Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

6/10

Starring

Alden Ehrenreich

Woody Harrelson

Emilia Clarke

Danny Glover

Directed by Ron Howard

The new Star Wars movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story, is not bad (though it’s nothing compared to 2016’s Rogue One), and I urge anyone who hasn’t taken the time to see it to do so. The movie’s depiction of Han Solo’s life before joining the Rebellion isn’t hard to envision, and the CGI plus the universe we get to fly through is nothing short of amazing.

It’s the second Star Wars anthology film, following 2016’s Rogue One. The movie is a stand-alone installment in the Star Wars franchise and is set before the events of A New Hope (1977). We get to experience Han Solo’s (Alden Ehrenreich) early adventures, how he met Chewbacca, and how he acquired the Millennium Falcon from a young Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover).

The movie’s main plot is easy to share: Han was always a rebel at heart and wanted to escape the forces that kept him from being free. One escape attempt gone wrong left him separated from his childhood sweetheart, Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke). He joined the Imperial forces with one goal in mind—make enough money to get a ship and go back to save his love. But things didn’t go the way Han wanted quickly, and time didn’t stand still for Qi’ra as she waited for him. Eventually, their paths cross again, and a lot has changed between the two.

The movie has a great musical score, impressive acting by the cast, and it will surprise you in some places while other moments are very much expected. It helps fill in the gaps for those who don’t follow the Star Wars franchise closely, as I noticed from those with me. It explains how the Rebellion spanned many planets and how they were able to fund such a massive force to begin with. For those who follow the franchise, the movie doesn’t add anything new, and its up-and-down pacing can be exhausting—it felt like Disney just wanted to make sure the movie was over two hours long.

With that said, the question has been raised: should Disney have even bothered? When it comes to money, we shouldn’t mistake the urge to make more money with maintaining a steady franchise. Back to the Future creator Robert Zemeckis, for example, wants to maintain the authenticity of his franchise, which is why he hasn’t agreed to let the movie be remade. Disney, on the other hand, is known for making live-action adaptations of all their Renaissance-era animations and is clearly looking to make more money.

The movie faced challenges getting to the screen when the directing duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired due to creative differences. Ron Howard stepped in to finish the remaining quarter of the movie. Due to reshoots and other factors, the movie’s budget cost Disney at least $250 million in production alone. If this movie breaks even at the box office, Disney will likely continue producing more stand-alone Star Wars movies. If it doesn’t, Disney may have to step back and look for a more appealing tale to spin off, giving the stand-alone movies one more try.

I enjoyed this movie for what it is and what it brought to the table. I can arguably say it’s not the worst Star Wars movie in the franchise, and it’s one you’ll enjoy seeing if you take the time to do so.

Pacific Rim 2: Uprising (2018)

Pacific Rim 2: Uprising (2018)

3/10

Starring

John Boyega

Scott Eastwood

Jing Tian

Cailee Spaeny

Directed by Steven S. Deknight

The first question is: how great was the first Pacific Rim (2013) movie?
I recall it coming out during a time of remakes and superhero movies. There wasn’t much unique happening at the box office, so the first Pacific Rim movie, directed by Guillermo del Toro, was the new thing—and I, for one, didn’t like it.
Now, however, I have a different view and respect for the first Pacific Rim (2013) movie because this second one, released five years later, is worse.

This movie packs in a long takeoff time and a delayed middle, only to give us an ending that’s so silly and unproductive that I feel sorry for the people who had to sit through it with me.
What did this movie have to offer?
The answer is: nothing. The movie had nothing to give in terms of excitement, ingenuity, or even acting. They tried to do a “hero doesn’t get the girl” thing by changing the ending into a cliché tale. We all know the story: guy leaves the force to enjoy his life, gets pulled back in, and his partner is upset with him. Then there’s a girl, and they tried to spice it up by not letting the lead get her in the end.

