Solo: A Star Wars Story review

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY:

THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF A “CLOSE ENOUGH” STAR WARS MOVIE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

LUCASFILM LTD.

Han Solo and Chewbacca on their first adventure in a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story

            Everyone’s favorite pilot and smuggler is back in the second installment of the Star Wars anthology film series following 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Now director, Ron Howard (Backdraft, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind) brings Solo: A Star Wars Story, the origin story of how Han Solo met Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian and how he managed to perform the Kessel Run with the Millennium Falcon, taking place in between the events of Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope.

            I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t super hyped for this one, don’t get me wrong I was excited that another Star Wars movie was coming out and will most likely be seeing it. But at the same time the trailers didn’t grab me, we just got done with the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi back in December, and my eyes were drawn towards Avengers: Infinity War and Ready Player One.

            Still I had interest in seeing Solo because it is part of the Star Wars franchise and was curious to see how it would turn out. And…it’s a decent film, not great, not horrible (or even bad), it’s just a fun adventure with Han-Solo and Chewbacca in space, nothing more.

            The film follows a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich-Stoker, Blue Jasmine, Hail, Caesar!) who dreams of one day becoming the greatest pilot in the galaxy, as he encounters a gang of criminals posing as Imperial Soldiers. The gang is led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson-Zombieland, The Hunger Games franchise, War for the Planet of the Apes) who decides to mentor Han in smuggling for the deal of a lifetime.

            Along the way he meets his future co-pilot and Wookie friend, Chewbacca, an ecstatic and aggressive Droid Rights activist known as L3-37 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge-Albert Nobbs, The Iron Lady, Fleabag), and the smuggler who lost the Millennium Falcon to him after a bet, Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover-30 Rock, Community, The Martian) as he races against time to steal unprocessed coaxium from the mines of Kessel for crime lord, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany-The Da Vinci Code, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Margin Call). However, Vos may have different plans with the coaxium as Han starts digging deeper and deeper into trouble.

            The film also stars Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Terminator: Genisys, Me Before You) as Qi’ra, Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible 2, Crash, Westworld) as Val Beckett, Jon Favreau (Elf, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Jungle Book (2016)) as the voice of Rio Durant, and Linda Hunt (Dune, Pocahontas, Stranger than Fiction) as the voice of Lady Proxima.

            Overall, Solo: A Star Wars Story is fun summer blockbuster entertainment but in terms of a compelling and engaging Star Wars film, there isn’t much to it. The film is sure to satisfy longtime fans of the series (Unless they rip it apart like The Last Jedi, but I digress) and will probably pull in more bucks for Disney as we wait anticipatingly for Incredibles 2 and Ant-Man and the Wasp later on this summer.

            Ehrenreich portrays a young Solo decently though he is far from being a replacement for Harrison Ford, to me he’s the one true Han Solo, still good attempt there. Paul Bettany hams it up like mad as Vos and I’m assuming he needed a chance to go completely bonkers after playing the calm and wise, Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, nevertheless he’s very entertaining.

            Who really steals the show here is Donald Glover as Lando, oh my God he nails the character perfectly. From the facial expressions, voice, and mannerisms I was almost convinced I was looking at a young Billy Dee Williams, that’s how good he is here and he’s pretty much the highlight of the movie.

            Ron Howard is not a bad choice as a director for a movie like this, he clearly has a good understanding of Star Wars and like Steven Spielberg he’s done so many different kinds of movies. I don’t think it’s one of his best films, it can’t even touch Apollo 13 or A Beautiful Mind but it’s a good attempt and he’s worked with George Lucas before on films like Willow and American Graffiti, it’s certainly better than In the Heart of the Sea, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or some of Howard’s other work.

            Final thoughts, Solo: A Star Wars Story I’d say is worth a watch in theaters, I don’t see myself seeing it several more times but I’m glad I watched it the first time and will most likely bring it home on Blu-Ray. It’s probably the second-best Star Wars prequel after Revenge of the Sith with less awkward performances.

            If you’re a Star Wars fan then…you’re probably in line to see Solo: A Star Wars Story right now but whether or not you like it, that’s up to you which in today’s world is like choosing between the Light or the Dark Side. The Force isn’t quite strong with this one, but it’s close enough, take it for what it’s worth.