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Solo Movie Review

Solo is a 2018 western science fiction action film directed by Ron Howard and starring Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover. It’s a passable, but very forgettable movie.

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“Everything you’ve heard about me is true“

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The film is famous for being the first true box office bomb for the studio. Although it did get solid reviews, it was hated by some fans and was a colossal financial disaster for this usually Teflon franchise. Thus, I came into this movie with very low expectations and I got exactly what I expected to get – a very mild, forgettable and just okay SW installment. Pretty harmless overall.

It follows the early years of Han Solo, him meeting Chewbacca as well as Lando Calrissian. Although some of his adventures are interesting to see, I did get the sense that this was an unnecessary prequel. But actually, any prequel can work if you make it a really good film. Take ‘Monsters University’ for instance. So the problem here is that the storytelling is simply very poor, the overall plot is rather familiar, the execution is too straightforward and the movie simply lacks excitement and a sense of genuine fun.

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Alden Ehrenreich is actually very good as Han Solo. I do realize how some would object to him as he is not Harrison Ford of course, but I personally find him to be as close as possible of a substitute and he still is arrogant and a joker so it works. Chewy is as annoying as he always is, but Qi’ra I actually quite liked, I quite liked that cameo at the end and of course Woody Harrelson is reliably good.

I did not like that robot L3-37 at all. She has an annoying voice and is overly aggressive in everything she says. Val is also forgettable. They killed off these two characters in the second act, but because I didn’t really get to meet them properly, I did not feel anything. Donald Glover as Lando is the best thing about the film. I usually absolutely hate this actor, but here I loved him. He basically is Lando, he was perfectly cast and he delivered one very charismatic, fun performance.

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Solo is not worth talking about more in detail in my opinion so let’s just wrap this up. The special effects are strong, but this high budget for this prequel was needlessly excessive. Ron Howard’s direction is pedestrian, the action is well executed but overwhelming and the humor is disappointing. The dialogue is solid and the western approach is interesting, but the pacing is overly fast and I was bored with the movie. It’s thus even worse than ‘Rogue One’. This is a very bad projectory for the studio and I wish they would focus more on original ideas instead of rehashing these old characters, and if they really set out to rehash them, at least make a more entertaining film out of them.

Solo is a harmless film which definitely has its memorable moments, Alden Ehrenreich is actually a very good Han and Donald Glover’s charismatic Lando absolutely steals the show, but the film’s storyline is weak, overly safe and boring, the action is overwhelming and I felt the absence of fun and excitement throughout. It’s thus easily the weakest of the new SW movies.