The new era of Star Wars continues with its second Spin-Off film, Solo: A Star Wars Story. After the mixed reception of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017, Rian Johnson) it'll be interesting to see what fans think of this new origin story of one of the franchises most beloved characters, Han Solo. But with many fans doubting that Alden Ehrenreich (Hail Caesar, Rules Don't Apply) can't match up to Harrison Ford (Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Air Force One) and the big shake-up behind the camera of replacing directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller (21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie) with director Ron Howard (Rush, In The Heart Of The Sea). It'll be interesting to see how the final product is received by moviegoers.
First Thoughts
This is a good movie. Yeah, it has flaws that bring it down but it's still a good, fun experience that really dives into the origins of one of Star Wars' famous characters. The acting is good, the characters are great to watch and the action is up to the same standard as previous Disney/Star Wars films. Its only issues are the storytelling and the editing. Particularly the colour grading.
Han Solo/Alden Ehrenreich
The actor that many seem to have judged prematurely in his portrayal of Han Solo. Yes, Alden Ehrenreich was branded as miscast for the role long before the first trailer even hit. But I'm very happy to say that Ehrenreich does a very good job as Han Solo. He may not be playing the classic Han that we know from the original trilogy but this is a different Han. He's young, he's new to the craft. But you could definitely see him develop into what would one day be Harrison Ford's Solo. Ehrenreich's Solo is charming, witty and has a chip-on-the-shoulder attitude that I really like. But he also has a lot of heart to him. This film helps explain why Han made the choices he did and how they affected him. Arguably the strongest part of the film. And it's unfortunate that Lucasfilm didn't have a lot of faith in him for the promotional material for this film. Almost like they were embarrassed by him!
Chewie/Joonas Suotamo
One thing that was really great about this film was the relationship between Han and Chewie. This has been one of the most important relationships in Star Wars history and this film does it justice! Some of my favourite scenes in this film are with Han and Chewie together.
Lando/Donald Glover
For everyone who's going to see this film purely for Donald Glover's (Community, Atlanta) Lando might be disappointed. Glover does a good job being charming and sly just like Billy Dee Williams in Empire Strikes Back (1980, Irvin Kershner). But honestly, the comparisons stop there. This Lando isn't really given a lot to do, it feels like he was just brought in so that people could see where Han got the Falcon. There's never any sign of a friendship between Han and Lando, and with how the film ends I'm surprised Lando would even talk to Han in Empire.
Qi'Ra/Emilia Clarke
I'm a little 50/50 on this character. Emilia Clarke (Game Of Thrones, Me Before You) is a good actress but I don't think she brought her A-Game to this role. I was interested in her relationship with Han because she's important in moulding him into the man he'll be in A New Hope, but I can never really buy into it. It's mainly because the two actors don't really seem to have a lot of chemistry together. Also, I was constantly distracted by how much she looked like Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). Which kind of cuts down that relationship in the original trilogy.
Beckett/Woody Harrelson
I really liked Beckett. It was interesting to see the guy who Han inadvertently modelled himself after. Beckett worked really well as a dark reflection of what Han will be in the future. And whilst Ehrenreich and Clarke don't really have great chemistry, Ehrenreich and Harrelson (Zombieland, True Detective) definitely do! A lot of their scenes together are really good. From their first meeting to their first heist together. This was one of the more stronger parts of the film.
L3-37/Phoebe Waller-Bridge
I did not like this character at all. She was so bloody annoying! All she did was preach Droid equal rights, with nothing else to her character. With K2-SO (Alan Tudyk) from Rogue One (2016, Gareth Edwards) had some character to him and was compelling to watch. But L3-37 has no other character. Imagine all of the annoying elements of Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs) from Community (2009-2015) focused on one character. That's L3-37!
Dryden Vos/Paul Bettany
I actually liked Dryden Vos when he was on screen. In fact, I'm a little annoyed that he didn't get more screen time. He was threatening, creepy and kinda scary at times. My only issue with him was that we don't really know much about him. Only that he's a gangster who gets angry a lot. He's mainly just there so that the film can have a bad guy.
Story
This is the one element that really weakens the film. The story is kinda weak. It doesn't give us a lot of time with characters to properly flesh them out and big scenes and action pieces are kinda rushed just to get the plot moving. The pacing of this film is quite fast, mainly to hide all of the rough edges of the script. This was really surprising because this was one of the main reasons why Phil Lord & Chris Miller were replaced by Ron Howard to direct. Because they wanted to change the script that Laurence and Jonathan Kasdan wrote. But then I watched the film and, in terms of the story, I thought "This was the script that Kathleen Kennedy defended?". Hopefully, in the future, Kennedy is more thoughtful about who she trusts in the creative process of these films.
Action
One thing that this new wave of Star Wars films has done really well is the action. Compare it to the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy the action is a lot more grounded, tenser and a lot more danger. For example, Blasters have more of an impact when they hit. It's a little thing but it still raises the action in these films. Solo has quite a few good action scenes on this level! Standouts being the first heist and the first time Han flies the Falcon.
Colour-Grading
I'm not sure if anyone else has this issue with the film since I couldn't find any articles or anything about it. But I had some issue with seeing this film. The colour-grading was so muted and grey that it was actually difficult to see what was going on. Usually, Star Wars films are filled with colour and really pop off the screen. But this film has such a muted colour palette that in some scenes I had difficulty knowing what was going on. There's a lot of reasons behind this, such as the editing and the type of camera used to film. YouTube vlogger Patrick Willems talks about this in a video essay using the Marvel Cinematic Universe as an example. (Link here). Personally, I prefer my Star Wars films with more vibrant colours.
Big Twist Ending
First off, this is a Non-Spoiler review so I won't be getting into specifics. Basically, a known Star Wars character appears at the end of the film. At first, it's a big "WHAAAA-" moment, but then I thought about it for a while and I was just confused. If anyone pays attention to the animated show Star Wars Rebels then this cameo kinda contradicts that character's story in that show, at least I believe it does. I mean, I'm definitely interested to see where they go from there with it. It would make a good sequel! But I didn't think it fit in terms of the whole over-arching story.
Conclusion
This is a good, satisfying Star Wars movie. It's not great or mind-blowing but it's definitely enjoyable and fun to watch. And that's mainly down to great action and great acting from most of the cast.
So that's my review for Solo: A Star Wars Story. What did you think of the film? Did you agree or disagree with any of my points? If so then leave a comment down below. And, if you liked this review you can follow this blog for more content. Thank you for reading. :)
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