The movie is so predictable that I wished I could just skip through some parts. It was easy to guess how some events would play out or even the gender of some characters before they were shown.
Okay, remember how the first movie ended?
Well, some additional things have happened, and this movie’s beginning fills you in. Then it introduces the lead, a former Jaeger pilot named Jake (John Boyega), who now spends his days stealing Jaeger parts and selling them on the black market.
Based on a series of events—which I won’t spoil for you—he meets a young girl, and both are caught as they try to escape a yard after stealing some Jaeger tech.
To avoid jail time, they’re drafted into the Jaeger program: he’s told to get back into his pilot uniform, and she’s sent to be a cadet.

Things start to go crazy when a company called Shao Corporation creates hybrid drones of Kaiju-Jaeger machines, which they plan to release to end the dual-pilot Jaeger program.
Things get out of hand when the drones start having a mind of their own, refusing to listen to commands and trying to kill the pilots and cadets of the Jaeger program.
Further investigations later reveal that the problem is man-made, and a human is behind it.

This new addition ends with links to a potential third movie. The first movie didn’t do so well at the box office, and this directorial debut of Steven S. DeKnight seems to have not broken even either.

The movie did have some of the fun you’d expect from Kaiju vs. Jaeger battles, but to me, this franchise shouldn’t have spawned a second part—let alone the hopes the makers had for a third one.
Save yourself the trouble.

 

Gringo (2018)

Gringo (2018)

6/10

Starring

David Oyelowo

Charlize Theron

Joel Edgerton

Amanda Seyfried

Thandie Newton

Directed by Nash Edgerton

Gringo is one movie that doesn’t have the necessary ratings to draw in a big audience. This dark comedy will fly under the radar for many, but I can safely say it shouldn’t fly under yours.
The movie is a dark comedy with some overly silly characters and some overly wicked ones. Its take on a blackmail scheme gone wrong is extremely interesting to watch. The ending is simple, without too much complexity, and for me, this is how movies should always end—simple, no need for the guy to get the girl or anything like that.

So, what is Gringo about?
First, the movie has many metaphors about animals that can be really annoying—which was the point, as our lead, Harold/Harry (David Oyelowo), seems to always be on the receiving end of them until he finally gets fed up.
Harry is the regular guy who does his work and tries to do the right thing but constantly gets run over. The whole movie is about how Harry manages to survive all of this.

Harry works for a company that produces medical marijuana, but they’ve devised a way to turn it into pills while still delivering the same effect. This innovation has made the company rich and ripe for a takeover by bigger pharmaceutical companies.
Now, a lot of shady things are happening in the company, especially at its factory in Mexico, which Harry, the operations guy, oversees. A big company has shown interest in merging with Harry’s company, and the owners—Harry’s bosses, Richard (Joel Edgerton) and Elaine (Charlize Theron)—decide to go to Mexico to straighten things out.

Harry is a friend of Richard’s, and Richard hired him because he needed someone who wouldn’t ask too many questions and would look the other way while questionable things went down. Harry was the man for the job, as he looked wherever Richard pointed and never asked any questions—until he found out about the merger through his accountant, who also warned him about his mounting financial problems at home. Harry’s wife was draining his bank account, and he’s now in debt.

Shocked by both revelations, Harry decides to confront Richard and ask about the merger rumors and what will happen to him if it goes through. Richard lies to him, denying any merger plans while secretly continuing them.
When they’re in Mexico, where Richard and Elaine are trying to clean up the shady dealings at the factory, Harry finds out that the merger is indeed happening—and also discovers that his wife is leaving him. Now unhappy and unsure what to do, Harry decides to stage his own kidnapping and demand a ransom from his company.
That idea doesn’t go well, because unknown to Harry, the illegal partners his company has been dealing with in Mexico are aware that he runs operations for the company. Since Richard and Elaine want to cut ties with them, they’ve sent men to kidnap Harry.

Now, Harry has kidnapped himself, some men are trying to kidnap him for real, and his company has decided not to pay the ransom he demanded. Instead, Richard hires a mercenary to either save Harry or maybe just kill him.

You have to see this movie because so many things keep happening that will make you wonder how everything will make sense in the end—but somehow, the writers manage to tie up most of the loose ends (well, not all).
David Oyelowo’s acting was great, and so was Charlize Theron’s.