Sorry for only giving you a review now – I didn’t get a chance to watch your edit earlier.
When I first watched the series as it aired weekly, I was, to put it mildly, disappointed. The pacing, in particular, made the story hard to grasp for me. When I recently watched the (cleverly edited) series in one go, it surprisingly had a lot of positives: there was actually a good story underneath it all! I was very curious to see if your movie edit could further improve the pacing and make the story even clearer:
Now to your edit (I won’t go into every detail, just what stood out to me): I like your opening, especially starting with the flashback. How Sol finds the girls at the tree is a bit abrupt, but otherwise, I find the flashback very well put together.
Your cut of the plot on Olega is masterful and makes everything much more mysterious. However, over all in the first half of your movie, at some points I was concerned that someone who hasn’t seen the series before might be a bit confused by the plot.
The second half on the other hand, especially the last third of the film, works just as I hoped – the story is compelling, and the pacing is spot on. Here, too, your use of the flashback fits perfectly. I especially liked your interpretation of the conversation between Venestra and Mae at the end. And the Plagueis cameo is perfectly placed!
Content-wise, there are still things that don’t match my personal taste (like the child actors or Basil), but those are hard to change. And after all, it’s personal taste 😉
Technically, your edit is top-notch. There’s absolutely nothing to criticize here. Audio transitions are always tricky, but I didn’t notice a single weak point. Only the quality of the copy could be better, but that’s probably due to the export version I had.
Overall, I’m still not sure if I prefer a movie format or a (shortened, more intense) series format for “The Acolyte”. You did cut a few things I personally liked, but understandably, they would have been too much for a movie edit. And a movie for The Acolyte definitely shouldn’t be longer.
Your edit offers engaging entertainment and a gripping story – in that respect, I consider it my go-to version for now and give it 8 out of 10 points.