My dad introduced me to Star Wars in 1992 with the original trilogy, and I instantly loved these movies from the first time I saw them. Throughout the 90s before the prequels came out I watched the original trilogy countless times, bought the Kenner action figures and play sets, and even dove into the EU a little with some of the novels and games. I also got to see all three original trilogy movies in the theater, some multiple times as part of the special edition re-releases in 1997. At the time I loved the special edition enhancements, however in recent years I've come to love the original versions of these films more. I still have a soft spot for the special editions though. Pretty much anything Star Wars related was something I was instantly attracted too, so when I heard about The Phantom Menace I nearly lost my mind in excitement.
I remember seeing a music video for Duel of the Fates on MTV a few months before Phantom Menace dropped in theaters and I don't think there's been many things that made me that excited about something, like ever. I tried to get my mom to excuse me from school for a few days so I could be one of those crazy people that sat in line for tickets for like a week in advance, but of course she said no. Luckily our local theater had plenty of tickets the day of the premier, although we still had to get them like two hours early so we could line up to get into the theater. I saw The Phantom Menace and I absolutely loved it. Keep in mind that I was 11-years old when The Phantom Menace came out so I was at the age where a lot of the content aimed at younger viewers still appealed to me, but so did all the awesome lightsaber battles and everything else. I can't remember how many times I saw Phantom Menace in the theater, but it was at least 5-times.
Throughout the early 2000s, my love for Star Wars remained, and I ended up seeing Attack of the Clones several times in theaters, and Revenge of the Sith twice. Ironically, Revenge of the Sith would eventually become my absolute favorite Star Wars movie of all time even though I think initially I liked it the least when it came out. At the time Revenge of the Sith came out I was dealing with a lot of problems in my personal life so it was harder for me to enjoy it. I eventually would work past those problems and watching it with a fresh perspective allowed me to enjoy it fully for what it is; the best of the prequels and I film on par with Empire Strikes Back in terms of how iconic it is. But anyhow, I loved the prequels, although through the 2000s I was still more of a fan of the original trilogy.
As I got into my 20s and it had been years since the prequels came out, they began to grow on me more and more, well mostly. As an adult I was able to see a lot of the flaws in them, however I still consider them to all be good movies in their own way, and have many redeeming qualities that make them rewatchable. As I said, Revenge of the Sith eventually became my favorite Star Wars movie of all time, snatching the throne from Empire Strikes Back which had been my favorite since I was probably 8 or 9. The only prequel film that never grew on me more is Attack of the Clones. I still mostly enjoy this movie, but there's something about it that never really hit me the same way Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith did. I still enjoy watching it though, and it absolutely has some great parts in it, as well as some really bad parts too.
In 2012 when Disney bought the rights to Star Wars I honestly was indifferent to the decision, and didn't feel strongly about it either way. I knew it meant the possibility of more movies which was enough to get me more excited, and I knew that Disney had a reputation for making some of the most beloved kids movies of all time, so I figured Star Wars was likely in good hands. When news of The Force Awakens dropped I was genuinely excited and after the first trailer I was almost as excited about it as I was The Phantom Menace when I was 11. And just like The Phantom Menace, I absolutely loved this movie when I saw it opening night. The movie was very derivative of A New Hope, but there was enough there that intrigued me and i enjoyed to where I didn't care really. I also thought it was an excellent setup for what I was certain would be explained, developed, and resolved in the following two movies in the sequel trilogy. The following movie, Rogue One, was great too, but sadly after that Star Wars got flipped upside down and it would honestly never be the same.
Like all the other Star Wars films released during my lifetime up to that point, I saw The Last Jedi opening night, and it ended up being the most unsettling and confusion movie going experience of my entire life. the entire movie I felt like I should be loving what I was seeing, but I wasn't. At times I actually forced myself to think I enjoyed parts of that movie that I'd ironically realize I hated a few days later. It was Star Wars, a series I'd loved almost my whole life, yet I didn't love it and by the time the end credits rolled I wasn't sure why. It literally took me several days after seeing The Last Jedi to fully process how I actually felt about it, each day I felt angrier and angrier about what I had seen. I eventually realized that what I had seen was probably the most anti-Star Wars film that could have been made, one that was also poorly written in almost every conceivable way. There were so, so many problems with this movie that nearly every single scene, plot point, and character was broken to some degree. And then there was of course how this movie literally ruined arguably the most important character in all of Star Wars, Luke Skywalker.
