Solo a Star Wars Story
Synopsis: Young Han Solo finds adventure when he joins a gang of galactic smugglers, including a 196-year-old Wookie named Chewbacca. Indebted to the gangster Dryden Vos, the crew devises a daring plan to travel to the mining planet Kessel to steal a batch of valuable coaxium. In need of a fast ship, Solo meets Lando Calrissian, the suave owner of the perfect vessel for the dangerous mission -- the Millennium Falcon.
Movie review: "Solo A Star Wars Story" is the second stand-alone movie and it is the fourth Star Wars movie under the Disney umbrella. I had limited expectations about this Han Solo movie because of all the production problems that it had, but I can happily say it was a better movie than I thought. The movie is a fun and action packed space adventure but suffers from some minor narrative flaws. Han Solo finds himself in an adventure in the criminal underworld where he meets his future co-pilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian years before joining the rebellion. What I really enjoyed about "Solo" was, that this creative team made it feel like a western heist film. The action set pieces are action packed, thrill-seeking, and enjoyable to watch. My favorite moment in this film has to be the train heist scene; it is full of non-stop excitement. But I also liked when Han breaks the Kessel run scene. I was immediately thrown back in time seeing Han Solo fly the falcon and a smile came over my face – it was so amazing. Let's talk about Alden Ehrenreich's performance as Han Solo. He was surprisingly really talented as the iconic smuggler we all loved back in the original trilogy. He was charismatic, attractive, and funny portraying Han Solo present day and we still love him. What the director and writers really captured in this movie was the relationship between Han and Chewbacca. Their friendship was just like what I loved back in the original trilogy. Again, their back and forth dialogue was emotional and humorous throughout the film. Another surprising element of the film was Emilia Clarke as Han Solo's love interest, Qi'ral. Qi'ral and Han shared on screen chemistry with each other that was realistic and you understand why Qi'ral was in love with Han. Emila Clark did a great job with this character as she made the audience care about what happens to her. Woody Harrelson plays Beckett, Han Solo's mentor and father figure who teaches him the way to become a smuggler and a gangster and he brings his ow personality to this role which I really liked. One of the best roles in this movie is Lando Charison played by the talented Donald Glover who is so perfect as a young Lando. Glover is charming and funny, just like how Billy Dee Williams played him in 1980. Most of the cast played their parts very well; although, there were a few supporting characters that were wasted like Thandie Newten who didn't really have a lot of screen time and Jon Favreau who voiced a creature named Rio. He was hilarious and I wished he was in more scenes. Another disappointing aspect was the villain of the film played by Paul Bettany. He was only in two scenes. Star Wars movies usually have great intimidating villains but Bettany was just there to move the plot around (And I forgot-- he was in the entire movie and I didnt even know his name). Finally, the first act of the movie was a little clunky with some dragged out dialogue but it picks up again with the train heist scene. In my opinion, "Solo A Star Wars Story" is a great space adventure with some comic relief, lots of action, and a few good surprises. I can't wait to see other adventures Han and Chewi go on next. I am giving "Solo" a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Director: Ron Howard
Cast:: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Joonas Suotamo, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller Bridge, John Favreau, Erin Kellyman, and Paul Bettany
Runtime: 135 minutes
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