Star Wars: All 9 Skywalker Saga films ranked from worst to best

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LAS VEGAS – MAY 29: Actor Ray Park’s Darth Maul character from “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” is shown on screen while musicians perform during “Star Wars: In Concert” at the Orleans Arena May 29, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The traveling production features a full symphony orchestra and choir playing music from all six of John Williams’ Star Wars scores synchronized with footage from the films displayed on a three-story-tall, HD LED screen. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

8. The Phantom Menace

In what can be a boring and monotonous slog at times, there’s a solid film to be found within The Phantom Menace. Arguably the most philosophical of the Prequel Trilogy, there’s a good amount of time in this film that builds the universe in important thematic ways. Sure there are midichlorians but, in the context of the trilogy as a whole, the focus on this portion of the Force could be viewed as one of their mistakes — caring more about the science of the Force than the belief. This film does a great job of setting up the failures of the Jedi Order that pervaded the Prequel Trilogy, and it does so in such subtle ways.

The action throughout, such as the Podrace and just about all of Darth Maul’s scenes, is fantastic as well. The final lightsaber duel is still one of the best fight scenes in the franchise. Basically, whenever Maul shows up in the film, it’s fantastic. The rest of the fight scenes range from decent to good as well.

As mentioned though, this film fails by largely because it’s unable to grab the viewer’s attention. The talk of trade negotiations is uninteresting, and the idea that an invasion needs to have something signed to make it legal is nonsensical. Young Anakin is often quite annoying at times but, after several rewatches, he can become a bit endearing.

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