The film was very entertaining, despite the big flaws it has. I'm not going to pretend to know any of the behind-the-scenes rumors on the making of the new trilogy - but it's now very clear there wasn't any clear plan on how to make the trilogy connect naturally. Hate TLJ all you want, but it happened and they gotta roll with it. RoS spends a lot of time trying to make sure it avoided any kind of TLJ fallout that it affected this one. I don't wanna say it undoes it, but they definitely ignore it.
Despite what a majority may say, Rey was always going to be somebody "special". They play that angle up too big in the TFA for it to not be in the plans. I just don't think they had a solid idea of what the linage was going to be, which is why the Palpatine crap doesn't sit well and lands awkwardly. It also seems weird considering what we know of Palpatine, too (No mention of a son or family, WTF was the purpose of the *implied* creation of Anakin).
Palpatine being the driving force for it all was sorta eye-rolling for me but whatever. AND we at least we got an answer as to who Snoke was, as corny as it turned out to be. Like, OK I can roll with it, but screams very fan-fictiony. Still, McDiarmid continues the excellent portrayal of him, and his look in this film was awesome.
I really liked Finn and Poe in this film, even though they didn't really have a strong arc. As someone that was lukewarm on Finn the past 2 films, I really thought Finn was a stronger point in this film. Newcomers Janna and Zorra were awesome in the little screentime they had, wish they had more.
Kylo Ren's redemption did not sit well with me at all. Considering the route his character took in TFA and TLJ.... he was too far gone and did too many evil things for it to work, IMO. I get why Leia would continue that pursuit because "Mom" - but not Rey.
In true JJ fashion, they also left some questions unanswered (how did Maz get Luke's lightsaber, Finn's apparent love confession to Rey, why did Luke's lightsaber call out to Rey)
As far as the other positives, it's definitely a Star Wars film - and it was great to see everyone together as a team (Dunno why it took 2 movies, though...). You still can't help but get giddy at some of the action scenes and certain story beats, aided by Williams' score, which shines again. The nostalgia drug was strong, too; with some good payoffs for other characters (especially Chewie). I liked that it was Leia that became Rey's Master to finish her training. It was nice to see the Knights of Ren finally, but they were very underwhelming.
Ultimately, I think as a trilogy, 7-9 failed. They're all good movies individually, each with different flaws - but I really do feel the lack of cohesive creative minds really hampered the storytelling to tell a coherent trilogy arc. Their biggest mistake was not having the same people behind all 3 films, or at least brought on somebody with a stronger writing pedigree for Ep 9 since they were already stuck in a corner.
BUT what's done is done. The film is satisfying enough, but the flaws are too big to ignore to really stick the landing.
PS - Rise of the Resistance now has a Supercharged problem....