Movie Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story

Certificate 12A, 135 minutes

Director: Ron Howard

Stars: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke

Solo: A Star Wars Story is the second film offshoot from the main sequence of Star Wars films, after Rogue One. This one is about a young Han Solo and it starts with how the crime syndicates run people’s lives and how, on the planet Corellia, Lady Proxima takes in young children and turns them to a life of crime in exchange for protection.

Corellia – Not a Nice Place to Live

It starts on the planet Corellia, a place that looks like an unpleasant cross between a futuristic urban slum and factory that people live in. A young man is jacking a landspeeder to get away from some people pursuing him. The young man’s name is Han (Alden Ehrenreich) and he returns to Lady Proxima’s. He has a plan to get himself and his girlfriend Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) off the planet, by using some coaxium (valuable hyperdrive fuel) that he has pocketed as a bribe. Han has dreams of being a pilot, and the pair want to buy their own ship.

The escape does not quite go to plan. Han escapes, but Qi’ra is captured by Lady Proxima’s goons. Han sees an advert on joining the Empire’s forces (the theme music to the advert is The Imperial March, aka Darth Vader’s Theme!) and decides to sign up. Lacking a family name, the recruiting officer gives Han the last name of “Solo” and Han joins the Imperial Navy, promising to return for Qi’ra.

Three years later and Han is not flying ships but instead fighting a war on a very muddy battleground, one in which the Imperial troopers do not appear to be doing that well. After Han’s commanding officer is blown to pieces, he is helped by a rather dramatic captain, Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), who is accompanied by another couple of troopers, Val (Thandie Newton) and Rio (Jon Favreau, Spider-Man: Homecoming). Han spots that there is something off about Captain Beckett and calls him out on this, saying that he knows that Beckett and his colleagues are really there to steal equipment. This also doesn’t work out well initially for Han, and he ends up being tossed in a pit with “The Beast” for the latter to eat. The Beast is actually a Wookie, so it comes as no great surprise when he turns out to be called Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) – a name that Han says needs to be shortened to a nickname – and the pair team up.

Han and Chewbacca join Beckett and his crew to carry off a train heist. Things do not go entirely to plan, and they end up having to make a deal with Crimson Dawn syndicate crime lord (but not ultimate boss; that individual comes as a surprise) Dryden Voss (Paul Bettany, Avengers: Infinity War). Whose lieutenant is Qi’ra. Who would appear to have done some bad things to get of Corellia, although these are never mentioned.

To do the deal, they need a fast ship, and Qi’ra takes them to meet a, retired, smuggler – Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover). Who has a very fast ship, the Millennium Falcon. And a rather opinionated droid co-pilot, L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). So, everyone is assembled and mayhem ensues.

The Ship that Did the Kessel Run in 12 Parsecs

This was a fairly nonsensical-seeming phrase about how fast the Millennium Falcon is that was introduced in A New Hope. A parsec is a unit of distance, so surely to measure how fast a ship can go you would need a unit of time? Solo explains this finally in one of films; the Kessel Run is the only safe passage to the mining colony of Kessel, and it is a certain distance. The Millennium Falcon, in this film, goes a shorter way, cutting a significant chunk of the distance.

Han Shot First

In A New Hope, in the Mos Eisley cantina, Han originally shot one of Jabba the Hutt’s enforcers before the latter could shoot him. As Solo’s character became more heroic in later films, this was altered to show the enforcer shooting first. Well, in this film, there is a scene when Han most definitely shoots first.

Shout Outs to Return of the Jedi?

There are a few bits in the film that seem to be deliberately referencing scenes from Return of the Jedi. Han makes a threat with a thermal detonator, Beckett wears a helmet that looks rather like one that Lando is wearing as one of Jabba’s guards and Han gets thrown into a pit to face “the Beast,” which brings back memories of the rancor pit in Jabba’s palace.

Solo: A Star Wars Story in Review

The film is available in 2D and 3D, with the 2D version being the one watched. There are a few space combat scenes, so it looks as if the film would have been okay in 3D.

Solo is set well before the events of A New Hope, so we get to see a very young Han Solo, one who it appears is rather less cynical and more idealistic, whatever he might say, than the older version was when he was first met, yet one who shows promises of the hero that one would evolve into becoming. Ehrenreich, as the young Solo, has to replace Harrison Ford, and to say that is difficult is an understatement. Ehrenreich will be constantly compared to Ford’s portrayal of Han Solo, and that really is an impossible bar to reach, one of the most iconic characters of the films. Ehrenreich lacks Ford’s lopsided smile, so whenever this young Han Solo smiles, it just doesn’t look right.

None of the primary characters are really saints. All have their rough patches, and have come through bad situations. Glover’s Lando is an interesting character, a dandy and good dresser who is very fond of his ship, a rather shiny-looking Millennium Falcon. The droid L3-37 is an interesting and outspoken character, who is campaigning for droid rights – and definitely female, which is unusual for droids. Beckett acts as a sort of mentor for Han, but he is a mentor with a rather more cynical outlook on life. Even though the protagonists may be criminals, this isn’t really a dark film and has some definite light hearted moments. It isn’t a comedic film though.

Solo could be described as a “space western;” the characters have guns in quick-draw holsters (we see Han get his trademark gun) and there is even a scene where a train is robbed by what are essentially a gang of outlaws. It’s a futuristic train, and the outlaws aren’t on horses, but there are definite similarities.

Although this film definitely stands by itself, and doesn’t reference the main film series much, there are some definite openings for spin-offs and sequels. They aren’t so much things that are left hanging, as threads that could be developed further. Of the two spin-off films out to date, Rogue One would definitely appear to be the superior film in terms of story, but this one is perhaps more fun. It’s an action adventure film with some really spectacular action set-pieces, and some nice space scenes during the Kessel Run. Solo: A Star Wars Story has some good characters but overall feels like a fairly safe film that isn’t pushing any boundaries, and given its crew of thieves, crime lords and smugglers, boundaries could definitely have been pushed.