Solo: A Star Wars Story tells us the origin of fan-favorite character Han Solo, taking us back to his years before he met up with Luke in the original Star Wars trilogy. In many ways, the movie is like a historical guide as to how Han Solo became the character we know him as today. Unfortunately, the movie is ripe with issues from beginning to end. However, many Star Wars fans have been eagerly awaiting this origin story, so the stress is on Disney to produce a quality spinoff. Let’s see if Solo: A Star Wars Story is a fresh journey featuring a beloved character, or a stand-alone disappointment in the ever-growing pantheon of stale Star Wars sequels.
The main narrative of Solo appropriately focuses on the titular character, Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich). We first meet Han on a war-torn planet where its citizens are forced into servitude to ensure their own safety. Han is accompanied by longtime friend Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), and both of them hope to leave their life of poverty behind. After a botched escape plan, the two find themselves separated. This leaves Han with one main objective; to get off-world and find a ship, and hurry back to rescue Qi’ra. This journey takes Han all across the galaxy, interacting with fan-favorite characters like Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and more. It’s a slow burn story that attempts to establish a bit of charm and backbone into the character of Han Solo, but unfortunately, it falters far too often, resulting in an admittedly boring affair.
The main problem with the movie comes from the mediocre script, featuring poorly written characters and low stakes that make actions scenes feel meaningless. Characters will often come and go with little development, as only Han and his closest companions get enough screen time to feel like actual characters. Alden Ehrenreich does a commendable job as Han Solo, but his performance is not without fault. Ehrenreich pulls off the signature arrogant and charming character quite well but doesn’t do a great job in the more emotional and dramatic sequences. Overall, he’s a good choice for the role, but he is quickly outperformed by a few supporting characters. Supporting characters surrounding Han vary from one dimensional and annoying to surprisingly likable. Qi’ra is often depicted as an overt cliché damsel in distress, and while she does have some individuality and strengths towards the end of the film, her role is mostly that of the ineffective love interest. The grizzly veteran Beckett (Woody Harrelson) is somewhat likable, but despite Woody Harrelson’s best efforts, the character comes off a bit flat. The same can be said for Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), although Lando ends up being one of the most enjoyable characters of the bunch. Donald Glover gives it his all in the performance, resulting in a likable and suave representation of the character we know from the original trilogy. In fact, Glover’s performance as Lando is the most accurate to the source material, and his tone and candor add a healthy amount of charm to the character. This doesn’t make up for the script issues, which occasionally paint Lando as a slightly dimwitted and ineffective smuggler.
Lando is also accompanied by the droid L3 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who will go down in my personal Star Wars history as one of the worst droids to grace the screen. Unlike the fantastic K2-SO from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, L3 is consistently annoying and has a character arc that goes nowhere. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that Solo would’ve been a better movie overall if they had never introduced the character in the first place. It’s also interesting to me that the most effective character is Chewbacca, considering just how little actual dialogue he has. While I don’t have a huge nostalgic bond with the character, Chewbacca’s story and characterization were definitely the most entertaining out of the entire cast. In fact, when it comes to the side plot of how Chewy and Han initially met, Solo handles it well. I was pleasantly surprised, and considering how much the movie falters, I was happy to see this scene turn out as well as it did. Overall, Solo doesn’t do a great job with its characters (save for Han, Chewy, and Lando), but still provides viewers with a few riveting scenes.
While there are a few good scenes in the bunch, most of the movie’s runtime is simply a bit boring. The movie runs for a bit over 2 hours, and only contains a handful of action sequences. While the overall writing isn’t completely terrible, the movie struggles between a comedic, dramatic, and nostalgic tone. Although a few of the jokes managed to garner a loud nose exhale and chortle from me, most of them fell embarrassingly flat. I would chalk this up to personal comedic taste, but considering my audience was pretty packed, the noticeable lack of laughter and chuckles leads me to believe otherwise. Solo also handles intimate relationships with a heavy and clumsy hand, and of the two relationships in the movie, both fail. To avoid spoilers, I won’t get into any specifics, but the main love story of the movie feels manufactured and awkward. This is mainly due to the lack of chemistry between the actors, which makes romantic moments feel forced. The other relationship doesn’t get fleshed out enough, and by the time that story thread wraps up, the movie was better off.
When the action does pop up, it makes things a bit more interesting, but the lack of stakes make things like character deaths and peril feel inconsequential. When the film ramps up on the eye-candy, Solo can end up looking pretty dang good. Alternatively, the movie can seem like it was filmed entirely through an Instagram filter. This gives Solo a distinct look, but one that feels a bit cheap and tacky. This filtered look pops up more often in dialogue sequences than action scenes, which is a shame considering just how good the movie looks when the lighting is normal. Besides the hokey cinematography, some of the CGI is also embarrassingly bad, but functional and even impressive in other spots.
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Overall, your enjoyment of Solo: A Star Wars Story will depend on what you want from the movie. If you’re looking for a refreshing and unique origin story that breathes life into a beloved character, you’ll be sorely disappointed. However, if you’re just looking for a slightly entertaining action film and a few nostalgic throwbacks, you’ll likely be satiated. For me, Solo: A Star Wars Story stumbles far too often to be considered anything more than mediocre. For some fans, this might be the best Star Wars spinoff yet. For those who are expecting anything incredibly original or fresh for the franchise, you can check those expectations at the theater door. As a Star Wars property, there’s no doubt in my mind that Solo will succeed in some manner. For me, it’s a forgettable tale that has a few redeeming action scenes, a standout performance from Donald Glover, and a handful of truly impressive shots.
Movie Rating: 2 stars.
Movie Rating Guide
1 Star = Unwatchable
2 Stars = Cannot Recommend
3 Stars = Great for the Fans
4 Stars = A Solid Movie
5 Stars = Must Own (DVD/Stream Download)
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