It's Fun. It's Fast. It's Han Freaking Solo! It's…OK

 The Movie You Get From A Shopping List

Solo-A Star Wars Story (2018) – The origin story of “Star Wars” icon Han Solo. From his days as a street kid on the planet to the beginning of the career as a smuggler that would lead him to his time in the Rebellion.

Directed by Ron Howard

Starring – Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Joonas Suotamo, Thandiwe Newton, Paul Bettany

Why I Liked It – A fun, acceptable movie that fills in the backstory for a beloved character.

The word acceptable in the line above will tell you a lot about my reaction to this movie. It was good. It was fine. It was acceptable.

But there wasn’t much beyond that.

Part of me thinks that it’s not fair to demand anything too deep from the Star Wars movies. The concepts are based on the serial adventure movies of over 70 years ago. They were fun, action-filled romps. Long on fun and short on profundity. “Solo” hits all of those standards squarely. But is it a great movie? No. Is it a great Star Wars movie? Not really. It will settle in firmly mid-pack for me. Far better than the second trilogy (Episodes I-III), but nowhere near the originals (IV-VI) or even “Rogue One.”

The “seed” of this movie’s story is a shopping list. Ron Howard and screenwriters Jonathan Kasden, Lawrence Kasdan and others got a list of things that had to be included. How Han gets his name, gets the Millennium Falcon, how he gets his distinctive sidearm, how he meets Chewbacca and Lando. Oh, and the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs. There are a few other smaller ones, but that’s the list. Your movie MUST answer these questions. So, that limits the story options to a degree. Add in the “required in modern science fiction” freighter loads of special effect battle footage, and there’s not a lot of room for much else.

Which is fine. It made for an acceptable, enjoyable couple of hours. Aiden Ehrenriech (Han), Donald Glover (Lando), Joon Suotamo (Chewie) do fine jobs as early versions of the characters created by other actors. It’s a tough line for an actor. You have to respect the established canonic personality of your character, while still bring something of your own to the role. All three are great fun to watch. Add in some great supporting cast members. Harrelson as Han’s criminal mentor Beckett, Emilia Clarke as love interest Qi’ra (and I get the feeling there’s more to come from this character. She’s too good to just walk away from it all), Thandiwe Newton is outstanding in a smaller role as Beckett’s second in command (and love interest) Val. Paul Bettany does a nice turn as the bad guy, Dryden Voss. There’s even a voice actor appearance by Linda Hunt. All of them directed with Ron Howard’s usual polished story telling.

The movie is exactly as expected. Given the disappointment that has met some of the later movies in the series, that’s more than enough. The characters are familiar; the action is fast, there’s the perfect balance between comic and tragic, selfish and altruistic. It’s what most of us want from a Star Wars movie. At the end, it still left me feeling a little let down. There’s nothing “new” here. Han is the rogue with a heart of gold. Lando plays all the options, while charming everyone in sight. There’s more to Chewie than meets the eye, but you still want to let the Wookie win. There’s one tiny surprise that involves Han and the roots of the Rebellion, but nothing is done with it here.

So it’s a fun, acceptable movie. That I enjoyed. That I recommend. But…

Like all the Star Wars stuff, you can stream it on Disney Plus, as well as Spectrum TV, ROW8, Prime Video, Vudu or Apple TV

Rating – **** Recommended