SOLO - A STAR WARS STORY

SOLO - A STAR WARS STORY (2018)

Directed by Ron Howard

Screenplay by Johnathan Kasdan & Lawrence Kasdan

Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clark, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Paul Bettany

Possibly some very minor spoilers ahead, so I'll toss a break in here:

Like I mentioned in my LAST JEDI write-up, I've been a STAR WARS fan pretty much as long as I can remember. Not the kind of fan that just whole-heartedly digs everything that has the SW brand on it, but the kind that is as enthralled by the originals today just as much as I was back in the day. I dig the characters, I dig the world, and I'm always hoping I'll dig the new chapters. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.

For me, SOLO worked.

Sure, star Alden Ehrenreich is no Harrison Ford, but he makes a passable younger version of Han Solo for this film, and bolstered by the likes of Donald Glover's Lando and Woody Harrelson's Beckett, Emilia Clarke's Qi'ra and, of course, Chewbacca (played largely by Joonas Suotamo who has been in the fursuit since THE FORCE AWAKENS) it all works out pretty well.

Ron Howard stepped into the director's chair at pretty much the eleventh hour and still managed to pull together a good, enjoyable movie.

The script by Johnathan Kasdan & Lawrence Kasdan (Lawrence, by the way, has had a hand in Star Wars since THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, as well as writing RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and my favorite movie western, SILVERADO) doesn't one-hundred percent adhere to some of the details about Han's past that have popped up in other media, but it hits close while tossing in some surprises. Naturally, there's plenty of Easter-egg references to other bits of Star Wars lore - Teräs Käsi, for instance. Only once did I think it got a little too cute for its own good.

While it wasn't anything particularly ground-breaking (but how much of that can you really do in a prequel?) it was a fun action movie in the Star Wars universe, which is what I wanted. And it had a train heist! I love me a good train-based action scene so extra props for that.

On the whole, I enjoyed it and wouldn't mind a sequel that followed up on some of the plot threads from this one.