Click video above to see Tim’s review of ‘Solo’ with Adrienne Broaddus on KARE 11.
“Solo: A Star Wars Story” (PG-13)
While it doesn’t measure up the greatness of the original “Star Wars” trilogy or even the most recent “Star Wars” films since 2015 (including the first spinoff film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”), there’s still plenty to like with “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” an entertaining look at the early years of Han Solo, the character Harrison Ford made an instant cultural icon in 1977.
Alden Ehrenreich plays the young Han, a would-be space pilot who gets his famous last name as he signs up for duty with Galactic Empire as a way of getting out a precarious situation that involves his equally ambitious love, Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke). Unfortunately, the scheme results in the two being separated, with Han going on to serve the Empire in battle while Qi’ra’s fate remains unknown.
It’s on the battlefield where the astute Han meets Beckett (the always great Woody Harrelson) and Val (Thandie Newton), realizing that they are really just a pair of schemers using the uniforms of the Empire to plot a heist, with the riches set to go to pay off a debt to a nefarious gangster. Befriending a Wookie named Chewbacca (Joonas Suotano) in the direst of circumstances, the new pair convinces Beckett and Val to let them join the heist. But when the robbery doesn’t completely go off as planned, Han gets his first big taste of being a wanted man, the first step to becoming the notorious smuggler fans met in the first “Star Wars” film in 1977.
AUDIO: Hear Tim’s review of “Solo” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show” (segment begins 2:30 in)
Fans have been dwelling on two key aspects of the production over the past year: the first being the shocking firing of original co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller over “creative differences,” and naturally, the gargantuan task of 28-year-old actor Alden Ehrenreich living in the shadow of Ford’s looming performance.
But it doesn’t take long after begins to realize that all the fears fans have are for naught, considering the supremely talented Ron Howard took over the reigns as the director and Ehrenreich, instead of trying to impersonate Ford, remarkably makes the character his own. Can Ford ever be replaced or for that matter, does Ehrenreich have the same of sort of charisma as his predecessor? Absolutely not; but considering that River Phoenix once made believers of fans with his spectacular turn as young Indy in the dazzling opening of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” Ehrenreich proves that it is possible to capture the posturing and essence of a character, which is really how Han Solo existed — on paper –before “Star Wars” creator George Lucas serendipitously cast Ford in the space opera’s first film 41 years ago. Much in the same way, Donald Glover seems to capture the essence of Billy Dee Willliams’ Lando Calrissian, without really feeling like he’s doing an impersonation. Like Ehrenreich, he’s bring his own sort of swagger to make the character his own.
While “Solo: A Star Wars” story is far from perfect, it’s still a lot of fun to watch, particularly as co-screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (who made his “Star Wars” writing debut as co-scribe on “The Empire Strikes Back”) fully realizes Solo’s backstory that extends from such tales told in passing in the original trilogy like “The Kessel Run” and how Han won the Millennium Falcon (“fair and square!”) from Lando. Quite a few dots are connected, in fact, and luckily for the production, they come together in such a way that the stories don’t feel contrived.
On the flip side, perhaps the biggest issue with “Solo” is the tone, which doesn’t seem to quite match the first eight films in the original saga or “Rogue One,” which chronicled the events that led up to the beginning of the 1977’s “A New Hope.” Among the misses are Lando’s droid L3-37 (voice of Phoebe Waller-Bridge), which, while an entertaining character, doesn’t fit the MO of the other droids we’ve met in the saga so far. Instead, the droid’s sardonic delivery feels like something tailor-made to appeal to the millennial crowd, and as such, is most likely a contribution of Kasdan’s son, Jonathan, who co-wrote the script. There are other tonal and fundamental inconsistencies in the film beside that, but because of the secretive nature of some of the characters, they are too big to reveal here.
While “Solo: A Star Wars Story” fits the bill, it will be interesting to see how far Lucasfilm decides to go with one-off tales without spreading the tales of the original saga too thin. “Solo” is a movie that deserved a backstory – and luckily it’s still a “Star Wars Story” worth watching despite all the drama that enveloped it during filming.
Lammometer: 7 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
Copyright 2018 DirectConversations.com
