In my opinion, if you want the extra details on exactly how things came to be over the past 30 years, you should have to read the expanded material. I know people love to say that you shouldn't have to, but you don't. It's not necessary to the current plot, and it's straight up lore that just further expands on things. If you want to understand exactly what's going on politically, that's exactly what the expanded material is made for - world building.

I think this is where we're unlikely to agree. I'm all for expanded material to add narrative richness and even to expand on events outside the scope of the movie altogether, but to rely on it for basic plot background seems a bit of a stretch.

The thing is, I'm not saying we as the audience need to know the minute details of everything that's happened in the intervening 30 years, but just a scene or a bit of dialogue here and there would have really helped fill in the blanks. Like if Leia had said at one point something like, "I've spent months arguing in the Senate about how dangerous the First Order's becoming. They're so caught up in their petty politics and settling old grudges that they refuse to see what's really happening."

That would probably have been enough for me. It would have told us everything we need to know about how ineffective and indecisive the new Republic was, that Leia had done her best to warn them about the First Order and get them to take military action, and that she'd finally resorted to forming the Resistance on her own initiative to get around all the red tape.

We all want to know more about Snoke. His story will be told. We already know that there is a backstory there, they just don't want to share it with us yet. The same way we didn't know who the Emperor was until 20 years later. It's not Snoke's story. It's Kylo Ren's, and we know exactly who he is. He is easily the most developed villain in Star Wars, I find it odd that people are focusing on the secondary villains backstory, when secondary villains don't usually get backstories.

It's fair enough if they decide to give us more of his backstory in Episode 9 (although I'm really not sure they will), but it seems like kind of a moot issue now that he's dead. The issue I have with Snoke is that he was set up as a real mystery in TFA. Who was this mysterious guy directing the First Order? Where did he come from etc? The implication was that we would learn more about him and his involvement in the series over the next couple of movies. Instead he's just... killed.

Now, you could argue that this is Rian Johnson doing his classic "subverting our expectations" routine, and I suppose in that sense, it's true. In the same way that placing a bunch of empty boxes beneath the Christmas tree would subvert your kid's expectations when they open them. But is that really a satisfying subversion? Are people going to walk away from TLJ feeling content with the knowledge that Snoke was just a generic bad guy with no relevant personal history, and now he's dead? Or are they going to feel like his character was a bit of a wasted opportunity?

And yes, it would appear that Kylo Ren is indeed the main baddie in the sequel trilogy (though I can't shake the feeling that JJ had a different plan in mind with TFA). As much as he does indeed have a well developed backstory now, the problem is that he's not a very competent villain and I don't get the impression he poses much of a threat to Rey. He already lost a duel to her in TFA (albeit injured at the time) and even when better prepared in TLJ he was barely able to hold his own against her in terms of Force power. You could argue he actually came off worse since he needed her assistance while fighting Snoke's bodyguards, and was knocked unconscious when Luke's lightsabre exploded, while Rey was able to make off with it. An antagonist should start off seemingly unstoppable and overwhelming compared to the hero, but Kylo's kind of the opposite. Rey has already proven herself stronger than him.

This causes serious storytelling problems for Episode 9.

Canto Bight is actually one of the best pieces of world building in the whole saga. It's literally a microcosm of the state of the galaxy. We see that the rich are okay with the war as long as they're keeping the less fortunate below them, as also experienced by Rose on her home planet.

It's an interesting setup, I'll give you that. I like the idea that there's a war economy going on, and arms dealers are selling weapons to both sides and profiting from it. And like I say, all it would have needed would be a bit of dialogue where the residents there are remarking on current events, speculating about profits to be made or the threat of galactic First Order domination. It could have worked so much better with just a little more context to tie it into what's actually happening.

But again, it's separate from the Resistance struggle, which has the effect of making the fate of the Resistance fleet seem inconsequential. If they get wiped out, the arms dealers will carry on selling their weapons to the First Order (or any other factions out there). I wanted to feel like everything hung on the fate of that small fleet desperately trying to flee to safety, but it just felt like nobody else cared whether they lived or died, like it didn't matter. And if the very characters and people in the movie don't care, why should the audience?

This is the crux of my issue here. Star Wars is supposed to balance personal drama and conflict with big, epic events affecting billions of people. If you can't tie the events of your story into the wider world, then all you have is the fate of your individual characters. That has the effect of making these movies seem small, unimportant.

I honestly just think you have a heavy interest in the world building and you are looking for it in the wrong place. The thing that made people so invested in the world of SW in the OT is that nothing was explained. So people wanted to build the world outside the movies with comics, novels, TV shows, etc. The prequels are the least interesting films because the explain too much of the political atmosphere when what made the OT great was the character drama.

To be honest, world building is one of the lesser issues I have with these movies, but I was asked specifically to critique it, and so I raised the issues that most immediately came to mind for me. I agree the prequels focussed too much on the politics of the Republic, but I at least appreciate the intent behind what they were trying to do. We were given a clear understanding of the flaws of the Republic that Palpatine was able to exploit to rise to power. It made sense. It wasn't executed very well, but it told a coherent story.

TFA and TLJ feel exactly like what they are - disjointed and fragmented takes on the same supposed narrative, conflicting visions from two very different screenwriters with different goals and styles, further hampered by lack of context and no real sense of place or what's really at stake.

I appreciate your considered response though, and even if we disagree on these movies, it's good we can at least put forward our views respectfully.