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Solo review
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover
Director: Ron Howard
Genre: Space Western
Rating: PG15
RUNTIME: 134 Mins
After the absolute tragedy of The Last Jedi, my hype for anything new in the Star Wars universe was at an all-time low. Usually, I’d be counting down the days until the latest instalment in my favourite film franchise, but Solo almost appeared out of nowhere without me even realising.
The combination of bitterness towards Episode VIII and the fact that this movie never needed to happen (there’s only one Han Solo, and his name is Harrison Ford) meant that I entered the cinema with some trepidation.
Thankfully, I emerged two hours later with a smile on my face and some faith in the franchise restored.
Solo, both the movie and this new iteration of Ford’s classic character, now played by Alden Ehrenreich, flies by on charm, breezy irreverence and a slice of Star Wars fan service. But while it gets the trappings and appearances right, Solo never delivers on the promise of finding out why Han became who he was in A New Hope. It just explains how he got his stuff.
One of the most memorable aspects of the character from the original trilogy was the way in which he believably evolved from an out-for-himself scoundrel and mercenary to a hero of the Rebel Alliance worthy of Princess Leia; this origin movie delivers no such satisfying arc of redemption or fall from grace.
Its story holds precious few surprises and the title character ends this film as pretty much the same person he was when we met him at the beginning, without quite becoming the person Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi found and pulled out of a wretched hive of scum and villainy on Tatooine.
It’s a good thing, then, that the movie remains entertaining enough to keep the audience engaged through all the rote story beats of learning how Han Solo acquired the Millennium Falcon or met Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian.
It’s amazing how much just playing Star Wars music can make almost any roughly assembled scene work on a visceral and emotional level, and Solo seems to know that, relying on sentimentality and a shorthand understanding of this universe and its legacy characters to paper over its narrative defects.
The plot takes a bit too long to find its footing, not truly rousing to life until the beginning of its second act when Han encounters Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian. The new characters introduced here are inconsistent, from the trope-riddled crew of crooks Han falls in with to the gangster he runs afoul of and the love interest he pines after. Woody Harrelson is fine but unsurprising as Tobias Beckett, playing firmly into type here as the grizzled mentor and shady thief who takes Han under his wing.
Emilia Clarke is never sympathetic nor femme fatale enough to really work as Han’s would-be flame Qi’ra. The movie flirts with the idea of her being a darker character but it never fully commits to that arc, making for a frustrating and disappointing resolution to her and Han’s storyline.
If this sounds too negative, it isn’t meant to. It’s just that for a series that has been breaking the mould for 41 years, it feels too safe and familiar. We knew what kind of character Han was from A New Hope alone, and this film doesn’t do enough to justify its place in the canon.
Safe and familiar isn’t necessarily bad, though. Sometimes you want to pick up your favourite chocolate bar again rather than branch out and risk picking something you end up disliking
Ehrenreich overcomes a lot of scepticism to make this incarnation of Han Solo both recognisable and also his own. He captures the wry wit and gunslinger swagger, mirroring enough of Ford’s mannerisms to be familiar yet he also manages to not simply be a mere mimic by lending the character a dopey sweetness and vulnerability not always evident in Ford’s version.
Likewise, Donald Glover charms as the cape-wearing gambler Lando Calrissian, delivering on the promise his casting held for so many fans of both the actor and the Star Wars icon he’s assuming.
Glover captures the duplicity and bravado of the best-dressed rogue in the franchise, while also revealing a surprisingly tender side at one key point in the film. Lando hangs out in a gambling den for a good chunk of the film, a setting that also allows for a showcase of the film’s many cool, new alien designs.
The film features some ably executed action scenes, with the key one being a train heist about midway through that is going straight up there among my favourite Star Wars scenes. This extended sequence calls to mind the westerns and World War II movies that all helped inspire George Lucas’s original Star Wars. The film also continues the franchise’s renewed interest in practical effects, making this once again feel like a lived-in world populated by real creatures and working vehicles and droids.
Ultimately, while it never quite justifies its reason to exist, Solo offers enough pulpy fun and galaxy far, far away entertainment value to diminish any bad feeling one may have had about it heading into release.
Now showing in: Cineco, Saar, The Avenues, Wadi Al Sail, Seef II
Kristian’s verdict: 4/5
