First Take: Solo: A Star Wars Story- I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Chewie

SYNOPSIS: During an adventure into a dark criminal
underworld, Han Solo meets his future copilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando
Calrissian years before joining the Rebellion.

2016’s Rogue One brought us a new and potentially very
exciting prospect of a Star Wars film being released every year, alternating
between the main Episodes and standalone Stories. But after seeing how Gareth
Edwards’ effort did, I had low expectations for Solo- a film that has been
bogged down by some very big creative differences. Yes, it’s a good film, but I
was left feeling a little underwhelmed at times.

Ron Howard does a good job helming the film following the
departure of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (whose fingerprints
on the film are still clearly visible even after their replacement), and
clocking in at just shy of 2 hours 15 minutes, there are some pacing problems
and a clear division in tone between humour and plot progression, but
considering the fact that all of these directors worked to a script from
Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan, I was expecting more of the same qualities that
made The Force Awakens so enjoyable. It is shot really well by Bradford Young,
continuing the same standard of work seen on films like Arrival, and with John
Powell handling scoring duties, most of the technical side of things is handled
well, it’s just the general narrative that mainstream audiences will struggle
with, as the dialogue is just too convoluted, stinking of the rewrite process.

Performance wise, I was easily won over by Alden Ehrenreich
as Han Solo, he is able to take a character as beloved as that and turn it into
a role that foreshadows what would eventually be performed by Harrison Ford in
A New Hope (the next film in the chronology of the Star Wars universe, a key
point for any casual audiences) very well. Supporting him is Emilia Clarke, who
is fantastic as ever, Paul Bettany, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton and Phoebe
Waller-Bridge, but stealing the show is arguably Donald Glover. To paraphrase a
very good friend of mine, the casting was spot on for this role, his scenes
alone are the highlight. This cast arguably saved the film for me, and that
speaks volumes about what kind of film we’re talking here- it’s far from
perfect, but we now have the backstory to the Han Solo character. If that’s
what Lucasfilm want, they got it alright, but the execution left a lot to be
desired.

THE VERDICT

This film really has me questioning if Disney should be
pushing for a Star Wars release every year- since the franchise returned in
2015 the quality has started to slip. Yes, Solo is a good film without the Star
Wars association attached to it, but once you add the reputation of that brand
(as well as the original trilogy), mix it with some directorial disputes and a
poor script, and you get this. It’s decent, but nothing more.

RATING: 3.5/5