'Solo: A Star Wars Story'

It is no mystery that Disney is not happy with its most recent film in the "Anthology Series", Solo: A Star Wars Story, but is the movie actually bad? Does it deserve the criticism or the hate? To be fair it did not receive nearly as much hate as The Last Jedi did after release with an Audience score of 46% (Rotten Tomatoes), although TLJ did receive a 91% from critics. Solo, respectively, also received lower audience scores compared to critics with critics giving it a 71% and audiences giving it a 64%. So what we see here is that critics loved TLJ, generally "liked" Solo and Audiences haven't been happy with either of them, but Solo did do better. Now what does all of this mean and what does that leave for the future of Star Wars?

Well, much of this may be personal but alas, aren't all reviews a bit personal? I for one, was not a big fan of The Last Jedi, not even just as a life long Star Wars fan but as a filmmaker and lover of cinema. There were so many things in the movie that left me scratching my head but that review is for a different article. Solo, on the other hand, I loved! I went into Solo extremely skeptical yet very hopeful, I had heard many of the production woes it faced and the drama but I know Ron Howard is a very competent director so I didn't lose faith. Solo was an extremely fun movie and I believe it could have suffered a bit from something I have now seen called "The Last Jedi Fatigue." Listen, I don't mean to be hard on TLJ, overall the movie was "good," but it was most definitely not great and had a lot of missteps. There were many people that didn't want to see Solo because TLJ made them feel like Kathleen Kennedy and Lucas Film did not care for them anymore and were now after a different kind of audience. They felt cast aside and then upon criticizing the film got nothing back. There were many fans that were nasty to Rian Johnson and all involved and that is not okay by any means, but to not give Solo a chance because of it? Shame shame. I think that Solo did something fun and refreshing much like Rogue One did where it was very much a Star Wars movie but didn't have to be tied into a huge arch and big story that was going on, it didn't need set ups or payoff, just a good space adventure story, and that is exactly what it delivered.

When I left TLJ I felt confused and left with more questions than when I entered. When I left Solo, I felt happy and that I had a great time, there were many moments that made me smile and I didn't regret seeing it. The actors did fantastic, the writing was great, and the direction was perfect for this story. The ONLY things in Solo I thought were dumb (but didn't ruin the movie for me) was everything involving the droid L3-37. That character has got to be one of the dumbest characters since Jar Jar Binks. I am sorry, her character was cringey, unlikable, and just plain unnecessary. There is a scene when Lando (Donald Glover) asks if she needs anything and she responds with "Equal Rights," Lando proceeds to roll his eyes and exit the cockpit. Lando's response was the same response that everyone in the theater had. I remember watching and my girlfriend leaning over to me saying "stupid" to that character. L3 serves no purpose in the story other than to give Lando a sad moment and to give the Millennium Falcon her navigation from her head; that is literally it. So all of the "Droid Rights!" and general annoyance to everyone around her had no reason to be in the story and if it was meant to be funny, got zero laughs.

So, with my blabbering on aside, I wanted to sum this article up with this; Solo is a great movie, nobody asked for it but once it arrived, I believe it added a nice addition to the ever growing Star Wars universe. If you are feeling fatigued from TLJ, don't let that stop you from seeing Solo; it's a fun ride and makes a lot of good decisions. Maybe that isn't why you have seen it, maybe you just don't care about Han Solo's backstory, well recent news have suggested Kathleen Kennedy may be on her way out due to TLJ backlash and now Solo falling hard at the box office AND the Anthology movies are being put on hold...that means Boba Fett on hold, Kenobi on hold, etc. For the love of God, support Star Wars not for the mistakes of the past but for the potential of the future! I haven't met a single fan that wouldn't want a Boba Fett movie or Kenobi movie! Especially since I heard James Mangold was in talks to direct Boba Fett and for Kenobi, Ewan McGregor could possibly reprise his role. And if you saw Solo and just didn't like it well, that is your opinion and that is okay, just like this is all just my opinion!

I could go on much more in depth but I decided to keep this article as spoiler free as possible! This is my first article and I hope to do more in the future.

Thanks for the read! If you enjoyed this be sure to follow me on my other social platforms in my profile or just keep an eye out for more of my stuff I write, thanks!