STAR WARS: Metacritic Ranks ROTJ Only 1% Better Than Phantom Menace
Went to the old Google to settle a dispute amongst friends over the ranking of Star Wars films from worst to best and was appalled by what I found. Typically Metacritic and I are on the same page when it comes to reviews but this blew my mind.
That's below Empire Strikes Back (78), A New Hope (91), Revenge of the Sith (78), Attack of The Clones (53) and only one point above...
Debate all you want about the validity of ranking Empire and Sith on the same level, but there's no denying that Return of The Jedi is better than Phantom Menace. How can such a reputable news source say this about Return in the 80's...?
Return of the Jedi doesn't really end the trilogy as much as it brings it to a dead stop. The film...is by far the dimmest adventure of the lot.
Only to turn around and say this about Phantom Menace years later?!
It's up to snuff. It sustains the gee-whiz spirit of the series.
Same goes for Variety, Newsweek, and Chicago Reader. All dissed Episode VI only to praise Episode I down the road. There are organizations who knew better however, like The Washington Post, Roger Ebert, and Entertainment Weekly, but even then the reviews aren't nearly as critical or harsh.
Considering most of the critic reviews are based off of the time period when they were released, I think this is a great example of the denial most fans of the series were in when Episode I first came out. Do you think it's fair? How would you rank the series in terms of greatness? Why the hate for Episode VI?