- BBFC Rating: 12A
- Runtime: 2h 15min
- Director: Ron Howard
- IMDb
The tenth film to be released under the Star Wars banner (eleven if you count the Clone Wars cartoon), is a strange affair. It’s subject is the most liked character in the SW universe, yet it’s release was met with a sigh and a shrug; rather than the fanfare usually associated with these films. Coming only six months after The Last Jedi, there is an air of fatigue around the franchise. But there is something else this film has against it, you know everything it will show you in advance. Kessel run? Check. Han wins the Falcon from Lando? Check. Han meets Chewie? Check. A. O. Scott puts it best in his NY Times review, “in effect, (it’s) a filmed Wikipedia page”. Add to that the widely publicised problems surrounding the production, and it doesn’t fill you with confidence that this will be anywhere near as good as 2016’s Rogue One. Although that had its own issues, before release and was still widely acclaimed as a great film.
So, does this film hit the mark? Yes, and no. It opens with Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo, hot-wiring a vehicle and escaping a beating. Before he grabs his girl, Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), and comes up with a plan to escape the hell hole of a planet they inhabit. Inevitably, this goes wrong and Qi’ra is captured. Cornered, Han’s only escape is to join the Imperial forces, and try to become the pilot he’s always dreamt of being.
And this is where we hit our first speed bump. Ever wondered why Han Solo is called Han Solo? Because you’re going to find out, in the most excruciatingly unnecessary, minute of pointless exposition.
Cut to three years later, and Han has been thrown out of pilot school. Now a mere grunt, fighting on the front lines in a war of conquest for a mud planet. It’s here that we first meet Beckett (Woody Harrelson), and his band of scoundrels. They’re after a ship, and Han is after a way out. Obviously it doesn’t go as smoothly as that, and this leads to one of the films better moments; Han meets Chewie.
Chained in a pit, and forced to fight to the death by Imperial soldiers, Chewie looks like your dog when it emerges from a particularly muddy section of a canal. Han is thrown in to the pit by a callous officer, and the pair fight until Han persuades him that escape is possible. From that moment on the pair are inseparable, we get a glimpse of the buddy movie we’ve always wanted. We get an even bigger glimpse of a lost film further down the line, but more of that later…
It’s no spoiler to say that Han and Chewie join Beckett’s crew, and find themselves drawn in to a world of gangsters. And it’s here that we meet Dryden Voss (Paul Bettany). Voss is a merciless ganglord, and a part Bettany was born to play. To placate Voss, Han and the gang need one big score. To achieve it, they’ll need the fastest ship in the galaxy; and we all know who owns that. As I said in the first paragraph, this is a strange film as you know most of what is going to happen already. And so it is that Han finds himself playing cards, against one Lando Calrissian (an excellent Donald Glover). And here’s where the other buddy movie option could have worked so well, Ehrenreich and Glover have plenty of chemistry together. It could have been fun to see a couple of their exploits around the stars, rather than the tried and tested heist format that this film takes. Alas it was not to be though, and Lando is slightly marginalised in this story; despite being a major part of the lore surrounding Han Solo’s early years. Maybe there’ll be a prequel sequel? Who knows, with Disney at the helm, anything is possible.
From here our heroes go off on an adventure to the Kessel system (surprise!), in a mission that does have plenty of tension. We meet Lando’s droid, L3-37 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who has an unhealthy obsession with him. And after a slight detour through some very thinly veiled political statements, the mission goes awry and the team need some quick thinking to get home. The film doesn’t end there though, oh no. Buuuuuuut to say any more, would be a little spoilerific. I mean, we know who defintely lives, right?
So, is ‘Solo’ any good? I said earlier it was hit and miss, and I stand by that. No risks are taken with the storyline, it’s reminiscent of the old Westerns with it’s train robbery and double crossing. But, it is fun. Serious fanboys will probably despair, and those new to Star Wars may be confused by some of the more oblique references. At heart, it’s a film aimed at those who just love a good time at the movies, two hours of escapism where the hero cracks wise and the bad guys get what’s coming to them. It doesn’t quite hit the heights of Rogue One as a prequel, but it’s a damn good effort.
Shippo Ex Machina 