This movie is basically set up to fail by Rian Johnson. While he didn't work on it directly, he did the previous installment and made a huge mess of things.
Essentially, there were so many plot holes and bad creative decisions in Episode 8 that following it up will lead to only two outcomes. Either this installment will be total trash or it will be mediocre at best. Episode 9 has to follow up a film which was essentially made using a B movie grade script. There was a huge budget behind it, so it appears like film that's properly polished, but it isn't. I think Starship Troopers 2 is a better written movie. I'm not saying its actually better than Episode 8, but it is better written at the very least.
There are so many things wrong with Episode 8 that a great deal of Episode 9 will have to be devoted to damage control. That involves trying to retcon various problems with Episode 8 patch plot holes and explain away the nonsense. That will have a negative impact on Episode 8. There are even things about Episode 8 which no amount of damage control can resolve. The Space Leia scene comes to mind as something that's best not mentioned ever again in the hopes that people will forget it, but they probably won't.
Disney was in a corner no matter what it did with this one. They didn't dare not follow up Episode 8, but at the same time, it will hurt Episode 9 significantly. I think Disney hopes that the Star Wars name will at least carry the film to at least break even financially even if the film is a failure with audiences. I suspect critics will call it the best Star Wars movie of all time while viewers that do see it in theaters won't be too happy with the result.
This is why I can't get excited about the film.
Really, there is only two fixes as I see it. Disney would have to effectively remake Episode 8 and cut a minimal amount of footage from the existing piece into the movie and throw some name on top of it to re-release it. Such a do-over would still leave the movie as technically being episode 8, but it would resolve a great number of problems with the theatrical cut. This would be essential to the needed course correction of the trilogy. It's also a better option than trying to do all the damage control in Episode 9, which will hurt that film.
Alternatively, another option would be to pull a "Dallas" and claim that Episode 8 was a dream sequence or something. This strategy is always a cop out sort of way to retcon a story, but creatively, its almost the only way you can fix certain egregious story issues and bad creative choices. It's a way to keep the content legitimate while undoing creative missteps. This is in opposition to the Highlander film approach, which is to simply ignore a previous or bad film entirely. While easier, it creates significant continuity issues and ultimately, is a worse approach in my opinion.
For those who do not know, "Pulling a Dallas" refers to the TV series "Dallas" in which a major event that impacted an entire season of the show in which a character was killed off", was retconned as a dream sequence. This essentially invalidated an entire season of the TV show, which angered many fans.
I don't know if anyone else calls this trope "pulling a Dallas" as I do, it does sort of fit. This isn't something that's done very often as it's considered a bad creative decision, but it is a mulligan of sorts and I think Star Wars could pull this off. It's practically the easiest way to get out of the mess that is Episode 8 and salvage the trilogy in some fashion. It would at the very least allow Episode 9 to move forward without the previous installment anchoring the film down.
The movie is so disjointed and nonsensical that this would be almost believable. However, this method renders the 8th installment more useless than it already is and while it won't be relegated to the depths of the Star Wars Holiday Special, it will be an utterly skippable movie when watching the trilogy. Although, it really already is and I don't have a problem with that.
