- Ron Howard's Solo: A Star Wars Story may be the first Star Wars film that I approached with a real sense of dread. Not coincidentally, it is also the first Star Wars film that I neglected to see in the theater, and I probably wouldn't even have watched it at home if it hadn't been for peer pressure. Don't I already know everything I need to know about Han Solo? Isn't it sacrilegious for the character to be played by someone other than Harrison Ford?? Wasn't I pretty disappointed by the other film subtitled A Star Wars Story??? Imagine my surprise, then, when Solo turned out to be frequently enjoyable and, at the very least, never unpleasant to watch. If ever a film benefited from low expectations, this was it.
- First, let's address the elephant in the room: Alden Ehrenreich is fine as Han Solo. He actually pulls off a pretty decent impression of Harrison Ford's intonations and mannerisms without hewing so close as to seem weird. Some of my other low expectations resulted from reports that the film's original directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, were fired mid-shoot and that the incomparably talented actor Michael K. Williams was recast. To be honest, the film's seams show here and there, but I've certainly seen other Star Wars movies that were much more unpolished and problematic.
- Naturally, the story follows the life of young Han Solo (Ehrenreich) as he meets up with old friends Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), new friend and love interest Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke), reluctant mentors Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and Val (Thandie Newton), new rebellious adversary Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman), and new enemy Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany). Some comic relief is provided by the earthy, four-armed Rio Durant (voiced by Jon Favreau) and the amusingly contrary droid "L3" (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge). I never thought I'd be saying this, but the new character I'm most likely to remember from this film is in fact L3, whose enthusiasm for liberation of all forms is alternately funny and inspiring. It's no wonder Lando is in love with her, which is totally a real subplot that somehow I am not inclined to mock.
- At its best, Solo tries to have fun with the strict requirements of series continuity. This approach pays off when a seemingly preordained card game has an unexpected outcome or when Han proves that he had been using the term "parsecs" correctly all along. Plus, let's face it: Lando must have owned a closet full of capes, and I'm glad a film finally had the courage to show it. In other more unfortunate instances, Solo falls into the usual prequel pitfall of providing really dumb explanations for things that nobody wondered about, such as the origins of Han's last name and those dashboard dice. Every moment of decent writing is paired with a distracting quote in the name of fan service. The film's most famously baffling moment involves the appearance of a former baddie who must have been more resilient than anyone gave him credit for. This scene, like the film itself, was nothing anybody was really asking for, but certainly could have been a whole lot worse.
- Also featuring Warwick Davis, Clint Howard, Anthony Daniels, Ray Park, and the voices of Linda Hunt and Sam Witwer.
