Star Wars: Ranking Every Final Battle From Worst To Best

It's easy to forget now, but the original Star Wars film did not end with a lightsaber duel. That formula wasn't firmly established until Empire delivered its big finale. The first film instead ends on the trench run, as the Rebellion attempts to destroy the Death Star before it destroys them.

This sequence has become such a key part of pop culture that it's easy to forget just how brilliant it is. The stakes are high, the tension is cranked up to the max. It's not hard at all to see how this sequence blew audience's minds back in 1977, because it remains mind-boggling to this day. The use of miniatures and models creates an indescribable sense of realism and makes it all feel so tangible.

It's an earlier version of the technique Lucas would go on to use so well in Attack of the Clones; a single sequence that just keeps escalating at every turn. The X-Wings are first just facing the turrets of the trench until TIE Fighters emerge from the ship, and then even Vader comes after them. The tension is continuously escalating as the sequence gets larger and larger.