All the 'Star Wars' movies, ranked from worst to best

Disney/Lucasfilm

With a new "Star Wars" movie opening Friday, it's time for that perennial question: How do you rank all the "Star Wars" movies? And where does the latest fit in?

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" may be the first standalone movie from the franchise, but it's steeped in the mythology that the other seven movies revolve around.

Like all "Star Wars" movies after "Force Awakens," "Rogue One" has tremendous pressure not just to make a killing at the box office but to leave a lasting impression on the saga's huge fan base.

So how does "Rogue One" compare with the previous seven "Star Wars" movies? Here's how I rank them.

8. "The Phantom Menace" (1999)

George Lucas has said from the beginning that "Star Wars" was made for kids, and he really took that to heart when he unveiled "Episode I: The Phantom Menace," 16 years after finishing the groundbreaking original trilogy. Introducing us to Anakin Skywalker at the age of 9 as he's plucked by Qui-Gon Jinn as the "chosen one" who will bring balance to the Force, the first prequel gives us a lot of tame action and unlikely scenarios for Anakin to be in, even in a galaxy far, far away.

Sadly, the best part of the movie is its villain, Darth Maul, who has an incredible duel with the Jedi at the end of the movie. It's one of the only goose-bump moments in the whole movie — heightened by John Williams' score — and you have to wait over an hour to get to it. And at this point, the less said about Jar Jar Binks, the better.

7. "Revenge of the Sith" (2005)

The conclusion of the prequel trilogy is one of the saga's darkest. A grown Anakin is seduced by the dark side of the Force and wipes out the Jedi, including the younglings (!). Padmé Amidala dies, but not before giving birth to their twins, Luke and Leia.

But the most agonizing thing to sit through is Hayden Christensen's performance as Skywalker conflicted with the dark side — more a sniveling 20-something than a disillusioned "chosen one." We wouldn't get a good performance of that pull to the dark side until Adam Driver came along to play Kylo Ren in "The Force Awakens." Though we can only partly blame Christensen: Lucas was never big on giving actors instructions, which proved here to be costly.

6. "Return of the Jedi" (1983)

The final film in the original trilogy accomplishes what we needed it to. It closes that chapter of the saga by answering many of the questions that were floating around for years. But as a standalone, years later, it doesn't have the same effect that "Episode IV" and "Episode V" have. That mostly has to do with the introduction of the Ewoks, which makes for deflating sequences in the movie. And it's still a bummer to see Boba Fett die in the first 20 minutes.