Rating: B-
Star Wars is back and bringing another major story to the big screen with SOLO: A Star Wars Story. Alden Ehrenreich is taking up the lead role of Han Solo and showing us what made him the man we all remember from the original films. The main question that is on everyone's mind is will this film live up to the hype? We let's break it down.
I have to start with saying Ehrenreich was not my first choice to play young Solo, but after seeing him in the role I can definitively say he does a great job at it. I have always liked him as an actor and he proves his chops with this film as the sarcastic pilot of our favorite ship in the galaxy the Millenium Falcon. We see Han coming from rather bleak beginnings as just a poor street kid who is earning his keep by stealing from a local crime syndicate. He is doing all he can to save his money to finally be able to help him and his girl Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) get out of the hovel and start a real life somewhere. Of course, life being what it is things do not go according to plan and Han and Qi'ra are forced apart leaving Han with one choice, to join the Imperial army so they will pay for him to learn to be a pilot and hopefully be able to save enough cash to go back and rescue Qi'ra. He, of course, does not believe in the empire's cause and is just a hired gun looking for a paycheck, so when the chance to go AWOL and join a band of thieves presents itself he pounces on the opportunity. This decision takes us on the path of meeting some of our favorites including Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover).
Overall, this film was just okay for me. I don't know why I can't give this one a screaming review, because I do want to. It just felt like there should have been more. The plot twists I was expecting to happen didn't. I didn't get as much of Han's backstory as I wanted which means there definitely will be more to his story so I guess we all just need to be patient. We do learn a few things in this film that I can't mention because hey, spoilers suck, but trust me they are pretty badass when I think about their potential in future films. Also seeing the origin of Chewy and Han's friendship is pretty cool and answers such deep questions like how does Han always know what Chewy is saying and how exactly did you get the Millennium Falcon? Now we know.
Overall, some of the best characters in the film are, of course, Lando and Beckett (Woody Harrelson). Donald Glover is just so damn cool in this role and can he get his own film? Because I would 110% watch that. Beckett is a great character in the film because Woody Harrelson is just so cool in this movie. He is the leader of the band of thieves Han joins up with and is constantly entertaining when he is on screen. Emilian Clarke is also her usual badass self as Qi'ra and I can't wait to see what the future of these films has in store for her. She is definitely more than she appears to be.
Despite all the things that I liked about this movie, there were several things I didn't really care for. At times some of the battle scenes felt like they went on for just a bit too long. Like I was sitting there thinking, "Okay, are we still doing this?" I felt like more time could have been given to the story and again, I still have a lot of questions because while we did learn a lot about Han, I feel like there is so much more to know. I am sure Hollywood will milk this series for all it is worth so, fine then, but you still leave me with a film I am just on the fence about. Again, I wanted to love this and not just kinda like. I think Star Wars fans will be just as divided about their opinions on this as they have been with the other Star Wars Stories, but I personally enjoyed Rogue One way more than this.
Overall, I scored SOLO: A Star Wars Story with a solid B-. I just wanted more from this film than I was given. I know we have to wait for more of the story to be told, but right out the gate I felt like this should have been a stronger addition to the series. To each their own, I guess. In the meantime we will just have to wait to see what Hollywood has in store for us in the future and with the announcement of a Boba Fett movie in the works, I wonder how long we will have to wait to get the rest of Han's backstory on the big screen.
SOLO: A Star Wars Story hits theaters everywhere on March 25th.