The newest Star Wars entry, “The Acolyte” takes place 100 years prior to the movie prequels. We’re told this is at the height of the Republic’s influence and Jedi’s power. Despite this, a serial killer is out there picking off Jedi masters one by one. Osha is a starship mechanic who was once a Jedi dropout. She’s initially arrested for the murders because it couldn’t possibly be her twin who everybody is mostly sure might be dead-ish.
Critics seem to like but not love the two-episode premiere, while user reviews across the universe have been brigaded by misogynists and racists complaining it’s too “woke”. There’s literally nothing woke and no woke messaging in it. I wish there were because it might give the show more substance and drive, but as we’ve seen with so much brigading in reaction to prior Star Wars projects, conservatives are merely snowflaking about the casting of Black and Asian people, as well as women in the leads. Totes gasp, fetch me yon fainting couch.
Often, this amount of whiny brigading indicates something special that must be worth checking out. But once in a while, it leads to a show that’s OK and lacks a certain spark. I’m not here to review the brigading, but if you want to see the word “woke” written by a bunch of people who have no definition for it, go check out user reviews pretty much anywhere. I am here to review “The Acolyte” as a show, one that’s so non-woke it tempted me to go to sleep.
It’s introducing all new characters in an era we haven’t seen much of yet, so the writing needs to do a lot of heavy lifting. It’s solid enough conceptually, but I’ve rarely seen something get to the screen that’s in this much need of a copy edit. There were multiple mental double-takes when characters repeat lines verbatim in ways that neither reinforce nor subvert an idea. They aren’t exposition over-reminding us, which is forgivable enough. They’re just lines that are repeated as if they really wanted to get that dialogue in, weren’t sure where to put it so filmed it for multiple scenes, and then forgot to edit out all but one instance. That seems unlikely, but regardless of why it was done, the effect is one of head-scratching redundancy in dialogue that has no reason being repeated.
“The Acolyte” is one of the more serious scripts in the franchise when it comes to tone. There are very few jokes and laugh lines, so when they happen they’re pretty noticeable. This’d be fine if they worked, but they are badly placed within otherwise tense moments. If a character made some jokes in the quiet moments and popped one out in a standoff or interrogation, sure, that makes sense, it’s payoff. Here, there are no jokes in the quiet moments. When things pick up and the dialogue increases pace, the writing thinks part of that pace is a quick joke – but that takes earlier foundation for the timing to feel earned rather than random. That foundation for the little humor there is just isn’t there, which is a shame because the slower moments that dominate the first two episodes could’ve used those little tone breaks.
There’s no sense of geography for how characters move from one place to another, or how far it is, which isn’t important unless a show makes it important. When a character beats her team to a city gate to glimpse the villain, the show just made it important, so we should’ve been given some sense of relationship between two places, even if it were just a line of dialogue. That was the type of small detail that “Andor” used expertly to create all the tension in the world. And all it needs is a line and 5-10 seconds that relate establishing shot to closeup. Here, everyone just seems to fast travel and then enter when the stage directions tell them to.
The episodes each feel five minutes too short in terms of that interstitial detail that lets us feel like we’re fully alongside the characters. Yet each episode still manages to drag just a little. I like slow in this kind of universe. Star Wars could certainly use a little slow to let us feel some of the worlds we scramble through too quickly, but here slowness falls back on that redundancy I mentioned earlier. The design does a ton of unspoken work I’ll talk about later, but its quality highlights how much we could’ve used the slightest expanded glimpse into these locations and cultures. And we know how to do it, everything from the first “Star Wars” to “The Mandalorian” does a superb job of establishing new places and letting us see enough to draw conclusions about them. It wouldn’t require invention in the franchise, just taking the craft that’s already inherent to storytelling in this universe and using it for this show’s purposes.
Despite its slower pace, both episodes of “The Acolyte” are strangely and very abruptly truncated, teasing something for the next one but feeling like someone ran the credits right before the tease was given a real hook. I’m not opposed to the choice, but that’s pretty clearly for the wrong reason. It reminds me of faint childhood memories of the 90s when the VCR didn’t record the last 30 seconds of a TV show. It doesn’t ruin the episode when Mulder’s last witticism is cut off mid-sentence, but it can leave an anti-climactic taste. Nowadays, it’s a surprisingly nostalgic element to come across, but I seriously doubt the “The Acolyte” was going for, “Oops! We forgot to record the last 30 seconds!”
