Star Wars: Every movie in the Skywalker Saga, ranked from worst to best

5. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Revenge of the Sith is one of those films you either love or hate, but we’d argue it’s one of the stronger ones in the Skywalker Saga — even with the shoddy CGI and all of Anakin’s whining. The conclusion to the prequel trilogy of films, Revenge of the Sith sets up everything that follows with Luke and Leia — and it explains exactly what happened to the Jedi and the Republic prior to A New Hope.

Exploring the history of the galaxy introduced in the first set of films is fascinating, and Revenge of the Sith is where the meat of that history is. Despite the two previous films being just okay, this one concludes the prequel trilogy with a vengeance — and we love it for that.

Fans of epic fight sequences will also appreciate this film’s ending, which features two of the franchise’s best showdowns: Yoda vs. Emperor Palpatine and Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Anakin. Fans only got to see Yoda’s lightsaber-wielding skills briefly in Attack of the Clones, so seeing him take on Palpatine himself is a huge moment, even if it concludes with him on the losing end. And the falling out between Obi-Wan and Anakin never fails to get us in our feelings. (Is there any Star Wars fan who can’t quote that entire sequence word for word?)

Of course, Revenge of the Sith still has some of the cheesy dialogue and romance that we fault Attack of the Clones and The Phantom Menace for. It’s far from a perfect installment, but we’d wager the highlights outweigh its negative aspects.

And let’s not forget that Revenge of the Sith gave us one of the best Star Wars quotes of all time courtesy of Padmé Amidala: “So this is how liberty dies — with thunderous applause.”