Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Lee Jung-jai, Amandla Stenberg, Manny Jacinto, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, Joonas Suotamo, Rebecca Henderson, Leah Brady, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dean-Charles Chapman, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lauren Brady, Margarita Levieva, Amy Tsang, Abigail Thorn, Saskia Rosan, Tabitha Alege, Harry Trevaldwyn, Paul Bullion, Anthony J. Abraham, Indra Ové, Thara Schöön, David Harewood.
To crave balance is a trait of the right minded and justifiable, it is to understand that the Yin and Yang of life is a grace of the undeniable, it is the sense that the universe and reality hangs. If you wish to see the pendulum of emotions swing violently in the direction of extreme happiness in all then you mistreat, you relegate the belief that grief, sadness, anger, despair, and fear hold meaning, that the angst of the poet for example is nothing more than a string of words bound by negativity, rather than collating the thoughts of the suppressed which can lead to a finer sense of self.
Such is the message delivered with a punch to the emotional gut in the latest series to come from the Star Wars family vault, such is the dynamic and draw of The Acolyte that the viewer is finally propelled to a time before the Skywalker sagas and offered a glimpse, a lifting of the veil to which the great antagonists of the epic legends start to come into sharper focus, the leading Sith and the appearance of the two.
Balance is arbitrary, no two people will permanently agree on the exact nature, the exact divide where they believe the line should be set; and it is perhaps time that the viewer and follower alike were shown just where the evil that brought the Darth name into focus, and in the damage wrought upon the life of Verosha as she battled her feelings of grief as she lost her entire family and the subsequent lie told her by the Jedi Master Sol.
It is in that invention, in that moment that the force can be seen to be balanced, for in every beautiful lie we must learn there is the ugly truth that binds it, and the makers and creatives behind the series fully grasp the meaning and deliver a thought-provoking premise to the fan.
With intense performances from the likes of Lee Jung-jai, Amandla Stenberg, Manny Jacinto, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, and Rebecca Henderson, The Acolyte is appealing for its attention-grabbing concept of understanding that to appreciate the light and truth of the Jedi, we must first seek to comprehend the darkness at the edge of existence; that balance is more than being equal, it is identical.
A dramatic premise brought fruitfully to life, The Acolyte is a ideal addition to the theatre that is Star Wars.
Ian D. Hall