All of these issues in the writing could be cleaned up with a well-delivered premise, but it’s hard to tell whether this is chase, mystery, or an actioner when it backs off before pushing into the territory of any. Osha’s early fugitive plotline that seems like it should run a few episodes into a crescendo is just waved off by a character suddenly believing what they insisted wasn’t possible a mere two scenes earlier – not because they have new evidence or a reason to change, but because…I mean, I have no idea. Then other characters who have expressed strict, bureaucratic opposition change their minds, too, based on completely circumstantial evidence. It really smacks of characters changing because the script wants to go in a different direction, not because any of that change is reasoned or earned.
But wait! I still kind of like “The Acolyte”. Huh? Writing’s one thing. Probably the biggest thing. But it’s not everything. Broadly speaking, the underlying story hits solid Star Wars fundamentals. And part of characters changing willy-nilly is that we don’t have to see them navel-gazing about anything for scenes on end, which were the worst elements of the otherwise fantastic “Ahsoka” and otherwise OK-I-guess “Obi-Wan Kenobi”.
The easiest way to break down what I mean is by looking at the biggest issue right now in Disney’s other tentpole franchise: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Every movie and series in the MCU needs to have a special hook, introduce a new Avengers teammate, a new villain, risk the universe or at least the entire planet, and take a story step toward a unified multiverse arc with a years-long villain. That’s a lot to do, but when each and every entry is doing this entire checklist, they stop feeling accessible and put many great new characters at arm’s length. At a time when the MCU is becoming much more diverse and inclusive, they’re making each entry feel too similar, like a section of syllabus we need to speed through to make sure the coursework is done, rather than an opportunity to get to know a new character.
Classic MCU characters were fondly embraced because we got to know them in (comparatively) smaller-scale stories. “Iron Man” was about experiencing something that convinces a man to fight to change the nature of his life’s work. “Captain America” was about winning a war but really about getting to the war in the first place. “Thor” was about a dude trying to win back his hammer’s approval, and through it his father’s. “Ant Man” was about a heist to reclaim intellectual property. The universe wasn’t getting blown up in any of them, which allowed room for opportunities to identify with and feel close to these characters. It’s a relief to see today’s greater representation, but when that greater representation is shoehorned into (mostly) the same stories, it feels like the representation is too often re-purposed rather than celebrated.
When the universe is always at risk, not only do you have less room to get to know characters, but the universe being at risk starts to lose meaning. You need entries that can draw things back to the small-scale, so you can make the larger scale still mean something.
To function properly, franchises need momentous entries that tower and impress, sure. They also need entries that are straightforward and do foundation work, that don’t re-purpose their content into the same mold used to output product. That necessarily means some entries won’t wow as much as others, but they’re still needed to make a franchise function. The MCU is too top-heavy because it doesn’t have those small stories to bolster and float the rest. I’m not sure “The Acolyte” intends to be that quieter, less ambitious, foundational entry for Star Wars, but regardless of whether it wants to be, it’s looking like that’s what it is.
What makes it pretty watchable is threefold. The actors are nearly all great. The set design and art direction are phenomenal. The fight choreo is on point.
Amandla Stenberg (“The Hate U Give”) does well as both the good and bad twin. She cuts through with some charisma, which seems like faint praise, but is nearly impossible to do with the writing doing the actors so few favors. It’s even more impressive she does it in two different ways for two different characters: the well-behaved, confident Osha and her incendiary but self-doubting twin Mae.
Lee Jung Jae (“Squid Game”) plays Jedi Master Sol, who trained Osha before she left. They give him most of the pointless repetition, which sucks, but as he gets more to do, it’s hard not to like him. He infuses subtle moments of empathy into his otherwise stoic Jedi, which enjoyably gives him more patience than his supposedly more stoic compatriots.
Charlie Barnett (“Russian Doll”) plays freshly promoted Jedi Knight Yord Fandar. The writing’s too on the nose about his paranoia, but again he escapes it enough to start seeming like more of a real person. I hope they give Dafne Keen more to do; she’s been fantastic in demanding lead roles for “Logan” and “His Dark Materials”.
The ensemble is roundly great except for one character, Vernestra, who seems completely out of place, noticeably wooden, and has an alien makeup so lazy someone would’ve been booted from “Face Off” Week 1 with the comment, “What did you use your time for?” How much of this is writing, actor, or design it’s hard to say, but the intersection of all three failing makes this supporting character come off as utterly misplaced.
The production design, set dressing, and art direction is worth the watch on its own. The interiors here feel like lived-in places, which is part of why I’d love to see them explored just the slightest bit more. I wouldn’t compare “The Acolyte” to “Andor” in most ways, and they have different approaches to their design, but these are the two Star Wars entries that feel most inhabited.
