Solo Movie review

Director: Ron Howard
Running time: 135 minutes

I don't have to tell you that no one really asked for this movie, to make yet another prequel to the mainline Star Wars saga is not a bad idea within itself, just as long as it can tell a worthwhile story within the universe. To which Rogue One achieved for the most part, it has its problems with character development, but I have come to enjoy it more with every subsequent watch since its release.

What makes a Han solo prequel so unnecessary at face value is that the character had an amazing arc in the original trilogy, he went from being a selfish rogue to a responsible man. He basically grows up within an ensemble of other good characters, so Solo has a lot to live up to, and it's actually a decent popcorn flick, without being much else.

The story begins with Han escaping his homeworld, Corelia, and enlisting as a pilot in the Imperial army to escape the clutches of an underground gang. Three years later he leaves the army, befriends Chewbacca and joins a band of pirates led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), on a heist. When the job goes wrong, the group is given one last chance by a crime lord, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany) to redeem themselves. Coming along for the ride is an old love interest, Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke), and later in their journey they run into Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), as well as the Millennium Falcon.

Unlike The last Jedi, Solo feels like an old fashioned adventure story, in that there's plenty of planet hopping and action set-pieces. The action is fun but a bit too long, the two major set-pieces simply go on for far too long. It doesn't help that there's no real stakes involved, because we know the two main characters inevitably survive, taking away any form of tension.

However, I was pleased that the movie didn't do what most blockbuster movies do these days, and that's have a string of small action scenes that eventually build up to one big massive final battle before the credits roll. The final act in Solo is relatively small and it served the purpose of the story and characters, which made me feel invested the entire time rather than it feeling like an overblown distraction.

While the movie's tone is more light hearted compared with the rest of the Disney produced Star Wars movies, it's still very dark and moody in the visual department. While the story takes you on a journey from one locale to the next, nothing is particularly memorable, especially when you consider some of the spectacular and diverse worlds we've previously seen in the Star Wars universe. Much like the movie itself, it doesn't really go beyond being more than adequate.

I actually quite liked the characters in the story, and found them interesting, each of them had their own understandable goals. The cast are all good in their roles without really elevating the script, and that includes Alden Ehrenreich, who I actually rather enjoyed as Han Solo. If you just look at it as a different interpretation of the character (which it is), I think there's enough here for you to go along for the ride. And you know what, I wouldn't mind seeing him play the role once again. Donald Glover is charismatic as Lando, but the script doesn't really explore the friendship he has with Han in any great way, and it was good to see that Emilia Clarke's character wasn't just a love interest.

Chewbacca is better than ever, he plays a pivotal role in a movie for the first time since the original trilogy, and his chemistry with Han is just as adorable as we remember. Be warned that there is an annoying droid called L3-37, if her role was any bigger it would have been on the level of Jar Jar Binks annoyance.

Solo is fine, it's probably better that it really ought to be, which is a low bar to set, but it's decent, and I would have enjoyed it a little more if there wasn't an action scene in the middle of the movie that slogs on for far too long, with no real tension. I'd recommend this for any Star Wars fan, and a family who have time to kill over the half term, but it's no more than a decent action/heist flick. It does just enough to justify its existence and little else.

3/5