Star Wars The Acolyte

[SM]

I've heard nothing but bad things about this show but you all seem quite positive, is it worth a watch?

Not sure who's been saying bad things but I'd think if you're going off interwebs people, they're pretty negative on anything. The cast is very diverse in a GOOD way, but some people just see non-white actors and think it's automatically bad. I thought the first two eps were very fresh in terms of it being a brand new story in a brand new era that wasn't tied into some deep lore or canon event or plot so it's a pretty easy pick up and just enjoy what it is.

 

[Brick Loosener]

I've heard nothing but bad things about this show but you all seem quite positive, is it worth a watch?

Not really. People are being nice.

 

[Frank Bunn]

I had low expectations which proved to be correct. It's the exception when Disney makes good Star Wars shows like Andor and Mandalorian.

The set design looks like they borrowed it from other shows. Where did the $180 million go? The cast are not particularly hot ticket. For $22.5 million per half hour episode it should be amazing. It's not. By comparison, Foundation cost about $5 million per 50 minute episode.

The dialog is often a series of platitudes that you might find in a high school drama production, or written by AI. And delivered by the actors like it was a rehearsal run through. That's down to Leslye Headland, who wrote and directed the first two episodes.

Spoiler: The usual dumb things

Flames on the outside of a spaceship - in the vacuum of space. Then she put it out with a fire extinguisher.
Dangerous criminals easily escaping from a prison ship.
In the vast emptiness of space there just happens to be a nearby planet with a breathable atmosphere.
The totally out of control spaceship crash lands and Osha survives unhurt. Lucky she put on her seat belt. Only for her to fall off the edge of a cliff.
Kung Fu and knife fights when they can Force push.

 

[Kellythatsit]

Lol. Frankly, the fire in space gripe is one of those head scratchers.

Did people not see literally any Star War before this?

 

[Kellythatsit]

It’s weird. I was explicitly told there’d be endless pronouns uttered in every sentence from white-men-hating lesbians espousing the evils of the patriarchy.

What gives?

 

[FlowersByIrene]

It’s weird. I was explicitly told there’d be endless pronouns uttered in every sentence from white-men-hating lesbians espousing the evils of the patriarchy.

What gives?

I just saw an interview with one of the actresses on Trevor Noah I think saying the goal of her performance was to "make white men cry".. which is a bit of a weird approach I must say.

 

[Kellythatsit]

I just saw an interview with one of the actresses on Trevor Noah I think saying the goal of her performance was to "make white men cry".. which is a bit of a weird approach I must say.

Pretty sure that was for an interview she did in 2018 about her performance in “Hate U Give”.

 

[Freo Big Fella]

Enough here to keep me intrigued.

I almost automatically tune out the broader fandom reaction these days. Remember these are the people who spent the first month shitting on Andor as well.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

Pretty sure that was for an interview she did in 2018 about her performance in “Hate U Give”.

Ah interesting.

 

[SM]

Lol. Frankly, the fire in space gripe is one of those head scratchers.

Did people not see literally any Star War before this?

People love to hate watch.

 

[SM]

It’s weird. I was explicitly told there’d be endless pronouns uttered in every sentence from white-men-hating lesbians espousing the evils of the patriarchy.

What gives?

I mentioned to my wife I'd been told there were no white male actors apparently.. Then one appeared on screen. Then another. I was very confused.

 

[Frank Bunn]

I've heard nothing but bad things about this show but you all seem quite positive, is it worth a watch?

It's ok if you are prepared to overlook mediocre writing, acting and the usual Star Wars dumb stuff.

I'm not sure people commenting here are representative. The Rotten Tomatoes audience score has been tracking down by the hour.

 

[Brick Loosener]

It's ok if you are prepared to overlook mediocre writing, acting and the usual Star Wars dumb stuff.

I'm not sure people commenting here are representative. The Rotten Tomatoes audience score has been tracking down by the hour.

View attachment 2012492

Russian bots.

 

[Kellythatsit]

It's ok if you are prepared to overlook mediocre writing, acting and the usual Star Wars dumb stuff.

I'm not sure people commenting here are representative. The Rotten Tomatoes audience score has been tracking down by the hour.

View attachment 2012492

The irony is that only review bombers themselves seem to be impressed by audience scores.

 

[SM]

It's ok if you are prepared to overlook mediocre writing, acting and the usual Star Wars dumb stuff.

I'm not sure people commenting here are representative. The Rotten Tomatoes audience score has been tracking down by the hour.

View attachment 2012492

Are you familiar with review bombing?

Mediocre acting pmsl.

 

[Pablito]

Very mid.

Interesting enough narrative setup.

Screenplay feels like a first draft written to meet a short deadline though. For example, the scene in ep 2 where they were being walked to the meditating jedi. How tf did the main girl and the guy tailing her get there first before the others? Did their chaperone just forget the shortest route to his room or did he just take them to get checked in first at reception? Just one of many stupid plot devices.

Actors can only do so much with garbage dialogue.

Cinematography and editing feels off. For example the shot when the main character wakes up on the crashed ship and doesn't follow her out as she walks out of frame was jarring. Like it hangs on an empty room for a few seconds too long.

The fight choreography at times felt like a joke and at other times felt pretty neat. Liking more use of the force and knives but hate the odd pausing during a fight.

The whole diversity casting thing also..I couldn't care less either way. The people who complain about the lack of white males are just as bad as the people making decisions to cast based on race not merit. Two sides of the same stupidity coin.

All in all I'll keep watching. But based on the lack of a well thought out coherent script. I suspect I won't enjoy what it ends up being.

5/10

 

[SM]

Very mid.

Interesting enough narrative setup.

