Despite a fair share of embarrassingly positive reviews at the time of their release, it's now universally agreed that the Star Wars prequels are terrible.

Original trilogy purists still have to sit down every time someone mentions the word "midi-chlorians", the acting makes your garden decking look lively and the dialogue reads like it was made up on spot by a nine-year-old Jake Lloyd.

Lucasfilm

So, taking all that into consideration, it would be simply outrageous to suggest that, movie-for-movie, the prequels are better than Disney's recent sequels.

But if there's one thing the prequel trilogy does do better, it's tell a coherent story.

Related: A Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Palpatine plot hole has been filled

For all its devastating, childhood-ruining faults, the prequel trilogy was a surprisingly focused piece of storytelling, placing Darth Vader (aka Anakin Skywalker) at the centre of the saga.

Yes, this meant the limelight was taken away from the original hero of the franchise, Luke Skywalker, which justifiably still irks some fans, but the cyclical nature of Anakin's rise, fall and eventual redemption definitely became a worthy story to tell.

Disney

In stark contrast, the sequel trilogy has no real focus at all, and with each instalment it became increasingly clear that this story for a new generation was completely directionless – and perhaps never should have existed in the first place.

And it's a shame because, despite The Force Awakens being a massive pastiche of A New Hope, it did still kickstart the new trilogy with some interesting ideas and characters that begged to be explored.

At first, we were asked to question how new protagonist Rey fitted into the saga. Was she a no-one? A Skywalker? Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma's illegitimate lovechild, perhaps?

Lucasfilm Disney

Then The Last Jedi came along and told us that none of this mattered.

The ideas conjured up by Abrams for TFA were quite literally tossed off a cliff by Rian Johnson's follow-up – Rey's parentage was no longer important, the Knights of Ren were binned and Supreme Leader Snoke was unceremoniously sliced in half.

While some fans still applaud Johnson's subversive approach – to be fair, the idea of Rey not being related to a significant character was refreshing – it's hard to deny that it presented a number of storytelling roadblocks for the new trilogy, resulting in a movie that acts far more like a standalone than a mid-trilogy entry.

The even bigger problem is that it also didn't leave the story anywhere to go, which is perhaps why Abrams felt the need to retcon most of Johnson's creative choices and revert back to many of his original ideas for The Rise of Skywalker.

Lucasfilm Ltd

Of course, Collin Trevorrow was originally meant to write and direct the final instalment of the Skywalker saga but, ironically, he was fired over creative differences.

Abrams was then brought back to finish what he started, but by that point the sequel trilogy was already too disjointed, leaving TROS with the impossible task of bringing everything together.

Even to a casual fan, it must seem obvious why there's such a lack of synergy between Episodes VII, VIII and IX: Disney didn't stick to one director.

Well, neither did the original trilogy, but the key difference there was that George Lucas oversaw each film, allowing other directors to make their mark while still retaining control of his vision. Then, of course, he was solely responsible for the prequels.

Related: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had Carrie Fisher's daughter Billie Lourd play Leia

Disney

Although Lucas butchered his own creation with Episode I, II and III, it was ultimately his guiding voice that ensured there was some sort of consistency in storytelling and character growth.

In each of the three prequels, we see Anakin at distinctly different stages of his arc: first as a podracing slave, then a bratty Padawan and finally a youngling-slaughtering Sith.

And what was most interesting about his transformation was seeing how Palpatine manipulated his fragile mind, giving him an understandable incentive to join the Dark Side (convincing him he can save Padmé's life).

The fact the audience already knew Anakin's fate wasn't an issue. What mattered was how he got there.

Lucasfilm

In comparison, it's hard to know what Rey's arc actually is in the sequel trilogy.

She starts out as a desert kid like Luke, then she's a no-one, then she's suddenly Palpatine's granddaughter – a revelation that sits uncomfortably because there's next to no growth for her between TFA and TLJ.

Despite what's been said by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and Abrams in the past, it's hard to believe that any of this was planned from the very beginning. (Neither was the original trilogy to be fair, but again, Lucas was there to steer it in some sort of direction.)

And it's due to this apparent lack of collaborative plotting that The Rise of Skywalker was seemingly forced to start and conclude a whole new Dark Side arc for Rey, randomly suggest that Finn is Force sensitive in a last-minute attempt to make his character interesting, and then inexplicably resurrect Palpatine, purely because they ran out of villains.

For all the prequel trilogy's faults, it didn't end its story in this much of a mess.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is out now.

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