A couple of months ago I gave you my overall Star Wars movie rankings. At the time, I had not included The Rise of Skywalker because I had not seen it yet. Now that I have seen it, I present with my truncated Star Wars Sequel Trilogy rankings.

#1 The Force Awakens

This film is by far the best of the Star Wars sequel films. It’s basically a remix of Star Wars: A New Hope. It starts off with our main heroes on a desert planet (Jakku), includes an escape on the Millennium Falcon, and climaxes with an attack on a planet-killing Imperial weapon of mass destruction, Starkiller Base.

J.J. Abrams has mastered the ability to update huge franchises and make them enjoyable to new fans without alienating old ones. His work on the recent Star Trek films was great preparation for the splendid adventure that was Awakens.

#2 The Last Jedi

I’m a Last Jedi apologist. While many were disappointed that Luke Skywalker did not return as some avenging, swashbuckling 🤺 hero, I was pleasantly-surprised to see director Rian Johnson totally subvert expectations.

To me, Luke did return as a conquering hero, but more with his mind and soul, not his body. He helped revive the Resistance but just not in a way that appeased bloodthirsty, vengeance-seeking fans.

It’s 91% Rotten Tomatoes 🍅 score versus its 43% audience score 🍿 underscores how polarizing this film is.

#3 The Rise of Skywalker

I compare this movie to a Sloppy Joe sandwich 🍔. It’s a good and tasty, but a hot damn mess!

A few observations:

• It was cool to see the venerable Lando Calrissian make an appearance. But his appearance felt flat.
• It was great to see the menacing Emperor Palestine, but equally frustrating to see him seemingly re-emerge out of nowhere and then be destroyed so easily.
• When did Force Healing suddenly become a major thing without much backstory presented on screen?
• What the #%?! is a Sith wayfinder and why is this my first time hearing about it?
• Where was my Baby Yoda Easter egg? 😢 Maybe it is the Force Healing reference?

Like I said, The Rise of Skywalker is a bloody, good mess!

That’s my order. What’s yours? 🗳