Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

You know, it's funny how life unfolds.

You start off creating these elaborate plans to keep yourself well-versed with the Star Wars canon, moreso polishing yourself and shaking off any rust. You plan to finish the half of the Star Wars films you haven't seen, or in the case of Attack of the Clones, haven't seen in a while, but then life overworks you, you get sidetracked, box office returns for the newest effort take a surprising turn for the negative, and then you just have to say...

Today, Solo will be judged solo.

The film centers on the lovable scoundrel himself, Han Solo, beginning as a child criminal from Corellia. As a member of a gang, he steals in exchange for food and shelter. However, he attempts to escape Corellia with his girlfriend, Qi'ra, and while he manages to escape, Qi'ra is stopped by officers and Solo vows for their reunion. After a failed stint in the Navy, he soon pairs up with a criminal, Tobias Beckett, and one Wookie, Chewbacca, and they all head off on an adventure to steal a fuel source, coaxium, all along the way encountering a smuggler, Lando Calrissian, and a reunion with Solo's girlfriend, Qi'ra, which may include some dark, awkward implications.

Honestly, the first quarter of this film left me feeling rather empty. I think, through it all, one of my main gripes was with Han Solo himself, Alden Ehrenreich. Now, this is definitely a make-it-or-break-it type of role for him. He's usually known for being a mere aspect in films directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, and the Coen Brothers. He clearly surrounds himself with good company, but it's another thing to be a blockbuster leading man.

Apparently, Lucasfilm hired an acting coach for Ehrenreich shortly after receiving the role and...yeah, it shows. His initial impact and vibe for the first thirty minutes strikes as frustratingly unctuous. Every beat, every emotional shift, his delivery; all of them feel too precisely studied and too tightly disciplined. It feels less like Han Solo and more like an actor praying to God that the audience buys him as Solo.

However, it doesn't help that Solo as a character is hampered by a leaden, generic, appallingly rudimentary story in the movie's opening. This character, who has produced a legacy of being charmingly edgy, has his backstory curtailed to being an ambitious, loose cannon with a heart of gold, who is determined to be a pilot, despite him being an undisciplined ruffian. Oh, and his main pursuit is simply a girlfriend, because apparently, Star Wars films really like to take characters with ambiguous backgrounds and gargantuan spirits and dilute that package down to, "Sigh! I need my girlfriend back. Fuck power! Fuck the Force! I need love!"

The story begins so underwhelmingly that the most simple revelations of Solo's backstory feel contrived and forced. For example, it turns out Han Solo's name was given by a Naval officer because, fuck it, he has no family and he's there Solo. For a name with such gravity and such innumerable possibilities, it seems to be introduced, resolved, and brushed over rather abruptly. Or how about the fact that Solo's meeting of Chewbacca boiled down to Chewbacca was going to eat him and Solo managed to talk/roar his way out of it. Ignoring the fact that he doesn't speak Wookie to Chewbacca for the rest of the film, why couldn't there have been another monster trying to eat Solo and Chewbacca saves him from it? That would be more interesting than this humdrum, too-recycled-even-for-Disney route.

On that note, the first 30 minutes of the film showcases Tobias being happy with his lady and...well, I'm sure you can follow where I'm going with this. The story and the characters in the beginning are interpreted and realized so thinly and without any sort of pizzazz or vitality that it stultifies the action sequences. You just sit there watching movement...I guess...and speed...I guess, but there's nothing to engage or rile up the viewer. So yeah, the first half-hour or so is deadly dull.

And then, something happens.

The movie, specifically director Ron Howard (welcome to the galaxy, Mr. Cunningham) and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (Luke, HE is your father), along with his son, Jonathan Kasdan, realize that Solo and all of the characters are physical beings, but work better as components. It dawned on me while I was watching this that this franchise is the most universal, cinema franchise for a reason. It's the superlative, most uniform example of the "greater sum of parts." The pacing, the visuals, the characters, the story, the motivations, the emotions, the philosophies, the logistics, the locations, the make-up; all of these factors need to be attuned with each other, in order to make a successful Star Wars film. If one aspect either lags or is too heavily punctuated and honed in on over another aspect, something's gonna feel off.

The solo reason (haha) why the first fourth of the film is so dull is because it focuses on the least interesting parts. We don't care about Solo's romance because it's a romance, but because of the alchemy and charm behind it. And that's what Ehrenreich, admittedly, does receive after a rocky start: charm. When he's allowed to stop trying to stand out on his own and instead is allowed to immerse himself in this world, that is when we see the dogged charisma that Harrison Ford laid the groundwork for. 

However, the other actors manage to stand out, as well. Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett supplies his idiosyncratic, delirious charm and furious, menacing spirit. Emilia Clarke, justifiably, goes from Game of Thrones to Star Wars, playing Qi'Ra. Much like Ehrenreich, she becomes much more intriguing as she grows out of a mere love-struck damsel and fleshes out into a torn, trapped, and vulnerable lady. And then, there's our universal black Everyman, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. While, admittedly, he does struggle in some of the emotional moments, he spotlights the screen with a self-content smile that never leaves and his devilishly mellifluous baritone. Apparently, Billy Dee Williams himself instructed Glover to just be charming when portraying Lando. Thanks for the lesson, Mr. Williams. Now, we can have Glover for life, yes?

In addition, once the film becomes more surefooted, the action sequences become much more exciting. Also, in a shocking turn of events, Williams has turned over primary musical composition duties to John Powell, with Williams only contributing the basic themes. However, I never would have known, because Powell's score is just as soaring and sweeping as William's.

I guess it's fitting that Ron Howard directed this. I would describe him as a competent director, but not a masterful one. In most of the films I've seen from him (Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code, The Grinch), his ambition and energy are bar none, but his execution always seems too precisely quantitative. He knows just what action sequence goes here, what antidote goes here, what heartfelt moment goes here, but he never really seems to transcend beyond that. His movies are effective, but not necessarily masterpieces. However, while he may lack in a genteel, exquisite style, he makes up for in entertainment.

It definitely must've made for both an interesting and strenuous experience for Howard, what with it being his first Star Wars film to direct and one where he had to reshoot 70% of it, but Howard usually manages to do just enough. And here, he's done just enough. Donald Glover Beautifully Smiling for An Hour...er...I mean, Solo: A Star Wars Story is a solid place-holder in the Star Wars universe.

As a solo effort, it works just fine.

RATING: Three out of four stars