Star Wars: The Acolyte
The Force is a little muddled with this one, but could have grown stronger given time.
Reminder for reviews: I'm only really going to talk about what stood out to me, so anything I don't bring up is most likely just fine.
If an issue isn't bad enough to detract from the experience, then that's a good thing - just like something not standing out as being noteworthy doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing.
It's perfectly fine for a thing to serve its purpose and nothing more.
MOVIES
- Yes, new movies have been watched and will be getting written about, starting with 21 Bridges at the start of February.
- Why such a wait? Well, that's thanks to the recent realisation that I hadn't written about 28 Days Later yet, so that will be the focus of next week's post.
- I was also surprisingly productive when it came to the holiday period, so there are also two games to write about before 21 Bridges gets its time in the sun.
- Prime Video also did yet another promotion recently that I took advantage of and I had a few more movies marked to watch on there, so began making my way through those and posts about them will follow in due course.
GAMES
- As mentioned above, it'll be posts about two games in the next two weeks, thanks to both being very short in the form of Limbo and CAYNE, although I'll admit now to only finishing one of them.
- After those two, Little Misfortune is next up after developing a way to quasi-randomly pick a game to play, which should keep things interesting.
- I'm also still working my way through Baldur's Gate 3 (into Act 3 yet again) and Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (just a few missions left) and still having just as much fun as ever with them both.
TV
- Star Wars: The Acolyte plot summary: An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master against a dangerous warrior from his past. As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems… (IMDb)
- I saw a lot of hate online from the usual suspects, so knew before I ever started Star Wars: The Acolyte that it was never going to be as bad as claimed and was completely right about that.
- Not that it's great either, but when the leads are a black woman and two Asian men, then you know exactly why the hate is occurring in the first place.
- For me, it was initially interesting to see the High Republic era in live-action after getting a small taste of the setting in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and it really did feel familiar, but different.
- Unfortunately, that starting fresh with pretty much everything about the production design is most likely why the show cost so much and wasn't renewed for a second season, which is a shame.
- It's also interesting that this is yet another story in which the Jedi are not portrayed in the most flattering light, which is funny considering the amount of fan-wankery about them.
- I did find out that the show's creator, Leslye Headland, was a fan of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords and that does explain the above, plus the plot thread of a Force user seeking out hidden Jedi.
- Just a side note: as much as a lot of fans want the KotOR games adapted into live-action, you just know that there's a large portion of the fanbase who will hate what Kreia has to say and absolutely will abuse the actress who plays her for doing so.
- I also really liked the action choreography, and not just the excellent lightsaber fights which all felt like something new, with different styles making the combat feel fresh and interesting.
- It wasn't just the lightsaber stuff that was great, but the martial arts side to the combat as well, including very obvious wuxia-inspired elements that some idiots mocked rather than appreciating an excellent nod to Asian cinema which helped inspire George Lucas when making Star Wars.
- As far as the story goes, it does feel very much like a first season of a multi-part story which means it is unfortunately lacking in catharsis due to its cancellation.
- How the story evolves and how two characters in particular change over the course of the story is paced really well and perfectly set up and will now never complete.
- Then again, this is only a hundred years before The Phantom Menace and so you have some idea of how things will go, but it would've been very interesting to see those events play out.
- Regarding the cast, I really liked Lee Jung-jae as Sol, a conflicted Jedi, and I loved Dafne Keen as his Padawan, Jecki; I'd definitely enjoy seeing more of their story if possible at some point.
- I also really, really liked Manny Jacinto in his role, especially with just how different he is from the only other role I've seen him in as Jason Mendoza in The Good Place.
- Unfortunately, the weak link are the central roles of Osha and Mae, played by Amandla Stenberg, although it's not a performance issue.
- Narratively and thematically, her very similar performances as the twins make sense, as they are explicitly stated to be one person split into two.
- Unfortunately, that means there's not as much room for Stenberg to show off any range as she has to play them as very similar to each other because they are, despite very clearly being pretty good at what she does.
- I can see a way in which you could've explored how different their lives had made the pair, but then it'd be a different story and veering straight into fan-fiction at this point, which makes it a non-starter.
- I did really appreciate one observation that I saw after finishing the story, which is that the sisters balance each other out within the Force and remain so even as they both change during the season, which is pretty neat.
- And I very much appreciate Headland's deliberate choice to not try and trick the audience with a who's who moment with the twins and instead create tension for when the other characters find out when this happens.
- Ultimately, Star Wars: The Acolyte is a good, but not great show that I really wish we'd been able to see more of, if only to see how the twins' lives played out. [7/10]
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