So true. I totally get people rejecting the ST for not showcasing the OT's main characters the way they wanted but they are still well constructed films on pretty much every level which is why they're so great for some of us who *do* like the direction they went. If these were all brand new characters then no one would be outraged that some hermit spilled milk on his beard or that some vice admiral sacrificed herself instead of a red fish guy. Obviously these movies do contain established, beloved, and iconic characters so audiences don't just judge them on their merits as films (and I include myself with this) but rather on how *they* think the story was supposed to go. Which is fine.
Come on.
Here is your conversation you wanted talking about the merits of the film.
Daisy Ridley looks like an autistic child throughout all three movies with her terrible facial expressions. Hayden Christensen could teach her how to act through facial movements. Examples below:
https://i.4pcdn.org/tv/1483145670418.png
https://sl.sbs.com.au/public/image/file/7f88b242-0a4d-4774-a5c1-7beb262a53aa
https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Screen-Shot-2019-04-15-at-10.32.54-AM.png?w=780
https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/36/590x/secondary/Star-Wars-9-leaks-reveal-Rey-s-parents-1475277.jpg?r=1535072542180
Just awful acting. Awful. Same with Phasma, just generic and boring and a waste of a great actress.
Let's not forget the Marvel styled humor that doesn't fit. Yo momma jokes taken from Earth 2008. Completely takes away from being in "a galaxy far far away." Not even the PT does that!
Or let me guess, is it that the ST contradicts everything we've ever known about the force from dyads to force downloading to bringing people back to life?
Well constructed you say? HOW IS PALPATINE ALIVE? WHERE IS THAT EXPLAINED? WHERE IS THE FINAL ORDER EXPLAINED? EVEN ELIJAH WOOD CALLS THEM OUT! ****ING FRODO KNOWS. One of the lines in the films "somehow, Palpatine returned" and arguably the best scene in the entire ST was in a ****ing video game called Fortnite! How is that good film making by putting a major plot point, PALPATINES RETURN, in a damn timed video game event!
How was Reylo well contructed? You got John Boyega RIPPING the entire franchise on twitter weekly. Finn himself knows how much a joke Reylo was. Daisy Ridley called it a toxic abusive relationship and doesn't understand it. Biggest scene of the movie was a kiss shared between those two, the guy who tortured her, forced himself into her mind, tried to kill her, tried to killer friends, wiped out trillions, tried to run her over and they fall in love?
Oh yeah, then this gem:
But wait... THERE IS MORE. How about how TROS just retcons TLJ?
She trained Rey in TROS, so why can't she do that?
How about the Holdo maneuver? Complete joke and TROS had to mop it up with some BS explanation of 1 in a Million.
Why didn't Vader force pull the Falcon at Hoth? ST established you can easily force pull such things.
What about this:
How about this, Leia gets to murder here abuser in 1983 (Jabba) and in 2019 Rey has to kiss hers!
How about this:
"Lucas is a much better director than Abrams, look at this. When Mace blocks Palpatine's attack, he looks away from the bright light and struggles to stand still because lightning pushes him back. Compare this to Rey who looks straight into the light and effortlessly reflects the attack"
Look how great that looks in 2005 compared to the crap that is 2019.
What about C-3PO with his "all my friends" BS line.
You like George Lucas Star Wars, right? "Ian McDiarmid Says George Lucas Wouldn?t Have Brought Palpatine Back from the Dead"
https://www.indiewire.com/2019/12/ian-mcdiarmid-george-lucas-palpatine-return-of-the-jedi-1202199342/
Crappy dialogue: "We are the spark that will light the fire that wil burn the First Order down."
Canto Bight. Pointless. "how do you make this much money." "War" CRAP DIALOGUE.
Why didn't Leia hug Chewbacca? Why didn't we see Luke grieving Han?
Leia Poppins.
Chewbacca is Rey's taxi driver. He did more in the PT than in the ST.
At one point Finn and Rose get arrested for a parking violation. This is an actual plot point in a Star Wars movie. In addition to this, it plagiarizes a similar plot point in Spaceballs. SPACEBALLS!
Evil BB-8.
Holdo refusing to give information, really just Holdo in general.
SaViNg WhAt We LoVe CRAP DIALOGUE
How about ripping off Escape from LA? Pure blatant rip off.
Porgs were inserted to sell toys way worse than Jar Jar or Ewoks.
The Battle of Crait wasn't even a battle. They fired like one shot.
How about this, another retcon:
Kylo wrong placement of scar:
The throne room fight was choreographed terribly and can see many mistakes.
Timothy Zahn agrees that bringing Palpatine back destroys the OT.
How does Rey know how to swim if she lived on Jakku? She download that too?
How about the same Falcon chase in all three movies? Literally the same, flying in some tight space.
R2's memory is claimed to be "unreliable" in TROS despite the fact that it was never wiped.
How did Maz get the lightsaber? Who are the Knights of Ren? The Sith was destroyed yet we have 5 seconds of Sith Troopers? Is Kylo a Sith?
Do you know that Jar Jar had more of an impact and serves more of a point in Star Wars than Maz, Phasma, Snoke, Hux...
You say this movie was planned, but it clearly wasn't in one picture: Biggest theory was Plagueis, not to Rian.
And my final point is that TROS is the worst reviewed Star Wars movie ever on Rotten Tomatoes, lower than TPM and AOTC.
Fair observation but you hit the nail on the head there with your "seemed like" disclaimer. Because in actuality the ST had a fully scripted endgame in sight long before the PT did. If you remember Trevorrow had a complete script for Episode IX finished before the release of Rogue One. Just one year after TFA and a full year before TLJ hit theaters. You think George had anything written down for ROTS the year after TPM other than "kewl lightsaber duel that goes on forever"? No way. He wrote each script after each previous film was released which is why there are so many concepts completely abandoned (freeing slaves on Tatooine/Anakin wanting to see all the stars, Force ghosts never being explained despite George promising they would beforehand, etc.) while others just materialized out of the blue without any setup whatsoever (Syfo Dias, etc.)
But what gives the impression that the ST had no clear path was the one/two punch of Carrie Fisher dying and the backlash against TLJ which caused them to fully revise major portions of the final film in the trilogy. I hate that I have Fisher's passing to "thank" for getting a better Episode IX than what Trevorrow was planning but that's the way it is.
Wrong. They never used that script and it was completely different than what we got. THIS WAS NOT PLANNED
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a30514233/star-wars-9-original-script-colin-trevorrow-leak/
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsLeaks/comments/eoaxdn/robert_meyer_burnett_reviews_an_early_draft_of/
They still had a roadmap for the trilogy prior to her unexpected passing. And yes all three ST movies are well made films. Beautifully shot, well acted, snappy dialogue, good pacing, great visuals. 
