Solo: A Star Wars Story - SPOILER Review

This is a SPOILER-HEAVY review for Solo: A Star Wars Story. If you'd like to hear some non-spoiler thoughts of mine, check out the quick review in the gallery above.

I may be one of the world's biggest Han Solo fans. He is without a doubt my favorite Star Wars character. And just might be my favorite character in any movie of all time. And Harrison Ford is my favorite actor. So from the beginning, I've been out of my mind excited about this movie. And yeah, I've been a bit nervous about how re-casting Harrison Ford was gonna go. But I've gotta say, this movie has resurrected Han Solo. That’s not Harrison Ford, but THAT IS HAN SOLO! I really can’t believe the razor-thin mark that Alden Ehrenreich has hit. He picked the perfect characteristics to borrow from to deliver a perfect and worthy new version of Han Solo. Any time he was on screen, my smile was all the way above my ears. I seriously felt like a giddy little boy when I was watching him. My little Han Solo loving heart is so happy right now. And Donald Glover nailed Lando. And the relationship between Chewie and Han is 100% everything I love about them. I actually started to get a bit teary-eyed that I was seeing these three characters again. So I loved this movie. But there are definitely flaws. There's stuff that I REALLY didn't like. Most of what’s surrounding Han, Chewie, and Lando, is really a movie that’s a step down from Rogue One. But I don’t want to think about the flaws too much. But I’ll admit they’re there. This grade

is probably VERY generous. So because I don't want to spend too much time talking about the flaws of a movie I love, let's get that over with.

I really don’t think they delivered on the gangster aspect. I was picturing an adventure with more interesting and weird characters similar to what we’re familiar with. But most of the style and the visuals look like the EXACT same team that did Rogue One. And I think Disney needs to seriously look at the characters they're creating and the look and the visual style they have and not make it exactly like the rest of their movies. And the characters feel very generic. We could have had characters in the same style as a Jabba or a Boba Fett, but instead, we get Paul Bettany in a suit with his space brace knuckles going "I'm in a Scorsese movie right?!" Star Wars characters are weird okay Disney?! I'd really like to see future Star Wars movies made by designers that have a strange imagination like the team for the original trilogy did. Because the only great characters that I think Disney has created were with JJ Abrams in The Force Awakens. Out of the gate, JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan created Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo Ren. And I personally have not been crazy about most of the other characters they've created. And I think they REALLY need to step up their game with that and think outside of the box a little bit. And I was never impressed with the crime aspect I think because the story and the characters never made it interesting in that way. Moving on. I think my least favorite part of this entire movie might be Enfys Nest. I can't stand this character. I don't get her purpose in this story at all. Why on earth do we need to see the beginning of a section of the rebellion AGAIN in the Star Wars gangster movie? I just found the reveal of her taking off her mask revealing that she's a little girl really cheesy and unnecessary. And it makes no sense why she was shooting Beckett and the crew and was partly responsible for Rio and Val's death but it's never even addressed. That whole character is just completely sloppy and unnecessary to Han's story. In the words of Snoke, it felt like they were setting up a cool villain and it ended up just being "a child in a mask." And I hate the scene when she jumps up and smashes her glow stick in the ground with a superhero landing and she stands with her boot on the guy's back. I hate that entire scene.

Let's talk about Beckett. I was really skeptical when I heard that Woody Harrelson was cast in this movie. I just didn't know how distracting that would be having an actor with an intense personality mentoring Han. But I got used to it. I think he did a great job on his part. I think he was smart enough to know that this isn't his movie and he doesn't need to stand out too much. But I will say that I really didn't like the twist. Anyone could have predicted that Beckett was going to betray Han. It's literally the EXACT same thing as The Last Crusade. But hey, at least Han predicted it. At least we got a line where Han called the whole thing predictable. I was also kinda bored with Paul Bettany as a villain. I was worried about this character from the second I saw him in the trailer. And this we know for sure was rushed because Paul Bettany wasn't cast in this movie until Ron Howard came on. I just found the character of Dryden mostly boring. And if you watch interviews with Paul Bettany promoting this movie, he seems to be bored himself. Let's talk about the reveal of Han's last name. I didn't hate it. That's one of the lower complaints I have on the list. Yeah sure, it's kinda dumb. But did I get excited? YES. And I think it makes sense why he would keep the name. If a person without a last name is suddenly called that for the next three years, I think they would keep it.

