I was quite curious to see everyone's feelings and rankings, now that we can "officially" rank the whole Saga, and not just part of it. After seeing ROTS yesterday, I can say it is without a doubt, far and away the best of the prequel movies, and to me fits in more with the feel of the OT than anything else we've seen thus far. As much as I liked it, for some reason...be it the characters/story or just nostalgia in general....I'm not sure I can place it ahead of the OT movies either. I liked it about as much I think, and they would all be ranked pretty close for me, but there's something about the OT that just holds a little higher with me personally. I'd probably rank them this way:
1. Empire Strikes Back - My favorite, by far.
2 (tie). A New Hope - The one that started it all, and really a nice "stand alone" movie, which it could have been at first.
2 (tie). Return of the Jedi - I know many people dislike this the most of the OT because of Ewoks, etc., but maybe it is because this is the first Star Wars movie I saw in the theatres...back when I was 6...but I've always had a special place for this one. The Jabba's Palace/Sarlacc scenes are cool, as is the final Death Star Assault and Saber battle.
3. Revenge of the Sith - Very close to ANH/ROTJ right now, and BY FAR the best of the prequels to me. I really, really enjoyed this movie. It tied up a number of things quite well, answered a lot of questions, and had all sorts of action. This 2 1/2 hour movie seemed like it was a half hour to me yesterday, just because of the non stop action and not wanting it to end. Quite a way to go out, IMO.
4. Attack of the Clones - I really, really liked this movie when I first saw it when it came out, and thought it rivaled my favorites of all time. Some of that might have been the newness, but I have cooled on it a bit since then. I still like the movie, but there are parts I almost become bored with. The clones, Arena, and saber battles are all quite well done. For some reason, I have noticed this movie getting the lowest rankings/getting ragged on the most with all the Star Wars talk lately (with fans and critics both).
5. The Phantom Menace - I don't dislike this movie as much as others have. And actually, after watching it this past weekend on Fox (first time I had seen it in a long time), I kind of have a new appreciation for it. Sure, it drags in some parts, and there is too much Jar Jar, but overall the film is pretty good, and that final Saber battle is awesome.