I see the supposed rejection of ROTJ’s ‘happily ever after’ as more of a reaction to ROTJ than anything else. People seem to have forgotten what a disappointment that film was, not just to many fans but to folks who were involved in the films. I’m pretty sure that’s why the comics had Luke turn to the Dark Side in the 90s, or why we have a ‘disillusioned Luke in exile’ in TFA with Han having his long overdue death scene. Not everyone left the 1983 Ewok party feeling satisfied. I’m more than happy to see ROTJ as ‘a’ victory and not necessarily ‘the’ victory.
But at least ROTJ had some powerful themes at its core, even if everything ended a bit too neatly. TROS essentially redoes this ending only much bigger, and louder, but ultimately much less effective imo.
Yes, ROTJ had the themes but for me this film really does them better. Of course it will only ever be a copy, since ROTJ already happened, but here’s what I loved…
No Death Star. While a fleet of planet-smashing Star Destroyers isn’t the greatest idea in the world, it is infinitely better than DS II.
Rey was actually tempted to turn to the Dark Side for a legitimately compelling reason - give up your soul to save your friends. Luke’s temptation was simply “go on, get mad 'cos that’s bad!”.
Rey’s temptation and how she dealt with it actually had a bearing on the battle. Luke’s scenario on DS II was irrelevant to the war.
I liked the movie in general, but the above really made it for me.
TROS copied the whole scenario where Rey/Luke has to watch her friends die, except in ROTJ Luke’s soul was actually on the line, since he had to let his anger get the better of him, such that experiencing the dark side would make him want more. Rey essentially had to choose to let Palpatine possess her, which to me is not half as interesting as willingly becoming an agent of evil yourself. I also feel Kylo’s redemption is not as well developed in this film as Vader’s was in ROTJ. Leia dies, and he suddenly has a change of heart. Vader was shown to have doubts throughout the film, and when the moment came he had to choose between serving his master, and saving the life of his son, which is much more powerful, and compelling in my view. I found Kylo’s potential turn to be much better handled in TLJ, and I feel the last word on his redemption should have been the scene where Rey closes the door on him. So, I don’t agree TROS handled it better in any way. I don’t think it’s terrible either, and if this trilogy can be the OT for a new generation, than that is a good thing, but I also feel an opportunity to do something different with these characters was squandered.