By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
A hundred years before the rise of the Empire, it is a time of peace. The Jedi order and the Galactic Republic have prospered for centuries without a war.
But in the dark corners of the galaxy, a powerful few learn to use the Force in secret. One of them, a lone assassin risks discovery to seek revenge…
The shit is about to hit the fan.
So here we go on what has been advertised as someone bad hunting down and killing Jedi. From the trailers it was a distinct murder mystery vibe, serial killer almost and the first thing I did was see what the word acolyte actually meant. I was fairly certain but just wanted to check anyway in case there was a double meaning given the Jedi and Sith history.
An acolyte: one who assists a member of the clergy in a liturgical service by performing minor duties. 2 : one who attends or assists a leader : follower.
So we open with an assassination attempt on a Jedi, Master Indara. First thing I cheered was Carrie Anne Moss is a Jedi! The second thing I said was, well, she didn’t last long but she’ll get a action figure out of it probably. Probably could have used Neo there.
The opening fight is well done with the assassin’s face revealed for all to see and for Indara to recognise. I wasn’t expecting her to be killed off immediately so my expectations were immediately pulled from under me. ,
We then meet Osha (Amandla Stenberg), a former Jedi padawan who has given it all up and is a meknek on a ship, literally a maintenance worker with her hand held droid Pip. However her life is thrown into chaos when the Jedi arrive to arrest her for the murder of Indara. Before she knows it Osha is on a droid driven prison ship en route to Coruscant for trial. But a prison break ends up with Osha crash landing on a snow planet Carlac.
Her old Master, Sol (Lee Jung Jae) goes to retrieve her along with the two arresting Jedi, Yord (Manny Jacinto) and Jecki (Dafne Keen). When I learned that Osha had a sister and a family that were killed years previously then I guessed that the assassin was her dead twin sister Mae. Although her powers are rusty Osha speaks with her sister in her dreams where fire is consuming eveyrthing they see. In Sol’s class some of his meditating younglings see all consuming fire that no one can withstand.
Now it is very simple storytelling here and nothing that will exert your brain. Evil twins, shared symbols of fire and an ending that proves Mae is servant to a dark power that intends to kill all Jedi. The closing shots of Mae at the rocky shore as a mysterious figure stands on a cliff abov her is nice. And you know it’s evil by its raspy voice and red lightsaber.
Now given what we have we probabaly think we know how this is going to go; save sister from dark side even though she is justified in her hate for Jedi and the Sith ar rising because in a hundred years Palpatine will stage a coup under the veil of politics and diplomacy. But I sincerely hope we are going to be surprised here.
Osha is likeable and the sceptic in me thinks her droid Pip is going to be hitting Disney online soon because he fits in your pocket. Maybe because there is such a deluge of merchandise from Disney. However I really want a figure of the bar owner. I love that alien design. Yeah I’m a hypocrit but figures have been a part of me all my life and watching Disney turn out trash series and tons of figures as a cash cow makes the fanboy on me stand up and shout “Hoi, Mouse, Nooooo!!”
Now I have to say the character that caught me at once was Master Sol. He is just as I always pictured a Jedi Master to be. Deep, wise and a layered man who fits in yet stands outside Jedi beliefs. He and Osha have a bond which will undoubtedly be explored as we go on. Indeed he keeps a hologram of her. When asked why by nosy hole Jecki who goes by the Jedi belief that emotional attachments only encourage sentimentality and nostalgia, he says memories are lessons to be learned from or we will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Sol clearly has deep feelings for Osha and Lee Jung Ja plays him with a grace and nobility that we like a lot. He uses Jedi logic to get his own way against Jedi not so sage like going to retrieve Osha. When he rescues her from falling over an ice cliff, he has no doubt that Mae is alive simply based on Osha’s word. He and Osha bounce off each other. Incidentally Stenberg does a great job of making Osha likeable and making Mae a believable kickass threat in just a couple of minutes.
So we have a mystery on our hands of who the drk power training Mae is and how is she not dead? What reaally happened when Osha’s family were killed because Sol was there when it happened. Is there more to the story and why Osha bailed on him? Nice simple storytelling that I hope is going to spin off and hit us with the unexpected in the coming weeks.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 