Here we are again with another Disney Star Wars cash-grab movie. They’re going back to the past to extend more about the original trilogy we know and love. Apparently, we needed to learn all about how Han Solo became the smug rogue we know and love.
However, this movie has been plagued with issues behind-the-scenes as original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were replaced as the movie was almost finished. Ron Howard took over and quickly reshot 90% of the movie to get the right tone and pacing. It was an uphill battle to be sure, and he still managed to finish the film without delaying any further.
Even with the production issues, it can’t be worse than The Last Jedi, right?
Solo: A Star Wars Story takes place around 10 years before A New Hope. Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) is a overconfident street rat with something to prove. He seems to be constantly on the run, but sees opportunity with a band of criminals, led by Beckett (Woody Harrelson) planning their next big score. Along the way, he meets new faces and old as he gets entangled in the criminal underworld that is far more dangerous than he could imagine.
Solo pairs the titular character with a number of characters to build the legend of Han Solo. Much of the story has to do with Han’s interaction with Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), who he grew up with on the mean streets of Corellia. Meanwhile, Han must deal with Lando (Donald Glover) in an effort to attain what he seeks. Though, the true pairing that we all want to see is that of Han and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). It may be all due to our familiarity with everyone’s favorite Wookie, but Chewie and Han together is what makes this movie.
Which leads us to Alden Ehrenreich’s performance as Han. Thankfully, he never tries to do an impression of Harrison Ford. He only attempts to match the monotone cadence of the smug smuggler. The movie rides on him and that’s where it’s a mixed bag. Not for a minute did I believe that I was watching Han’s younger years. Instead, it felt like a rogue criminal with an entertaining backstory that could easily fit into Star Wars canon. His performance is never distracting, nor does he do any sort of disservice to the popular character (cough* Last Jedi *cough).
He manages to have decent chemistry with every one of his costars and even has a few solid quips in his holster. Sadly, there’s little the character goes through in this Star Wars Story to justify the movie. In fact, his character remains so flat, that you feel that Solo was made to kickstart its own trilogy.
Story-wise, Solo contains an extremely simple plot that does its best to subtly and overtly shove in nostalgic references and space heists. Honestly, with a Han Solo story I’d expect nothing more than a simple pirate story with thieving, death and double-crossing; so it actually works for the movie. You’ll know when the plot needs some padding, as the obligatory big action scenes will break up any monotony.
You can’t help but feel bad for Ron Howard as he accepted this project far too late in the game. This shows in the rushed cinematography. This is the least visually pretty of the recent SW movies and there are very few memorable shots. The overused color filters and grainy quality don’t help the experience much either. That said, I’ll take a good movie over a pretty movie most days.
And that’s just it. Solo is a good movie. It will never be great. It gets in its own way far too often. However, the humor fit the action and the characters. Solo does not carry the weight of the other movies in the mythology, but fits well alongside Rogue One as an actually good unnecessary movie. B
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