Solo: A Star Wars Story

Movie Review

Going to see a movie about Han Solo without Harrison Ford in the role was a little bit outside my comfort zone, but in the end, I decided to take a chance and even took my niece and three great nephews with me. The consensus? All five of us loved it and immediately wanted to watch it again. In fact, I will state right now that it is my favorite Star Wars film outside of the original three that’s been made thus far.

SOLO is fun, entertaining, and Alden Ehrenreich embodies everything that makes the character of Han so amazing and memorable. His Han is smart, charming, witty, observant, impulsive, and reckless. He’s also got a good heart and despite his bad boy smuggler’s persona, he wants to do the right thing. He’s the perfect younger Han and he made watching this film an absolute delight for me, a fan of 41 years, and my nieces and great nephews who are less than a decade in.

Despite being a movie without any Jedi involvement, SOLO inhabits so much of what I love about the original movies. The balance between humor and seriousness, fun and danger was done so perfectly that there were several moments where the audience actually feared for them.

The meeting of Han and Chewie was a longtime coming for this fan, and I absolutely loved how they handled it in this film. It was PERFECT for the two characters I love so much and their mutual respect and admiration for each other only grew from it. Which made me love both characters even more than I already did.

Another stellar point for me? Han meeting Lando…and stepping onto the Millennium Falcon for the first time.  Then there were the little Easter eggs that permeated the film but didn’t overshadow a single thing. Instead, they enhanced and built upon the Han Solo legacy and they did it in subtle yet memorable ways. SO MUCH FUN!

Donald Glover as Lando encapsulated the easygoing charm and absolute charisma that Billy Dee Williams brought to the role so long ago. The audience could easily see how he became the man he became in the original films, and why he and Han have such a complicated and sorted history together. One of my favorite parts of this movie was their meeting and subsequent interactions on-screen.

Answers to many Star Wars questions surrounding Han Solo, Chewie, and Lando are abound in this movie, and all of it was important and vital to deepening the overall lore for each character. And, in my opinion, they succeeded doing that and more. Because they not only tapped into my original love of Han and Chewie (and yes, even Lando), but they restructured it in a way that makes me love those characters so much more than I thought that I could. And I already loved them tons.

There are more than a few surprises in this movie, and all of them made me excited and hopeful that we might get a second Han Solo movie. Because Ehrenreich gets Han Solo and he does an excellent job of capturing him in the less cynical era of the character’s life. But rest assured, it is all too easy to see how Ehrenreich’s Han became Harrison Ford’s Han, and that’s the biggest, most delightful surprise of all.

Rating: A+

ABOUT THE MOVIE

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 2hr 15 min
Genre: Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi
Production Co: Lucasfilm | Walt Disney Pictures 
Imagine Entertainment | Allison Shearmur Productions
Director: Ron Howard
Screenplay: Jonathan Kasdan | Lawrence Kasdan
Music by: John Powell | John Williams
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich | Woody Harrelson | Emilia Clarke
Donald Glover | Joonas Suotamo | Paul Bettany
Release Date: May 24, 2018 (USA)

Never Tell Him The Odds

During an adventure into the criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his future copilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian years before joining the Rebellion.

With the emerging demand of hyperfuel and other resources, Han Solo finds himself in the middle of a heist alongside other criminals, where they meet the likes of Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian in an adventurous situation exposing the criminal underworld of the Star Wars saga.

Official Movie Trailer