LucasDisney brings us the Han Solo origin story nobody really asked for, recasting several iconic roles to get the ages right and unintentionally positioning the new crew behind the eight ball because, let’s face it, Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams are an awfully tough act to follow. This is really the breaking point of the entire picture: either you’ll accept Alden Ehrenreich as the Skywalker family’s favorite bootlegging scoundrel, minus about fifteen years, or you’ll never be able to move past the comparison and the movie will have already lost you.
I thought I was in the second camp, avoided the film for years due to it, then found I was actually in the first. Ehrenreich doesn’t look like Harrison, doesn’t move like him and barely manages a halfway decent vocal approximation, but somehow, he fits the role. He carries the same charismatic magnetism, the same visible delight over adventure, excitement and ridiculously long odds. He’s got more nervous energy than a sugar-crusted toddler, a witty retort for every occasion and, crucially, he’s fun to watch, whether luck is on his side or, more often, not. I still think the film would’ve been better served by a brand new character struck by the same circumstances, but then we’d lose the little dashes of lore and history that make the third act such a rich ride.
Donald Glover, on the other hand, is unqualifiably excellent as Lando, all swagger and confidence and allure. I just wish he had more to do. As it stands, he’s little more than a flashy minor supporting character who conveniently connects plot waypoints. I’m sure his role would have expanded in the planned sequels, but no extended franchise is a given - even in the Star Wars universe - and, as those follow-ups appear to be dead in the water, it’s now just a missed opportunity.
Solo was better than I expected. I enjoyed it, in fact, largely because it had the balls not to take itself so damned seriously. A New Hope wasn’t all grit and consequence, so why have so many of the newer films leaned so hard in that direction? I’m curious how much of this one’s pervasive sense of humor can be attributed to original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, chased from the project after five months because the Disney bosses found their work “too screwball.” New captain Ron Howard toes a difficult line in maintaining that freewheeling air while also mixing in a little gravitas, but he gets carried away with sentimentality at the very end.
Review by drqshadowBlockedParent2024-01-23T16:16:32Z
LucasDisney brings us the Han Solo origin story nobody really asked for, recasting several iconic roles to get the ages right and unintentionally positioning the new crew behind the eight ball because, let’s face it, Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams are an awfully tough act to follow. This is really the breaking point of the entire picture: either you’ll accept Alden Ehrenreich as the Skywalker family’s favorite bootlegging scoundrel, minus about fifteen years, or you’ll never be able to move past the comparison and the movie will have already lost you.
I thought I was in the second camp, avoided the film for years due to it, then found I was actually in the first. Ehrenreich doesn’t look like Harrison, doesn’t move like him and barely manages a halfway decent vocal approximation, but somehow, he fits the role. He carries the same charismatic magnetism, the same visible delight over adventure, excitement and ridiculously long odds. He’s got more nervous energy than a sugar-crusted toddler, a witty retort for every occasion and, crucially, he’s fun to watch, whether luck is on his side or, more often, not. I still think the film would’ve been better served by a brand new character struck by the same circumstances, but then we’d lose the little dashes of lore and history that make the third act such a rich ride.
Donald Glover, on the other hand, is unqualifiably excellent as Lando, all swagger and confidence and allure. I just wish he had more to do. As it stands, he’s little more than a flashy minor supporting character who conveniently connects plot waypoints. I’m sure his role would have expanded in the planned sequels, but no extended franchise is a given - even in the Star Wars universe - and, as those follow-ups appear to be dead in the water, it’s now just a missed opportunity.
Solo was better than I expected. I enjoyed it, in fact, largely because it had the balls not to take itself so damned seriously. A New Hope wasn’t all grit and consequence, so why have so many of the newer films leaned so hard in that direction? I’m curious how much of this one’s pervasive sense of humor can be attributed to original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, chased from the project after five months because the Disney bosses found their work “too screwball.” New captain Ron Howard toes a difficult line in maintaining that freewheeling air while also mixing in a little gravitas, but he gets carried away with sentimentality at the very end.