Solo: A Star Wars Story
Director: Ron Howard (formerly the dudes who made 21 and 22 Jumpstreet)
Writer: Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan, and George Lucas (original characters)
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson (Hey! He hit on my aunt in a bar once), Donald Glover/Childish Gambino, and Paul Bettany
Reason for watching: Finishing off the Star Wars franchise. Jane had already seen this one and was not interested in seeing it again.
Number of times I’ve watched it: twice
***
NOW THIS…is the most misunderstood and underrated Star Wars movie of all time.
Hear me out on this. Alden Ehrenreich is not a crappy Han Solo. He embodies a younger version of him very well. Naive yet witty, and actually altruistic about something, which makes sense for someone like Han who had to have been altruistic at some point. He has all of the mannerisms and swagger of Han as well. He needs the credit he deserves! Emilia Clarke is a serviceable love interest. This is not a challenging performance for her, but she does well. The same goes for Woody Harrelson and Paul Bettany. Donald Glover was either given no notes on his performance, or he ignored all of them. Either way I love his performance, which is so dipped in swagger it’s like ordering extra cheese on a cheese pizza.
Performances aside, there is an important conversations to be had about this movie, and it has to do with the wider Star Wars TV shows and movies. The Clone Wars, Rogue One, and Rebels all share something with Solo. Despite appearances from main story character like Anakin Skywalker, these stories are not about the force or the greater destiny a person has. (Thank God they aren’t about someone’s M count). For the most part they are about that second word in this franchise. WAR, and its effects. Clone Wars dives into the politics and psychology behind war. There’s a reason people keep wanting to see Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex show up in stuff. They bore the psychology and pain of war well. I’ve already talked about Rogue One, and I have not seen Rebels other than the fight scene between Ahsoka and Darth Vader (WHICH YOU SHOULD WATCH).
But Solo carries on this tradition well. It’s about poor boy who gets recruited into the Imperial army and then bails to become a smuggler and then ends a gang war by definitively joining the rebel alliance against the Imperial army. The underlining theme here is that Han wants to escape it all, and that really connects well with his theme of running. The very first thing we see him doing is running away from another gang he pissed off. The last thing he does? He runs away with Lando’s ship. My only bummer about this theme, is that we didn’t get to see how this theme expanded in any potential sequels.
Yet despite all of the fun conversations, train heists, Chewbacca exposition via Han shouting things excitedly, it did not get a lot of love. Maybe there was some holdover from The Last Jedi Backlash. Maybe the lack of huge stakes is a let down from normal galaxy saving adventures. There was negative press about this movie before it even came out, and I remember sitting in a theater (gosh, weren’t those the days?) and thinking that it was not that enjoyable. But as I watched it again, I was happy to just see a fun adventure. Because after the holy war that was The Last Jedi and the mediocre-ness that was to follow with The Rise of Skywalker, we needed this as Star Wars fans.
7/10
Until I see another one.