‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Review
The second “Star Wars Story” is finally here. In the wake of serious production drama, backlash from fans who were angry over The Last Jedi, apathy from fans who weren’t asking for a Han Solo original story, and confusion from general movie-going audiences who may not have even known that this film existed, Solo: A Star Wars Story has beaten the odds; thanks to Ron Howard’s extensive work on the production, Solo has arrived on its original release date without needing to be rescheduled. But how does it compare to the other films in the Star Wars franchise?
I think the perfect place to start is with Alden Ehrenreich’s performance. Han Solo is one of the most iconic characters in cinematic history and he was brought to life by the legendary Harrison Ford. For being a relatively unknown actor, it’s an understatement to say that Ehrenreich had some large shoes to fill. Thankfully, Ehrenreich does a solid job of giving us a younger and more naive interpretation of the character. Ehrenreich avoids giving us a simple Harrison Ford impression which only makes it easier for audiences to believe him as this incarnation of Han Solo. It may take some time to get used to seeing someone other than Ford play the character, but Ford’s absence is never distracting. Ehrenreich seems to become more comfortable in the role as the narrative goes on, and I think that is a sentiment that will apply to how audiences feel about the film as a whole; it may take some time adjusting to these new takes on familiar characters, but it becomes easier to do so as the story unfolds.
In Solo: A Star Wars Story, Han finds himself joining a crew of galactic smugglers. While working for the nefarious Dryden Vos, the gang must steal some valuable hyperfuel to pay of off their debts. But their plans go south once they cross paths with a rival biker gang known as the Cloud-Riders. The resulting heist unites a young Han Solo with the characters and spaceships that audiences know and love.
Perhaps the best aspect of this Star Wars Story is its simplicity. Solo contains a fairly straightforward narrative that is far simpler than a film like The Last Jedi, which should be a welcoming change to angered fans or uninitiated audience members. But just because the movie is easy to follow doesn’t mean there aren’t any nerdy elements that only hardcore Star Wars fans would understand. Both fans and non-fans alike can find something to enjoy with this movie. The simplistic nature only means that Solo is reminiscent to Lucasfilm classics like A New Hope and American Graffiti.
With that being said, Solo is still a bit messy. The word “clunky” has been thrown around in nearly every review for the film and it’s quite accurate. Solo works best as a simple and self-contained narrative, so it stumbles a bit when it tries to force itself into the larger Star Wars universe. There are a handful of forced nods, reveals, and cameos that refer back to the overall saga, but they all feel unnecessary. I think this stems from the fact that Lucasfilm decided to make Solo an unnecessary origin story for Han instead of a regular adventure story with young Han in it. This of course means that there are seeds planted for an inevitable sequel, but that will all depend on how much money Solo earns at the box office.
As a Star Wars movie, Solo will undoubtedly make a lot of money, but will it earn enough to turn a profit? It’s no secret that Ron Howard reshot over 80% of the film after Phil Lord & Chris Miller were fired from the project, which means Solo was an incredibly expensive movie to finance. If it can’t recover its money, it’s uncertain as to whether or not the “Star Wars Story” moniker will even stick around. I personally hope it does. These side stories allow Lucasfilm to experiment and try new things. If one origin story doesn’t break even, maybe they should just focus on films that don’t involve an origin story. Rogue One didn’t focus on preexisting characters and it managed to cross $1 billion worldwide. My only disappointment with these “Star Wars Stories” is that they seem to be answering every question audiences once had about A New Hope. Soon there will be nothing left to wonder about since every single little detail in that story will have a full movie’s worth of backstory. No one was asking about how Han got his blaster, yet now we know that information. Again, hopefully these pointless references will stop once we move on to other stories involving original characters.
Since I brought them up, I can’t help but wonder what a Lord & Miller Solo movie would have looked like. The two directors are known for making humorous, silly, and energetic films, but Howard’s version of Solo really doesn’t have any of those characteristics. Howard definitely did a good job, but nothing about Solo really stands out as much as it should. Even if I think Solo works as a whole, I still think it would have benefited from having more energy injected into it. Allowing things to be faster and more intense is the Star Wars way after all. I know it will never happen, but I hope Lord & Miller get a second chance at directing a Star Wars property. If Lucasfilm didn’t see eye-to-eye with the directing duo on this project, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t fit well on a different project. But my curiosity shouldn’t take away from how much Ron Howard really impressed me with his directorial effort here. His movies may often be hit or miss for me, but Solo is definitely closer to his work on Rush than it is to his work on In the Heart of the Sea.