Let's talk about the reveal of Darth Maul. Are all of you people confused as to how Darth Maul is alive? Because I'm gonna guess most of you haven't watched The Clone Wars. I'm really not the biggest fan of this cameo. If you want to watch the animated Star Wars shows and experience Darth Maul's story post-Phantom Menace, skip to the next paragraph because I'm gonna spoil the whole thing. If you've watched Star Wars Rebels, you know that the final face-off between Maul and Obi-Wan didn't go so well for Maul. The character is dead. So why would you tease the audience about this? Now people who are shocked that he's alive and are gonna be wondering "HOLY CRAP! Is he gonna be in Episode 9?!!?!?!?!" Nope......cause he's dead. So I don't really see the purpose of this cameo. And now I get to talk about freaking L3. The next letter after K in the alphabet is L. And the number after 2 is 3. Ya' couldn't have made it a bit less obvious that you were trying to replicate K2-SO with L3 Disney?! GOSH! the jokes are so dumb with this character. That stupid joke when she's trying to saw that gate open and she says "I can't operate while you're watching".........seriously? And I don't really know why the strange romantic side of L3 and Lando's relationship is necessary. And any time she talked about Droid's rights I just felt annoyed. There's the scene in A New Hope where the bartender at the Cantina says that "we don't serve their kind" talking about the Droids. I like the idea of building a Droid character around that idea, but I don't think the execution worked. And she just felt way too human and modern to me. And I completely blame the writing for that and not at all on Phoebe-Waller Bridge who I like a lot. Let's talk about Jon Favreau's character Rio. I think overall I liked him, but it's a bit strange to me watching Han Solo interacting with a CGI character when later he's surrounded by characters in practical costumes. And some of the writing for Rio I wasn't a big fan of.

Some other minor flaws I have - I feel like some of the designs of the aliens felt a bit Star Trek-ish instead of Star Wars. I thought Clint Howard's cameo was distracting. I don't like that Han says "bantha crap." I thought the other Wookie that Chewie interacts with looked really strange. I thought it looked like a cheap Wookie mask that someone bought off of Amazon (kinda like the end of Stepbrothers). And I'm also really sad and kinda confused as to why we didn't learn about Chewie's life debt to Han. Because apparently, it's canon that Chewie has a life debt to Han in the books and it's nowhere to be found in this movie. I think the structure has a major problem. On my first viewing, after we finished up The Kessel Run (more on that later) I felt like we had just finished the third act. The Kessel Run feels like the big finale of this journey. And when they land on that sand planet, It felt like - Now we're just gonna finish up a couple more things, Han and Lando are gonna play a game of Sabaac (which by the way I love the fake out of the first game) and he's gonna win and then the credits will roll. But then it goes on for what felt like another 30 minutes with probably my least favorite part of the entire movie. I felt like I had just been on a great journey and then there's what felt like an entire extra act. And I think that's a major structuring problem. There's a reason that movies are most of the time structured into 3-acts. You probably don't care.

Let me talk about the score. John Powell who did the score for the Bourne movies and How To Train Your Dragon did the score for Solo. And John Williams wrote a new Solo theme. And I'll be honest, after one viewing, John Williams' theme didn't stick in my head. But after I listened to it at home maybe 20 times, now I can hum it all day. And I like it a lot. But I'll admit I was hoping for better from John Williams when I heard Han was getting his own theme. But I enjoyed John Powell's score. I'm not crazy about it. I didn't love it when he uses vocals that sound like something out of The Lion King for Enfys Nest. But I loved it when he used some original trilogy themes. I got SO excited I heard the Asteroid theme from Empire Strikes Back. Just go listen to the track called "Reminiscence Therapy." But I think my favorite new piece of music that I've heard from this movie was in the first trailer with that intense baseline. I thought that was freaking awesome. Whoever made that score should do a Star Wars movie. Anyways, I thought that there were a few emotional beats that I really felt like had Ron Howard's fingerprints all over it. And for these specific moments, that's not necessarily bad or good. I found it a bit cheesy sometimes. Like when Han is sitting around the fire with the crew and starts to talk about his plan to save Qi'ra. And the music gets super emotional. It felt really old-fashioned. I'm gonna hate myself for every making this comparison. But those moments felt a bit Full House-ish to me. And there were a few scenes between Han and Qi'ra where the score felt like a classic romance movie from the 50s. I really liked that nostalgic style to it. But I did find it SLIGHTLY distracting and I think that's definitely a Ron Howard stamp.

So that was a lot of words about the flaws for a movie that I loved. Now can I gush about all that I loved about this movie? Let's talk about what I think is easily the best part of this movie. Alden Ehrenreich is Han Solo. I believe Harrison Ford when he says that he loved what Alden did in this movie. And yes, he is a bit different. It really annoys me when people complain about him not being 100% EXACTLY the same. If that's what you think, that's fine. You're free to have your opinion and I respect that. But that's not to say that it doesn't annoy me. I just think that any fan would have directed Alden Ehrenreich exactly the same way Ralph Fiennes does in that scene from Hail, Caesar. Han is slightly more reactive and more optimistic than Harrison Ford's Han. And maybe if they make a sequel to this movie that personality will come out more. Maybe Alden will become more Harrison Ford-ish. I am begging you Disney, please give me more Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo. Whatever platform that's on, please give it to me IMMEDIATELY. Anyway, The extreme personality verbal monster that is Han Solo is slowly coming out in Alden's performance. We don't feel his presence in the room AS much. And I think that Han loves the fantasy of being the bad guy. But we know what he really is. And Alden shows us the beginning of that. And I love that at the end he says to Enfys Nest "Don't hold your breathe, kid." That's the first time he ever calls anyone "Kid." We've watched Han go from being the kid from Correllia to being the legend of Han Solo and he feels that and that's why he calls her "Kid." And I think that makes the relationship between Han and Luke even more interesting. Because Han acts like the legend, but we know that he once was a kid from a dump just like Luke.

