The Single Best Thing In Every Star Wars Movie

There is perhaps no franchise that divides opinion or attracts more online vitriol than Star Wars, with pretty much every new piece of franchise media causing a ton of controversy, so this is a franchise that's constantly surrounded in negativity.

And that's why it's so important to remember: however inconsistent the films have been over the years and even if it has what is arguably the most repulsive, obnoxious and moronic fandom in internet history, Star Wars is an international treasure.

This series is not only set in maybe the best fictional universe ever created but it has delivered so much brilliant content across pretty much every form of media there is, including all those (mostly) awesome TV shows.

And as for the twelve feature films to date, they have so, so much to admire. Yes, some of them are better than others but some are completely brilliant and every single one of them is full of passion, creativity and operatic thrills, meaning that there are great things in nearly all of them - yes, even the bad ones.

So, what is the single greatest thing in the twelve Star Wars feature films to date? It's time to find out.

Say what you will about The Phantom Menace - there's an awful lot to say and not much of it is good - but the film's climax remains a masterpiece of screen action that the franchise has rarely, if ever, topped since.

The climax of the film cuts between four separate strands: the space battle above Naboo, the ground battle between the droid army and the Gungans, the storming of Theed Palace and, of course, the legendary lightsaber duel between Darth Maul (Ray Park), Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor).

And hot damn, all of it is absolutely insane.

Gloriously thrilling, visually mesmerising and edited to perfection, this entire finale is an absolutely exhilarating and absurdly entertaining spectacle you'll never want to end; hell, it's so freaking good that not even the cringe-worthy antics of Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) and kid Anakin (Jake Lloyd) can undermine it.

And as for the lightsaber duel, it might just be the greatest such duel in the entire series, and John Williams' score 'Duel of the Fates' is one of the best things he has ever done. It's still hard to believe such a beautiful finale could've come out of such a flawed film, but no-one's complaining.

With its terrible script, jarring characters and numbingly awful acting, The Phantom Menace is easily the worst film in the Skywalker Saga but this finale makes the whole thing worth it - and a hell of a lot easier to revisit.