Disney and Lucasfilm presents Solo: A Star Wars Story which will be released on May 25th, 2018.
A space Western, the film is centered on a young Han Solo and his adventures with his Wookiee partner Chewbacca, including their encounter with Lando Calrissian.
Directed by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Ron Howard
The cast includes:
Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo
Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett
Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra
Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian
Thandie Newton as Val
Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37
Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca
Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos
Harley Durst as Moloch
Another year and another Star Wars movie. This time around we have Solo: A Star Wars story, a Star Wars anthology film, similar to Rogue One, which is outside of the episodic movies. This is Disney’s second installment of telling a one off story taking place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. This prequel is focused on telling the backstory of Han Solo. Originally made popular in the original Star Wars trilogy and forever immortalized in cinematic history by Harrison Ford. Alden Ehrenreich has taken on the huge task of being the second person to play the iconic character.
Right off the back I have to say this, depending on how you feel about the overall state of Star Wars and their direction from a business standpoint and Disney’s decision to keep making new movies to expand the universe will affect your bias opinion of this movie. I say this because lets face it, many fans only want to believe the original trilogy are the only Star Wars stories to exist and that you should care about.
I hate to say it but it’s true. Over the years I have met and interacted with so many Star Wars fans who have various opinions about what they think is the right and wrong ways to handle the movie franchise. While it’s great to have many deep conversations at the same time it can be mentally exhausting. Many fans are stubborn and set in their ways and no matter what you say, they are either going to love or hate certain Star Wars films. With that being said, many fans hate all of the new films because it’s not the original trilogy they grew up with and refuse to go into seeing a new movie with an open mind and embrace the opportunity to have their beliefs changed.
In their mind, many hardcore fans have a particular vision of Star Wars means to them and how they want others to perceive the franchise, with that being said any attempts to go outside the box and tell new fresh stories or expand on the mythology of our beloved OG crew, they are going to have an immediate negative bias on the film. I get it, these characters mean so much to them and they hold them very closely to the heart. They want these characters to stay in a time capsule and never change. Unfortunately, I came to the realization years ago that ever since Disney bought the rights to Star Wars, they want to make their money back, hence more and more new Star Wars movies being made, along with toys and merchandise. Also, another big issue with these Star Wars anthology stories are their attempt to show and expand the stories of what we first learned about our beloved characters in the original trilogy. The writers are exploring what went down with these characters before the events in the original trilogy took place. Some will argue part of the charm of the original trilogy was hearing our characters in conversation explained what they did in the past and that added to the mystery or shall I say the legend of who they are. At the same time, us, the viewers can use our imagination to interpret how these characters looked/act/what they did before the events of the original Star Wars movie. So to see a movie actually paint a live action version of what was in our head for so many years, could be devastating for the viewer if the story doesn’t live up to their expectations. Which goes back to my original point, no matter what, these new Star Wars movies can’t please everyone.
With that being said, I want to describe to you my mindset going into this movie screening. Originally I was concerned about the idea of taking one of the best and beloved movie characters of all time and trying to add to his backstory for the sake of another money grab from the movie studio. I was concerned the writers were going to tarnished in some way Han Solo’s legacy and ruin what his character means to the fans and even affect the status George Lucas and Harrison Ford originally built up decades ago.
I had low expectations going into this movie screening. When I first heard about a Han Solo movie coming out I wasn’t immediately excited for multiple reasons. As I mentioned, I originally felt like it was a money grab from Disney to capitalize on Han Solo’s popularity for over forty years (instead of just coming up with something completely, like new characters in a different time era). However, I walked out of the theater feeling the movie was a lot better than I expected.
I enjoyed seeing part of Han Solo’s origin story and meeting new and old (younger versions) characters from his past. The movie is filled with one big adventure after another. It was interesting meeting new characters from Solo’s past that helped shaped who he is as a person and what motivated him to go certain directions in his life. At the same time though I felt they threw too many life events at us and wished they focus on a few and spent more time at these settings. Sorry for being so vague, trying to avoid spoilers. Alden Ehrenreich’s performance as Han Solo was solid. I felt at time he was just doing a Harrison Ford impression but at the end of the day, what other option did he have. If he didn’t act remotely close to Harrison Ford, fans would ridicule him. I think he did the best he could based on how they character was written for. The story in this film didn’t deepen Han as a character but at the same time I think the writers avoided doing so in the first place to avoid tarnishing Han’s legacy in regards to the original trilogy.
I loved Chewbacca in this movie. I thought he was a total badass and we get to him fight and beat a lot of bad people up. Seeing him and Han interact is always fun. Donald Glover as Lando was one of the best parts of this movie. I closed my eyes and he sounded just like Billy Dee Williams. Some characters interactions in this movie does add some more weight to what we have already seen in the originals. Specifically Han and Chewbacca plus, Han and Lando.
I loved the use of practical effects to display certain characters and for the structure of specific scenes. Plus, I loved the costumes in this movie. Between the practical effects and costume designs is what made this feel like an old school Star Wars movie.
Overall, except for a couple surprises at the end (which I think might leave viewers a little confuse) not too much happens that is groundbreaking in the Star Wars universe. With that being said the movie didn’t do to much to justify itself from being made in the first place. Except for seeing Han become friends with Chewbacca and meeting Lando. There is a lot of fun heist type scenes and action sequences. The story didn’t take enough risks to add a lot to Han Solo’s origin. I wish they would have done more to explain his previous love relationship story. The movie should entertain your average Star Wars fan. But as I said before people will enjoy the action and fun adventures but hardcore fans will dislike the lack of exploring more specific events in his younger life and deeper themes those could have meant to his personality. A fun movie but didn’t do enough to justify it’s purpose of being created.
I would rate the film: 7/10
Watch the new trailer below.
Watch the teaser trailer below.
Watch the big game TV spot below.
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