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'Solo: A Star Wars Story' Movie Review (Spoiler Edition)

The galaxy's most daring adventurer finally gets his own movie.

By Arvind PennathurPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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When I walked into to see this movie, I was astonished to see that the theatre was almost completely empty. I double checked my ticket, convinced that I was at the wrong theatre. After all, this was no ordinary Hollywood flick: it was a Star Wars movie, for crying out loud! The seats should be filled with eager audiences chattering about what they expected from the movie and how it would change the rapidly expanding lore of the revitalised franchise. However, to my great dismay, for the entirety of Solo: A Star Wars Story, the theatre was only filled to one-fourth of its maximum capacity. After seeing the movie, however, I understood why, but at the same time, I felt like its not really the movie's fault.

That sounded ambivalent, didn't it? Well, I think that's for the best, because the movie was exactly that for me: a mixed bag, split very finely down the middle.

Solo: A Star Wars Story, directed by Ron Howard, tells the origin story of the legendary Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), as we see his evolution into the wise cracking ace with a blaster we knew from the original Star Wars trilogy. In this movie, he is but a mere orphan, having grown up on the streets with his childhood friend, later lover, Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke). After being separated while trying to escape their planet, Solo joins the Empire, and after three gruelling years, meets a group of thieves led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) He escapes with them, and embarks on an adventure that takes him to distant planets and through situations he would have only dreamed of.

Han, Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and L-3 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge)

When this movie was announced, there were those that were incredibly excited for it, as well as those that didn’t really see the need for a movie like this to be made. The character of Han Solo was pretty well laid out in the original trilogy, and fans didn’t feel it was necessary to know anything else than what those movies told us. Furthermore, as soon as the movie came out, the initial reviews weren’t very convincing. When I went to see it, the burden was on this movie to tell a compelling story while also being true to what Star Wars is to so many people all over the world. The result? It was… all right, at best.

Don’t get me wrong — I didn’t hate this movie, not by a long shot. The story, as simplistic as it was, wisely steered away from the usual Jedi vs. Sith setting that almost all Star Wars movies unfold in, giving the movie a refreshing take on the universe we have grown so familiar with. It suffered at times from being predictable, but it was seeing as how the execution was smooth for the most part, it didn’t detract from the overall experience. The characters were captivating and engaging, but not enough for me to care about where they might go in a potential sequel (which, based on the appearance of Darth Maul at the end and the set up for the formation of some kind of gang — most likely in reference to Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine — we just might get). The movie relied on nostalgia, but not to the extent that it felt like it was trying to sell the plot to you BECAUSE its a Star Wars movie, which I appreciated. References to other movies were thinly veiled (did you catch the Han shoots first reference? Hint: it’s probably one of the most important lessons Han learns) and this meant that it could try and tell its own, separate story instead of relying on the stories built up by other movies in the franchise.

I say try, however, because this movie also falls short in a notable number of aspects.

Han and Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) share a lighthearted moment

For starters, Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo was not entirely convincing, which is a huge downer in a movie that is supposed to tell his story. There were moments where I forgot who he was supposed to be portraying in the first place, and since the character of Han Solo is so iconic in the world of cinema, to have a shaky portrayal hurts the film greatly. Admittedly, there were moments that he absolutely nailed, but I can't say that there were too many of them. Emilia Clarke fared much better, however, with her character giving off an icy air of indifference and a 'do whatever it takes' attitude that was refreshing to see. Woody Harrelson was all right, but I think the writing made his character seem way too cliche, and to his credit, he delivered exactly the kind of character that I expected. The standout performance has to be Donald Glover, who played Lando Calrissian. He was absolutely phenomenal, slipping into the role almost instantly and delivering with panache and class. You could really believe that this was the same man that you saw in Empire Strikes Back, all those years ago, which was the entire point of the movie (he even pronounced 'Han' the way Lando did).

The soundtrack was also impressive, especially during the chase sequence at the beginning of the film. A word on the visual effects as well — they were enthralling and captivating, but while this film had more 'action' sequences than most Star Wars films, I felt that other films executed them better because of the stakes those moments presented. And that brings me to perhaps the biggest problem with this movie that I can't entirely blame it for — the necessity of it.

Lando Calrissian was given new life by Donald Glover

The hype for this movie was practically non existent. Marketing for it was done at the last minute, with a teaser and a trailer coming out within 4 months, and last but definitely not least, the movie releasing to positive to mixed reviews. In the theatre, no one cheered when Han was shown on screen for the first time. No one cheered when Chewie appeared, nor did anyone say a word when Darth Maul, of all characters, appeared on screen. While you could theoretically attribute this to the lack of attendance in the theatre, I think a much more accurate analysis would be a simple lack of excitement at the movie as a whole.

Coming off of the roller coaster that was The Last Jedi, one would expect this movie to be an example of where Star Wars is going wrong. I disagree, if only partially. While the movie was, in the grand scheme of things, an unnecessary side story that contributed nothing to the universe, it presented a fresh new take on a side of Star Wars that we never really saw before. For that, at the very least, I appreciate it. As for what Star Wars holds in the future, I will be releasing another, slightly more analytical piece in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that. But for now, I will leave you with this. Solo: A Star Wars Story is far from the perfect movie; its characters are iffy, its plot was simple and easy to predict, and its significance in such a heavy franchise is grossly underwhelming. However, what it did give us was something original, light hearted and fun, and in the context of what the franchise is going through right now, maybe that's all we need.

Final Score: 6.5/10

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About the Creator

Arvind Pennathur

I'm a graduate law student with a love for the quieter things in life. I write on a variety of topics, along with the occasional short story or poem. My perfect evening? Give me a rainy day, a cup of coffee, and a place to sit and write.

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