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 (it is nothing compared to 2016's Rogue One), and I urge anyone who hasn’t taken the time to go see it to do so. The movie depiction of the life before Han Solo joined the Rebellion is not something hard to envision and the CGI plus the universe we get to fly through is nothing but amazing.

It is the second Star Wars anthology films following 2016's Rogue One. The movie is a stand-alone installment in the Star Wars franchise and it is set before the events of A New Hope (1977).

We get to experience the early adventures of Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), how he met Chewbacca and how he was able to acquire the Millennium Falcon from young Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover).

The movie’s main plot is very easy to share, Han was always a rebel by heart and he wanted to get out from under the powers that keep him from being free. One escape attempt gone wrong left him seperated from his childhood sweetheart Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke).

He joined the forces with one goal in mind, make enough money to get a ship and go back and save his love. But things didn’t go the way that Han wanted quickly, and time didn’t standstill for Qi’ra either as she waited for him. Soon their paths cross in the future and a lot has changed between the two.

The movie had a great musical score, impressive acting by the cast and it will take you by surprise in some places and somethings will be very much expected. It helps to fill in the gap for those who do not follow the Star Wars franchise as I noticed from those with me, on how the Rebellion span many planets and on how they were able to fund such a huge rebellion force to start with.

For those who follow the franchise the movie didn’t add anything new and the movie’s up and down pacing can be exhausting, it was like Disney wanted to make sure the movie was over two hours long.

With that said, the argument has been should Disney have even bothered?

When it comes to money we should not mistake the urge to make more money with that of maintaining a steady franchise. Back to the Future maker Robert Zemeckis wants to maintain the authenticity of the franchise, that is why he has not agreed to let the movie be remade. Disney, who we know is making a live-action adaptation of all their renaissance animation is looking to make more money.

The movie faced some challenges getting on the screen when the direction duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired due to creative differences. Ron Howard took up the role to finish up the quarter of the movie left.

Due to reshoots and others the movie budget cost Disney at least $250 million in production alone. If this movie breaks even in the box office, Disney will continue in their production of more stand-alone Star Wars movies. If it doesn’t, Disney may have to retract a little and look for a more appealing tale to spin off, giving the stand-alone movies one more try.

I did enjoy this movie for what it is and what it brought to the table and I can arguably say it is not the worst Star Wars movie in franchise and It is one movie you will enjoy seeing if you take your time to do so.