Film Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Don't get cocky, kid . . .

Solo: A Star Wars Story (12A)

Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson., Donald Glover

Director: Ron Howard

The Plot: As a young man, Han Solo (Ehrenreich) escapes from a life of servitude on Corellia but is separated from his love Qi'ra (Clarke) in the process. He joins the Imperial Navy to escape, vowing to return for her, but three years pass before a chance encounter with the rogue Beckett (Harrelson) offers him hope: the pirate life appeals to Han and, freeing a certain Wookiee from imprisonment, they join Beckett's crew. They're forced to take a job for the dangerous criminal enterprise Crimson Dawn, where Han is surprised to find Qi'ra has risen up the ranks, but if they're going to pull off a heist from Kessel they're going to need an extremely fast ship to do it - fortunately, Qi'ra knows a certain Lando Calrissian (Glover), who owns the fastest one in the galaxy . . .

Check out the trailer for the film here.

Review: As a huge Star Wars fan, I'll be honest and say that when Solo was first announced, I wasn't excited about it at all. Quite the opposite in fact - while I'm all for more stories from the incredibly rich Star Wars universe, particularly after how fantastic Rogue One was, I just wasn't interested in seeing the origin story of Han Solo. I was quite happy with the older, Harrison Ford version from the existing films, and I was worried that a younger actor wouldn't be able to recreate the charm of the character as Ford does so well. My concern only grew with the news of the film's production problems: very late into the original production (depending on the report you read, it was anywhere up to 80-90% complete), the original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were unceremoniously fired from the project due to "creative differences" and replaced with Ron Howard. Even for a director of his talent, having to come on and reshoot almost an entire film, and one as important as this one, is a hell of a challenge. But as trailers for the film dropped I became more optimistic and, following the most recent one which I linked above, I found myself looking forward to it. After seeing the film, I'm pleased to report that Howard has done a terrific job - Solo is a fun, exciting film that captures the essence of the character extremely well.

Let's start with everything that I liked and why this makes the film work so well. First of all, I liked what they did with the story: after the first act is complete and we've been introduced to the characters, it basically turns into a big heist movie - and that's a good thing. I like heist movies, and taking this approach not only suits Han's character but also makes the film feel very different from a traditional Star Wars story, but still feeling very much at home in its universe. It also allows the set up of some great action sequences - Han's first job with his new crew involves robbing an Imperial cargo train high up in the mountains, which is a terrific sequence, and their later incursion into Kessel is also filled with action and very exciting. The visual effects and music are both top notch throughout as well, which you'd expect given they're powered by ILM. Of the music, the score is largely an original one but with some hints of existing Star Wars themes, which again helps the film to stand out on its own.

As a film that tells Han's origin story it also ticks several important boxes: we learn where he gets his last name from, how he gets his famous blaster, how he meets and rescues Chewbacca, we see him winning the Millenium Falcon from Lando in a game of sabacc, how the Falcon goes from looking sleek and new to the hunk of junk we know and love, and we get the moment where Han realises that shooting first is the way to succeed. We even finally get an explanation for why Han boasts about making the Kessel run in 12 parsecs, something that has irked fans for years. Most importantly though, the version of Han presented here is very much identifiable as the one that Harrison Ford made so famous - he doesn't consider himself a hero, and is very much motivated by money and self-preservation, but at the end of the day he still does what's right.

It helps that they found a strong cast for the film. Alden Ehrenreich will be unknown to the majority of audiences (although he's been working for several years - I last saw him in 2016's Hail, Caesar! from the Coen Brothers), but this will likely catapult his career. It must have been nerve-wracking to step into the considerable shoes of this character and the aforementioned Mr. Ford, but he pulls it off - he looks the part, he's funny, he has good chemistry with Chewy (now played by Joonas Suotamo, who also does a great job as our favourite Wookiee), and most importantly he manages to find that charm about the character that Star Wars fans love so much. In another perfectly cast role, Donald Glover is terrific as the young version of Lando. Perfectly capturing the look and mannerisms of the character, Glover fits the role like a glove and manages to be both charming and funny, getting some of the best lines in the film to boot. Of the rest of the cast, Woody Harrelson does well with his role as Han's mentor Beckett, but both Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra and Paul Bettany as the villain of the piece Dryden Vos are hampered by the script - they both do fine with what they've been given, but what they've been given isn't the best.

The film also contains a number of easter eggs and references to other films in the franchise that will delight the really big Star Wars fans: we see Han's lucky dice that he hangs in the cockpit of the Falcon, which Luke will eventually return to Leia in The Last Jedi; Qi'ra demonstrates and then mentions that she's been trained in the martial art of Terӓs Kӓsi, which is a really deep cut into Star Wars lore; there's the return of a certain villain from The Phantom Menace which caused several excited yells in the screening I saw, and there's even a shoutout to Bossk - motherfucking Bossk - which I was amazed at.

Now, you won't be surprised to learn that there was some stuff that I didn't think worked so well, and most of it comes from the script. How much of that is due to the rewrites and reshooting that went on, we'll probably never know, as it's doubtful that we'll ever get to see the version of the film that Lord and Miller shot. But anyway. Firstly, we don't get any mention or reference of Chewy owing Han a life debt. I felt that this was an important thing that should have been set up, because this is the reason (as the older Han explains in the original trilogy) why Chewy sticks around with him and doesn't go back to his family - under Wookiee custom Chewy has to follow and serve Han until he feels the debt has been repaid, hence why he's still with him in The Force Awakens. We get what presumably is the act here, as Han helps free Chewy from enslavement by the Empire, but the life debt is never mentioned and Chewy's agreement in joining Beckett's crew is presented as a desire (like Han) to earn money.

There are some other things that also don't work so well. Han is forced to join the Empire in order to escape Corellia, and spends three years with them as a pilot and soldier, and the long term effects of this on his character aren't explored. We know that he hates the Empire, and we see him disagreeing with his commanding officer during a battle, but surely having to spend such a length of time undergoing their rules and training and being forced into battles would have a great effect on him - sadly it's not something that gets touched on, apart from a brief mention about working for the Empire from Han late in the film. His reunion scene with Qi'ra was also rather lacklustre, as rather than the emotional display you'd expect from someone who's been waiting for three years to return to his love, we get a rather low-key, subdued scene between the two, and this pattern follows in their subsequent interactions throughout the film. They never act like the two great lovers so tragically separated that the first act sets them up to be, and this felt a bit off, although to be fair Ehrenreich and Clarke do the best they can with these scenes. Finally, we have to talk about L3-37:  L3 is Lando's droid copilot and is the Marmite character of the film. She's an angry, self-righteous droid who believes in starting a droid revolution and uses every opportunity she can to free her brethren from their servitude. You'll either find her annoying or hilarious - I personally found her very funny (a moment where she engages in "girl talk" with Qi'ra about Lando was great), but I can see her being unbearable for some. She's voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who I know best from the really rather good 2015 film Man Up with Simon Pegg.

Despite these shortcomings though, this is a really great film. I'm thoroughly impressed with what Ron Howard and the cast have been able to pull off, and any fears I had have been thoroughly allayed. Disney has plans for two further Han Solo films, this one being left suitably open-ended, and provided the same people are involved next time, I'll be looking forward to more adventures with this young version of Han.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A fun, exciting film that manages to tell the origins of Han Solo in a story that's noticeably different from previous Star Wars films but still feels very much at home in its universe. A few issues with the script and characterisation prevent it from being truly great, but given its production problems this film is a fantastic achievement. More please!