‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ weaves a mystery around the days of Jedi past

Review by Brian Lowry, CNN

(CNN) — “Star Wars: The Acolyte” explores a fresh quadrant of that galaxy, jumping back a century to create a mystery in the days of Jedi past. Exhibiting influences that blend martial-arts movies, young-adult fiction and the detective genre, it’s an intriguing if modest addition whose lack of connection to existing canon (through four previewed episodes, anyway) proves both an advantage and disadvantage.

The show certainly starts with a bang, as a masked assassin with Force-like powers wages an attack on a Jedi master, yielding a fight that owes as much to “The Matrix” as earlier “Star Wars” fare.

Suspicion quickly turns to Osha (Amandla Stenberg, featured in “The Hate U Give” and “Dear Evan Hansen”), a young woman who trained as a padawan before leaving the Jedi order. Her sole ally seems to be her former master, Master Sol (“Squid Game” Emmy winner Lee Jung-jae), who saved Osha as a child after a tragedy that claimed her family, a bit of history that will figure in unraveling the plot and perpetrator.

Even with an extended flashback episode, the story does move – a legitimate knock on some of the other live-action “Star Wars” series, including the well-regarded “Andor” – and technically speaking, the action is crisp and impressive.

Created by “Russian Doll’s” Leslye Headland (who also directed the first two episodes), “The Acolyte” lands in an interesting middle ground in terms of the “Star Wars” output for Disney+, alternately feeling dark and edgy like “Andor,” action-oriented in a way that resembles “Ahsoka,” and awash in the minutia of Jedi politics and lore, a bit like the animated “Tales of the Jedi.”

If that combination of disparate elements benefits the show, the challenge involves having the audience come in with no familiarity or investment in these particular characters, other than a broad understanding of where they exist within the Jedi hierarchy. While Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae largely overcome those headwinds (and give the show a notably diverse foundation), most of the secondary players don’t, feeling generic in the process.

The evolving nature of the theatrical business has shifted the calculus on developing series for streaming, as opposed to movies. Lucasfilm, as keeper of the “Star Wars” flame, appears to be gradually finding its way along with everyone else, as evidenced by its big-screen plans for “The Mandalorian.” In that context “The Acolyte” comes across as a calculated gamble that makes sense as a series and almost surely would have struggled to fill theater seats.

More than most of these shows, any review of “The Acolyte” at this stage feels incomplete. The final episodes will ultimately determine whether this amounts to a significant and perhaps fertile new avenue for “Star Wars,” or merely an interesting detour.

Until then, this tale of the Jedi is entertaining and mildly promising. Whether that opens new doors for Disney/Lucasfilm or leads to a dead end, as a wise little green fellow once said, always in motion is the future.

“Star Wars: The Acolyte” premieres June 4 at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+.

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