The Acolyte

Disney's latest foray into the Star Wars saga, "The Acolyte," is a disappointing addition that fails to live up to its potential. Despite its ambitious premise, the series stumbles in almost every aspect, making it a frustrating watch as a Star wars fan.

First and foremost, the storytelling in "The Acolyte" is a mess. The plot feels disjointed and poorly paced, with episodes dragging on without meaningful progression. Instead of building a cohesive narrative, the series opts for a convoluted storyline that leaves you more confused than intrigued. The characters, who should be the heart of any Star Wars story, are underdeveloped and lack depth. Their motivations while clear, however their actions often seem inexplicable, making it hard to care about their fates. Just aweful.

The dialogue is another major issue. It's riddled with clichés and uninspired lines that fail to capture the epic feel of the Star Wars universe. Moments that should be filled with tension and drama instead come across as flat and lifeless. The series also tries to inject humor inappropriately, breaking any semblance of immersion.

Visually, "The Acolyte" is a mixed bag. While some of the special effects are impressive, they can't compensate for the lackluster set designs and uninspired cinematography. The series does little to explore new and exciting worlds, instead rehashing familiar settings without adding anything fresh or innovative. Worse still, the entire production feels like a low-budget endeavor. The costumes look cheap, the practical effects are lackluster, and many scenes lack the polish one would expect from a major franchise like Star Wars.

The cast, despite their best efforts, struggle with the material they are given. Talented actors are wasted on poorly written characters and uninspired dialogue, resulting in performances that feel wooden and unengaging. The chemistry between the leads is virtually nonexistent, further diminishing the series' emotional impact.

In conclusion, "The Acolyte" is a missed opportunity for Disney and the Star Wars franchise. It lacks the compelling narrative, strong characters, and captivating visuals that fans have come to expect. Instead of expanding the Star Wars universe in meaningful ways, it feels like a hollow, forgettable addition. The low-budget feel only exacerbates its shortcomings, making it hard to recommend "The Acolyte." Save your time and look elsewhere for your sci-fi fix.

I'm just baffled who this series is aimed at? I get that reinvention is a good thing, but the conflicting and contradictory nature of so much of this show seems almost designed to annoy people that like Star Wars. Is the play here that they are trying to alienate the current fan base and instead find a large new audience? I really don't think this can possibly work. It's really starting to feel like just making something people that like Star Wars would actually watch is something they are actively trying to avoid.

It's kind of depressing on so many levels. It's now starting to feel like the brand that Star Wars was is just not what they want Star Wars to be. When I think about the endless stories they could make instead, that would not exclude new audiences and still excite old audiences, it's just bizarre how we end up here. With such a middling show that seems to be made for an imaginary audience.

I guess the good thing about trying to alienate an audience is that eventually all of us feeling disappointment and then writing about, it will just stop caring anymore so there will be less people complaining. Maybe that's what Disney want?

Then I've seen episode one and two of The Acolyte.

Eight episodes at $180 million or $22.5 million per episode. In terms of production, I get the impression of a cheap 80s science fiction, there was nothing here that would indicate $22.5 million per episode.

Roger Corman could have made both of these episodes in the 80s for less than $100,000 each. When I have seen the first two episodes of The Acolyte, I get a cheap feeling of a bad and cheap CW production which in recent years has often had a bad script, bad actors and a low budget.

Among the actors, Lee Jung-jae was in a class of his own, otherwise there was a lot of stiff and poor acting from some of the actors, which can often be caused by bad directing.

Plot, script and dialogue were often unforgivably bad and stupid and are totally illogical. I don't understand how it is possible to write such bad scripts as we see in some TV series and movies nowadays. Has anyone at Disney approved the script before it goes into production?

I wasn't a big fan of Ahsoka, all the senators and generals were stupid and inept to such an extent that I sided with the Empire.

However, Ahsoka was much better with better actors and it was more grandiose and magnificent with many more and better effects and seemed like a much more expensive production.

I started watching this with the hope to be entertained. I was disappointed. When the Jedi said to a complete stranger "yes my child?" I knew the writing was going to be bad. The characters are forgettable and unlikable which causes me to have no interest in any of the actions of plots of the show. Only two episodes in and I decided to look at the reviews and saw 10s...these are obviously fake and it's just pathetic to see people doing this. This is horrible entertainment. The effects should definitely be better since it's easy to tell they put a lot of money into it. Instead they should've put more money into a neutral and invested writer to lead the writing department. Extreme HARD PASS. Watched the latest...wow how these horrible writers and set designers getting these jobs?

Episode 1 was hard to watch. Writing on this series so far is at the CW level, and toward the low end of that. The casting, or miscasting perhaps, is baffling. The lead looks too young for the character she portrays, and lacks seriously in presence. The character isn't interesting to boot. What was the thinking behind assigning her this acting task? Other characters suffer from the same mismatch problems. It's as if the characters and their actors were drawn out of a hat.

Onto other issues. Dialog is clunky. As an example during a fight, one character asks another why they are there. Answer: to kill you. If killing with excess cringe were STAR WARS canon, this would be a dangerous weapon for THE ACOLYTE.

Kung-fu action is another main theme for this series. Why? It doesn't look like STAR WARS. Could we get some explanation why the fighting style is suddenly front and center?

In sum, THE ACOLYTE is a poorly written mess out the gate, and it suffers from an apparent general lack of understanding in regard to the STAR WARS universe. Overall showrunning on this one is poor.