The Acolyte

Take one of the most exciting and expansive fictional universes with iconic characters and storylines... then just tear it up without respect to its original mythos, lore, etc. That's the path of destruction that Disney has been on, save Andor, Rogue One, and to an extent, the Mandalorian.

It's sad because I'm sure lots of talented professionals worked on this. Tragically, the writing and acting is truly terrible. Special effects are great, but that's not enough to compensate for all its other flaws.

As a fan, I want to give it zero stars. Out of respect for the special effects artists, I'm giving 3.

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.

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.

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 love Star Wars. I grew up on the original trilogy. I can remember being so excited when Return of the Jedi previews were aired on TV and even more excited when my family and I were in the theater and the scrawl started. I like the prequel trilogy well enough. And while I did like the Force Awakens, I admit the following movies had their faults. Some pretty big ones, actually. But the acting was always pretty top notch (Anakin Skywalker being the exception).

All that being said, the acting in this series is a failure. I want to acknowledge that Lee Jung-jae was fantastic. He put this show on his shoulders and carried it all the way through this season. The exact opposite can be said for the "star" of the series, Amandla Stenberg. She is quite possibly the worst actress I have ever seen on any screen, big or small. She is not believable in any scene she appears in, regardless of the mood or tone of that scene. She has single-handedly ruined this series for me. And the fact that she has to pull double duty makes it even worse. While the characters she portrays are twins they clearly have different personalities, their lives having taken very different courses. But unfortunately for the viewer, you must interpret that separately from what you see, as Amandla plays both characters the exact same way... poorly. She is near constantly wide eyed for no discernible reason and it looks as though you can see her mind telling her that she is supposed to be expressive, but the expression looks more like constipation rather than anything going within the script.

I was excited and looking forward to a Star Wars series with an African American female leading character to drive the show. I could not have been more disappointed in the result. I'm sure they don't want to recast for a potential second season, but they should strongly consider it.

While the story itself seemed interesting enough and if you're willing to overlook some pretty glaring moments of "why would they do that?" then it's not a horrible entry into the Star Wars canon. But you really have to dig deep to look beyond the atrocious acting out in by Stenberg and a couple other cast members.