The major overarching flaw with this whole sequel trilogy is the fact that it wasn't planned out ahead of time, that they didn't get one director - whether it was Abrams, Johnson, or anybody else - to commit to doing all three films upfront.
There's been a lot said about both directors, but I don't think you have to pick one over the other. I think if Abrams had done the whole trilogy, it would have felt more cohesive, and the story he told in TFA and TROS could've had more time and space to develop more depth. I also think if Johnson had done the whole thing, a darker, more cynical sequel trilogy could've been really interesting. Unfortunately, neither got the whole trilogy, and the result is a sort of boxing match between the two filmmakers. So Abrams starts the story and plants a bunch of story seeds, Johnson turns it on its head and ties to subvert everything, a backlash occurs, and then Abrams does his level best to untangle a bunch knots that Johnson had tied in his film.
And there's no question that that was one of TROS's goals - to give fans what they wanted and didn't get in TLJ, to try so smooth over a number of plot points from TLJ, avoid the backlash of two years ago, and to finish, in tone and substance, as best as possible, the story Abrams had started in TFA. In short, there was a great deal of fan service. And you know what? I'm more than fine with it. Because while we can argue forever on an intellectual level about whether or not that was the right creative choice, it ultimately comes down to how you FEEL when you're watching it. If you're not into nostalgia - and there are plenty of people who aren't - than you probably won't feel much other than annoyance, and that's cloying and safe. But if you do care for nostalgia, it's a different story.
All I can say is that I felt like a little kid seeing Lando in the Falcon again. I got excited seeing Luke again - and while I continue to defend Luke's arc in TLJ, I did enjoy seeing the more upbeat Luke portrayed here. I was surprised(having avoided spoilers), and surprisingly affected, by the surprise Han cameo, and I honestly feel like it was Ford's best-acted scene as Han since ESB. Hearing him say "Hey kid" before even seeing him was a gasp-out-loud moment because I wasn't expecting it at all.
And I felt that Leia's scenes, story, and death were handled tastefully and made for a poignant send-off for both Leia and Carrie Fisher. I liked that she was portrayed as a Jedi for the first time, that she was training Rey, that she had her own lightsaber, and that Luke had trained her(and I didn't mind the CGI in the flashback, just as I didn't mind it in Rogue One). I felt like her sacrificing herself to turn her son back to the light was an effective mirror of Vader sacrificing himself to save his son. And I got chills when, after her death, they referred to her as "our princess". Yes, it's fan service, but it was just really cool to have all four of those characters in the movie.
Outside of the returning legacy characters, there were other bits of fan service that worked really well for me. I liked all of the Jedi voices at the end as well - I was particularly excited to hear Neeson's voice and both Obi-wans.
I really enjoyed the banter between Poe and Finn and Rey as they spent more time together(the one part of TLJ I really did't like was the pointless casino subplot that separated the characters).
Chewie finally getting his medal was a nice touch.
And the epic callback to ESB with Luke force levitating his old x-wing to Yoda's theme was just beautiful.
The only thing that's a little bothersome is the Palpatine thing, but with Snoke having been killed off, they were kind of in a corner. They needed an enemy for the young big 3 to be fighting against, and they didn't have time to make a new one up with only one film left, so Palps was an obvious choice. And they also wanted to make Rey connected to a known entity again instead of being "nobody", so this was a way to kill two birds with one stone. It wasn't my favorite part of the movie, but it's the only part I didn't love. I can live with it.
So, yes, fan service and appeasing the TLJ backlash was a big part of what was going on here, but it was executed very well, so I don't have a problem with it.
But there's more to praise outside of all of fan service stuff.
I dug the newly introduced force powers - I think the force healing is an interesting concept, and the force dyad is a really cool idea and a welcome explanation for how Rey and Kylo were communicating in TLJ and in this film.
I thought this was overall the best-acted film of the ST.
Billy Dee Williams didn't miss a beat, more than any of the other old characters, he was the exact same person he was in the OT, and I loved it.
I honestly think Mark Hamill has been a better actor in TLJ and TROS than he was in the OT - he was really convincing as the old Jedi Master - both the bitter, weary one in TLJ and the optimistic one in TROS. I appreciated how his sacrifice at the end of TLJ seemed to have jolted him out of his stupor, and how encouraging and warm of a presence he was for Rey when she really needed it in this film - much like Obi-wan was for him in the OT.
Like I said before, I was surprised by Ford's brief performance in his cameo. I was surprised he was even in the movie, as more than anyone else he seemed completely done with Star Wars. I even briefly thought maybe the scene had been shot during TFA, so amazed was I that he would've been convinced to come back one more time. However Abrams got him to do it though, whether it was just money or a willingness to help finish telling Leia/Carrie's story, it was worth it. I think he did a great job of conveying forgiveness and fatherly love to his son while still sounding quintessentially like Han Solo and, like I said before, I think it was his best scene as Han since ESB.
Fisher, even though her scenes were repurposed, still had such presence and such an ability to emote - she really wore such weariness on her face here. She really sold Leia as a general leading the Resistance with the weight of the world on her shoulders, having been fighting the Sith, the Empire, the First Order, etc, for all of her life.
And McDiarmid is always consistent and on-point as Palps, even if I do find his portrayal to be a little over-the-top.
