Solo

I’ll be up front and state that I was against the idea of a Han Solo prequel movie. It just seems weird having someone not Harrison Ford play Han at roughly the same age he was in the first movie. It seemed exploitative to me in some way.

That being said, I have to admit that I did enjoy it. I was genuinely entertained throughout and found the story acceptable as a origin for this iconic character. For the most part, this seems like the kind of shenanigans he would have gotten himself into.

And of course, Chewie’s in it!

There were parts of the movie I didn’t care for, parts that felt too un-Star Wars-like,similar to the casino section of Last Jedi, or pretty much the entirely of Rogue One. Perhaps the biggest of these was the L3 droid character. She was unceasingly irritating. There was also a lot of cheap pander points, but I guess that’s to be expected.

*Note: There are some spoilers beyond this point

Speaking of pander points, there were a couple of “originy” things I did appreciate. I liked where the Solo part of his name came from, and I also liked the reason why he was so drawn to the Falcon. And I have to say I liked how Han and Chewie met.

That Darth Maul part though just made… no sense.

So I found it mostly enjoyable, especially considering how adverse I was to the concept itself. I liked the story for the most part, other than the change with the marauders and how we were suddenly supposed to immediately join their side. But otherwise things turned out not exactly the way you’d think they would, but in a way which still felt true to the film.

Not bad. Odds were this wasn’t going to be a good movie. But never tell him the odds.

7/10