Screenplay feels like a first draft written to meet a short deadline though. For example, the scene in ep 2 where they were being walked to the meditating jedi. How tf did the main girl and the guy tailing her get there first before the others? Did their chaperone just forget the shortest route to his room or did he just take them to get checked in first at reception? Just one of many stupid plot devices.

Actors can only do so much with garbage dialogue.

Cinematography and editing feels off. For example the shot when the main character wakes up on the crashed ship and doesn't follow her out as she walks out of frame was jarring. Like it hangs on an empty room for a few seconds too long.

The fight choreography at times felt like a joke and at other times felt pretty neat. Liking more use of the force and knives but hate the odd pausing during a fight.

The whole diversity casting thing also..I couldn't care less either way. The people who complain about the lack of white males are just as bad as the people making decisions to cast based on race not merit. Two sides of the same stupidity coin.

All in all I'll keep watching. But based on the lack of a well thought out coherent script. I suspect I won't enjoy what it ends up being.

5/10

Dear God.

 

[Frank Bunn]

Are you familiar with review bombing?

It goes both ways. There's also some people giving 10/10 as though this is the bestest Star Wars ever. If this show is 10/10 is Andor 15/10?

I'm guessing those giving 1/10 are Star Wars fans who are dismayed at the direction Disney has taken it. They seem to be disenfranchising long term fans of the franchise without attracting a new audience. Not the smartest business strategy.

On IMDB if you take out the 1 and 10 scores the average is 4.75/10 which is about where it belongs.

 

[Kellythatsit]

Very mid.

Interesting enough narrative setup.

Screenplay feels like a first draft written to meet a short deadline though. For example, the scene in ep 2 where they were being walked to the meditating jedi. How tf did the main girl and the guy tailing her get there first before the others? Did their chaperone just forget the shortest route to his room or did he just take them to get checked in first at reception? Just one of many stupid plot devices.

Actors can only do so much with garbage dialogue.

Cinematography and editing feels off. For example the shot when the main character wakes up on the crashed ship and doesn't follow her out as she walks out of frame was jarring. Like it hangs on an empty room for a few seconds too long.

The fight choreography at times felt like a joke and at other times felt pretty neat. Liking more use of the force and knives but hate the odd pausing during a fight.

The whole diversity casting thing also..I couldn't care less either way. The people who complain about the lack of white males are just as bad as the people making decisions to cast based on race not merit. Two sides of the same stupidity coin.

All in all I'll keep watching. But based on the lack of a well thought out coherent script. I suspect I won't enjoy what it ends up being.

5/10

To be fair - a lot of those criticisms can be levelled at most other Star Wars. Certainly valid for Return of the Jedi, the prequels, and the sequels.

The diversity thing annoys me too. The presumption that POC have been cast illegitimately over a white (male) actor is not only racist but dismissive of the fact that POC are also fine actors and have a story to tell.

 

[Kellythatsit]

View attachment 2012583

It goes both ways. There's also some people giving 10/10 as though this is the bestest Star Wars ever. If this show is 10/10 is Andor 15/10?

I'm guessing those giving 1/10 are Star Wars fans who are dismayed at the direction Disney has taken it. They seem to be disenfranchising long term fans of the franchise without attracting a new audience. Not the smartest business strategy.

On IMDB if you take out the 1 and 10 scores the average is 4.75/10 which is about where it belongs.

Let’s not pretend that from the moment this show was announced there hasn’t been an orchestrated campaign by certain anti-fan hate groups to tear it down.

Online misinformation from the usual offenders proclaiming the show was dead, or Headland was fired, and general unsourced reports of how terrible the story was began years ago.

Then there was the campaign to dislike the trailer led by Geeks & Gamers and cohort. Fans of those channels flocked to the trailer to downvote it, ironically increasing engagement and making it one of the most viewed trailers in modern memory.

There’s a storied and demonstrable history of these same sites and anti-fans review bombing these kinds of shows and movies. So much so that most general punters are wise to this tactic and take little to no stock in audience scores at all.

Online YouTubers proclaimed the show an unmitigated disaster months/years before anyone had even seen a single clip. Now they are back piling on bad faith critiques about “fire in space” and “bad writing” while regurgitating the same old dead rhetoric about poor audience reviews they themselves have orchestrated. Hardly objective or unbiased commentary.

 

[jdeezy]

They seem to be disenfranchising long term fans of the franchise without attracting a new audience. Not the smartest business strategy.

In what way?

 

[SM]

View attachment 2012583

It goes both ways. There's also some people giving 10/10 as though this is the bestest Star Wars ever. If this show is 10/10 is Andor 15/10?

I'm guessing those giving 1/10 are Star Wars fans who are dismayed at the direction Disney has taken it. They seem to be disenfranchising long term fans of the franchise without attracting a new audience. Not the smartest business strategy.

On IMDB if you take out the 1 and 10 scores the average is 4.75/10 which is about where it belongs.

It does go both ways. Making these scores utterly irrelevant.

 

[manureid]

Makes some good points

 

[SM]

To be fair - a lot of those criticisms can be levelled at most other Star Wars. Certainly valid for Return of the Jedi, the prequels, and the sequels.

The diversity thing annoys me too. The presumption that POC have been cast illegitimately over a white (male) actor is not only racist but dismissive of the fact that POC are also fine actors and have a story to tell.

Particularly when this cast smashes it out of the park. Qimir is one of my favourite SW characters in a long time.

 

[Kellythatsit]

Makes some good points

Is it though? Frankly, Critical Drinker is one of the worst of these fan review channels. Completely devoid of any real film analysis. Note he instead goes for highlighting every time a “strong female character” or POC appears on screen. The implication is that this should actually be a male character but something something diversity. Essentially, a poor man’s Plinkett review with none of the insight, grifting off a cottage industry of negativity and bigotry, with an obvious right-handed axe to grind.