But above all, I have to give props to Adam Driver. He is a GREAT actor. One of the signs of great acting is the ability to elevate the material. Kylo/Ben's turning away from the dark side is really not much more substantive than Anakin's turn to the dark side in ROTS - they both happened pretty quickly - but where Hayden struggled to play his plot out convincingly, Driver made his material look so much better than it probably really was. His reaction to Rey healing him and walking away, his conversation with Han, and the way he barely had any dialogue after becoming Ben again, and yet conveyed clearly with just his face and body that he was fundamentally different than Kylo. I thought he was just great, both in this film and the trilogy as a whole, and I feel like he's just a cut above the rest of the 'new' cast as an actor, at least in terms of what they did in these movies.
Finally, I have to praise the cinematography and the music. There were so many beautiful shots and sequences in this film - off the top of my head:
Kylo's attack in the opening scene of the film on Exegol.
Rey training on the jungle planet Ajon Kloss.
Rey and Kylo's duel on the remains of Death Star II in the middle of the water on the Endor moon Kif Bir.
The fleet of resistance fighters showing up with Lando.
The silhouette of Leia's body laying in state after her death.
The horse stampede(I know some people hated that, but I thought it looked awesome, and I prefer it to the similar use of horses in TLJ).
The binary sunset with Luke and Leia's force ghosts at the end.
It was just an absolutely gorgeous film to look at.
Musically, what can be said about John Williams that hasn't been said? I've long thought that this whole franchise never would have been nearly as successful an it's been without his score. Hearing all of the classic motifs - the main theme(the use of it when Lando arrived with all the other fighters was amazing), the imperial march, the "binary sunset" theme(for lack of a better name), Leia's theme(perfect use after her death), Yoda's theme, along with all of the newly composed pieces - in the theater was a feast for the ears, and knowing that this was Williams' last Star Wars film made me appreciate it all the more.
So, on the whole, the film certainly is, and clearly aimed to be, a feel-good crowd pleaser loaded with fan service, but it was executed phenomenally imo, so I really don't have a problem with it. I had the feels the whole time, and going by some of what I'm reading, a lot of fans did too. A curious phenomenon with TLJ that was commented on a lot was the disparity between its glowing critical reviews and its fan backlash. This seems to be reversed with TROS - its critical reviews are pretty mixed, but I've seen a lot of positive fan reaction online, particularly people who weren't fans of TLJ who were much more pleased with this outing. I am frankly a bit surprised at the critical reviews, because TFA, which was just as fan-pleasing and "familiar" as TROS, still has a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics were ok with it then, but not now? I don't really get that.
One thing seems clear - there are lines drawn between pro-TLJ sentiment and pro-TROS sentiment. From critics to fans, it seems by and large that if you loved the nostalgia-averse TLJ, you won't be a fan of TROS(I've seen critics use words like predictable, charmless, and robotic to describe TROS), and if you hated TLJ, TROS is probably a welcome return to form for you. I doubt this division is going to go anywhere any time soon. Meanwhile, I feel like I'm in the minority in that I like both films. I thought TLJ made some bold and compelling storytelling decisions(even though I'm not a fan of the casino stuff) and thought the backlash was over the top, but I also think the feel-good nature of TROS was the right way to go out.
Ultimately, Abrams had an unenviable task with this film. He had to do the following things:
1. Try, as best he could, to finish the story he'd started telling in TFA.
2. Bring the ST to an enjoyable conclusion.
3. Bring the entire Skywalker saga to an enjoyable conclusion.
4. Do this all while trying to restore the goodwill of the fanbase.
5. Do this all while working around Carrie Fisher's death.
It was a lot. And I'm sure he was under a lot of pressure from Disney to protect the brand after TLJ backlash and lackluster reception to Solo.
And I think, all told, he did an admirable job. You can complain about the fan-service or about the hectic pace(I've seen people say it was all over the place, but while it may have been physically all over the place, I thought it was narratively pretty focused from beginning to end; I've also seen people say there was never any time to breathe or think about what was going on, but while I was aware of the speed of the film, it didn't bother me), but ultimately SW has never been about thinking, it's always been about feeling, and for me, the film was a really fun, feel-good thrill-ride. There was originally a THIRD new director slated to do TROS - Colin Trevorrow - but I think going with Abrams was the right choice. The safe choice, no doubt, but the right one.
All of this said, I think it's right that the Skywalker saga is over now. There is clearly no more story to tell(unless someone wants to take a stab at remaking the prequels). They've stretched it as far as they could.
I do wonder where the SW franchise goes from here. The ST is finished, and Disney seems to have abandoned the idea of the "Star Wars Story" one-offs(or at least relegated future ones to the streaming service). The Mandelorian is happening, and there are apparently other Disney+ TV series in the works(one of them is about Obi-wan). Filmwise, there are seven films in the pipeline, the first one due in 2022, and I have no idea what any of them is going to about.
If I'm being honest, Disney has pumped out five SW films in five years, and I think it might be a mistake to only skip two years before getting back to it. I don't really know if I'm looking forward to so much more stuff in a relatively short period of time. It might be wise to let it be for a while now. I don't want it to become oversaturated like Marvel. My fear is that Disney is not going to know when to stop, and they're going to dilute the brand and burn everyone out on it. It kind of already happened with Solo. Maybe take a five year break, let people get hungry for it again.
Anyway, I loved the movie and felt it was a more-than-satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.