Now, if you know any one thing about me it’s that I love Star Wars. I always have loved Star Wars and most likely always will. Even while loving it, this one was the first film that I though was a genuine cash grab. I even wrote an article on why it wouldn’t have been my choice for a spin-off but I’m happy to say : I was wrong.
Solo is one of the most fun films I’ve seen in a long time and it works better than it really has any right to. Re-watching it last night allowed me to see some of the subtleties in the film and I’m not going to spoil anything but I will say that there were quite a few surprises for me in the film.
This film works because it’s able to tackle really hard issues while still having fun a few minutes later. Remember that Slavery subplot in The Last Jedi that I loved but everyone else hated? Well it’s back…but this time it answers one of the key things from the previous films. What about the droids? Droids are consistently treated like second class citizens and this film has an answer for it that is absolutely perfect. Meanwhile, while that very heavy topic is happening we get to see our heroes fight a bunch of slavers and it’s just a great sequence. Every aspect of it is done well, the music, the cinematography, the acting and everything just comes together so well to give us exactly what we needed : A Classic Star Wars Film. The Last Jedi has a darker tone, Rogue One was a war film and The Force Awakens was considered an homage. This one though, it’s a pure adventure film from the opening shot all the way to the credits.
John Powell’s score blew me away. The way that he mixed his own music with multiple classics of John Williams was nothing short of phenomenal. Enfys Nest is a new character in the film and their track is epic with big drum beats and a choir that really sets it apart from the rest of the film’s score. Be on the lookout for it, the first time you hear is during the train scene which is about 30 minutes into the film.
Donald Glover gives us a Lando that can really only be described as Inspired. It’s a performance that is a Billy Dee Williams impersonation but also is able to give us a newfound charisma that we absolutely needed to see. He walks around scene stealing every chance he gets but he also doesn’t outshine Alden Ehrenreich too bad and when he does, he’s supposed to. Ehrenreich does a much better job then I thought he would. He’s a much younger version of Han so he’s naive, brash and wants to be the scoundrel but he still has that heart of gold. He’s not the cynic that we meet in A New Hope and he’s not the weary veteran that we see in The Force Awakens but that works much better for the story than what a lot of other people are saying. For better or worse, this is young Han Solo and the script doesn’t deviate from that. He gradually gets there by the end of the film and yes, it takes a bit of time before you get past the fact that someone besides Harrison Ford is playing the character but by the second or third scene you start to realize that this is a pretty solid performance from a young star who hopefully has a good future in acting ahead of him. Chewbacca is a clear standout as he always is. He gets some great moments to shine which works really well for those that were upset by his smaller role in The Last Jedi. Plus, I love that they kept a lot of the older Chewbacca lore the same. I won’t give away everything but as a fan of the Han Solo trilogy by Ann C. Crispin it was great to see that they kept a lot of it in there.
Overall, I loved this film. I didn’t think I was going to but I did. Everything really won me over and I’d be perfectly fine with another film about Han Solo and this is coming from the man who asked question : Do We Need Solo? The answer is yes, yes we do.
