By Nadia Ranaputri
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Paul Bettany, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo.
When it was announced that the next anthology film would be a spinoff of Han Solo's younger days before the events of A New Hope, people were sceptical. Was it ever going to work? How will it cast a younger actor to play a role that has already been defined and turned into a legend by Harrison Ford, making it seemingly impossible to have anyone else in the role of the space smuggler other than Ford? Was it a necessary story to be told in the ever expanding Star Wars universe? Solo: A Star Wars Story managed to answer these questions, though not in the way that you'd expect.
Solo: A Star Wars Story tells the upbringing of the iconic smuggler who would later become one of the heroes of the Rebellion in the years to come. The now young Han Solo navigates his way and finds his place in the galaxy far, far away in the midst of becoming a great pilot. His upbringing in the crime-filled planet of Correlia leads him to butt heads with the Empire during sometime of his journey. Eventually, he finds his true calling when he stumbles upon Beckett (Woody Harrelson), an infamous soldier turned bandit who introduces him to a life of smuggling and a lifelong journey of crime.
Alden Ehrenreich has some great moments here as Han Solo, and he even makes the role his own, never fully dependent on hammering in an impersonation of Ford's portrayal of the iconic smuggler. Sure, there are moments where you could tell that there's something off in Ehrenreich's portrayal, especially during a scene where he imitates Ford's swaggering walk; but for the most part, there's something boisterous and new in his portrayal, showing the more young and naive side of the man we would later know to be the smuggler we see in the Cantina in later years. It's not so much of an attempt to impersonate Ford's memorable portrayal, and that's a good thing for this film's case.
One of the good things about Solo is that it's a fun Star Wars film when it comes to the action sequences alone. It's your typical Star Wars action fiesta that's a feast for the eyes. You have your usual blaster faceoffs, your Star Wars style hand-to-hand combats, and of course, spaceship chases, because what's Star Wars without a chase between our heroes' spaceship and an Imperial fighter ship? And they're good fun, and are for the most part, one of the film's best aspects. And if you've seen any of the trailers, there's also the return of the Millenium Falcon, and the scenes with the Falcon were just excellent, just as it is with the previous Star Wars films.
But there's a catch to this, because the fun stops there, and here's where Solo's hyperspace ride comes to a halt with a big loud screech and a whole lot of bumps. Solo: A Star Wars Story has some seriously agonizing pacing issues. Things just happen so quickly that we're not given the time to process it, and it doesn't revel in the things that happens. Once one sequence happens, it moves to another, and then another without ever considering the cohesion of the story it's trying to tell. The film has buckets full of potential, but the film doesn't seem to realize the ammount of potential that they could have delved into more instead of jumping from one arc to another and let the former be forgotten.
Then there's the characters. The characters are the ones who had the most potential in the film, in fact, the film has many potentials brimming within the story as a whole, but that's because those certain potentials lie in the characters. Unfortunately, there is no signinificant character development for our heroes, and while there are significant developments for the plot itself, the film doesn't give enough time to cement said development. The film would go from one thing to another like the other was never there, like a scene where a character is furious at another, but the next moment, that character who was furious to the point of having the urge to kill is suddenly lightened up by the appearance of some sort of solution, and that certain character just goes on their merry way as if they weren't shouting in anger just a moment ago.
Solo has so many interesting arcs that show up here and there, but the film dismisses it for another less interesting arc, or in this film's case, a safer, less risky arc. And there isn't even really a main story in the middle of everything that happens. Solo feels like a film that consists of a bunch of different sequences with no core story to rely on. There's no cohesive relation between any of the sequences, each of them feeling episodic and as if they each have a different arc of their own that don't come together in the end, and it makes you question why it needed to be told. There's no risks taken, no depth in the overall story, and it's quite a hollow shell beneath all that boisterous sci-fi action galore.
Overall verdict: Solo: A Star Wars Story presents some very fun action sequences in a typical Star Wars fashion, relishing its slick and boisterious tone, but lacks the substance beneath all the action that could have made it so much more than a generic film. The pacing is really the biggest issue here, as it doesn't allow room for possible potentials to be fully realized and its developments within the plot and the characters feel forced and quick to the point where you're not sure if there's any clear development at all. Solo could have been so much more, had it not tried to force its way through arcs that don't tie together as a whole. It's unfortunate, because Solo had so much potential, but it seems as if those potentials are eventually dismissed in favor of something else.
