Solo: A Star Wars Story
****
Short Take: The Star Wars franchise continues to expand with an episode for the original faithful – a back story about everyone’s favorite pilot / smuggler from a galaxy far, far away.
REEL TAKE: With the last chapter in the Star Wars franchise released only months ago, the fact that Lucasfilm / Disney also had a film in the works about Han Solo’s back story completely escaped my attention until a few weeks ago.
This is a seemingly unnecessary prequel, but perhaps the film was meant to be a bit of a salve after the beloved character was killed off in 2015’s Stars Wars: The Force Awakens (I’m presuming there is a statute of limitations for spoiler alerts). For those who grew up loving the original Star Wars trilogy but not having quite the enthusiasm for the prequel episodes that debuted in the early 2000’s (I actually fell asleep during all three of them), Solo: A Stars Wars Story will be a welcome romp by comparison.
The ten year old kid who saw Star Wars on Christmas Eve with her father and brother will never forget that cinematic experience – the special effects, the hover crafts, the light sabers, and Han freaking Solo! He was a scoundrel, a smuggler, and the guy who made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs in the Millennium Falcon. Solo tells the story of how the Kessel run came to be.
The film opens ‘long ago in a galaxy far, far away’ on the lawless home planet of a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich). The adventure begins from the get go, as young Han and his girlfriend Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) make a bid to escape Corellia by boarding an Imperial starship. Of course things don’t go quite according to plan. Fast forward a few years, Han is a pilot for the Imperial army and still pining for his girl. When he meets up with an intergalactic thief named Becket, the Han Solo we know and love really begins to take shape. The rest of the movie is a non-stop series of misadventures wherein the Wookie, Lando Calrissian, and the Millennium Falcon all fall into place.
The film has been roundly admonished by many critics, but I’m not sure why. Director Ron Howard seems to be taking the brunt of the criticism. Howard came to the project late in the game, apparently on the heels of some rather acrimonious pre-production drama. Howard is a good old fashioned story-teller, the kind that never really goes out of style (except with edgy critics). Like the original Star Wars, Solo (written by Lawrence and Jonathan Kasden) is a good old fashioned story with thematic elements that transcend light years and genres. To me, Howard was really good fit.
Much has also been said about the miscasting of Alden Ehrenreich as the titular character. I take umbrage with this point too. Harrison Ford’s Han Solo is one of the most beloved and iconic movie heroes of all time. Rather than attempt to imitate Ford’s Solo, Ehrenreich capitalizes on the charm and charisma of the character, and by and large it works (the pace is so fast, there really isn’t any time to focus on what doesn’t). The rest of the cast works really well too, including Woody Harrelson as Becket, a villainous Paul Bettany as a galactic gangster, a sexy but oh-so-woke bot voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Donald Glover as the young Lando Calrissian (talk about charisma . . . mmmh!).
Bottom line – Sci-fi fan boys that still live in their mother’s basements and are looking for something more ‘serious’ may be disappointed. Solo is just good old fashioned Saturday matinee fun. Fans of the original Star Wars trilogy will thoroughly enjoy it. Be forewarned however, Solo: A Star Wars Story is clearly a two-parter as there’s still a bit more back story to come. I will definitely be hitching a ride on the Millennium Falcon for the next chapter.
Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence.
Review by Michelle Keenan