A lot of these Star Wars stories, especially the newer ones, focus far too much on the actions of a few "destiny" babies whose achievements you basically never doubt because of the golden carpet rolled out for them wherever they go. They're stories designed around hero roles to appeal to the narcissist in all of us, classic Disney princess style.
Rogue One and Andor made me believe in people again. The actions of a few counted, sure, but it was the actions of the many that drove the story forward and was by far the most inspiring thing to come out of the entire series.
Meh... Rogue One is only a masterpiece when compared to the other Disney SW movies. Compared to all movies, it's ... pretty good, but "masterpiece" is a big stretch.
First of all, how dare you make me watch that hack. Second, I did watch, and he is, very wrong. But third and finally, even if he is not wrong, that doesn't make Rogue One any less of a good movie. All he spouts is opinions about how he feels that characters should be personified, not facts, and his opinions suck balls.
I understand the first three, but I have to fundamentally disagree with you as much as humanly possible on Rogue One being terrible. I absolutely respect your right and and opinion to think so, but for me it's one of the best representations of what Star Wars should be in the space fiction genre.
What was it about Rogue One that bothered you so much that you couldn't finish?
Cardboard characters, plot holes, and going against everything the original trilogy stood for.
It got on my bad side when they introduced Cassian by having him murder a completely innocent person, something the Empire would do.
Then, later in the film, when it's his fucking job to assassinate a legitimate military target, he gets all sweaty and - OH - JUST... CAN'T... PULL... THE... TRIGGER... No explanation, no character development... just because... That was when I walked out.
The real reason of course, is more complicated. The original writer/director fucked things up so colossally he was actually removed from the picture and a new guy was brought in to re-write and re-shoot. Cassian's change in tone was because of the two different creators.
I also found Rogue One incredibly overrated. Nothing that they play up feels earned, and I didn't get invested at all, possibly for some of the reasons you mentioned.