Stars: 2.3/5
Trailer
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| Image source: starwars.com, Entertainment Weekly |
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Paul Bettany, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo.
When it was announced that the next anthology film would be a spinoff of Han Solo's younger days before the events of A New Hope, people were sceptical. Was it ever going to work? How will it cast a younger actor to play a role that has already been defined and turned into a legend by Harrison Ford, making it seemingly impossible to have anyone else in the role of the space smuggler other than Ford? Was it a necessary story to be told in the ever expanding Star Wars universe? Solo: A Star Wars Story managed to answer these questions, though not in the way that you'd expect.
Solo: A Star Wars Story tells the upbringing of the iconic smuggler who would later become one of the heroes of the Rebellion in the years to come. The now young Han Solo navigates his way and finds his place in the galaxy far, far away in the midst of becoming a great pilot. His upbringing in the crime-filled planet of Correlia leads him to butt heads with the Empire during sometime of his journey. Eventually, he finds his true calling when he stumbles upon Beckett (Woody Harrelson), an infamous soldier turned bandit who introduces him to a life of smuggling and a lifelong journey of crime.
Alden Ehrenreich has some great moments here as Han Solo, and he even makes the role his own, never fully dependent on hammering in an impersonation of Ford's portrayal of the iconic smuggler. Sure, there are moments where you could tell that there's something off in Ehrenreich's portrayal, especially during a scene where he imitates Ford's swaggering walk; but for the most part, there's something boisterous and new in his portrayal, showing the more young and naive side of the man we would later know to be the smuggler we see in the Cantina in later years. It's not so much of an attempt to impersonate Ford's memorable portrayal, and that's a good thing for this film's case.
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One of the good things about Solo is that it's a fun Star Wars film when it comes to the action sequences alone. It's your typical Star Wars action fiesta that's a feast for the eyes. You have your usual blaster faceoffs, your Star Wars style hand-to-hand combats, and of course, spaceship chases, because what's Star Wars without a chase between our heroes' spaceship and an Imperial fighter ship? And they're good fun, and are for the most part, one of the film's best aspects. And if you've seen any of the trailers, there's also the return of the Millenium Falcon, and the scenes with the Falcon were just excellent, just as it is with the previous Star Wars films.
But there's a catch to this, because the fun stops there, and here's where Solo's hyperspace ride comes to a halt with a big loud screech and a whole lot of bumps. Solo: A Star Wars Story has some seriously agonizing pacing issues. Things just happen so quickly that we're not given the time to process it, and it doesn't revel in the things that happens. Once one sequence happens, it moves to another, and then another without ever considering the cohesion of the story it's trying to tell. The film has buckets full of potential, but the film doesn't seem to realize the ammount of potential that they could have delved into more instead of jumping from one arc to another and let the former be forgotten.
Then there's the characters. The characters are the ones who had the most potential in the film, in fact, the film has many potentials brimming within the story as a whole, but that's because those certain potentials lie in the characters. Unfortunately, there is no signinificant character development for our heroes, and while there are significant developments for the plot itself, the film doesn't give enough time to cement said development. The film would go from one thing to another like the other was never there, like a scene where a character is furious at another, but the next moment, that character who was furious to the point of having the urge to kill is suddenly lightened up by the appearance of some sort of solution, and that certain character just goes on their merry way as if they weren't shouting in anger just a moment ago.
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Solo has so many interesting arcs that show up here and there, but the film dismisses it for another less interesting arc, or in this film's case, a safer, less risky arc. And there isn't even really a main story in the middle of everything that happens. Solo feels like a film that consists of a bunch of different sequences with no core story to rely on. There's no cohesive relation between any of the sequences, each of them feeling episodic and as if they each have a different arc of their own that don't come together in the end, and it makes you question why it needed to be told. There's no risks taken, no depth in the overall story, and it's quite a hollow shell beneath all that boisterous sci-fi action galore.
Overall verdict: Solo: A Star Wars Story presents some very fun action sequences in a typical Star Wars fashion, relishing its slick and boisterious tone, but lacks the substance beneath all the action that could have made it so much more than a generic film. The pacing is really the biggest issue here, as it doesn't allow room for possible potentials to be fully realized and its developments within the plot and the characters feel forced and quick to the point where you're not sure if there's any clear development at all. Solo could have been so much more, had it not tried to force its way through arcs that don't tie together as a whole. It's unfortunate, because Solo had so much potential, but it seems as if those potentials are eventually dismissed in favor of something else.
Stars: 2.3/5
Trailer