I was legitimately angry about The Last Jedi for nearly a year after seeing it. I watched countless videos critiquing and analyzing this film, I read tons of articles about the movie, all validating the negative feelings about what I had seen and giving them detail that I was unable to put my finger on myself. Driving all this was how something I'd loved and genuinely cared about for so long had been utterly destroyed. This was further enforced by Solo, which while not as damaging, was still a terrible movie that barely felt like Star Wars. During this time I would learn that this all wasn't just a fluke, but rather deliberate destruction of Star Wars from within Lucasfilm at the hands of Kathleen Kennedy, Rian Johnson, the Lucasfilm creative team, and many other players from within Disney and the media that wanted this movie to be a statement more than a movie. Of course, they thought they were doing the right thing by turning Star Wars into a poorly made political and social platform, but where Star Wars is currently is a telling sign of how successful that was.
But all hope is not lost. Before I get into why I still think there is still hope for Star Wars' future, I will say that none of that hope has anything to do with The Rise of Skywalker. That movie was destined to be a total train wreck before it came out. It follows The Last Jedi canonically which left almost no threads unresolved for the final film, while resolving nothing at all itself; it was like bankrupting a business and firing all of its employees before handing it over to you predecessor to run it. But where my hope in Star Wars lies is in two pieces of recent Star Wars media. I've been pleasantly surprised by how good The Mandalorian has been, and I have very high hopes for the final episode that airs this week. The Mandalorian is the most Star Wars something has felt in a long time, and it was that return to form that makes me love it so much. However, there was something else Star Wars related that was even more authentic to the look, feel, and quality of old Star Wars that came out around the same time at The Mandalorian.
When I first heard about Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, I wasn't really interested, partially because EA was behind it and they don't exactly have the best track record with Star Wars games as of late. Also, all the trailers and gameplay I'd seen didn't really interest me that much. On top of that, I figured that Lucasfilm had got its dirty hands on it and completely ruined the games script and story, just like they have with nearly all other Star Wars media since switching hands to Disney. The game came out, and after watching several reviews it actually seemed like it might be good. I went to a Gamestop the day after it came out and bought a copy. I then found out Jedi Fallen Order was probably the best Star Wars related story to happen since Revenge of the Sith. The game felt so incredibly Star Wars in every possible way, that it was impossible for me not to completely adore it. There were several scenes in the game that genuinely elicited an emotional response from me in ways I didn't expect. I loved all the characters, the setting and story were excellent, and being a video game, it checked all the boxes for being a mostly very well made, fun game. I literally contemplated replaying Jedi Fallen Order this last week even though I just beat it a few weeks ago. I loved it that much.
Where I stand with Star Wars currently is I absolutely still love most of the franchise pre-Disney. I own multiple releases and versions of the original trilogy and the prequels; I own the Clone Wars animated series, every Dark Horse Omnibus of the comics, nearly every Star Wars novel made, again before Disney retconned all these books. I also own most Star Wars video games released since the 16-bit days as well. However, my faith in Disney to do right with Star Wars is on life support, supported only by how good Mandalorian and Jedi Fallen Order have been. I am incredibly cautious about Disney's ability to fix the films and the canon in general, but with The Rise of Skywalker being a financial and critical disappointment I feel that there is a possibility that the future of Star Wars' creative direction may be dramatically changed as the failures of Kathleen Kennedy have reached their tipping point. It will be an interesting and uncertain next few years with the franchise. However, even if Disney ends up completely dropping the ball I still have decades of movies, games, books, comics and more to enjoy that are actually good.
As a way to top off all that, here is how I rank the films, along with what score I'd give them:
1. Revenge of the Sith (10/10)
2. Empire Strikes Back (10/10)
3. Return of the Jedi (8/10)
4. The Phantom Menace (7/10)
5. A New Hope (7/10)
6. Attack of the Clones (6/10)
7. Rogue One (6/10)
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this is where I make a distinction of being canon, real Star Wars, and non-canon, fake Star Wars
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8. The Force Awakens (5/10)
9. The Rise of Skywalker (4/10)
10. Solo (3/10)
11. The Last Jedi (1/10)