The Acolyte

I went into this movie with pretty low expectations, half-expecting Disney to completely ruin the Star Wars universe. Surprisingly, they only messed it up partially. On a technical level, the series is actually well-made. There’s plenty of action, and some of it looks quite good. The fifth episode even manages to be solid. But the real issue here is the characters (and to a lesser extent, the bland plot). The characters are so poorly written that they drag the whole show down. They’re not just generic — they’re also unengaging. And don't even get me started on the forced diversity, which feels incredibly heavy-handed. If the actors had delivered better performances, it wouldn’t have mattered as much. (26.08.2024)

Whoever says that The Acolyte brings nothing new or good doesn't see past their nose. Lightsaber battles reach twists and turns I wouldn't even dare to dream of and, in combination with ambiguous characters like Sola, Qimir, or Jeck, it represents the essence of Star Wars that I came to seek in this period of time. However, at the same time, it wants to bring a fateful mystical journey of two dreadfully uninteresting characters, which takes up unnecessarily large amounts of time instead of showing more laws of that famous era. Sometimes it bumps into logic, when many twists sound confused or in vain, wasting time in endless flashback events and repeatedly losing pace before otherwise top-notch emotionally driven episodes of Night and The Acolyte. I wanted to see definitely more, because there were plenty of plans, but I will have to settle for things only hinted at. (18.07.2024)

In terms of dramaturgy, it’s terrible, with uninteresting passages stretched to death to make the interesting stuff hurriedly catch up at the end. There are two flashbacks for good measure, the first one pointless and boring, the second one interesting and action-packed. In terms of acting, it's a disaster, full of unlikeable characters who behave illogically and move from place to place at the creators' convenience. The visual effects and action scenes, however, are top-notch. The light sabre swinging and head-butting action works. The narrative framework isn't bad, but the subplots, twists and dialogue are on the wrong level. The Jedi Knights act like a bunch of amateurs who are nervous because of an audit? The ending is unfortunately open and basically the beginning of something, but I have no idea what. Why are the twin girls so important and they are the chosen ones for what? I don't know. Unfortunately, I guess the creators don't know either and they put together a lot of filler to build a second season around one sentence. Hopefully it'll be better. (22.07.2024)