Collection
Star Wars
Three trilogies, two standalones and the television that has kept the galaxy busy since.
Which order? Release order is the order most people mean. Episode order (I to IX) is there for the completists; start with A New Hope either way.
The films, in release order
- 1
Star Wars 1977George Lucas’s space adventure is funny, exciting and easy to follow, with creatures and machinery worth a closer look. A few stiff exchanges are a small price for such well-managed fun.Fi1m 88 - 2
The Empire Strikes Back 1980Irvin Kershner makes the machinery frightening and the people worth worrying about. A few solemn lessons slow *The Empire Strikes Back*, but its action, humour and feeling justify the darker turn.Fi1m 92 - 3
Return of the Jedi 1983Richard Marquand’s space adventure is good fun when it gives its creatures and chases room. Mark Hamill supplies the conviction, but the thin romance and overindulged Ewoks make this a less brisk evening than it should be.Fi1m 75 - 4
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 1999George Lucas’s space adventure has fine action and a dispiriting amount of explanation. Liam Neeson and John Williams help, but neither can make the stiff conversations worth sitting through.Fi1m 52 - 5
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones 2002A clear improvement on *The Phantom Menace*: the Coruscant chase is a proper set piece, Ewan McGregor and Christopher Lee know exactly what they are doing, and the last act delivers. Between them sits a romance so stiff it stalls the film for an hour.Fi1m 54 - 6
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 2005The last of Lucas’s prequels is the only one that works, and it works late. The first ninety minutes are meetings and love scenes written by a man who dislikes both; the final forty are opera, and they almost pay for the rest.Fi1m 67 - 7
Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2017Rian Johnson’s middle chapter throws away the lightsaber and half the audience’s expectations, and its scenes with Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver are the best this series has had in decades. Its casino subplot is not, and it runs 152 minutes.Fi1m 76 - 8
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 2019J.J. Abrams closes the saga at a sprint, undoing most of what the previous film dared and replacing it with a treasure hunt. It looks superb, Driver and Ridley are better than the script, and at the end we found we had felt almost nothing.Fi1m 50
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