As much as I enjoy a lot of output that just happens to come from Disney, I’m willing to admit they’ve flooded the market too much this spring with big blockbusters. Coming off the heels of Black Panther and Infinity War, not to mention the recent success of Deadpool 2, there’s a real tentpole oversaturation going on.
Solo: A Star Wars Story, the latest prequel in the legendary franchise directed by Ron Howard, unfortunately, may be a victim of this box office glut, and it’s a shame because it’s a pretty enjoyable adventure film. With all of the reworks and negative press surrounding the movie before its release, not to mention how heated the Star Wars fanbase can often be, it’s a minor miracle it turned out so entertaining, despite some flaws.
Alden Ehrenreich’s portrayal of Han has its own roguish charm, though at points it feels as if he’s trying too hard to emulate certain aspects of Harrison Ford’s performance. We join him and his girlfriend Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) in their attempts to break free from a centipede-like alien gangster name Lady Proxima (Linda Hunt, in a funny cameo that’s far too brief), resulting in a chase through Coreilla in a hot-wired cruiser.
It’s hard not to feel for Han’s sense of sadness and frustration when the two are separated, and it’s arguably tougher not to smile during his chance meeting of Chewbacca while stuck on a muddy planet as an Imperial soldier.
Not content to drift through the galaxy aimlessly as a Flight Academy dropout, Han’s determined to reunite with Qi’ra any way he can, even if it means him and Chewie temporarily joining Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson, playing sort of a Long John Silver role to the young Han) and his gang of thieves.
After an attack from a rival band of pirates called the Cloud Riders, led by the fearsome warrior Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman), Han and Beckett find themselves on the bad side of crime boss Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany, filling in for Michael K. Williams), and in an increasingly bizarre situation with too many twists to count.
Between Beckett, Donald Glover’s charismatic and well-ranged Lando Calrissian, and Lando’s smart-mouthed and rebellious droid L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge, in a delightful and hammy performance), Han luckily has a decent supporting cast to play off through this spinoff, which moves at a breakneck pace. Bradford Young’s cinematography is as impressive as it’s ever been, notably in scenes like when Han commands the Millennium Falcon for the first time to escape the jaws of a giant space monster.
This story isn’t exactly a deep delve into Han’s psyche or fears, more content to serve as a series of fun adventures early in his life. But Ehrenreich is appealing and believable enough to where you can still see Han gradually evolve into the person we first saw in A New Hope.
Though Solo is pretty much a fun ride, the editing and reshoots give it something of a rushed feel. Most of the actors perform well enough with what they’re given, but so much is stuffed into the story and the result is that there are only a few scenes where events slow down and the characters are allowed to gel a little.
While there’s no shortage of tense moments, overall it’s a much breezier Star Wars experience than the cataclysmic events that occurred in The Last Jedi, nor does it really go into the seriously introspective character development that Rey underwent on Ahch-To.
The inherent problem with any attempt at a prequel about Han Solo and Chewie’s early adventures is that we know they’re going to survive, thanks to audiences being familiar with his adventures in the original trilogy for forty years and counting, so that hurts some of the dramatic tension around them. Nevertheless, I can certainly recommend Solo if you’re a diehard Star Wars fan.
Though it lacks that extra punch of unpredictability that other entries in the series had, I feel there are more than enough thrills and interesting moments that the newer generation of fans will certainly enjoy growing up with it. But as it stands, I think Force Awakens and Empire Strikes Back are still the most pivotal films for Han’s character evolution.
Perhaps not every Star Wars film needs to feel like a massive event, as much as Disney would like for that to be the case. Maybe the franchise is at a point where smaller films like this, Rogue One and other EU-oriented material will satisfy the hardcore following, while the general public focuses on the numerical chapters. If you had the chance to check out Solo, write to https://twitter.com/official_fan and let us know your opinion!