My expectations for "Solo: A Star Wars Story" before the movie came out were at rock bottom. As someone who's been mostly disappointed by Disney's Star Wars movies, I feared for what they were going to do with one of my favorite characters of all time. If I'm being honest, the only reason I actually saw this movie was because I didn't have to pay for my ticket.
After watching the movie, I walked out somewhat pleased because it was better than what I expected.
I thought the movie would be a disaster after seeing its troubled development. Former directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired due to creative differences with Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy and the movie had to go through reshoots with new director Ron Howard. Rumors came out afterward that Alden Ehrenreich needed an acting coach for his performance as Han Solo and I was deeply troubled by this. I thought it was a bad idea to even try and have someone else play Han Solo that wasn't named Harrison Ford and this certainly kept my expectations down.
Well, Ehrenreich did a pretty good job and he proved me wrong. It's still weird to me that his portrayal of Han will eventually turn into Harrison Ford in the original trilogy but he certainly wasn't bad. He carries over the same charisma that Harrison Ford had and while it's not as effective in this movie compared to Ford's performance, that's the point of the character because of his young age and limited experience in the lawless underworld of Star Wars.
Solo has its flaws, some of them are pretty big ones. One is that the cinematography of the movie is ugly. I had problems with the lighting especially. Too many scenes were murky and dark where they obviously weren't supposed to be. There were moments where I couldn't even tell who I was looking at because of the of the lighting. At one point, I turned around and looked at the theater's projector to see if there was anything wrong with it.
The other big problem I saw with the film was the pacing up until the end of the second act with about 90 minutes left in the movie. I was kind of bored up until then and I was annoyed by the droid character of L3-37. Her activism for droid rights was so over the top and exaggerated I wasn't sure if the movie was secretly trying to make fun of the social justice movement in reality. I understand that Disney is trying to bring positive underlying themes in their Star Wars movies now. To me, it doesn't make sense in the context of the Star Wars galaxy that has existed for the last 40 years and it changes the tone of what's supposed to be a fun fantasy space adventure. The Last Jedi had it and this movie had it and audience scores have not been too positive.
As soon as the movie got to that second and third act, I actually thought those scenes were really good. It started to feel like James Bond in the Star Wars underworld and I was having a lot of fun with it.
I also really enjoyed the dynamic between Han and Chewbacca. The scenes that included them were great and the movie really nailed the bond between the two. It makes complete sense why Chewbacca would choose to stick around with Han and it was heartwarming to see the two of them on screen together. I actually wish there were more scenes with just them. Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian was also great despite the more limited role than I expected him to have in the film. I thought the film could've used a lot more of him instead of what it ended up using in the first act.
If I had to sum up the movie, I would call it decent. It didn't butcher any of my beloved characters like The Last Jedi did, and it wasn't throwing nostalgia on the screen like Rogue One did. This was a small story and the Empire was barely even in the movie. They have a presence, but they weren't directly essential to the story and I thought that was a refreshing take on a Star Wars movie.
I think this is actually my favorite Disney Star Wars movie, which doesn't say a lot because I've been very disappointed with their take on the franchise. It's not great, but it's not bad either. To me, it's a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, a mediocre Star Wars movie will always be a disappointment in the eyes of the fans.