And of course, Chewie is the exact same Chewie that we love. I care deeply about Chewie. Any time he roars I want to protect him even though he doesn't need it. I NEVER EVER want to watch Chewbacca die. And I love that we finally saw him rip someone's arms out of their sockets. And we saw Han and Chewie meet. WE SAW IT! OH! it gives me chills just thinking about it. First of all, we get the scene when Han is telling Val and Beckett that he wants in on the job, and he does that finger point just like Harrison Ford which I lost my mind over. And Beckett says to "take him to the beast" and Han says "there's a beast?!" I love that line so much. And they throw him down into the pit. And I immediately thought it felt like that scene at the beginning of The Last Crusade with River Phoenix's Indy with the lion. And I loved it so much when Han spoke the Wookie language. The only reason that Chewie didn't kill Han was that he was shocked that someone spoke his language. Because of course, Chewie understands English. And Han would only ever speak it if his life depended on it. And he would never ever speak it again in front of people which is why he never does in the original trilogy. And I got so excited when Han uses the line "Moof Milker" again just like he did in The Force Awakens.

And of course, Donald Glover as Lando is great. That casting was perfection. And the dynamic between Han and Lando, also perfection. I felt so freaking giddy watching their first Sabaac game. I couldn't stop smiling. And I love that they finally addressed how Lando says Han's name with Han asking how Sabaac is pronounced. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! And when they meet up again at the end and it's mimicking the scene when they meet up in Empire. Han messes with Lando pretending to be furious with him and then he grabs him and hugs him. As George Lucas would say "It's like poetry. It rhymes." Let's talk about The Kessel Run. I'll be honest, it's not everything I dreamed it would be. After seeing this movie, I think the legend of the Kessel Run was created by Han spreading the word. I think he went around bragging and spreading the legend of the Millennium Falcon making The Kessel Run in 12 Parsecs (if you round down) and that's why it's so famous. So it's a bit anti-climactic compared to what my imagination was of The Kessel Run. That being said, it's one of the best Star Wars scenes. And it's probably my favorite scene of the movie. Han jumping into the seat for the first time made me want to scream. And when Chewie finally basically just went "Ah! you fools!" and jumped into the co-pilot seat, I wanted to cry. And I loved John Powell's score throughout this scene. It's probably his best work in the entire movie. It's so FREAKING COOL that we got to see the Falcon go into hyperspace (kinda) in an exterior view. Bradford Young's cinematography is great in this movie. I love that we get to see Star Wars have this freedom that they didn't have before of seeing close-ups and exterior views of things.

Look, I can talk about all my favorite moments all day. But I'd rather just go see it again. I can't really understand a lot of people's opinion on this movie. I can understand if you say it's not great. But some of the reviews I've been seeing, people have been grading Solo with Pacific Rim: Uprising grades. I think you've got to say it's AT LEAST an okay movie. But again, I respect everyone's opinion. I just know that I loved my experience with this movie despite its many flaws. Going into this movie, I was kinda bored with Star Wars after The Last Jedi. That movie really doesn't leave you with much to be excited about. And the super small release date gap between The Last Jedi and this movie weighed on me as it did a lot of people. And after all of the production problems and the re-casting of Harrison Ford and I wasn't hearing great reviews, I was getting myself prepared for a heartbreak. And this movie got me excited about Star Wars again. And maybe the reason for that was because I was currently a little less precious with Star Wars. I’m SO happy that they gave me Han, Chewie, and Lando again. I love these characters and I love this universe. And maybe if you don’t love these characters as much as I do, then you won’t be so forgiving of it's flaws. Or maybe you’ll be blind to it's past and just have fun with the adventure. Who knows? All I know is that Han Solo returned on screen and I couldn’t be happier about that. And I really hope the box office for this movie improves. It really depresses me to see headlines saying that Solo is a box office failure. I really want a sequel. But anyway, So my experience felt very much in the character of Han. We were all doubting him. Thinking he was about to fail us. And he swoops in and saves Star Wars (for me at least). The ride was a bit rough but he pulls it off. And he says to us with a smirk "Why would you ever doubt me?" My grade for Solo: A Star Wars Story is an A. Sue me.