Lost/Found

I saw it in the theater on the big screen and with amazing sound surrounded by other Star Wars fans. It was boring. I was bored.

It was an obvious set up that made me feel really disappointed. I didn't care about any of the characters. It really feels like fanfic writing.

The cold open have me hope, but the interesting cold open just makes you feel manipulated. If the big screen can't save it, I don't know what to tell you about seeing it on an average 70 inch tv.

The writing was below what Star Wars fans expect. The story was thin and at 8 episodes is nothing more than the tv version of a short story.

I wanted to like this, the first 5 mins were the highlight and it went downhill from there. No interest in the characters and stories. Overall just pretty boring. The quality of the new Star Wars shows has been uneven. While some series like "The Mandalorian" have been enjoyable for their storytelling, characters, and production values, the acolyte falls into a second camp of not being able to meet these standards. Inconsistent writing, pacing issues, and underdeveloped characters lead you to think this show was more what Disney think Star Wars fans should like rather than what Star Wars fans actually want to see.

I love Star Wars. It's been a lifelong obsession and will stay with me forever. Have never got into the cartoons but I've seen every live action film and TV series multiple times. Of the new post Disney fare, I enjoyed The Force Awakens (but not Episodes 8 and 9 and certainly not Solo), and I loved the first 2 series of the Mandalorian, and adored every moment of Andor - for me the best Star Wars Universe live action output that's been created to date. Many of the other TV series have been damp squibs IMO - Kenobi, Ahsoka and Boba Fett (ruining my favourite SW character in the process).

How does The Acolyte shape up in the above context? I watched 2 episodes and this review combines them. No plot spoilers required.

For me there is a huge problem at the heart of The Acolyte which also affected Kenobi and Ahsoka and was similarly problematic for much of the Prequel Trilogy. We all love Jedi Knights. We love the Force. We love a bit of light saber action. But Jedi Knights are BY TRAINING calm and serene, relatively humourless and unemotional, no major mood swings or ups and downs, limited bitterness, anger, sadness, fear, passion - because those traits are trained out. At the extreme, dialogue between Jedi Knights is clunky, awkward, serious, worthy and stilted. I find Ahsoka a difficult watch because she plays every scene the same way - like a Buddhist monk in a Zen like state - no matter the peril, danger, etc. In The Acolyte we have dialogue between Jedi Knights for much of the story - where's the comic relief, where's the recklessness, where's the jeopardy and emotion? Much as with The Phantom Menace where dialogue between politicians is stilted, worthy and boring, dialogue between Jedi doesn't exactly get the juices flowing. For example, Dafne Keen is a brilliant actress (Logan, Dark Materials) but so far her dialogue and required Jedi delivery makes her comes across as simply reading lines.

I hope this series turns out well - as a SW junkie I'll watch every minute - but IMO a non SW fan would find this a boring watch. The original films worked so well because you had Jedi (telling us the background story and providing moral leadership) surrounded by reluctant heroes (Luke, Han), comedy turns (the droids, Han), brave leaders (Leia), scoundrels (Han again), evil types - it worked because of that mix. And, of course, cool creatures, planets, vehicles etc. I'm missing most of that here. Let's see how it all pans out.

I had been looking forward to this show for a while, but was a little hesitant to watch it after seeing so many negative reviews. Had some time this evening to give it a shot, and I'm still processing what I just watched.

It's not fair to judge a whole show off of one episode, but I have to say the start is not promising. Some characters (Master Sol) seem to fit and fill out their role well, others (Yord) feel incredibly forced. Dialogue is painful, and the special effects really don't seem too, well, "special". The worst part for me though is that this doesn't even feel like Star Wars.

Having been on several of Disney's newer rides, it felt more like I was watching a play that was moving from one section of a theme park attraction to another. Camera angles were odd, sets looked detailed, but I didn't feel truly immersed in the story. This felt more like a junior high production than something with a Broadway-level budget.

Not sure I'll be able to finish this one off, depending on how the next few episodes play out. I'll give it a try, but this feels like a show without the soul of Star Wars.

Very much enjoyed the first episode, the action is well choreographed, sort of reminds me of the matrix and it does well to create intrigue with mystery and many different points of view. It does leave me unsure at this point in time what the necessity of this show will be, what it wants to tell us that we haven't discovered through previous projects, but I imagine in time we will find that out.

Lee Jung-jae fits so perfectly into this universe and his line delivery has you hanging to his every word. You can feel Master Sol's regret and sympathy for Osha and whatever the situation was and it will be interesting to see exactly what those details are. Yord comes across as a bit of a people pleaser, desperate for approval at the moment, I'll be curious to see more to better understand him and also his connection to Osha which so far we only know they had from their first on screen interaction.