What Is The Best ‘Star Wars’ Movie? The Runner-Up In Our Poll Might Surprise You
(Welcome toSurvey Says, a feature where we conduct a movie-related survey for a random group of people and explain why they’re completely right, completely wrong, or somewhere in-between.)
It’s the question that keeps nerf herders up at night, nibbling their fingernails and perhaps even their toenails. “What’s the bestStar Warsmovie?”
Calm down, you big angry Wampa, I’m not saying allStar Warsfans chew their toenails. I’m just saying I saw an elementary schooler do that once and he may or may not have been wearing a frayedStar WarsT-shirt.
The boy was feral.And most assuredly “scruffy-looking.” Now, where were we? Oh, yes. What’s the bestStar Warsmovie. The answer to that age-old question might seem like a no-brainer, but the results from our latest poll are in, and guess what? It’s not as cut-and-dry as you might think.
By the Numbers
Since at least 1980, when the firstStar Warssequel hit, fans have been debating the best and worst of the franchise. We already polled 611 random Internet strangers to determine, once and for all,which is the worstStar Warsmovie.The results of that survey are now forever etched in stone, like Chuck Heston’sstentorian Ten Commandments. Neither you nor I can argue about them because that was the only survey that mattered and it’s all over now, our childhoods, the candyfloss, the Kenner toys, all of it. Nor would I advise grabbing those metaphorical Commandments and smashing them over anyone’s head.
Remember what Master Yoda said about the path to the Dark Side: “Anger leads to hate … hate leads to suffering.” Let’s talk instead about what people, average Americans, think the bestStar Warsmovie is. This time, we had 613 U.S.-based respondents to our poll on Survey Monkey. The results are bar-graphed above and bulleted below.
One last note: you’ll notice thatThe Phantom MenaceandAttack of the Clonesaren’t included here, either because they didn’t receive enough votes to rank and/or because no one in their right mind would ever say either of those is the bestStar Warsmovie. (Again, this only covers the nine-episode Skywalker saga, soRogue OneandSolo: A Star Wars Maclunkeyaren’t included, either.)
Breaking It Down
Big surprise:The Empire Strikes Backtakes the top spot by a 10% margin, with over a third of our respondents saying it’s the bestStar Warsmovie.Irvin Kershner’s film, which we recently revisited in ourDaily Stream column, stands head and shoulders above the rest of the Skywalker saga. As noted in that column, Kershner wasGeorge Lucas’sUSC mentor, “someone he respected enough to let him inhabit the director’s chair and bring more emotional truth to the space opera.”
Now, granted, I’m highly partial when it comes toThe Empire Strikes Backbecause it just took the top spot in my own personal list ofall-time favorite movieshere on /Film. The movie was also onEthan Anderton’s listback in October 2015, beforeThe Force Awakensand Disney’s sequel trilogy ever hit theaters. Over and above these subjective rankings, it feels like the conventional wisdom is thatThe Empire Strikes Backis the bestStar Warsmovie, and this survey certainly seems to support that line of thinking, data-wise.
What really surprised me about these survey results was how highReturn of the Jediranked. Almost a full quarter of the vote went to it. Raise your hand if it was your favoriteStar Warsmovie as a kid — or still is your favorite.
The week of its 35th anniversary, I argued that the franchisehad never equalledthe creature effects ofReturn of the Jedi. A lot of people, including producerGary Kurtz(who famouslyparted wayswith the franchise afterEmpire) tend to write offRichard Marquand’s 1983 film and its “teddy-bear luau” of Ewoks, who were perhaps a foreshadowing of Binks to come. YetReturn of the Jediredeems Darth Vader and it brings the original trilogy to a satisfying close. It also has a lot going for it in terms of unique space locales. From the 35th-anniversary piece:
It’s a toss-up: along with the forest moon [of Endor],Jedisailed us back over the sand planet of Tatooine and flew us into a half-constructed Death Star II, whileEmpiregave us the ice planet of Hoth, the swamp planet of Dagobah, and Cloud City on Bespin.
It’s fascinating to see thatReturn of the Jeditook over 12% more of the vote thanA New Hope. For its part, the very firstStar Warsmovie, together with Steven Spielberg’sJaws, created the template for the modern blockbuster. It was made back before there were episode numbers and there’s arguably a purity of creative vision to it, in that Lucas wrote and directed it himself (with the input of filmmaker friends like Brian De Palma funneling through him in parts like the opening crawl). It’s also, to date, the onlyStar Warsmovie to receive anOscar nomination for Best Picture, and here on /Film, it madeVanessa Armstrong’s listof favorites.
Of the sequel trilogy,The Last Jediedges outThe Force Awakens,both of which rank higher thanThe Rise of Skywalker. I’m sure we can all agree that this is the correct, infallible ranking of sequel trilogy films. Er, right?The Last Jediis the most subtextually richStar Warsfilm (anyone can be a Jedi, not just Skywalkers, “let the past die”), andThe Force AwakensmadeStar Warsone of thegreat comeback storiesof the 2010s … until the new religion of 21st-century fandomdid what it doesand started killing its own geek gods again.
Um, I’ll just be over here …
Say what you will about the sequel trilogy, but it would appear that the majority of fans still don’t have a lot of love for the prequel trilogy, either.Revenge of the Sithcomes in dead last. Personally, I think it’s better thanThe Rise of Skywalker, which Ispoiler-reviewedin great depth back in December 2019. Then again, what do I know?
One thing is clear from all this: people still love the originalStar Warstrilogy more than any of the prequels or sequels. How about you younglings (and oldlings)? What do you think?
