Star Wars: All 8 movies, ranked from worst to best

7. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Many fans would say this is the worst movie or where it all went wrong. Although I agree with the latter, there are a few quality factors that still make this movie enjoyable to watch. Darth Maul is one of them, a cool looking villain with an amazing lightsaber duel scene. John Williams returns with an epic new song “Duel Of the Fates.”

Although Liam Neeson looks like he’s sleep walking through the whole movie, Ewan McGregor gives a good performance as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi even though he’s given little to do in this movie.

I always enjoyed the pod race scene, the design of the vehicle were very unique and at the time were praised for the great visual effects. Speaking of great visual effects, I hated Jar Jar and the two-headed announcers on Tatooine as much as anybody (tweet me the character’s name if you know it).

At the end of the day, this movie is probably the most kid-friendly Star Wars movie ever made, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Lucas was innovating new ideas into filmmaking, and I think this movie shows he was more interested in building the universe of Star Wars then tell the story of the Phantom Menace. Also, who was the Phantom Menace? Was it Darth Maul because of his devilish appearance? Was it little Ani, who would one day become the most feared being in the galaxy? Or was it Palpatine, pulling the strings and corrupting the Senate? All I know is, it definitely wasn’t Jar Jar.