writ. by Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan
One of the key themes of December's Star Wars: The Last Jedi was that obsessing over the past is futile, and yet, Disney has seen fit to fill the gaps in its yearly release schedule not with intriguing new stories from disparate corners of the galaxy, but with yet more prequels which tell stories we already know about. Solo: A Star Wars Story, despite having its fair share of new characters, is a worse offender than Rogue One, as it insistently strings together explanations for nearly every aspect of Han Solo's persona in the original trilogy, while including at least a minor reference to every single piece of backstory which had been mentioned in those original movies.
That doesn't leave Solo with much room to take significant risks within its own story, so thankfully it instead takes on an upbeat tone and a breezy pace, diverging from grim foreboding of Rogue One in favour of a lightweight caper, albeit at the expense of the novelty and unique style of the earlier film. But if Solo contains few of Rogue One's strengths, it also fixes its primary weakness with a far more memorable cast of characters, and the action at the very least remains imaginative and exciting even if it's far less stylish than other recent Star Wars entries. Solo is the most disposable of the recent Star Wars films, but as a fluffy summer blockbuster, it is more than satisfactory.
Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) is a street urchin from the planet of Corellia who, alongside romantic interest Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke), is attempting to escape from the service of local gangs. When only he makes it offworld, he then shifts between jobs in an attempt to earn his place, along the way meeting mercenary Beckett (Woody Harrelson), Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), droid L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), and of course the wookie Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo, not that you can tell).
Solo is perhaps the least narratively ambitious of the recent Star Wars films, providing relatively few bells and whistles for its straightforward Hero's Journey aside from a smattering of familiar heist tropes. For the most part, the film quickly ricochets from plot beat to plot beat, expending only as much time on plot as is needed to get to the next setpiece while still remaining a coherent story. If this makes the film lighter and shallower than other recent franchise entries, it also makes it the most easily digestible of them, and it also means that the film never drags. A wide array of twists isn't quite enough to make the film unpredictable, but they do provide a couple extra layers to a story which is relatively light on substance.
The problem, then, is that it's insistent on constantly tying itself back to the main saga, seemingly explaining every single part of Han's backstory within the course of two or three consecutive missions. Not a single thing we knew about Han in the original trilogy is left unacknowledged here, and there aren't any time gaps to at least maintain the proximity between Chewbacca, the Millennium Falcon, and the wide array of other beats which strive to explain every single thing about Han before he arrived on Tatooine. With all the potential for the Star Wars universe to expand in every direction, the fact that the franchise is not only continuing to mine its own past but also that it's placing so many historical beats so close to each other demonstrates either a misguided need to pander or a disappointing lack of creativity, and makes this universe feel much smaller than it could be. At one point it even explains how Han got his last name.
That's not to say that everything in Solo is taken directly from the original trilogy, however, as Qi'ra, Beckett, and L3-37 are all entirely new characters, and quite entertaining ones to boot. None are as complex as those from the numbered entries, but they're all very distinct not only from the familiar characters but also from each other, and other characters who pop in and out of the movie over the second act also fill distinct niches. What development they experience remains simplistic, however, and while Han gets the most of it, his arc doesn't amount to a whole lot more than the predictable routine of a wannabe outlaw realizing he cares. Ehrenreich doesn't particularly resemble Harrison Ford, but he's fun in the part, and Donald Glover does a great Billy Dee Williams impression, clearly having a great time.
With the lighter tone also comes a solid comedic sensibility. As in Rogue One, the droid steals the show, but unlike that film she isn't alone in her snark, and thankfully there's plenty of amusing dialogue and visual gags to fill the space between action beats and justify the rapid-fire plotting. This is stylistically one of the least distinguished Star Wars films, but the series continues to have world-class design, and the setting is always interesting to look at even when the shot compositions aren't. Solo is unfortunately prone to far too many darkly-lit scenes, and the action can sometimes be difficult to make out in the low lighting, which is a shame because while the action is the least inspired of the new Star Wars movies, it's at least competently filmed, filled with great choreography, and built on a series of fun concepts.
Thematically, Solo is even simpler than Rogue One, not really exploring any ideas more complex than "do the right thing." It has a more detailed view of poverty, and its greater focus on the actions of a criminal syndicate called the Crimson Dawn, are somewhat different from what the film series usually focuses on, but the grubby streets of Corellia are not explored in significant detail, and the syndicate provides less moral ambiguity than did the treasonous activities depicted in Rogue One. However, that Solo has less thematic baggage than the prior two instalments makes it a solid alternative, providing a vision of Star Wars as a summer spectacle, if not a particularly distinguished one. This, more than The Last Jedi or even The Force Awakens, is the "fun" Star Wars movie.
And that's why Solo is still a satisfying entry in this series, despite representing Star Wars at its most calculated and generic. It may tie together this universe far too neatly, but it's consistently upbeat and even features its fair share of modestly clever sequences, and more importantly, it remains highly entertaining throughout. A solid sense of comedy, well-crafted action scenes, a polished narrative, and the usual visual creativity of the Star Wars world makes for a highly competent and altogether fun summer blockbuster, even if this series is capable of so much more. Solo may not be the most inspired of these films, but that doesn't prevent it from being a very pleasant watch, and it even conjures up some memorable scenes despite itself. The baseline competence of these films is high enough that even the disappointments are good movies.
7/10
+ New characters are charismatic, and old characters are performed capably.
+ Fast-paced and consistently funny.
+ Solid action.
- Sometimes poorly lit.
- Especially after Last Jedi, the lack of personality here is very apparent.
- Attempts to explain Han's backstory consistently feel unnecessary and make this universe feel small.
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