I have such a mixed relationship with those sequel films.
The Force Awakens: good popcorn munching and exciting to be back in the universe, but felt way too much like treading over old ground. Almost pastiche with its ‘star killer base’ plot - which is very forgettable. Quite dull on a rewatch.
The Last Jedi: I didn’t have a clue where this was going in the cinema - so I loved it. All the predictable things about Star Wars turned on its head, generally much more chaotic and hopeless feeling with the heros being unable to nudge themselves towards victory in any meaningful way. Others clearly really hated those aspects, but it felt fresh and daring to me. I also liked the dabbling in ‘the rebellion isn’t perfect’ (also explored in Rogue One and brilliantly so in Andor). Naturally, far less exciting on rewatches. Scenes / interactions with Poe, Leia and that purple haired woman fall the flattest and require a willingness to overlook them to make the best of enjoying the rest of the film.
Rise of Skywalker: decides to 180 from the Last Jedi, go back to safe, well-trodden ground and have a magguffin hunt. An enjoyable popcorn muncher but definitely the one out of the three films that suffers the most on rewatches, IMO. Too fast paced and seriously underdeveloped arcs for Poe and Finn.
All together, each film is undermined by the others. TFA is too boring and safe compared to TLJ. The chaos of TLJ is disregarded for a return to safety in ROS, rendering all its meaningfulness redundant. ROS seemed to just ‘do its own thing’ and ignore possible interesting developments from the first two films.
So yes - I would have to agree that as a whole ‘trilogy’ it was a failure. Far too disjointed and lacking unique and consistent narratives and themes. Which is sad because each film does show flickers of what could be greatness, which could have been achieved with more nuanced planning and execution.
