You Don't Even Know...

NMT: "Star Wars" Series Review

Finally, I got these done! So, I don't have much to say about the original trilogy, which is now "Star Wars" 4-6, so I'll go ahead and rate them:

"Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope (aka, "Star Wars")-" 4.9/5.

"Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back-" 4.88/5.

"Star Wars: Episode VI- Return of the Jedi-" 4.92/5.

Now, I bet you're wondering, how did I watch these?...

Technically, completely wrong. If you minus out your bias on how to watch these movies, there really is no "wrong way" to watch these, the only people who are wrong are the folks at Lucasfilm.

But, I watched these wrong; I jumped into the fandom all wrong. I was never really a Star Wars fan, but it wasn't until around 6 or 7 years ago when I felt more open to jumping in on the franchise. Of course, the best way to do it was to watch the original movies.

However, what hooked me to it was the video game "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II..."

You see where the problem is, right? 😂

My dad got me it for one of my birthdays, and prior to so, I didn't even know the game existed, let alone its predecessor. I know he is sort of a Star Wars fan, but I never was. But, I wasn't going to complain, I gave it a shot...

And I loved it. In retrospect, I understand that this game is a totally different story than what's going in the movies, but at the time I was left with so many questions, not only about how it ended (waiting on that three-quel here 🙄), but with the lore behind it as well...

Unfortunately, there was no way I could watch the movies for free at the time, and we didn't really do online shopping at the time to even consider looking for them. After that game, my interest never went any further.

Fast-forward to the future, Disney purchases Lucasfilm. With that, my dad took us to see "Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens." While I had absolutely no idea about the background of this movie, I still very much enjoyed watching it, and it solidified my interest in the series (that Christmas, my dad also (finally) bought "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed").

So yes, I have seen "Star Wars VII," but you never knew that; that's because I refused to rate a movie in which I have yet to see its predecessors.

Then imagine my frustrations when my dad also took us to see "The Last Jedi." 😤🙂🙃

"Family time," I tell ya.

Welp. I took advantage of the fact that times have changed. I checked on Amazon Video, none of them were free. So, I asked for "Star Wars: The Complete Saga," and here we are.

No, I have yet to see "Rogue One" nor "Solo." I'll get back to you on those.

I'll also get back to you on "Force Awakens" and "Last Jedi," as I kind of have an idea now how knowledge of the original movies could have swayed my opinion on those two, but I would like to rewatch them again from a new perspective.

I digress, but, basically, I went into this whole franchise with noob-like tendencies. It's OK, I'm getting there.

With that said, when I got the complete saga, I watched it as it was labeled, in the chronogical order.

Personally, I don't think it would have mattered to me whether I watched it by release order or chronological; the argument there is that I don't get to experience the same surprises as those who followed the series. To be fair, it was obvious on its own that Luke was Vader's son. They dropped some not-so-subtle hints throughout- well, in my opinion.

Even so, I still very much enjoyed the original trilogy and I still had moments of doubt, regardless of my knowledge of the prequels (now predecessors- they really shoulda just left it all alone). I couldn't believe Yoda died in that movie. In Ep. VII, I know he was already dead, but I thought it was just 'cause time has passed, so it woulda made sense. But no, he died, right in front of me. And I didn't like that. 😢

Anyway, I do have to admit, even though it wouldn't have made a difference for me in experiencing the plot-flow, I do wish I saw the original trilogy first. My reason: the second one was sooo slowww.

I don't have anything to say/review specifically about each movie individually, but as you progress through, each one gets less political.

Ep. I had very little action until around the third act. Ep. II was a significant improvement, but still pretty slow in development (not sure if it was good or bad- but at least the plot developed in some way). Ep. III was much more fun to watch, cringey at moments even for its time.

I mean, I would have liked to see the first trilogy first, as I would've definitely been hooked from the start, but I feel like it would have been a poor way to go out of the saga ending on a slightly lower note. So, in a way, I'm glad I trudged through it the way I did- plus, it gave me a solid background on what this "war" really is; that's one discredit to the original trilogy, we call it a "war," but without knowing the causes, it kinda just seems like some people are mad at each other and just jump each other randomly.

Anywho:

"Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace-" 4/5. Albeit, this one was hard to break into the '4' range, but it just made it with one leg and no arms.

"Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones-" 4.5/5.

"Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith-" 4.88/5.