Star Wars: Ranking Every Final Battle From Worst To Best
1. The Empire Strikes Back
Still the king, after all these years.
The finale to Empire Strikes Back is about as perfect as one can get. Just as more recent Star Wars films have begun to learn, often times a bigger finale does not necessarily mean a more powerful one. And Empire has been preaching this lesson from the very beginning.
Lucas and Kasdan didn't try to outdo the trench run from A New Hope in terms of size, instead, they went for something much more intimately affecting. Seeing Vader and Luke come face is a gargantuan moment in its own right because of how much it means to these characters; it is the literal embodiments of good and evil having a showdown. Of course, the whole sequence only grows more complex and affecting when the audience and Luke learn that the line between good and evil is not nearly as defined as he thought with the classic words; "No, I am your father".
This is intercut with another stellar sequence of Leia, Chewie, and Lando attempting to save a frozen Han Solo from Boba Fett's clutches. It features tons of great, claustrophobic action in the halls of Cloud City and some uproarious comedy thanks to C-3PO being tied to Chewbacca's back.
It is a perfect balance of gravitas, action, character, and comedy. It is the quintessential definition what makes Star Wars so wonderful.
Which Star Wars finale is your favourite? Let us know down in the comments.