Name: Han Solo - A Star Wars Story Review
Item: Solo: A Star Wars Story
Rating: 68
Author: @chekohler

Less than a year after seeing Han fall to his death in the Last Jedi, which myself and I'm sure a few other star wars fans aren't fully over yet, we've got a prequel to look forward to. A Solo adventure we've never seen before and a look at what turned Han into the badass space rebel we've all come to know and love.

Solo: A Star Wars Story was directed by Ron Howard and stars Alden Ehrenreich as young Han Solo. It's about the adventures of young Han Solo, who goes on a heist mission. Along the way, he encounters new allies like Chewbacca and Lando.

Plot

Young Han Solo finds adventure when he joins a gang of galactic smugglers, including a 196-year-old Wookie named Chewbacca. Indebted to the gangster Dryden Vos, the crew devises a daring plan to travel to the mining planet Kessel to steal a batch of valuable coaxium. In need of a fast ship, Solo meets Lando Calrissian, the suave owner of the perfect vessel for the dangerous mission -- the Millennium Falcon.

The movie starts out with the same problem as the beginning of Rogue One; its beginning is rushed. I wish we could see more of Han Solo's early life as a hunter as a way of establishing his character as a smuggler. I was very lost in the beginning since it felt too rapidly paced. It was hard to tell what was going on throughout the first 15-20 minutes.

After that mark, the movie does get more interesting. As a Star Wars film, it does have a western vibe, which is something I can appreciate. This makes it both unique and fun to watch. An example of a scene that feels like it came out of a classic western is when Solo and his crew are invading a train in an alien world. While I do like this style, we must keep in mind that the Star Wars franchise is a space opera, so this differentiation may alienate some of its viewers. With that in mind, it does make this movie somewhat lack the Star Wars vibe.

As the movie progresses we eventually get to see how Han met Chewbacca, Lando and how he got his hands on the Millenium Falcon, that's a given. I think that the scene where Chewbacca met Solo was a bit rushed, after all it was a scene from the beginning.

Han Solo Trailer

The cast

Paul Bettany, Woody Harrelson and Donald Glover all do well in their respective roles and really bring their characters to life, they feel well fleshed out and their motivations are clearly defined and well put together.

While the same cannot be said for the leads Alden Ehrenreich & Emilia Clarke in my opinion. Emilia Clarke is completely wooden as has been the case in her transition to the big screen as we saw in the last Terminator reboot.

Alden Ehrenreich is passable as Solo, he has some endearing moments but simply does not have the charm, comic timing and overall star power that Ford brought to the role and unfortunately for him it was a tough act to follow.

The visuals

The Cinematography, like most of the new Star Wars films, will simply blow you away. When you're watching the film it's almost as though you're there, experiencing each and every detail with them.

My opinion on Solo

I've really enjoyed the star wars reboot over the last few years but Yeah, I struggled to connect with this movie like I did with Rogue one. The movie lacks "charm", which btw, Han Solo is oh so famous for... If there's no charm, there's no soul, something has to attract you... Because of these reasons, I think the writing was lame downgrading the movie to an action movie.

Don't worry if you are busy and miss this film. It is one of many Star Wars films Disney will mass produce in the next two years. Disney clearly plans to flog this content on us and milk it for all its worth. Ship out on its conveyor belt and certainly has much to do with making money and as little to do as having a good story as any of them.

For all the promise this movie showed it really falls flat on the delivery. You will never see a less emotional moment than when Han meets Chewy. Seriously you're supposed to be instant best buds!

My rating

Originally, this movie was to be directed by the duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller, but was replaced by Ron Howard after some disagreements. If they did stay directors of the film however, I think it would've been much better.

Solo was a fairly middle of the pack Star Wars film, I'd have to give it a 6.8 out of 10