The Best Star Wars Movies All Have One Thing In Common

The best Star Wars movies are the ones that George Lucas didn't direct. Whoa! Did I overdose on Haterade or sip on too much troll juice? No, this disturbance in the Force is based on astute observation.

Make no mistake about it, Lucas is the architect of the Star Wars Universe. Without him, there's nothing. He created this world, these characters, and the various rules that exist here. However, he only directed four entries: "Star Wars," "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace," "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones," "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith," and "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope." Apart from the original movie, which is influential, can any of these other films genuinely be considered among the best in the series? Meesa says no.

Lucas served as an executive producer on "Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back" and "Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi" (which he also co-wrote with Lawrence Kasdan), but there's a widespread belief that he secretly directed and reshot the latter, micromanaging the entire production to be what he wanted. Whether that's true or not, only the people involved know the full story. Regardless, there's no denying that those two sequels look — and flow — better than the original, and it's not Lucas' name in the director field.

Since Disney purchased Lucasfilm, other directors have played in the sandbox, and the best efforts are always when they follow his original vision but are allowed to be creative too. It makes one wonder, though: if Lucas was the great and almighty savior he's portrayed to be, wouldn't Disney have made a blank check to him in an attempt to get him to direct a Star Wars movie again?

The reality is that George Lucas doesn't have a wide-spanning career as a director. He's only directed two other movies outside of Star Wars. In fact, after directing the 1977 classic, he wasn't certain he ever wanted to do it again, since the experience of the first film had affected his health negatively.

Decades after the first Star Wars movie, Lucas saddled up and returned to the director's chair for the prequel trilogy. This time, though, he would write and direct all three films rather than hand over the baton to other filmmakers. And how did that turn out? Look, let's be real here for a second: the prequel trilogy isn't that bad. However, the films lack the impact and gravitas of the original trilogy, proving that Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand were much more than hired guns in "Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back" and "Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi," respectively. The prequels are a noticeable step down in all departments, even if Lucas had better technology at his disposal and the luxury of time on his side. 

To rub further salt in the wounds, Dave Filoni — current Lucasfilm head honcho and then-supervising director of the "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" animated series — delivered a show that told a story about this era better than Lucas ever did in his own films. Looking back, Filoni achieved something monumental with "The Clone Wars," doing some incredible heavy lifting for now-important parts of the Star Wars story, such as "Ahsoka" and "Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord."

At this point in time, it should have been obvious that Lucas is an ideas man and deserves credit for conceptualization, but his execution — while not bleach in the eyes — is nothing special and often looked at through rose-tinted sunglasses. James Cameron, he is not.

George Lucas' vision for Star Wars remains imperative. As a matter of fact, it's obvious how the franchise misses the mark when it deviates too far from his initial vision. The best Star Wars movies are still ones that Lucas didn't direct, though. The further he is away from them, the better, actually.

"Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back" and "Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi" were the first examples of this, even though most people still think Lucas had a healthy hand in shaping them. However, Lucas never touched "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" or the controversial "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," which are both efforts that respect his vision but have their own unique filmmaking approaches in how to get there.

Also, before anybody gets knotted up about the mention of "The Last Jedi," let's settle something once and for all: this was meant to be the middle part of a trilogy, but Lucasfilm and Disney had a kneejerk reaction to the fan outrage over it, panicked, and course corrected in the wrong way. Imagine how confused and shocked everybody must have been with the ending of "The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980, but there was no internet back then, so people could touch grass and wait until the next movie to get the full picture.

When it comes to building out a universe, yes, a vision is the north star. Yet no movie is made by a singular person; it's a team effort. Lucas deserves all the plaudits for coming up with Star Wars, but the franchise has truly come alive when other filmmakers and creatives have been able to interpret Lucas' roadmap and put their own special flourishes on a galaxy far, far away.