Back before my hiatus, I did several media reviews, mostly superhero, fantasy, science fiction, and horror. This also included my attempt to watch the Star Wars movie series and review them from a non-fan perspective. I had stalled out in this process after watching and reviewing The Phantom Menace, but I’m done now. I should give everyone an update.
New Review Guidelines
But first, I changed my review guidelines and should explain how they work. My previous review guidelines used a letter-grade system similar to the common primary and secondary school grading system used here in the US, with C being average.
I always have a hard time ranking things, even when using a semi-subjective grading system instead of pure subjective ratings. So I’ve simplified this even further for what I call The BOG Standard Rating System. BOG stands for Bad, OK, Great, which are the new ratings.
- An OK piece of media is just that: average. It’s competently made. This doesn’t mean I don’t like it. OK media can be fun, expecially if I like the genre, the director, an actor, tropes used, or some other feature, like a clever structure.
- OK media bumps up to Great if it’s exceptionally well-made or historically important. My criteria is: do I think someone would enjoy a piece of media despite their personal tastes? Would someone who hates horror movies like this horror movie?
- In contrast, Bad media is seriously flawed. At least two-thirds of the media is tedious, dull, confused, or incoherent. I would actively discourage someone from wasting their time tracking it down even if it’s a genre they normally enjoy.
In addition to this base rating, there’s what I call stand-outs. This is anything worth noting about that media: an actor’s performance or a specific scene that is better or worse than the rest of a movie.
My Star Wars Experience
I described my Star Wars plans in a How to Watch Star Wars post and a follow-up post. I will mention again, though, that originally I had only seen either five or six of the movies. My goal was to watch all the Star Wars movies as a non-fan, review them from a non-fan’s perspective, and give them a chance to win me over. I also planned to watch The Mandalorian, which I think was the only TV series available when I began this adventure.
So I rewatched IV, V, and VI as well as Rogue One, and watched Solo and The Phantom Menace for the first time… then I petered out. But during the two years of my absence, I rewatched all the movies and made it all the way through to the end. So, it’s time to update my review and give my final thoughts on Star Wars.
The ten live-action movies that came out after A New Hope are all OK. As a non-fan, I didn’t hate any of the movies as much as some fans do. They all have their downsides and some have their good points, but none of them were bad for at least two-thirds of their runtime.
The worst of them was the last one, The Rise of Skywalker. It feels incoherent in several places, and it’s dull for about 50% of the movie. You can tell that by that point, many of the people making the movie didn’t really care; they were just phoning it in. The worst part is the whole “somehow, Palpatine has returned” bit.
The best of the Star Wars movies is A New Hope. It goes along at a good pace and is never dull. There are things I don’t like about it, but I can still enjoy it. I think I would rate it as Great because of its historical importance. It rewrote the rules for how many movies are made, especially science fiction movies. I think even people who don’t like space opera could appreciate it.
The other movies are OK because I can’t see recommending any of them to someone who isn’t a Star Wars fan. That’s the real flaw of all the sequels, including The Empire Strikes Back. It’s hard to care about what’s happening unless you are a fan, steeped in Star Wars culture. The goal of the sequels is not really to tell a story with broad human appeal, but to expand the franchise universe.
Conclusion
I rewatched all of those movies as part of my “job”, educating my friends’ kid on famous movies and TV shows. When we made it to the end of the last movie, I said “We never have to watch Star Wars again.” And I really felt it. I doubt I will ever watch The Mandalorian, or the latest series Andor, despite hearing that they are really good, because I really do feel done with Star Wars. If I walked into someone’s house and a Star Wars movie was on their TV, I wouldn’t mind it and might even watch a bit, but I have no plans to ever seek it out on my own.
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