Solo: A Star Wars Story Review.

Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Your names Liam De Brún and you're writing a blog? You should call yourself Liam De Blogs.

What exactly is fan service? It seems that film studios and fans have different ideas as to what exactly it is. Disney are a firm believer that fans wants to see more of the same heroes that the fans fell in love with during their childhoods. This is evident in the recent reports that Logan director James Mangold is to write and direct a Star Wars spinoff centred around Boba Fett. Disney clearly view the franchise to use nostalgia to sell movie tickets. Even the new Star Wars franchise centred around Rey is in many ways not really her story with The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi being used as a continuation of the original characters story. I don’t mind this personally as I felt that the two entries of the new trilogy are excellent movies that can be viewed as some of the best entrants in the saga. Other fans are dismissive and feel that they are being exploited by Disney and that they are using old characters simply as a marketing scheme.  Going into the movie I was aware of the fan backlash against Solo: A Star Wars Story, (For what it’s worth the film is currently rated 64% by the fans on Rotten Tomatoes.) so as a Star Wars superfan I was eerie that I was going to witness a massacre of my beloved Han Solo.  Surprisingly Solo is by far not the worst entry in the Star Wars franchise. The films production troubles show in the film with an inconsistent pace and logic, the refences are more jarring than Jar Jar but overall, I found Solo to be a thoroughly entertaining film which for the majority left a giant smile on my face.

Let’s get elephant out of the room Alden Ehrenreich is not Harrison Ford. He doesn’t look like him, sound like him and for most of the movie doesn’t act like him. Ehrenreich fills Solo’s boots far more comfortably than anyone could have predicted. Solo is this movie is pretty much what you would expect from a younger version of the character. Witty, charming and roguish, Solo is not yet the pissed off pilot that’s as blunt and straight with people in a way that we all wish we could. Ford’s Solo is the definition of cool, Ehrenreich’s Solo is a boy who is going on an adventure that will lead him to be the man that Ford is. The young actor deserves praise for not crumbling under the weight of such an iconic role. The opening act is a bit of a mess however because it makes Han appear to be the equivalent of Oliver Twist, his home planet Corellia resembles 18^th century England. The entire audience has a collective groan when its revealed how Han got his name, its Christmas crackers level of cringe. The amount of references to the original Han is possibly the worst part of the movie with director Ron Howard basically screaming DO YOU GET IT??? At the audience. The props, the music, characters and plot points are referenced in a way that Howard clearly thought was much more intelligent than it was.

The supporting cast of the film are what make Solo such a fun movie. Hans team in the movie who help him on his hi-jinks elevate a weak plot which even after viewing I’m not entirely sure what the whole point of it was. The film is a heist movie with Solo and his crew of galactic smugglers having to rob Coaxium from the infamous Kessel for a gangster, this is Star Wars very own Oceans 11. Let’s talk about Han’s crew. Beckett, played by Woody Harrelson, is Hans father figure/mentor in the movie. Harrelson excels in playing the grizzled no nonsense mentor, plays basically the same character in Solo, The Hunger Games and Now You See Me. Harrelson who for many years has been one of my favourite actors adds much needed experience to the cast. Kira, played by Game of Thrones Emilia Clarke, is Hans love interest but thankfully she is not made a one note character with her complex motivations and backstory giving her character an edge Paul Bethany as the films villain Dryden Vos is having a ball with Bethany’s hammy performance making the villain more memorable than Ben Mendelsohn in Rogue One. Also, worth mentioning is Jon Favreau’s Rocket Racoon like character who’s unfortunately not given enough screen time to make an impact.

The star of the film is Donald Glover’s performance as Lando. Glover who is the internets prodigal son and my own creative inspiration makes Lando feel as if he’s the coolest man in the galaxy. The vibrant mustard coloured shirt, facial expressions and signature smirk bring the character to life. Thankfully the performance doesn’t feel as if its an impression of Billy Dee Williams fan favourite character. The banter Lando and Han share is delightful to witness and at times it feels that perhaps Han should have chosen Lando as his co-pilot instead of Chewie. Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Droid L3-37 is perhaps the franchises most interesting droid as her slavery-based story makes you reimagine how you viewed droids in the franchise and alters your perspective on characters that you’ve had for years.

The plot of the film is a little too weak to justify the films 2 hour plus runtime.  The actions set pieces, bar the thrilling train heist, are quite forgettable for a Star Wars movie. The kessel run itself is quite disappointing considering the years of hype as it epitomises Solo’s folklore. The third act is a a bit of a shambles with the film trying to tie everything up while trying to set up future sequels in the closing minutes. Director Ron Howard must be commended for making Solo a film that works, considering he had to reshoot a large chunk of the move after original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller left for creative differences. Howard's direction is what saved Solo from being a disaster, perhaps a less experienced director wouldn’t have been able to make it work, but Howard saved this film.

Overall Solo was blast! The characters and performances were so much fun that the abysmal pacing didn’t affect the film as much as it should. Do I feel that id prefer a sequel to Solo rather than a film focused on a new character? Honestly id lean to something a little more original because I’ve never been a huge fan of prequels as i love films to go forwards rather than backwards, but I wouldn’t complain if I got to spend more hours with this cast. My best advice for Solo would be to take it for what it is and cover your eyes and ears when it attempts fan service.

Liam’s Solo: A Star Wars Story Summary

Best Moment: Han and Landos weird space poker was pretty damn fun.

Worst Moment: EVERYTHING ABOUT HANS NAME ORIGION

Best character: Lando made me want to buy action figures again.

Worst Character: Man, who gives Han his name.

Overall Rating: 3/5