for too long, is
really exciting, and for once in these prequels I genuinely felt that one character was trying
to murder another.
It actually feels like Anakin wants to kill Obi Wan, kind of like how it felt in Return
of the Jedi with Luke vs Vader, so I appreciated that.
There is still some of that political talk-y boring stuff, but there’s a lot less of
it and it’s considerably less boring.
And that whole Order 66 scene where all the Jedi are killed, yes we don’t know who any
of them are and yes they should’ve been better fighters, but that scene is just really
cool to me.
And that’s the stuff I enjoyed.
Now for the opposite.
Firstly, Anakin Skywalker’s transition into Darth Vader is pretty bad.
He goes from a good guy to a bad guy in ten minutes for no apparent reason.
Also, the ending where Anakin is put in the Vader suit, that isn’t bad, but then it’s
totally ruined by this over exaggerated nooooooooo.
*clip* Just completely brought the moment down for me.
This film also has a lot of shoehorned in references to the original trilogy.
Not just Chewbacca, who totally didn't have to be in this.
But that whole ending where they’re trying to get everyone into the place they’ll be
in at the start of A New Hope, it just feels very forced.
So Revenge of the Sith is a clear improvement over the first two prequels, but that doesn’t
make it a particularly good movie.
It has some cool scenes, and the acting is a bit better, but it still is cheesy, over-the-top
in a bad way, oddly paced, and really poorly written.
I’ll give Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith a 6.5/10.
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens So now we’ve gotten to Star Wars: The Force
Awakens.
I’ve already talked a ton about this movie, so you can check out my review of the movie
by clicking here or the link the description.
My overall thoughts, it’s a really fun enjoyable romp of a movie, it has good characters, good
action, good emotional scenes, and some sad character arcs coming to a close.
It managed to live up the hype which is really impressive because the level of excitement
around this was insane.
Yes, it was a complete retread of A New Hope, but that was a good way of getting us back
into this franchise.
Overall, this gets an 8.8/10.
So now for the ruling, the best and the worst.
This is the first time I’ve really had trouble with the best.
The original is really good and started this entire huge series, and I love Return of the
Jedi a lot more than most people.
But if I’m just going off the best made film, I probably have to go with Empire Strikes
Back.
It isn’t the best movie of all time for me, but I think I can call it the best Star
Wars movie.
And for the worst, again, kind of tough.
Phantom Menace is really bad and a huge disappointment but it has some moments.
So despite it being one of the best laugh out loud comedies of 2002, I’m going to
have to go with Attack of the Clones.
Even though it isn’t the worst movie ever, it gets so many things wrong on so many levels.
So those were my thoughts on the Star Wars movies.
Which is your favorite and least favorite?
Or rank them from best to worst in the comments below.
While you’re at it, be sure to like this video, check out my Instagram @bhl_hudson,
and subscribe for more videos like the one you just watched.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see ya next time.