The Star Wars franchise has always been a difficult franchise to discuss with others, and I say that as someone who isn’t as big a fan. Ever since George Lucas began shoving permanent recuts of the original trilogy, which lead to the birth of the prequels and Disney buyout, thus leading to the merchandising and the new films coming out; ever since then, it’s hard to have a normal discussion about it, without someone going into some nitpicky butthurt rant, about how his or her fanfiction wasn’t in the new film, or how Lucas is tampering with history every time he goes back to Star Wars...look, after my Force Awakens review, I just wanted to refraine from talking about Star Wars for a while. I'll discuss Rogue One and The Last Jedi sometime in the future, but I think I'll wait until the drama dies down from the latter.
This leads us into the even bigger drama that surrounds this new film, mostly with the behind-the-scenes problems that went way out hand. Solo had originally been intended to be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the duo that made Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the 21 Jump Street movies, but they had been fired after Lawrence Kasdan and Kathleen Kennedy were unsatisfied with their progress. They had gotten carried away with letting actors improvise and going completely off script, and it even got to where Alden Ehrenreich had to get an acting coach, because he wasn’t meeting the producers standards. Hell, it was even rumored that Bradford Young and even Lawrence Kasdan had to shadow direct without them knowing in some places. some might call this karma from Warner Bros. having to deal with Justice League, where both films had to change directors with different styles and it ends up being a box office disasters (I know Solo is still in theatres, but its numbers are iffy).
The difference is, you have Zack Snyder being swapped with Joss Whedon, both of whom have styles that couldn’t be any more opposite if it tried; there's also the fact that Whedon came in after production wrapped, so the scenes where you can tell are Whedon's, you can obviously detect this was last minute. Ron Howard is a more versatile director, dabbling well with not just comedy, but drama and even action; he also came in midway during production, and was able to complete 70% of the finished project, including re-shoots. And luckily, the film manages to keep a consistant tone that never felt jaded anywhere else.
Alden Ehrenreich was a good young Han, despite the stories circulating around him. While his Han isn’t quite the same one as what we see in the beginning of A New Hope, it works because it gives him the freedom to make the character his own before going into true Ford mode. He’s smug and cocky, but he still kept a charm that hooked when he popped on screen. And the chemistry he shares with Chewbacca as they first meet, you see his main focus is survival with the nearest available help, as well as grow attached as they partners they would eventually become. Whatever problems did occur with him behind the scenes, they look to be fixed up.
Woody Harrelson and Donald Glover also stand-out nicely. Harrelson is the shady mentor that Han follows, bringing his classic charm, but also bringing some level-headedness to the circumstances at all times. At times you feel like he’s warning Han to back off, because he was like him before: arrogant and lacking strategy. Glover’s performance as Lando Calrissian, while I could tell he was doing an impression of Billy Dee Williams, he plays it off so naturally that it didn’t seem out of place. Whenever he and Ehrenreich are on screen, they make up the better parts of the movie, seeing the two butt heads every so often; not only that, but the ending scene with them had me crack up.
Lastly, it actually did something that I had been wanting from The Force Awakens: I wanted it to be a fun adventure, just like the first movie. In my review, I had expressed that the first ever Star Wars movie is my personal favorite, because it never really set out to be anything more than the start of a fairy tale fantasy film in space, much like Lucas described it back then. But with each new installment, even back then with Return of the Jedi, it felt as though it was being made to appease a specific demographic every time; either it’s made more kid friendly or politically correct, and fans then make a big stink about them doing what they asked them to do in the first place. Even with this film, the biggest complaints that I heard about the movie is that it has poor pacing and adds nothing new or takes risks the franchise. While I can understand the pacing complaint...I’m sorry, did you not hear the outcry of bs after The Last Jedi? Is it really so much to ask for a Star Wars film that’s just fun and DOESN’T cause trouble with fans? Seriously, I haven’t seen so much venom spewed out by comments since The Dark Knight Rises on Rotten Tomatoes; this kind of back and forth banter about what these movies should be to people is so infuriating to listen to.
Overall, where would I place Solo: A Star Wars Story? Well, it isn’t the worst, but I wouldn’t call it one of the best either. I’d say it’s around the same range as Return of the Jedi, if you ask me. With how things are looking, I doubt this is going to break even, sadly; however, if you’re looking for a fun space western, like I did, give this a watch.
Rating: B
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