Solo: A Star Wars Story Movie Review

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Watch the trailer
Written by: Jonathan Kasdan & Lawrence Kasdan (written by), George Lucas (based on characters created by)
Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Paul Bettany, Jon Favreau, Joonas Suotamo
Rated: PG-13

Plot
During an adventure in the criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his future copilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian years before joining the Rebellion.

Verdict
With low expectations due to critic reviews and Star Wars fatigue, I was pleasantly surprised. At times it's a fun heist movie when it's not trying to tie directly back to the franchise. Those links often fall flat, and it tries to answer too many questions about Han. Being a Star Wars film is the draw, but it's difficult to watch Ehrenreich play Han Solo when Harrison Ford is firmly entrenched as Han. I constantly gauged one performance against the other. The movie is at its best when it isn't bombarding you with references, but it can't escape the shadow of the franchise.
Watch it.

Review
With Disney cranking out annual Star Wars movies, franchise fatigue is inevitable. I wondered how the first universe adjacent movie, Rogue One, would fare and I liked it. The movie was great because it wasn't constrained by the future events we've already seen (read my review). The latest film, The Last Jedi, while visually striking didn't feel like a Star Wars movie with the humor and tone employed (read my review).
In the span of a few years we've gotten two new numbered episodes in addition to a spin off. Ehrenreich is signed on for two more Solo movies, a Boba Fett movie is in the works, director of The Last Jedi Rian Johnson is working on a new trilogy, an Obi Wan Kenobi movie is in development, and Game of Thrones directors David Benioff and D. B. Weiss are working on a movie too. This seems like over saturation. Why was hype for the prequel trilogy so high? It's because it had been sixteen years after many thought the story was long done. The Force Awakens garnered a ton of hype because it had been ten years since an episode.
Marvel has managed to tweak the formula enough to keep fans coming back, but can Disney do the same with Star Wars? It becomes more difficult when new actors play iconic roles.

Alden Ehrenreich as Harrison Ford as Han Solo.

Harrison Ford is Han Solo, there's no way Alden Ehrenreich wouldn't feel like a knock off, and this movie had a rocky start when  original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were dismissed due to creative differences. The studio didn't like how comedic they were making the film and writer Kasdan didn't like that they weren't shooting the script word for word. Lord and Miller reinvented 21 Jump Street and created the surprisingly good The Lego Movie. Ron Howard took over, and while he is a fine director, he's known for getting the job done rather than being a visionary. Lord and Miller received executive producer credits for their effort, but his doesn't have the visuals that The Last Jedi had. There are no amazing scenes be it visual or sheer action.

Michael Kenneth Williams was originally cast in the film as the main villain and shot scenes, but he was unable to return to the set for the Ron Howard re-shoots and he was replaced by Paul Bettany.

Do we need a Star Wars movie with a backstory exploration that's unnecessary? I've never wanted to know about Han's early life. Would this movie even be cohesive with the well documented production problems? My excitement had waned for the The Last Jedi, but there's something about hearing the iconic music and seeing the text crawl that generates excitement. Both are absent from Solo since it's not a numbered episode, and I never had that same level of excitement. It's a solid film, fun for what it is but more average than anything. It gets points for not being a train wreck. Ron Howard re-shot seventy percent of the movie. That usually spells disaster, but not here.

Han and Chewie.

If this wasn't Han Solo and Star Wars, instead just being a space western it would be free from many of its constrains and my criticisms, but it also wouldn't have the audience draw. Disney knows the franchise name alone is bankable. Han Solo is played by an imposter in essence. I can't help but compare Ehrenreich to Ford. Sometimes he felt like Ford, other times he felt like a bland action movie hero. The performance is the elephant in the room as it's impossible to escape. Ford is the real Han Solo, and it doesn't help that the character isn't as interesting in this movie.

When I can get away from that, the movie has it's moments. Ties to the franchise are contrived. The gold dice might as well get a credit. They were in The Last Jedi, and I had to look up their significance then. Six months later and I've forgotten why they were important. They were shown in the original trilogy in the Millenium Falcon as set dressing, never directly addressed. They show up again in The Force Awakens, again not a story point. They prominently appear in The Last Jedi before their starring role in Solo. They should have been relegated to a blink and you'll miss it easter egg. I was fine with them being a symbol between Han and his love interest  Qi'ra. Unfortunately they show up more than that.

Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett

I liked the plot progression. Han is driven by a goal. He was an orphan, griftng to survive. He's in love with Qi'ra and gets separated, vowing to return. After a few years he runs into thief Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson). Han realizes this could be his way out and back. With the way Disney is milking the franchise we'll probably get a Beckett origin story in a few years. It's telling in that Beckett is a minor character and that gives him a certain amount of intrigue as there's a lot we don't know. It's parallel to Han Solo.
We then get a heist movie. There's a train robbery which seems odd with so many space ships, but this is a space western so I'll go with it. Along the way it answers all the questions about Han, many that didn't need answering. We don't need to know how he got his name, his belt, or his blaster. Meeting Chewie was fine, but this movie wants to explain every reference we've seen about Han in the other movies. Explaining how Chewbacca got his nickname Chewie is completely redundant. There's even a Han shot first call out which actually isn't that bad.

I like seeing Han as younger and earnest. We see the foundations of how he became jaded and selfish and I wish the movie focused on that and really delved into his emotions. Han meets Qi'ra after becoming a thief. She's left their home planet. I won't spoil anything, but I liked her arc and the repercussions it has for Han. I thought she wrapped up perfectly, but with Ehrenreich signed on for two more movies, I'm afraid we'll see her again and there is no way to prevent that from being contrived. I do not want a Han-Qi-ra love story. That or she'll get her own spin off movie.

Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian.

Lando Calrissian makes an appearance. Donald Glover does a fine job, and it helps that Lando was a smaller character in the original trilogy. There have been talks about a Lando movie, though it's not a priority yet. Lando was the original owner of the Millenium Falcon and we discover how the ship changed hands.
Lando's droid has a strange sub plot. The droid talks about equal rights and droid revolution, but then it's later uploaded into the Millennium Falcon as an AI, which seems counter to the droids argument. It's just a weird story that felt completely out of place as it unfolded. It could be cut and wouldn't change anything other than making the movie more coherent.

This also links Han to the rebellion origins. There's just no need. That's done seemingly to set up his line of never joining the rebellion and winking at the audience. The movie tells us and then reminds us that Han is the good guy. It just felt off. While the events of this movie may have jaded him, I can see he's good. the movie doesn't need to outright say it. He should be a layered character that balances being good with furthering his own goals. That's who Han is. What we get is a bland good guy hero.

There's the crime syndicate the Red Dawn and a band of marauders which come together for the final show down. I liked Han's final gambit. The movie overall progresses quickly and I liked the flow, it built perfectly. The problems arise with shout outs. This leaves nothing to the imagination. Everything we know or have seen about Han is answered in this movie. I don't wish the writers had saved some for a sequel, though this leaves it wide open for Han's Jabba the Hut adventures, but it seems like the writers went through the other movies, took every reference to Han and Chewie's past, and then started crafting a story.