HAN is flying SOLO
Star Wars keeps up the quality despite factory-like output
Not that long ago, a new Star Wars movie was a novelty. It took 10 long years from the final prequel film Revenge of
the Sith before the saga renewed itself in 2015 with The Force Awakens.
Since then, there’s been another “official” Star Wars film ( The Last Jedi) and a spinoff ( Rogue One). Now comes Solo: A
Star Wars Story, which is another spinoff.
The franchise has become a factory, but the good news is the assembly-line output is still high quality, despite advance reports of production troubles that necessitated a switch of directors.
Solo, featuring cocky flyboy Han Solo, provides the entertaining back story of arguably the most beloved member of the expanding Star Wars family.
Alden Ehrenreich ( Hail, Caesar!) stars as a younger version of Solo, a role made famous by Harrison Ford. It explains how the boyish thrillseeker became the roguish hero of the original trilogy. It even reveals how Solo got his unusual name, although we can only guess why he slings a golden pair of dice over the rearview mirror of his Speeder, like a sci-fi version of a ’50s greaser.
Directed by reliable studio hand Howard, Solo isn’t likely to become anybody’s favourite chapter of this enduring franchise, but it also won’t sully any fond memories.
It gets the job done and offers more than a few good laughs and plot twists. Many of them will bring smiles to the faces of fans, such as an exchange that ends with the answer “I know” and a gunfight that makes you wonder who shot first.
We learn how Solo met his lanky Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), before they both became involved with Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in the Rebel Alliance’s struggle against the Galactic Empire, led by the evil Darth Vader.
The Empire at this stage is still getting its evil act together. An opening text note informs us that “it is a lawless time” in the galaxy far, far away. That means anything could happen, and does, which makes for a nice change from the usual “blowing up the Death Star” routine.
The main plot involves the Kessel Run, a smuggler’s route familiar to fans from a famous Solo brag, and a rush delivery of a highly prized but also highly explosive substance called coaxium.
We also see how Solo got involved with intergalactic gambler Lando Calrissian, played by Donald Glover (Billy Dee Williams in the original film) and we learn how Solo won the Millennium Falcon from Lando.
Glover is great as Lando, who may be next in line for his own picture.
He threatens to steal the show from the earnest Ehrenreich, who is more of a vocal match for Ford than he is a physical one.
The movie’s inky look is perhaps designed to hide Ehrenreich’s lack of resemblance to Ford — or maybe it’s just to evoke The Empire Strikes Back, the darkest and most popular film of the original Star Wars trilogy.
Woody Harrelson also completely owns his screen time, in the new role of Solo’s outlaw mentor Tobias Beckett.
Other new characters are Thandie Newton as Beckett’s partner Val, Paul Bettany as a scarfaced villain named Dryden Vos, Emilia Clarke as Solo’s childhood friend (and potential love interest) Qi’ra and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a scrappy fe- male droid named L3-37, whom we’ll hopefully see more of in the future. There are some interesting roles for women — characters with fascinating back stories and motivations of their own.
The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote or cowrote original trilogy movies The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as 2015 franchise reviving The Force Awakens, along with his son Jonathan Kasdan, whose previous credits include writing and directing the romcom The First Time.
There were fears the Disney/ Lucasfilm empire couldn’t pull Solo off, because original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller ( The Lego Movie) were abruptly fired over “creative differences” last year, necessitating major reshoots of the story by Howard, and there had been other rumours of on-set tensions.
The fears were largely unfounded.
Solo will please fans, if not necessarily astound them, and leave them anticipating how the story will connect with the original Star Wars saga.