When Disney first purchased Lucasfilm back in 2012, it caused a lot of commotion for Star Wars fans. For myself, I was interested because, while I wasn’t the biggest Star Wars fan, I enjoyed the franchise for what it was. Sadly, what the House of Mouse has put out hasn’t been exactly stellar. And, upon viewing the first trailer for Disney’s The Acolyte, I am once more not impressed and it has failed to grab my interest for a number of reasons.
I went into watching the trailer without knowing anything about the series. Though, I have to say, when it comes to the Star Wars shows overall, I quickly lost interest in them. The Mandalorian was alright but a heavy reliance on baby Yoda and literal plot armor was annoying. The Book of Boba Fett didn’t understand that character at all and was boring. As for Obi-Wan Kenobi, it was just stupid and felt more like a cash grab. Then I watched the first episode of Andor and I couldn’t bother to watch the rest because I didn’t care about the main protagonist. And Ahsoka? I haven’t even bothered at this point, though I have seen some of the fight scenes and they were rather boring to watch.
Now, visually, like the rest of the Disney+ shows, The Acolyte looks great. Some good set pieces, great alien costumes, and I’m sure the music will be good. It seems to have an interesting plot in that someone is murdering Jedi and it would be fascinating to see how that is happening. Sadly, that is all of the positive things I can say about the trailer.
So why does Disney’s Star Wars The Acolyte trailer fail to impress?
When it comes to the trailer, there are two major points that simply kills all interest in the show for me. The first is in the Jedi classroom when the instructor tells the Padawans to close their eyes before asking them to tell him what they see. Ignoring the alien child that literally can’t close their eyes (which a majority of fans have been mocking in the trailer’s comments section), one child says “Life,” another says “Balance,” and the final one says “I see fire.”
What exactly do I find wrong about the scene?
A number of things. From the vehicle(children) used to try and impress, but also intrigue, to the audience to the execution of the scene itself: the scene felt flat, inorganic, and cringey. These are children learning to be Jedi. They are children that are still learning about life and I find it difficult to believe that the first two answers given are something that children would be able to see, understand, and boil it down into a single word.
Regarding the first answer, what would the first child see in order to answer with the word “Life?” A flock of birds, a plethora of animals and plants, or the birth of a child? Perhaps it was just the word itself etched into their mind by the Force. What could they envision that would make them think of a word beyond what they are seeing to arrive at the word “life” rather than the more literal depiction? The same issue with the second answer. Did the child see scales and weights but was able to deduce that it was a representation of balance?
The final answer, fire, is the easiest one to believe that a child could quickly understand. But how it was delivered was poorly done. Not only does the final answer break the pattern of how the answers were given, it doesn’t properly convey the potential gravity of the revelation either. Instead of just saying fire, the third child says “I see fire.”
Why was that part written in this way? Was this to give more credence or weight to the answer? Because it doesn’t. Just the word by itself would have been enough to convey it since fire usually means destruction. Yet, it wasn’t just the words said that lessened the impact of it being spoken, but the child’s delivery. Once again, these are children learning to become Jedi and learning to control their emotions.
The child saying “I see fire” in a calm way further decreases any impact for the show so that when the background music changed to a more threatening ambience, I couldn’t be bothered to get drawn into the shift in tone. Poor writing here, but really sup par directing as well. If they had wanted the scene to have any real impact, the final child should have conveyed some emotional or physical discomfort before giving their answer. Whether a shot of the pupils rapidly moving about behind the eyelids or a short, scared gasp before answering, or even the response tinged with emotion would have vastly improved the potential impact of the scene and provide a far superior transition for the trailer’s tone.
The opening scene was an opportunity to really set the tone for the trailer, the series overall, and what the viewer might expect. Sadly, it is not believable and fails to properly set the tone for the rest of the trailer.
