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And Star Wars is frequently mentioned as one of the best films ever made. Empire is not.

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You and I don't disagree on the M/TV board very often - so I say this reluctantly:

Yeah, it kind of is. There are few truly great sequels, and those that are often involve being part of an intended trilogy or sequence of films. To get the obvious one out of the way first:

Godfather and Godfather II - there are advocates on each side of the line and those like me who find them too close to call. Both of these films won best picture and are genre-defining and in some cases career defining for absolute A+ grade actors such as Brando (I only), Pacino and Deniro (II only).

After that - the list becomes fairly short. Setting aside the Bond films for a whole host of good reasons - there are a slew of great Science Fiction/fantasy sequels, but few are GOAT contenders. The short list:

Aliens

Terminator 2 (Cameron went from being one of my favorite directors to one of my least favorite in just a couple of films)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

LOTR: The Two Towers (and, to be fair, Return of the King)

Back to the Future (the trilogy remained solid, but never equaled the first film, IMHO.)

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back


Now, obviously, I'm partial to The Wrath of Khan. But Empire is rightfully considered one of the greatest movies of all time. Some Star Wars fans place it ahead of "A New... - frick it - Star Wars. I both agree with that ranking (Empire slightly better than Star Wars, but very close) and completely understand those who put the original first.

Regardless, those 2 are superior to Jedi which is a somewhat disappointing final chapter to some. I think it had impossible expectations and that hurts it as well. At the end of the day, those are the best films in the "series" (if we can even call it that - I no longer recognize any Star Wars film after Jedi.)

Jedi - for all its flaws - is a great movie, just not as great as Star Wars or Empire, IMHO.