*Very minor spoiler at the bottom, will be clearly marked*
Full disclosure: I love Star Wars. I love the original trilogy and I've loved everything released under Disney so far. I even really enjoy the prequels, despite their flaws. Sadly, this statement will automatically be dismissed by "true fans". Star Wars fandom has become truly toxic, I've pretty much ignored it completely since VII was released and just made up my own damn mind. (Also a reason I rarely write reviews. My opinion doesn't really matter.)
With that out of the way; I must say I was blown away by Solo: A Star Wars Story. Now, I fully knew I'd like this movie (Hey, it's a star wars movie!). But like a lot of people, the production delays and their insistence on releasing it in May had me worried. It felt like they knew it sucked so they wanted to just get the release over with. But once the film started rolling, I was locked in, wide-eyed with a smile on my face throughout the entire thing. This movie is not a galactic-scale conflict. It's a smaller, more personal movie, which is essentially a heist/western style movie. I've heard some complaints that the film is "safe" and just a simple adventure with the characters; which is exactly what I want from these Star Wars Story films. Leave the major consequence stuff for the main saga. This film can be watched without having seen any other star wars film and you should be able to follow it fine. However, for fans, you get rewarded with tons of lore and expanded universe featured within. Alden Eherenreich did a good job as Han. Obviously nobody will ever replace Harrison Ford, but I was enjoying the movie so much, I just saw Han Solo the character. Not Alden Eherenreich the actor. Donald Glover killed it as Lando. I loved how prominent Chewbacca was in this movie. He's definitely a main character and gets some truly great moments. Woody Harrelson was great as Beckett, Han's mentor. Emilia Clarke was also great (and stunning) as Qi'Ra, Han's childhood friend.
Now, the film isn't perfect, I did have a few complaints, but they're so minor they border on nitpicking. *MINOR SPOILERS* Firstly, Lando's droid was annoying as hell. Despite having a couple of good little moments, pretty much every time she spoke I rolled my eyes. Luckily she's not in the film much. Which brings to my second complaint; not enough Lando! I also feel this movie lacked a main villain. Which wasn't a huge complaint, as I was thoroughly entertained regardless. But Paul Bettany's Dryden Vos is really only in two scenes, as a sort of looming threat. The threat established earlier on was Enfys Nest, and I felt the result of that conflict didn't really make sense for Han and Beckett's characters. But I won't say more than that.
Overall, this was a pleasantly surprising entry in the Star Wars lore. Pity it's not doing well, but I think the franchise will survive...somehow.
Full disclosure: I love Star Wars. I love the original trilogy and I've loved everything released under Disney so far. I even really enjoy the prequels, despite their flaws. Sadly, this statement will automatically be dismissed by "true fans". Star Wars fandom has become truly toxic, I've pretty much ignored it completely since VII was released and just made up my own damn mind. (Also a reason I rarely write reviews. My opinion doesn't really matter.)
With that out of the way; I must say I was blown away by Solo: A Star Wars Story. Now, I fully knew I'd like this movie (Hey, it's a star wars movie!). But like a lot of people, the production delays and their insistence on releasing it in May had me worried. It felt like they knew it sucked so they wanted to just get the release over with. But once the film started rolling, I was locked in, wide-eyed with a smile on my face throughout the entire thing. This movie is not a galactic-scale conflict. It's a smaller, more personal movie, which is essentially a heist/western style movie. I've heard some complaints that the film is "safe" and just a simple adventure with the characters; which is exactly what I want from these Star Wars Story films. Leave the major consequence stuff for the main saga. This film can be watched without having seen any other star wars film and you should be able to follow it fine. However, for fans, you get rewarded with tons of lore and expanded universe featured within. Alden Eherenreich did a good job as Han. Obviously nobody will ever replace Harrison Ford, but I was enjoying the movie so much, I just saw Han Solo the character. Not Alden Eherenreich the actor. Donald Glover killed it as Lando. I loved how prominent Chewbacca was in this movie. He's definitely a main character and gets some truly great moments. Woody Harrelson was great as Beckett, Han's mentor. Emilia Clarke was also great (and stunning) as Qi'Ra, Han's childhood friend.
Now, the film isn't perfect, I did have a few complaints, but they're so minor they border on nitpicking. *MINOR SPOILERS* Firstly, Lando's droid was annoying as hell. Despite having a couple of good little moments, pretty much every time she spoke I rolled my eyes. Luckily she's not in the film much. Which brings to my second complaint; not enough Lando! I also feel this movie lacked a main villain. Which wasn't a huge complaint, as I was thoroughly entertained regardless. But Paul Bettany's Dryden Vos is really only in two scenes, as a sort of looming threat. The threat established earlier on was Enfys Nest, and I felt the result of that conflict didn't really make sense for Han and Beckett's characters. But I won't say more than that.
Overall, this was a pleasantly surprising entry in the Star Wars lore. Pity it's not doing well, but I think the franchise will survive...somehow.