I agree on most of that. 4 suffered heavily from not really having a big bad, it was too introspective. They brought in that weird military monster near the end

I agree on most of that. 4 suffered heavily from not really having a big bad, it was too introspective. They brought in that weird military monster near the end, but it was too late to bring it all back together. Five improved by focusing on Glory, but 6 again had no real villain to bring it all in. The first part focused on 'the trio', which was laughable, and then yeah the magic-as-a-drug crap. 7 did much better by having a real villain again, even if it felt a little disjointed by trying to wrap everything up neatly.