Star Wars has been of
course recognized as one of the biggest movie franchises of all time, which is
undeniable. However, with this new movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story, they’re
tackling something that is different. Not only are they doing a prequel movie,
but a movie based around one of their most iconic characters, in the form of
Han Solo. On paper, it may sound like something with a lot of potential,
however, Solo, while not a terrible movie has unfortunately becomes a bit of a
disappointment, being an all-around average film with not much excitement as
there could have been for a character like Han Solo.
The film of course
centers on Han Solo, and shows the early days of his career as a smuggler,
going on adventures, meeting up with characters like Chewbacca and Lando and
just around the time as the empire is starting to take over the galaxy. The
film has a basic story with him teaming up with a group of bounty hunters and
going on a missions and trying to the save rest of the Galaxy, which could
provide as a fun simple romp through the galaxy with Han and his crew. Where
this movie suffers big time however that prevents it from being all that
exciting boils down to three words, BY, THE, NUMBERS. Solo becomes a rather
dull romp with a story that is incredibly predictable and has very few
surprises woven into the film and being too simplistic. Granted, it is a hard
task to create a movie that isn’t very predictable when you all know too well
that Han Solo is going to make it out okay, knowing that it is a prequel film,
however the film doesn’t add too much as a film, it’s a simple team getting
together and rebel story and there’s not much to it outside of it. There aren’t
any real risks taken with this film compared to most other Star Wars movies,
which makes it honestly not very exciting with it going the exact route you
would expect a movie like this to go. Even if the story was predictable, the
film doesn’t have enough to sustain it further, as the writing is bland, with
moments of humor that don’t land, characters that aren’t really fleshed out that
entire well, and a lack of style and direction this film could have benefitted
from big time. It also does not help at all that the film has a huge pacing
problem, it is two hours and fifteen minutes long and it feels like a good
portion of the movie could have been cut out. Rather than feeling like a three
act structured movie, the film near the ends, feels more like it has an unneeded
fourth act. With so much happening throughout most of the movie, there is a
point where the film could easily wrap up, but it ends up going on for another
20 minutes and it’s not a very exciting 20 minutes. It just feels like Solo was
wasted potential on a story that could be good, but it just became one of the
most basic Star Wars films ever made.
As mentioned earlier,
the characters of Solo are somewhat lacking in this department as well,
however, it isn’t to say that the actors aren’t trying their best with the
material given to them. For all the flack Alden Ehrenreich has gotten for
taking on the part of Han Solo, he actually delivers a decent performance. He does
come across as a younger version of the character and while he isn’t given that
much to work with, he does well with giving off the impression of the classic
smuggler character Harrison Ford was known for. The rest of the new additions
from Woody Harrelson to Emilia Clarke, while lacking as characters themselves,
they are doing their best and making their characters a bit more entertaining
than the script would originally let them to be. The highlight of the cast is
easily Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. Not only is the character authentic
to the original version and Glover is extremely entertaining as Lando, but he is
easily a part of some of the best scenes in the entire movie, especially an
incredibly well edited and fascinating card game sequence with Han that might
be the best moment in the entire film. As for the rest of the cast, while the
actors do their best and all the characters have their moments, they kind of
seem like throw away characters as they’re only there for a bit and as soon as
they leave, most of them don’t leave that much of an impact, with the exception
of Lando’s droid friend who has a nice subtle element to her character that
gives a bit more impact to the film. The only other true standout of this
character wise is a surprise cameo that was not seen coming and was actually
fascinating to see, of course it shouldn’t be spoiled, but it is certainly a
jaw dropping appearance if anything. But other than that, the characters do
save this movie somewhat; they don’t have as much impact as they should have
unfortunately due to the lack of development given to them.
With any star wars
movie, it should be expected that the film should be visually impressive in a
lot of ways, and for the most part Solo does deliver. The film is visually
impressive in terms of art direction, with every set, character design and just
over-all aesthetics having the feeling of classic star wars. The film continues
on a great trend of modern Star Wars movies using practical effects and it
delivering on looking authentic, along with having some incredibly good use of
CGI at point. From the sounds of it, this film seems like the perfect visually
impressive Star Wars movie, however, there is an element that kind of kills It,
which is an incredibly lackluster color palette. The film is shot way too dark
and the impressive visuals feel honestly lifeless with the film looking too
murky and gritty for its own good. There is a serious lack of color for this
movie, which would be okay if this movie had a tone that matches it, but
honestly, the film tone strives more for exciting and fun and this color
palette does not match it at all. It could be assume that the film is trying to
have a lesser color palette due to the film taking place during the reign of
the empire, however Rogue One took place years after this film and it had a
perfectly balance and bright color palette, so that would not be a good excuse
for this film’s lack of color. It is a shame that the color palette tarnishes
this films aesthetics because everything else seems right into place from the
creature and set designs to the music and easter eggs that makes the film very aesthetically
pleasing. It’s not an awful looking film by any means, but seeing one element
that makes the film look too dark, gives a film an honestly lacking visually
look.
Solo, while far from a terrible star wars
story, is honestly an unremarkable one. It has some element that makes it enjoyable
for a single watch, with some fun moments and neat characters making it a bit
more redeemable. But none of that can save a movie that is very lacking with a
dull script, poor pacing and an unimpressive color palette that make the film
less exciting than it could have been. For Star Wars fans, there is some to be
enjoyed enough to view it at least once, however outside of that, it seems like
a movie some could easily skip and they wouldn’t really miss much. Solo is an
average star wars story and nothing more but also nothing less.
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