Star Wars: 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. (08/26/2024)

Acolyte has many problems, but when you set aside that nonsensical woke hysteria, I'm glad that this fictional world expanded a bit somewhere else. I was more bothered by the technical quality at D+ and it must be said that some dialogues and twists seemed pulled out of nowhere, as if they were written by a screenwriter who didn't know where to go, nevertheless, I actually enjoyed watching it. Especially thanks to several characters (Dafne Keen and Carrie-Anne Moss) and the relatively modest duration, it went by quite quickly and one was then curious about the next episode. Of course, it's not a milestone, but as filler before the next film episode, I'm actually quite forgiving of it. And I wonder if they will greenlight the second season. (07/18/2024)

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. (07/22/2024)

Whoever says that Star Wars: The Acolyte brings nothing new or good can't see past their nose. Lightsaber battles reach twists and turns I would never even have dared dream of and, when combined with ambiguous characters like Sola, Qimir, or Jeck, it represents the essence of Star Wars that I have come to crave in the current era. Still, at the same time, it seeks to offer a fateful mystical journey of two dreadfully uninteresting characters, which takes up unnecessarily large amounts of time instead of showing more of the principles of that famous period. Sometimes it runs aground on logic, when many twists sound confused or pointless, wasting time in endless flashback events and repeatedly losing pace before the otherwise top-notch, emotionally charged episodes Night and The Acolyte. I definitely wanted to see more, because there were plenty of layers, but I will have to settle for things only hinted at. (07/18/2024)