Overall, I thought Episode IX was fine -- much better than VIII -- and I wonder if some of the structural flaws came from having to cram too much into one movie, to steer things back to a more coherent plot line and make up for the time that was squandered in the preceding film. That might explain why things felt rushed, why new elements were introduced but not fully explained, etc.
At the macro level, I wonder why this trilogy was even made. I get it commercially -- Disney wanted to assert their "ownership" of the franchise, take things in a new direction, and sell a few billion in toys to an indoctrinated next generation of fans.
But ultimately, I question whether the story was compelling enough to warrant a trilogy. Even setting aside how abysmally bad TLJ was, episodes VII and IX felt like they had paper thin plots.
It reminds me A LOT of the Star Trek reboot -- which is no coincidence, since JJ was involved in that reboot -- it was entertaining and fun to watch, but when you step back and examine the film there wasn't much substance. I felt the same way about TFA -- I could set aside it being a semi-frame by frame remake of Episode IV, because it was fun to have the franchise back, and it "proved" that the story could move forward with a new collection of characters, but at the end of the day it was a good not great story.
I thought aspects of the ENTIRE trilogy were incredibly ham-fisted -- example, when they boarded the star destroyer to rescue Chewie. No plan, blast your way in and out, we can't fail as long as we work together. Very lazy story telling, IMO. Ditto the cheesball class warfare theme in Episode VIII.
Were the Sith on that hidden planet even real? I assumed watching the film that they were just apparitions.
Also not sure how the Emperor was able to build a fleet -- I get that he had decades to do it in seclusion, but how? Resources, workers, facilities, etc. It was a cool plot element lifted from the non-canon novels, but not explained. Here's potentially why.
I know that there will be some who disagree about what I have to say about TLJ above -- I just know that I walked out of the theater with favorable impressions of VII and IX and was entertained, and that distinctly wasn't the case with VIII. I think / believe that Rian Johnson blew it, and squandered 1/3 of this set of film's opportunity to tell a compelling story -- and I think JJ had a lot to overcome to right the ship this last film. Really, it almost seems like IX glossed over the events of VIII for the most part, save for a few elements.
Ultimately, I wonder if the future of this franchise is more television based / long format. The Mandalorian proves that you can tell a longer, more in-depth story without sacrificing production value. And several of the cartoons have introduced backstory to things like the Clone Wars, what happened between Episode III and IV, etc. and have clearly had a strong influence over the style, canon history, etc.
And at the end of the day, I recognize that nobody -- no writer, no director, no actors -- will ever quite capture the magic that the first film had. In 1977, nobody had ever seen anything like it before. The challenge is that the young auidence that got hooked back then are no longer kids -- they want the magic, but are now viewing the films through the lens of being adults, and finding it lacking. And meanwhile, the point has always been to sell lots and lots of toys.
