Yes, TFA was safe but so was Rogue One and they’re both good films. But lets not forget that JJ wrote the script as well so I’m sure a lot of the safe aspects of the film were due to him and Disney.
Rogue One is hardly “risky”, but it’s considerably moreso than TFA.
TFA is the blockbuster equivalent of Oscar bait; checking requirements off a list to ensure lots of money/awards.
Rogue One at least told an interesting story we hadn’t seen before.
I think the more bitter than sweet nature of TFA’s backstory along with Rey being inherently more competent in The Force than Luke partially offsets the fact that Rogue One didn’t focus on the Light Side v Dark Side debacle.
TLJ will be very telling as to the general direction of new Star Wars. I’m willing to dismiss TFA as JJ’s fanboy vanity project if TLJ does anything worthwhile.
Yeah, especially considering how well TFA and R1 did. If TLJ isn’t innovative or original (for the most part) Disney will have shown their unwillingness to do new things. This would make the brand worthless in time.