So, ala
Machete Order, I've been thinking about an optimum order to view, or, as importantly, not view, the Star Wars films. We'll just call it Griffith Order™ here. The goal is to put the Star Wars movies together in an organic, streamlined order that presents facets of the whole series but serves each's strengths... and minimizes the weak links. Put another way, it gives you the big picture while saving you from watching all the crap. Or, is least likely to make you go, "Why the Hell am I even watching these anyway?" To that end, the five worst, most useless or mediocre have been excised completely. Let's get started with the first three:
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
No tricky stuff here, the original theatrical trilogy is first and foremost, everything flowed from there, as it should and so it is here. It's why we're even bothering to give the others a look. The simplest form of this list is just watch these and ignore the rest like The Holiday Special and Ewok TV movies before them. Unlike Machete Order, which reincorporates the prequels within the framework of the original trilogy to purportedly create parallel journeys for Luke & Anakin before wrapping up both in Jedi, I think it's crucial that whatever order you put the rest in that the OT stays together and first, introducing us to everything and so whatever comes after plays off them. For instance, Vader's regretful turn in RotJ even before he actually turns sets up the portrayal of Anakin in RotS, or the introduction of the Emperor when he's actually creepy and foreboding before we see his past life as a CGI cartoon character. Everything is at its best in the OT and so it should always be the first impression (and everyone should check out
Project 4K77 and it's sister projects 4K80 and 4K83). Speaking of needing help making a good impression, next up:
Revenge of the Sith
Rogue One
Let's call this the Prequel Duology. It's tempting to stick Solo in-between those to create a replacement prequel trilogy, but it's so unnecessary, off-putting, and mediocre in its own right you might as well watch AotC than Disney's own answer to the prequels. So, Revenge of the Sith is the weakest movie of the bunch, and gives us the prequel backstory we really didn't need but is probably the most watchable of the prequels because at least it does some shit, albeit not very well. I also think it works better coming off of, paralleling and paying off things setup in RotJ. If anything, I feel like the lingering effect of Jedi, good (Luke/Vader) and bad (Endor/Ewoks), can only help ameliorate RotS' own shortcomings. There's a lot of revisionist history trying to buoy this film, but while it's still not good, placed between RotJ and Rogue One at least the decline isn't so pronounced as coming off two other awful movies and purportedly acting as precursor to three all-time classics.
Next is Rogue One, which really doesn't need to be included but adds a modern, grounded and not altogether embarrassing vibe to cleanse the palette and reestablish the classic Star Wars 1977 aesthetic and follow Vader after RotS. It's kind of a perfect transition to the sequels in this way, and does what they don't and, at least thematically, establishes the stakes of a rebellion trying to resist an overwhelming force, plus, while I wouldn't place it's viewing order ahead of ANH, putting it before a remake of ANH is the next best thing (it even foreshadows TLJ's hyperspace tracking =). By the time you finish you're definitely missing Han, Luke & Leia, whom we see again in the end before flashing WAY forward again. Which bring us to:
The Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
The Sequel... Dyad! =) TFA & TLJ basically combine the known parts of Lucas' Episode VII treatment with recycled EU material and whatever JJ Abrams, Rian Johnson and the Lucasfilm Story Group had to say about Star Wars as fans making meta-movies about it. TFA is an almost too pitch perfect revival and TLJ pretty much wraps up the existing plot, new and old, for all intents and purposes. We complete the circle with Luke, and the potential implications of whatever loose threads remain are probably more interesting than any note left to play. Rey & Ren are the new school of force adepts representing opposing sides or perhaps points on a smaller spectrum than before. Ending on the stinger of Luke's legend and the force sensitive stable boy holding the lit up broom is about as poetic a thematic ending to Star Wars as Disney is likely to ever achieve, especially based on their track record since that film, their big screen prospects going forward, and the fact they never want this shit to end anyway. Once again that order is:
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
Revenge of the Sith
Rogue One
The Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
Well, that's it, I'd say the main strengths of this are keeping the OT intact, minimizing prequel material to only the most relevant part, and the best of what Disney's had to offer. The weaknesses are that after the OT it's obviously pretty ragged, and doesn't have the potential narrative benefits of Machete Order, but that depends on how much value you think can be extracted from the prequels anyway (the biggest flaw of any viewing order including them is just that: including them). What would you rather watch though, AotC or Rogue One (or neither)? I like the idea of minimizing the Anakin/Vader lameness and restablishing his badassery before introducing Ren, but YMMV. The point is, the best of every era is included, including the worst era, but hopefully in a more palatable package.