There was a time when movie reviews on this blog were few and far between because I was poor and didn't have enough money to see new movies regularly. Then I decided I'd review a bunch of old movies, and by the time I finished with that I'd signed up for MoviePass, and well, here we are. With a review of a movie less than a week after it released.
The times, they be a-changin'. As can be evidenced by the faces on this poster for a movie about Han Solo!
Yes, Han's in his first solo film (get it? GET IT??) without the weight of Harrison Ford's Harrison Fordiness behind him. Instead we've got Guy-That-Kinda-Looks-Like-An-Animated-Version-Of-Han-Solo, who was never going to have an easy time of making this character his own. But here's the thing about Han Solo; he was always just Harrison Ford. And he would have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for you meddling kids.
So yeah, all this guy had to do was act like Harrison Ford and we'd be golden. Thankfully that's an acting style that's been well documented by several decades worth of Hollywood blockbusters, and frankly, the dude does a pretty good job. He sells the sort of falsified competence we expect out of our rougish space-gangsters, and at no point was I ever upset with the people in the movie calling him Han. So that's a win for the movie simply being able to overcome that bias.
New Chewie was also fantastic, and I loved the way their relationship seemed to form naturally to end basically where we'd expect it heading toward Episode IV.
Of course, the hardest part of this movie was never going to be replacing the iconic "performance" of Harrison Ford (fight me). No, it was always going to be the decision to include Lando in this story without somehow reversing the flow of time for Billy Dee Williams so he could play the part. Recasting Lando... that takes some stones. Where on earth are you going to track down someone who sells "lovable, sophisticated, yet somehow untrustworthy" as easily as Billy Dee Williams? Who can be as suave and endearing while playing both sides of the equation as Billy Dee Williams? Who can...
Oh. Huh. Donald Glover. Turns out that's who.
Look, I was worried going into this movie. I was worried about recasting some of my favorite fictional characters from my childhood. I was worried about the fact that they changed directors halfway through production. I was worried about a lot of things. Turns out, I didn't need to be.
Solo is an absolute blast. It's basically non-stop, every moment working either as simple characterization or straight entertaining action. The cinematography is fantastic, easily on par with anything else in the Star Wars universe. The characters aren't amazingly complicated, but they are developed well enough to work and the interactions between them are gold. The story is straightforward, eschewing complexity and depth in favor of a frenetic pace that feels a little Spielbergian.
The movie is a fun action adventure romp. It's got a little bit of Empire Strikes Back mixed in with a bunch of Raiders of the Lost Ark and seasoned with a healthy dose of fan service. I was thoroughly entertained and frankly I don't think you could spin a better solo film (get it? GET IT??) around the character of Han Solo. My expectations were too low; Solo flew way over them. Even if they'd been higher, I still think they would have been met. It's not the best Star Wars film (still Empire, always Empire, hail Empi... wait). But for my money it's easily as entertaining as The Force Awakens or Return of the Jedi.
Disney... I hate the amount of power they have. But they keep turning out quality movies in a few of my favorite franchises. I don't want Star Trek merchandised absolutely to death and back the way I know it would be if Disney somehow got the rights to the series, but at the same time I'm curious what they would come up with.
It's been a while since they've really disappointed me.
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