Solo: A Star Wars Story

“I hate you." - “I know." Solo is a great pleasure especially for familiarized fans, but I think even a complete Star Wars layman can take some things from it. It is primarily a fun adventure film (in places there is MAYBE a little too much humor, but it never exceeds a healthy measure) with the excellent Alden Ehrenreich, who did great at an almost impossible task - he acts more or less his way, he borrowed only some of those gestures and smirks from Harrison Ford, not particularly imitating him, and yet, he is Solo. The direction by Ron Howard is fine, the story is not stupid and has a lot of surprises up its sleeve, including the return of one very familiar character (but with the character’s return, people might be saying: What? How? Why?), and John Powell literally did an amazing job. With the help of John Williams (he also added a new main theme) he composed a great soundtrack that I'll enjoy listening to just like Williams' Star Wars albums or Giacchino's Rogue One. (05/23/2018)

The name of the movie should have been Holo. A Generic Space Story. In that case, the film could have avoided showing tiring and dull facts that no one really wants to know but that are on a to-do-list of the film makers, like how Han came to this and that and how he got to know him or her. The story that the third movie of Indy managed to tell in 14-minute prologue with grace and at a frantic pace here takes two and a quarter hours. At the same time, it will not enrich the iconic character of Sol in any way. What is even more unfortunate is that when the film makers don´t want to please the fans or don´t try to create a fantastic show spectacle (a horrible sequence with a space monster or an uprising in the mine working), then there are many wonderful things (introduction, Madmax-style train attack, “spaghetti" westerns tricky ending), where it´s unique thanks to a refreshing sympathetically earthbound and dirty view of the Star Wars universe, that is free from all the padding of "we are one family, we save galaxies", it has obviously a lot to offer. And maybe the filmmakers will realize that as soon as we find out after seeing 20 sequels who Jabby's first lover was, why Boba Fett has shabby armor, why the second musician from the left in canteen from the original film plays the clarinet and not the saxophone etc. (05/28/2018)

Han Solo wants money, a ship, freedom and to save his girl. So he decides to take part in a heist that even the galaxy's greatest madmen wouldn't dare. Solo: A Star Wars Story is a brisk, entertaining, old-school adventure flick that is fun to watch, has likeable characters and good actors, and tries to show the world of Star Wars from the bottom up, from a place where there are no Jedi, Force or ambition to rule the universe, just a desire to make big bucks and have a good time. And it's a lot more fun than we'd expect after the creative problems. (07/26/2018)

Disney is squeezing the last bits of juice from the Star Wars universe. In this movie, the action starts before we even know it. The actors are alright, and the visual effects are flawless… what is it that I want to complain about, then? Well, maybe that the movie is a bit lifeless. In terms of the story, I don’t care at all in which direction it will unfold because I know what will happen to Han Solo anyway. If it weren’t for the casting, which as always saved Disney from a fuck-up, I wouldn’t even have watched the movie to the end. (03/06/2019)

Given the huge production difficulties, I do not understand how it is possible that the outcome turned out this well. Some things were reshot, some scenes were cut, some things were added with a bit of force, but Solo remains a successful adventure film that is perhaps most disruptive precisely because it is stitched together from so many different pieces. Gambling, chemistry with Lando, the train heist, the divine Qi'ra, and against all odds, Alden Ehrenreich leading a new Star Wars Story into a successful blockbuster, which loses in its episodic parts. The droid evil that L3 represents bothers me, as it brings ideas into the saga that I definitely do not need to see in it. The second misstep is the mining escapade, which feels like it came straight out of an average salad. I could do without the final cameo, which unnecessarily disrupts the (at that point incredibly intense) pace for fan viewers. Despite moments that may throw you off, the first financial failure in Star Wars history is a more than worthy fairytale that happily shoves the overcomplicated Rogue One into its pocket. (06/18/2018)