‘Solo’ is more ‘Buck Rogers’ fun than a ‘Star Wars’ epic
Lucasfilm is still to expand their universe with new prequels and Solo: A Star Wars Story, is the latest effort: a Han Solo film.
Alden Ehrenreich takes up the mantle from Harrison Ford, making the famous “scoundrel” comes alive in a backstory which explains his partnership with Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), winning the Millennium Falcon in a card game from Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), flying the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs — all elements teased in the earlier Star Wars films.
Director Ron Howard took over the beleaguered film from Chris Miller and Phil Lord (The Lego Movie) fired mid-production over “creative differences.” The end result definitely feels like a “Ron Howard” film: it’s a safe and fun space adventure.
Solo is straightforward, very predictable with okay performances wrapped around fun action sequences and witty lines.
Sadly, Solo plods along, trying too hard to play it safe. Glover’s Lando is sexy and appealing but has been over-hyped across the Internet and none of the other cast get anything special to say…or do (Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Paul Bettany).
Bettany’s villain, Dryden Vos, is particularly disappointing: less menacing and less funny than Jeff Goldblum’s Gamemaster in Thor: Ragnarok.
What Solo does well is create friendships and appealing lead actors and set up the desire for another adventure: no surprise that Jabba is teased a lot.
George Lucas originally explained how the classic serials inspired the franchise and Solo is a perfect tribute to that vision.
One of the biggest negatives for me was L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) who is an advocate for droid rights, even heavy-handedly so at times. There is a real creepy moment with Lando and a fate tied to the Falcon which contradicts the character’s entire purpose/drive…very strange.
Solo receives 2 1/2 stars out of 5 stars.
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