The movies in the Star Wars saga have differed in length. George Lucas started off making the movies as slimline action-adventures that were around two hours long, but times have changed, audiences are demanding weightier movies, and Disney’s sequels have gotten longer and longer. It was recently announced that the upcoming Skywalker saga-capper The Rise of Skywalker includes 135 minutes of music alone, suggesting that the movie itself could be a lot longer than that. Conceivably, it might even be the longest Star Wars movie to date. Anyway, here is Every Star Wars Movie, Ranked From Shortest To Longest.
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (121 minutes)
It’s interesting that the first Star Wars movie that ever got made (the fourth chronologically — or sixth, if you count the “Anthology” movies) is also the shortest, because it had to introduce audiences to this whole fictional world. George Lucas had to explain lightsabers, the Force, the Jedi, the Sith, the Rebels, the Empire, Tatooine, the Millennium Falcon, the Death Star — he had more exposition to get through than any subsequent Star Wars movie did, and he also followed a Kurosawa-inspired adventure and Joseph Campbell-inspired hero’s journey within the movie’s narrative. This is the kind of movie that comes along once in a generation.
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (124 minutes)
The fact that the two best movies in the Star Wars saga are also the shortest can’t be a coincidence. Making a movie around the two-hour mark isn’t a guarantee that it’ll be an Empire Strikes Back-level masterpiece, obviously, but the runtime is indicative of structural differences between this and the other Star Wars movies.
There are no unnecessary detours or flabby scenes in The Empire Strikes Back. It’s also become a shorthand for any sequel that’s darker in tone than its predecessor. Those people seem to forget that it still had Yoda hitting R2-D2 with his cane and a giant worm trying to eat the Millennium Falcon.
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (132 minutes)
Some fans consider the final film in the original trilogy to be something of a let-down, because The Empire Strikes Back took the story to deeper, darker, scarier places, and then Return of the Jedi came in with cutesy plot devices like Ewoks. Still, it’s a satisfying conclusion to the saga (or at least it would’ve been if Disney had left well enough alone and it had remained the end of the saga as planned). It wrapped up the cliffhangers from Empire in a compelling way in its first act and then brought an end to the overarching storylines. Han and Leia got together, Vader was redeemed in Luke’s eyes, Yoda became one with the Force, the Rebels defeated the Empire, and peace was restored in the galaxy.
TIE: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (133 minutes)
It seems odd that the story of how the Rebels acquired the Death Star plans took longer to portray on-screen than the story of how their royal leader got abducted, how a plucky young farm boy rescued her, and how the Rebels used those Death Star plans to blow it up, but that’s just the current Hollywood landscape for you. Longer movies are the norm now. Rogue One is arguably the best of the Disney-produced Star Wars films so far, since Gareth Edwards brought us an interesting blend of the nostalgia-inducing familiar (Stormtroopers, AT-ATs, work-in-progress Death Star, scarier-than-ever Darth Vader) with the worth-the-price-of-admission new (Scarif, Guardians of the Whills, a reprogrammed Imperial droid).
TIE: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (133 minutes)
Back in 1999, film buffs and Star Wars geeks alike were ecstatic in the lead-up to the release of The Phantom Menace. The posters teased an eight-year-old Anakin Skywalker with the shadow of Darth Vader looming over him. George Lucas was back to add new layers to his most renowned saga. Everything seemed to be coming up roses. And then the movie actually came out, with its short negotiations and its Jar Jar Binks and its podracing, and fans everywhere were bitterly disappointed. The prequels have gone on to be forgiven by fans, but it took Disney really messing up Star Wars to get there.
TIE: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (135 minutes)
There’s a lot that The Force Awakens did right — toying with fans’ nostalgia, namely — but there’s also a lot that it did wrong, and that’s mostly thanks to J.J. Abrams’ mystery box. He’ll introduce some exciting new characters, like a desert scavenger raised on legends about the Force, or a reformed Stormtrooper conflicted about his past, or a Vader-inspired villain questioning his allegiance to the Dark Side, but then he won’t build on their arcs in a meaningful way. He’ll just get audiences asking questions, so they keep coming back due to the promise of answers (this is the guy who made Lost, after all…).
TIE: Solo: A Star Wars Story (135 minutes)
In theory, a Han Solo movie sounded like a no-brainer, but in practice, it left a lot to be desired. Disney doomed the movie by firing directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (who have an impeccable track record) halfway through filming and reshooting half the movie, then burying it in an overcrowded summer release slate and barely bothered to market it at all.
As a standalone space Western, Solo: A Star Wars Story could’ve been a lot of fun, but unfortunately, it insisted upon giving us a shoehorned-in Darth Maul and the backstory to Han’s last name and every single object and item of clothing that Han has ever been shown to possess instead.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (140 minutes)
Easily the best entry in the prequel trilogy, Revenge of the Sith had a lot to fit into 140 minutes. It had to take the naive Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker and turn him into the Sith Lord Darth Vader, portraying him as a sort of tragic figure, and get everyone from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda to Luke and Leia themselves to the place where we find them at the beginning of the original trilogy. And on top of that, it had to succeed as an entertaining adventure to our favorite galaxy far, far away. And by God, Lucas did it.
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (142 minutes)
If George Lucas cut the silly slapstick routine where C-3PO’s head ends up on a Battle Droid’s body and the droning, sand-related “romantic” dialogue between Anakin and Padme on Naboo, he could’ve trimmed this one down. Despite the fact that it’s often called the worst Star Wars movie, there’s a lot to admire in Attack of the Clones, from the Blade Runner-influenced flying car chase through the neon-lit streets of Coruscant to Obi-Wan’s kick-ass fight with Jango Fett on the rainy planet of Kamino to Anakin’s darkness beginning to show with the massacre of the Tusken Raiders who killed his mother.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (152 minutes)
It’s hardly surprising that Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi is the longest movie in the Star Wars saga, because it certainly feels that way. The movie seemed to have reached a natural stopping point and peaked its action before the final battle on Crait had even begun. There’s a lot that could’ve been cut from this movie to get that runtime down, from the on-the-nose commentary about animal slavery to the unnecessary detour to Canto Bight to Benicio del Toro’s seedy, untrustworthy guy who unsurprisingly turns out to be untrustworthy. Of course, cutting 20 minutes from the runtime wouldn’t solve the fundamental flaws of The Last Jedi.