The level of detail in some of these sets is exceptional. We get to see alleyways, bars, temples, apothecaries, your usual Star Wars destinations, but they’re visually realized so much better here. The more grandiose establishing shots we’re used to in Star Wars are not as frequent, and I read one review that criticized foregoing vast, sweeping, epic panoramas in favor of interiors…but at the same time I need to see the spaces people live in if I’m to believe the place exists.
I’m also thankful they didn’t go the route of landscape overload that’s starting to become popular in sci-fi and fantasy with recent, more affordable advances in CGI. The latest tech leap for series-level budgets is going to be used well one day, but it’s still early in this latest iteration and squarely in its overuse-without-restraint period. Look no further than this year’s live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender” adaptation for endless fantasy panoramas that are softly out-of-focus and badly mismatch foreground character lighting to see what I mean. After that, a series that prefers this level of detail in a house or shop feels refreshing and needed.
Finally, the fight choreo is really good. It leans more toward wuxia (kung fu) choreography, which connects it more to the prequel era it’s closest to than the European martial sword choreo of the original trilogy. I also like that the Jedi are loathe to pull their lightsaber unless they truly feel it’s needed. If they’re such incredible fighters who favor de-escalation, they wouldn’t pull their greatest weapon out when they feel they can handle someone hand-to-hand. This offers us the rare opportunity to see Jedi actually keeping their lightsabers sheathed and schooling people as if they’re the calm, stoic badasses we’re always told they are.
It also means getting to see Carrie-Anne Moss and Lee Jung Jae fight closer to how they’re trained (they’ve both been in countless projects involving fight choreo, and Lee served in South Korea’s military). Some might wonder what so much hand-to-hand choreo is doing in Star Wars, but I like its inclusion and the idea that some Jedi don’t want to go straight to DEFCON 1. The flowing nature of the styles used here also fit the use of force powers much better. They seem naturally incorporated in a movement more than taking a hand off the sword mid-engagement ever does.
Finally, there’s a bit of non-choreo here that I love, when Mae tries to kill a Jedi master named Torbin. He meditates without even waking, but is so powerful that she can’t hit him. Every weapon stops a meter away as if resisted by the Force itself. That’s cool, and something I’ve wanted from the franchise for literal decades. It’s how Yoda should’ve fought in the prequels, so powerful that the challenge is in even trying to get close to him, rather than becoming that stupid little bouncing ball. Sure, Gandalf had to smack a lot of dudes in Lord of the Rings, but he could also just burst flatten a platoon of orcs across an entire castle ruin when it suited him. That’s the level of I-don’t-even-have-to-fight-you that powerful Force users should have in Star Wars, not turning into an epilepsy test of a neon pinball. Deep breath.
I guess that does open the door to Star Wars not being exactly sacrosanct in my book. Canon has already been rewritten multiple times over, it will be again, details of the Extended Universe embraced, then rejected, then cannibalized for parts. Bad writing is certainly not new to the franchise, and the basis of fight choreo shifting from one side of the globe to the other for the prequels was much bigger and less sensible than a Jedi simply keeping their lightsaber sheathed and getting their palm strike on.
I didn’t start watching Star Wars as a kid for phenomenal writing it’s rarely had or for the best acting on the planet. I watched it cause pretty lights go “zhhhrrrr”, spaceships built from junkyard scrap have personality, and pretty people insult each other with words like “nerf herder”. What came before had a mythical, epic quality that can be hard to recapture, but even this is “The Empire Strikes Back” doing 80% of the heavy lifting.
The franchise has only recently gotten repeated top writing and direction on projects like “Rogue One”, “Andor”, and “The Mandalorian”. It’s strange to hear people judge new entries by a high bar that most earlier entries wouldn’t pass either. We’ve got both good and bad Star Wars. Just like we always have. Is “The Acolyte” good? So far no. Is it nice to watch something smaller-scale and less demanding of my investment in this universe? So far yes. Does the writing make this hard to watch? Yep. Do the actors, art direction, and fight choreo make this easy to watch? Yep.
Is “The Acolyte” a must watch? The original trilogy’s importance aside, nothing else in the franchise besides “Andor” really is. It’s neither a good entry like the last half of “The Clone Wars” nor a bad entry like the first half of “The Clone Wars”. It’s pretty average. If you’re looking for great writing, I love Star Wars but I’m gonna be super blunt – this has never been the franchise for that. If you’re looking for enough acting, design, and fight choreo to get the job done, this is watchable enough, and it’s nice to have a lower commitment franchise entry. That’s not the best reason to keep watching, but it’s a reason that’ll have me check at least the next few episodes out.
“Star Wars: The Acolyte” is on Disney+.
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Gabriel Diego Valdez 