{"id":28153,"date":"2018-05-26T07:12:28","date_gmt":"2018-05-26T11:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=28153"},"modified":"2018-05-26T10:50:19","modified_gmt":"2018-05-26T14:50:19","slug":"solo-a-star-wars-story-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/26\/solo-a-star-wars-story-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The problem with prequels is that you already know what you\u2019re getting, because you already know what\u2019s going to happen to certain characters within the canon, so, \u201cSolo\u201d doesn\u2019t pack much surprises. I will say though for arguably safe<\/strong><\/em> genre entertainment, it\u2019s exciting and also delivers some well timed twists within its narrative. After the much ballyhooed problems during the making of the film, \u201cSolo\u201d ends up being a surprisingly competent popcorn movie that keeps a brisk pace, and channels the original tone of the episodes IV-VI better than the previous prequels\/mid-quels (?).<\/p>\n

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\u201cSolo\u201d is set many years before \u201cA New Hope\u201d where we meet a young Han who has grown up an orphan committing crimes for a vicious syndicate. After falling in love with Qi’Ra, one of his fellow orphans, he decides they\u2019re going to escape their horrible lives and pursue a life out in the galaxy. Han eventually comes across a trio of likeminded scoundrels, all of whom are planning a major heist involving a very sought after source of power. With his new allies (including a certain \u201cfuzz ball\u201d), he hopes to use the heist to begin a new life outside of the grasp of the Empire.<\/p>\n

With Han Solo being the canon\u2019s cowboy, \u201cSolo\u201d is primarily a space western that transplants a lot of exciting tropes of the Western saga in to the Star Wars Universe. Han is even something of a braggart gunslinger that almost always seems to get himself in to more trouble than he can handle. Hell, there\u2019s even an epic card game that I just had a ball watching since it holds a strong relevance to the back story of the character. Alden Ehrenreich is fantastic as young Han Solo, giving a performance that stands out specifically as his own interpretation while channeling Harrison Ford in many scenes. Ehrenreich is a top notch Han Solo, and he masters a lot of Ford\u2019s fun idiosyncrasies including his ability to approach every situation with a combination of improvisation and incredulity.<\/p>\n

The rest of the cast are bang up including Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, John Favreau, and Emilia Clarke who is a compelling love interest as Kira. The stand out though is Donald Glover who is memorable as young Lando Calrissian, a fellow scoundrel and pirate who is every bit the con man Han Solo is, except so much more suave. Glover works much in the plain of Ehrenreich where he makes Lando his own, but also channels Billy Dee Williams. \u201cSolo\u201d excels as popcorn cinema despite its inherent problems. The climax falls apart once Han completes his famous Kessel run, and the winks and nods to the original trilogy felt tacked on just to grab a reaction from the fans.<\/p>\n

That said, \u201cSolo\u201d isn\u2019t just an origin tale. It also provides a lot of reasoning behind Han\u2019s mistrust of people, his sudden reversion in to a hero in \u201cA New Hope,\u201d and his reluctance to maintain the hero status through the very end. I wouldn\u2019t call \u201cSolo\u201d a masterpiece per se, as it\u2019s a film wrought with flaws and a bit too much fan service. But out of all of the prequels set before \u201cA New Hope,\u201d I would definitely say that \u201cSolo\u201d is my favorite. I loved \u201cSolo\u201d it to pieces mainly because it\u2019s such a fun, simple space western that also coincidentally tells the story of one of the rebellion\u2019s greatest heroes.<\/p>\n