Part IV - this movie owned a lot. A lot of things I really liked about it that is hard to keep track of. Really wicked cast, even the minor characters like Peter Cushing were good as hell. Really powerful and effectively used soundtrack, made a lot of scenes really memorable (Burning Homestead immediately comes to mind among many). It also mirrors my thoughts on the first LOTR movie in that it does a really, really good job as an introductory piece for the series that establishes the setting and rules of the universe it inhabits seamlessly and believably. I was a bit preoccupied when watching V and a bit of VI so my thoughts might change when I re-watch with total undivided attention, but also like Fellowship I really just feel the first entry had a much different tone, setting, and more I can't really quantify than the other two entries in a way that made me really like the first.

Outside of that I've always heard the movies were a big amalgamation of film influences because lucas is a big movie geek and it was really cool being identify a handful of them. Having finished reading the Joseph Campbell book about the Monomyth/Hero's Journey it's cool being able to identify the movie from that angle and seeing it almost go through the checklist (Star Wars is regularly cited as the biggest modern example of this), too. idk I just really appreciated this movie on a lot of different levels. Also I came into this with a bit of prior knowledge about stuff like all the post-editing done with the DVD and later VHS releases versus the theatrical version and I'm kind of curious to see which stuff was part of those additions, because there are a few effects/scenes I can think of that stuck out like a sore thumb (idk how the greedo-han change ever got approved it looks so bad lmao).


Part V - I definitely feel like it's slower and more about inter-character development, world building, winding down after the almost self-contained arc and climax of part IV, and setting up for part VI. I feel like it has more setpiece scenes than IV but a lot of the ones in IV are more memorable to me, idk why. Last third of the movie picks up, but again it feels more about setting up arcs that get resolved in the next entry and is spent servicing that part more. idk not much of this one really resonated with me, I don't really have a lot to say about it.

Part VI - The remastered scene they added near the very beginning w/ the dance scene is so fucking bad, oh my god. Movie takes a bit to get going but when it doeos it owns and remains enjoyable throughout after. Despite it being the big trilogy climax and send-off I don't really have a lot to say either. I enjoyed it a lot more than V though, but I think I enjoyed IV more, albeit for primarily different reasons. I really liked this series, maybe I've been watching too much modern stuff but it was really nice seeing just a genuine hero, redemption, and good vs evil story that is played very straight. The good guys prevail, some bad guys have redemption arcs, the bad-bad guy eats dirt, a romance sub-plot that ends satisfyingly, etc. There isn't some writhing nihilistic or pyrrhic aspect to it all - it's hella feel good in tone and I appreciate that.

I've been a bit of a reactionary haterbot on this series after seeing it at age 12 and it not gripping me b/c I was a dweeb about movies or had a short attention span or something. So I've made my peace w/ that and thoroughly enjoyed (not just appreciated but genuinely enjoyed) the original trilogy. I'll watch episodes 1-3 - I've heard 1 is dookie and a half, 2 is more of the same, and 3 isn't bad, so I'll try my best to go into those  not being set on already hating them.

Final rating:
4>6>5. There's just something really fantastic about 4 I really liked. Some combination of the cinematography, how effectively the orchestral score was used, the scenery, pacing, arcs, characters and actors - I don't know.