Star Wars: All The Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

5. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

Whisper it lest the bastions of Lucas hatred attack, but Revenge Of The Sith is actually a pretty well-directed blockbuster. It still has a lot of the issues that plagued Attack Of The Clones in the dialogue scenes (odd pacing and poor blocking), but overall holds together as a single movie (like Star Wars it begins in situ, yet is immediately possible to pick up), as a finale to the prequel enterprise and, at the time, the franchise as a whole. It helps there's a lot going on, and in addition a lot that feels important to the wider narrative - after two movies that could be dismissed as glorified set-up, we finally get to see Anakin become Darth Vader, the Republic reorganised as the Empire, the Jedi hunted down, the birth of Luke and Leia, and Obi-Wan go into exile. Many of these events were conceived during the development of the original trilogy, readapted to fit the burgeoning theme of the ills of greed, and that shows in their mature handling here - more so than the other prequels, this feels like genuine Star Wars. Order 66, in particular, is a franchise highlight and gives a real taste of Lucas' eye for a story. Bizarre inconsistencies in the Jedi Order become very human weaknesses, the clones are given a purpose outside of honouring a throwaway line from A New Hope and the death of a bunch of nameless supporting characters really hits home; Anakin igniting his lightsaber in front of a bunch of cowering younglings is chilling. He may have fumbled emotion in Clones, but here George's emotive beats work (Obi-Wan's screaming to a burning Anakin is iconic in its own right). Of course, being closer to the original trilogy means we're dealing with more favourable elements, which instinctively make for a more enjoyable experience, but also give a lot more opportunity for interesting exploration. Design-wise, everything feels like a mesh of the technologically perfect prequels and the worn originals, but this is in general the closest the prequels got to the original ethos of the original Star Wars. To bemoan Clones or Menace for not feeling like Star Wars ignores that each of the original trilogy have their own distinct mood, but Sith is definitely the one that fits best.