Thankfully, the casting decisions – even from Lord & Miller’s version of the film – are spot on. Not only did Ehrenreich prove that he can lead a film, but Donald Glover and Joonas Suotamo reaffirmed audiences that Lando and Chewbacca are two of the best Star Wars characters ever. Lando and Chewie are easily the best characters in the movie and they get plenty of time to shine. Suotamo makes Chewbacca a believably menacing yet loveable beast, while Glover allows Lando to be the coolest and smoothest person in the entire galaxy. Lando may still be a crook and a scoundrel, but Glover’s confidence and swagger allowed Lando to just be one hell of a suave individual. Everything about Glover’s performance invoked the feeling of a young Billy Dee Williams; since he is absent in the Sequel Trilogy, I’m glad to see Lando Calrissian was finally done some justice.
But apart from Han, Chewie, and Lando, the surrounding tertiary characters are a bit disappointing. There are just too many side characters introduced into the narrative, so they don’t all get the time to be to be properly developed. Phoebe Waller-Bridge was a bit annoying as L3, Thandie Newton and Jon Favreau are barely in the film at all, and Paul Bettany is pretty one-note as the film’s villain. I may have liked these characters, but the only things I know about them are told through clunky and expository dialogue.
Unfortunately, I was also disappointed with Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra. I may absolutely love Clarke’s work on Game of Thrones, but I believe she has yet to deliver a great performance in any feature-length film. I have been enjoying Lucasfilm’s take on female characters, but Qi’ra just isn’t as memorable as Rey, or Jyn Erso, or Rose Tico. None of this is to say that Clarke delivers a bad performance, because she doesn’t, but her portrayal of Qi’ra is just serviceable. And that’s a disappointing thing to say when talking about the Mother of Dragons.
I enjoyed Woody Harrelson’s presence as well, but his character had a very predictable arc. But I suppose that is to be expected with a rather simplistic movie; the entire plot is a bit predictable.
When Solo was in preproduction, there were rumors about how Lawrence Kasdan’s script was one of the best Star Wars screenplays ever written. If this is true, then it didn’t translate well to film. Again, the movie is fine, but it is definitely not one of the best Star Wars films. I had a pretty good time with Solo but I would argue that it is probably the weakest film of the Disney-Lucasfilm era so far. Kasdan helped write the best Star Wars movie to date, so I was disappointed to hear that Solo will be his final entry in the franchise.
John Williams also returns to write Han Solo’s theme song while John Powell composes the original music. Though I remember liking the music I heard, I can’t say that I recall any of the new material. Most of the music that I remember in the film came from John Williams – when I heard the old theme from Empire where the Millennium Falcon flies through an asteroid field, I was instantly taken back to my childhood. It’s just a shame I can’t recollect anything new that John Powell contributed. To be fair, I remember not recalling Michael Giacchino’s score for Rogue One after I had first seen that film, but that score has since grown me. Hopefully I will have a similar experience with Powell’s score after seeing Solo a handful of times.
The only music I know I didn’t care for was Enfys Nest’s theme. Enfys Nest may have the coolest outfit in the entire film, but that theme song was pretty weak. Speaking of Enfys Nest, I was also disappointed with that character as a whole. The motivations behind Nest’s character just didn’t feel earned to me. I understand what the filmmakers were going for, but it just didn’t work for me personally. Maybe if Nest had more screen time the motivation could have been fleshed out better, but as it stands, Nest is just another side character who isn’t in the overall film for very long.
I guess I wanted Solo to feel more like a western. Western’s are relatively simple films with straightforward narrative, and based on the trailers, I thought that was the direction Solo was going. But as it stands, the movie is more akin to a heist film that occasionally uses some western imagery. The muted color pallet didn’t help out with that western tone either. Mimban, Corellia, and Kessel are all dirty and grimy planets, so the film itself often looks dirty and muddy. I assume this was to invoke the “lived-in” universe feel, but it only made Bradford Young’s cinematography appear a bit dull. Young does manage to get some beautiful shots in the film, especially when on the snowy mountains of Vandor, but the rest of the movie looked a bit gloomy. The darker texture worked for a war film like Rogue One, but a lighter movie like Solo could have benefited from the pop in color.
Solo: A Star Wars Story may stumble a bit, but it is ultimately a good movie. This is a fun, light, enjoyable little romp that any Star Wars fan can appreciate. The film relies too much on nostalgic references, gives a poor sense of what is at stake, and doesn’t really add much to our understanding of Han Solo’s character, but it is still fun adventure within a galaxy far, far away. After how heavy Rogue One and The Last Jedi were, I’m glad we got a lighter adventure with Solo. Though we may not know what the future has in store, the possibilities are still exciting, and that’s only because Solo is a joyously entertaining movie.
