Every Star Wars Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

5. The Force Awakens

Back in 2012, you'd be forgiven for thinking Star Wars, at least in terms of new movies, was dead and gone. Sure, George Lucas had always spoken about doing nine movies, but after the poor reception to the prequels - made worse by Red Letter Media's scathing reviews - there didn't appear to be much appetite for more.

Enter Disney. Their purchase of Lucasfilm shook the galaxy and, three years later, we finally had an Episode VII. This was the most hyped film of all time, and one charged with bringing Star Wars back to life. For succeeding with that alone, J.J. Abrams deserves a hell of a lot of credit.

The film does follow the structural beats of Episode IV extremely closely, something many use to bash the film, but it was the best way to banish the memories of the prequels and restore faith in fans - it might be a retread, but it at least feels like Star Wars. There are bigger issues too, with the second act going into the third quite messy in terms of pacing and editing, and fans were understandably tired of Death Stars by this point.

Still, there's a lot to love here. He may borrow an awful lot, but Abrams also creates some brilliant new characters and services the old ones - well, Han at least. Rey, Kylo Ren, BB-8, Finn, and Poe are the true strength of this, providing a new generation of fans with heroes to root for and a complex villain to jeer, and doing so in a thrilling, funny, and emotional rollercoaster ride of a movie.