Review – Solo: A Star Wars Story stands on its own

To put it lightly, the Star Wars prequels have been a mixed bag. George Lucas’ prequel trilogy was weighed down by bad child acting and an over-emphasis on galactic trade disputes, while the recent Rogue One felt like a discombobulated mess, no doubt hurt by Lucasfilm bringing on another director to helm extensive reshoots after the film had wrapped production. It all brings to mind a great Patton Oswalt bit where he unloads on the original prequels’ tendency to keep showing us the childhood origins of classic characters in the franchise: “I don’t give a shit where the stuff I love comes from! I just love the stuff I love!”

The second stand-alone “Anthology” Star Wars film following Rogue One, Solo: A Star Wars Story has also been plagued with worrisome press for months. There was the very public firing of directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie) over “creative differences” with Lucasfilm (the pair were replaced by Ron Howard), and news that an acting coach was brought in to help lead Alden Ehrenreich nail down his performance of Han Solo didn’t sound promising. Not to forget the fact that Ron Howard helmed extensive reshoots after taking over the production, a practice that didn’t make Rogue One any more of a cohesive film.

Thankfully, Solo: A Star Wars Story is much better than internet message board rumours might have you believe. While the film doesn’t take many chances, this is an enjoyable sci-fi adventure romp that often matches the excitement of the earlier Star Wars films without ever feeling like a retread (we’re looking at you J.J. Abrams).

We meet the young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) on the slum planet Corellia, where he makes his living as a small time thief. While trying to flee the planet following a heist, his girlfriend, Qi’ra (Games of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke) is detained by local forces, and Solo pledges to himself that he will raise enough funds to buy his own ship and return to Corellia to rescue Qi’ra. In order to get off the planet, Solo enlists with the Empire as a pilot, where he eventually comes across a fellow thief in Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson). Together the pair team up with a small crew to pull off a massive heist that will set Beckett square with the crime lord Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), while providing the funds for Solo to rescue Qi’ra.

Along the way we witness the debut of many long-term relationships that are pivotal in the Star Wars universe, including the first meeting between Solo and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), the beginning of the rivalry and tenuous friendship between Solo and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), and of course, the series’ greatest love affair, that between Solo and the Millennium Falcon.

The story, written by genre legend Lawrence Kasadan (The Empire Strikes Back) and his son Jonathan, is essentially a long heist movie that plays out in a fairly linear fashion, especially given the rampant planet-hopping of The Last Jedi. There are a few fun nods to the larger Star Wars universe peppered into the film, but they never get in the way of what is very much a self-contained story.

Fans may always wonder what (if anything) of the final film is left over from the Lord and Miller material, but the film retains the sense of light-heartedness that many were hoping the directing duo would bring to this. In many ways this feels more like an Indiana Jones film that the latest entry in the increasingly dark Star Wars franchise — this is a fun, pulpy adventure film, that at times brings back the pure magic of the original trilogy (especially at moments when the beloved John Williams score creeps back in).

There are some truly spectacular action scenes here, including a long heist sequence on a moving freight train that rivals almost every other action scene in the franchise in terms of sheer excitement. Howard has a knack for delivering large set piece sequences that still manage to maintain a level of human stakes — the action scenes never become too hard to follow, or end up as an indecipherable CGI-mess.

This installment also introduces a number of memorable new characters, including Calrissian’s woke droid (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) who demands equal rights and has complicated feelings towards her owner. Emilia Clarke is also great as the conflicted Qi’ra, and Woody Harrelson is typically excellent as the grizzled Tobias Beckett, which is basically the most Han Solo character in the entire film.

Now on to the elephant in the cantina — Alden Ehrenreich simply does not make a convincing Han Solo. While replacing Harrison Ford as one of the most popular characters in pop culture history is no enviable task, Ehrenreich doesn’t have the look or the mannerisms of even the youngish Han Solo we first encounter in A New Hope. Ehrenreich does provide a lot of rascally charm, but never quite matches Ford’s cantankerously lovable portrayal of the character. And that’s not to say it’s impossible to embody the role of a famous character decades later, as seen with Donald Glover’s fully inhabited portrayal of Lando Calrissian, right down to his telltale voice.

We may not have needed a young Han Solo movie, but Solo: A Star Wars Story is about as good a film as we can expect when we know right off the bat that our main characters are never really in much jeopardy. Nothing about this film gives off the impression that this was a story that needed to be told — this film simply exists because Disney and Lucasfilm have a full slate of Star Wars films to deliver, and who doesn’t love Han Solo?

While few fans were likely clamouring for a 2-hour plus movie to explain just how Solo made the fabled Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs, that film is finally here, and it’s a pretty fun ride. Solo: A Star Wars story does little to expand the world of Star Wars, but if these Anthology films are really meant to stand on their own, then consider this a success.