Rating: 3.5/5
Classification: M
Year of release: 2018
Run-time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy
This review contains NO SPOILERS
Solo: A Star Wars Story is the tenth live-action theatrically released Star Wars movie takes place in between Episodes 3 and 4 and is about a younger Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and how he meets and befriends his co-pilot Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). Soon after they become involved in a heist where they meet and hire Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and the services of his ship the Millennium Falcon. Solo may not be the Star Wars movie that everyone asked for, however this is still a fun time at the movies, it’s not a perfect movie but it’s still a good movie that I had fun with from start to finish.
The aspect I most enjoyed about this movie is the performances from Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover, both these actors played some of the most iconic and beloved characters ever put to film and both their predecessors have set the bar extremely high to say the least. But I thought both actors knocked it out of the park and fit into their respective roles like a glove, similar to how Ewan McGregor is the perfect young Obi-Wan Kenobi (and will hopefully be reprising his role again in his own spin-off movie). Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover are the perfect younger versions of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian respectively. I know there are many who think no one can play Han Solo except Harrison Ford, and for years I felt the same way. Alden Ehrenreich as well as Donald Glover plays their characters successfully maintaining the attitude and characteristics of their roles without cheaply imitating Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams.
Solo also has exciting action scenes as always for a Star Wars movie, some interesting character interactions particularly between Han Solo and Chewbacca, and the start of the movie does add an interesting layer to Han Solo’s character that is never mentioned in his other films. This movie being about how Han became a smuggler in the first place, the film is very much focused on the gangster and the criminal underworld. Unlike the previous spin-off movie Rogue One, Solo is not a huge Rebel vs Empire story.
This film also had the unfortunate bad publicity of making the highly unusual choice of firing the initial directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller after a few months of filming and replacing them with Ron Howard. The question is does the overall film suffer as a result? This is debatable because I’m sure Ron Howard could’ve done a better job had he been directing since the beginning but I’m positive he did the best job he could, however there are by no means any obvious reshoots as some audiences might have feared. While I did enjoy this movie overall it does have its negatives, there are about a couple of plot points that I am going to talk about that were mentioned in the other films so it’s not really a spoiler, this is a prequel after all. How Han got his last name is revealed in this movie and I felt it was very unnecessary, the way that Han also won the Millennium Falcon from Lando happened a little too casually and felt like a bit of an afterthought to me. Solo has flaws and is not a defining Star Wars movie. However it’s still a very fun and enjoyable movie because of incredible performances from Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover, spectacular set pieces and exciting action scenes.