Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) Review

"I hate you."

-Lando Calrissian

"I know."

-Han Solo

Solo: A Star Wars Story is about Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and how he got started on his path to the original movies.  After escaping his miserable home planet, Han joins the empire in the infantry, and from there joins up with a gang of thieves led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson).  When their job fails, Han and Tobias have one last shot to pay back what they owe to crime lord, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany) or they will be killed.  But they can't do it alone, so they put together a team, including Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), Lando Carrissian (Donald Glover), and Han's old flame, Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke).  Together they take on the seemingly impossible job, the infamous Kessel Run. 

Heads up: there will be spoilers ahead.  I'm giving this movie a 7/10.  So go see it and if you want to know why it's a 7, come back and read this.

What Works:

I'll be honest, I had extremely low expectations going into this movie, so that may have something to do with the fact that I liked Solo for the most part.  I was disappointed in The Last Jedi because the Finn and Rose story-line was a waste of time and didn't make much sense.  In Solo, it's a very focused story with only one plot going on.  It's simple, it makes sense, it's important to the story, and it's fun.

Most of the action sequences were very solid.  Both the train heist and the actual Kessel Run were exciting and I was actually pretty impressed.  The final action piece wasn't quite as good, but it had enough good moments, like Paul Bettany in general, and Han shooting Tobias first.

Most of the supporting characters were great.  Donald Glover is the perfect Lando Calrissian.  Woody Harrelson is solid, as always.  I enjoyed Emila Clarke and Paul Bettany.  But I think the biggest surprise was Chewbacca, who has been in Episodes 3-8, and this was his best performance.  He had a lot of great moments and his chemistry with Han was really good.

Finally, the reappearance of Darth Maul...I know in The Clone Wars he is alive, but I was never expecting him to show up in the movies again.  At first, I didn't like it, but upon reflection, I'm onboard.  I've always felt Maul was criminally underused in The Phantom Menace, so I'm up taking a do-over on his character.

What Sucks:

I feel bad for Alden Ehrenreich.  He isn't a bad actor and he is trying his best, but I refuse to believe he was the best person to fill Harrison Ford's shoes.  There are 7 billion people on this planet, surly they could have found someone who fit the role better.  He has solid chemistry with the supporting actors, but I simply don't buy him as Han Solo.  It's distracting watching him because you know it simply isn't right.

Even worse is Lando's sidekick, L3 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge).  She is the worst Star Wars character since Jar Jar Binks.  She is insufferable and I wanted to shoot her every time she had a line of dialogue.

Quick nitpick, at one point Tobias wears the same costume Lando does in Jabba's Palace during Return of the Jedi.  It doesn't make sense at all.  I don't mind references to the previous movies, but don't shoehorn them in and make them make sense.

My final problem is a problem I have with most prequels.  Han, Chewbacca, and Lando are all established charcaters and we know nothing is going to happen to them because they are in future movies.  This knowledge takes a lot of tension out of the film.  Fortunately, both Tobias and Qi'ra are new characters and they were not automatically safe.  I was interested in what would happen to them, so that saves Solo from being worse in this department.

Verdict:

My expectations for Solo: A Star Wars Story were extremely low, but that helped me enjoy the movie more.  The action sequences are awesome, there are a lot of fun moments, and most of the side characters are great.  But our hero isn't believable and there is a terrible sidekick.  It's better than The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, but it is worse than the rest of the series.  That said, it's still worth watching.

 7/10: Good