Best of the 4 Star Wars films to date

Rating: Null/10 (9 May 2001)

Whenever I see a list of the greatest films of all time, Star Wars, A New Hope, deservably, is always ranked high. However, none of the other films seem to make it. Not even 'The Empire Strikes Back, which is generally regarded by fans and movie critics alike as the greatest of the series. Would ANH be so highly regarded if not for ESB? ESB added depth and emotion to the series. Star Wars was HUGE and any sequel was sure to make money. In the hands of hollywood it would have been called Star Wars 2 and would have featured an even more amazing escape from a bigger and more powerful Death Star. A meaner villain and an even more impressive final space battle. But in the hands of the master he decided to take the Star Wars universe in a new direction and expand on it. He took a risk doing this. With the exception of the lightsaber duel, nothing from the original is rehashed here. Imagine if GL needed Hollywood backing and pitched the story to some Hollywood suits, "The big battle between the Empire and Rebels takes place at the beginning of the film, not the end like in the original. The film then splits off into two parallel non-action, character driven stories and climaxes with 2 simultaneous battles. Throughout it all, the heroes are retreating and the bad guys are winning. The movie ends with Han Solo frozen in carbonite, and shipped off to Jabba the Hutt, and the rest of the rebels are in hiding." What Hollywood suit would have greenlighted a script that depressing. "Damn it, this is supposed to be a sequel to Star Wars, I want bad guys dying and Empirial bases blowing up and a happy ending with a cheerful ceremony." Fortunately, Lucas makes films on his own terms. The few original reviews I found from 1980 were unenthusiatic. "It has no beginning and no end and drags in the middle" was the common complaint. 20 years later it is now considered the Masterpiece of the series. Other great sequels that come to mind are 'Godfather 2', 'The Road Warrior', 'Star Trek 2', 'Superman 2' and 'Toy Story 2'. These are all sequels that refused to follow the standard sequel formula of rehashing the original. Roger Ebert calls ESB the heart of the franchise. The excellence of ESB resonates back to ANH. Had Lucas not had a bigger story in mind and Star Wars, ANH stood on its own, I believe it would not be as highly regarded today.