Review: Solo, Now This Is Star Wars
- May 24, 2018
- 2 min read
Directorial changes, multiple reshoots months before release, behind the scenes turmoil, boycotts and everything else. If you had have asked me a month ago how I thought Solo would turn out, it wouldn't have been a positive answer. Feels good to be wrong.
Following an escape from the sewers of Corellia and a subsequent deserting from the Imperial military, a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) finds themselves alongside Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his crew, working for crime lord Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany). Following a heist gone wrong, Solo and Beckett, are given a choice, repay Vos or face the consequences. Teaming up with his old flame Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) and the ever suave Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), the group set off on the greatest heist the galaxy has ever seen.
Solo is, first and foremost, a hell of a lot of fun. From it's entertaining action scenes, colourful characters and an extended sequence involving the Kessel Run, there's barely a moment where something isn't happening. And for a film over two hours long, that's very good. It keeps going at a rapid pace, only slowing down when it needs to, and never for very long. Then there's the performances. While Ehrenreich and Glover will never touch Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams' franchise defining performances, they do grow on you over the course of the film, helping to maintain the constant energy of the piece.
It doesn't hurt that Solo might also be the best looking Star Wars film to date. The way director Ron Howard uses colour and contrast to create some truly stunning sequences is excellent. The various planets, creatures and alien races are all wonderfully created, helping to solidify this film as existing with the current franchise, rather than trying to be "original" without actually being original. However, as with all films, there's some problems. There's a character reveal toward the end feels totally unnecessary, and the whole thing ends with some pretty major, though not unwanted sequel bait involving a pretty great in-universe cameo.
Solo could have been little more than a generic cash-in, a film as hollow and boring as so many others. And I'm so very happy it isn't. Solo possesses more character than the vast majority of Star Wars films, it's full of life, vigor and excitement, something that has been lacking in recent years. Star Wars is back, in a big way, and if things keep going the way they're going, it'll be here for sometime yet.
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