Perhaps I am reading too much into the scene or that not being a major Star Wars fan makes me more critical of the children and their behaviors since they are training to be Jedi. But, again, they are training to be Jedi and they are very young. Which makes it hard to suspend my disbelief when it comes to this scene. Especially in this current political climate where one side is arguing that prepubescents are intelligent enough to determine their own gender, decide if they want hormone blockers, or even mutilate their bodies through irreversible surgeries. However, from that same side, they will argue that 18-year-olds aren’t smart enough to take out a college loan, or own a weapon, or be prosecuted as an adult. That same side which also things it perfectly fine to introduce the concept of sex and sexual acts to prepubescents.
It’s a “woke” world out there for a vocal minority. But it is a minority that has power and it is this woke ideology that brings up the second major issue which made me lose interest in this show.
The first minute of the show is telling the audience that this series is about Jedi being murdered and that there is a darkness rising. Obviously, since this is Star Wars, a regular viewer is going to expect that this is involving the Sith and that there is going to be an investigation into the murders that could lead to some Jedi discovering a Sith Lord or the apprentice or a group of Sith.
Who knows? But that is the mystery which would catch the audience’s attention so that they will watch the show to find out. Which I was interested in. Especially if there is a chance to see some cool lightsaber fights.
However, one minute and fifteen seconds later, one of the characters says, “This isn’t about good or bad. This is about power – and who is allowed to use it.”
Yikes.
The line clashes with the foundation of Star Wars. That the Jedi are the forces of good and the Sith are evil. So, after hearing that, my expectations for this show completely changed from it being a murder mystery being investigated with Force powers and lightsabers thrown in, to a show that is going to be preachy as hell that might try to paint the Sith as the good guys and the Jedi as the bad guys? Rather than seeing Jedi vs Sith it might just devolve into the Jedi being the bad guys, Sith being the good guys, or some other person being the real good guy.
The statement comes off as woke, supercilious nonsense that I have no interest in. I just wanted to see an interesting investigation into Jedi murders and some cool fight scenes.
However, I don’t even think that there will be any great fight scenes in this show judging by the fight choreography in the trailer. It was slow-paced and stilted watching Carrie-Anne Moss’s character fighting the assassin or whatever character they are supposed to be. Then there is the fight scene between the assassin character and Jedi Master Sol who was teaching the kids. When the assassin tries to kick the Jedi Master, the kick is stopped by the force, and then the assassin “tries” to kick his head, the kick is so far off that I don’t know why the Jedi is bothering to “dodge” the blow.
Which is not surprising.
I haven’t been impressed by a lightsaber fight since Disney bought out Lucasfilm and only one regular fight scene. You can say what you want about the prequel trilogies, but there is one undeniable fact – the Star Wars prequel movies elevated lightsaber fights far above the original movies which were restricted due to the fragility of the original props (George Lucas also explaining that Darth Vader and Obi-Wan were both old also lent credence to the slower fighting style).
But for Disney’s Star Wars, the fights are less impressive than the original movies. Timing tends to be off, overly-exaggerated movements, and the slow swordplay shows how little thought the company puts towards the franchises biggest selling point. However, there is one fight scene I can recall, which could measure up to the prequel movies, and that would be Chirrut from Rogue One when he fights the stormtroopers. He didn’t have a lightsaber, but the fight choreography and the actor’s abilities made it stand out and was believable.
Chirrut was an honorary Jedi and no one can convince me otherwise and I would say the best Disney Star Wars character so far.
But there is not a single lightsaber duel or fight from Disney Star Wars that has impressed me or I thought was cool. Which is insane to think about considering how much money and resources Disney has at its disposal to, at the very least, match the quality of fighting that moviegoers saw in the prequel movies.
Suffice to say, these were my main issues with the trailer and why I am not interested in watching Disney’s The Acolyte. However, I do plan to learn more about this show and the people working on it to see if it could be any worse than what the trailer has shown to audiences. Because, the trailer also comes off more as a DEI-infused woke project than a real attempt at creating a cool story or show.
Even if that isn’t the case. Disney’s The Acolyte looks like another mid or sub-par offering from the House of Mouse.
So what did you think about The Acolyte trailer?
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