Review of Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) by Dana F — 31 Dec 2018

Whoa, talk about a mixed bag. If you're not aware, this film was plagued with production problems, including the firing the first 2 directors... so I guess it's no surprise that a movie with three directors is going to be a little all over the place.

It's hard to give a cohesive rating for a movie that is comprised of a mish-mash of different tones, styles, and directions. Some of the sequences are cool and fun, and some are even semi-consistent with the character we know as Han Solo - and some are very much not.

When it's good, it's pretty good, and when it's bad, it's terribly, terribly bad. I just wish I knew which director to blame for what! Taken as a whole, this movie is just not well-written.

The dialogue is absolutely cringeworthy at times, but other times it's fine and can be even clever. It's loaded with references to the original trilogy that are so obvious it takes you right out of the story as soon as you hear one (a mynoch reference?? Did we really need that?), and the story relies too heavily on recycling plot elements from the original movies.

There is a knockoff rancor pit, a knockoff cantina, a knockoff smooch on the Falcon, even a knockoff comic relief robot with an English accent... and that's just the ones I remember. Consequently, the whole movie feels like a knockoff.

.. which I guess it is. Some of the nods are a nice touch (like Lando mispronouncing Han's name), but most reek with the desperation of brand recognition. Alden Ehrenreich (yikes) does a decent job with the character - his mannerisms are often reminiscent of Harrison Ford's iconic portrayal of the character - but that voice.

.. ohhh, that voice! Ehrenreich is SO nasal, every time he opened his mouth I was reminded that this was not the real Han Solo. But even so, the problem is not with the actor, it's with how the character was written.

A huge part of what has made Han such an appealing character was his mystery and his anti-heroism. Remember back when he was a scoundrel, always looking out for number one? Yeah, this is not that guy.

This Han is immediately established as the hero of the story and always does the right thing for the greater good, which is totally inconsistent with the character we know and love. It actually made me mad.

The film is enjoyable on a surface level - it has fun action sequences and plops little nuggets of SW mythology here and there that old-school fans will love - but this is an origin story we did not need and probably would have been better off without.

Some things are better left to the imagination. #NotMyHan.