[yasr_overall_rating]
During an adventure into a dark criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his future copilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian years before joining the Rebellion.
For those who know me, they know that Harrison Ford has always been my favorite actor. More accurately, since I was 9 years old, having just watched “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in the summer of 1981 for the very first time. My father walked out on my mother and my sister and me when I was young and Harrison Ford became my surrogate father figure, the kind of man I needed in my life and thanks to good old reliable VHS tapes, I could access him any time I needed to. He will always be Han Solo and Indiana Jones but I am not opposed to a younger actor stepping in and taking over the mantle and with “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” Alden Ehrenreich has done exactly that, with admirable results. He obviously studied Harrison Ford’s mannerisms and idiosyncrasies and utilizes them throughout the movie to great effect but thankfully, he also infuses the Han Solo character with enough of his own traits and characteristics so that should Disney decide they want to do another Solo adventure, Ehrenreich will become Solo for a new generation.
The film gives us the backstory on our favorite scruffy-looking nerf herder as he starts out on the planet of Corellia along with Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), the love of his life. Trying to escape the clutches of the Empire, they almost succeed but Qi’ra is captured and she tells Han to go and he promises to come back for her. Over the next few years, he meets our favorite Wookiee, Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), and they team up with Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), a thief who is out for a big payday and when he loses one of his men, Han and Chewie agree to take his place, much to the annoyance of Val (Thandie Newton), Beckett’s love interest. When the deal doesn’t go according to plan, Beckett must inform Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), the leader of a very big crime syndicate called Crimson Dawn, and the person who hired him, that they didn’t achieve their objective. Before having them all killed, Qi’ra emerges from the shadows and asks Dryden to spare their lives. When he asks why, Han states that they could steal unprocessed coaxium, a very rare mineral, from the mines on Kessel and Dryden agrees, as long as Qi’ra accompanies them.
On their trek into deep space, she informs Han that she did what she had to in order to stay alive and works for Dryden now as his “personal assistant.” Along the way, they meet Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), a smooth-talking smuggler who owns the fastest ship in the galaxy, the Millennium Falcon. After reaching their destination, Lando’s droid co-pilot L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), starts a riot among all of the droids there and they barely escape with their lives and the shipment of unprocessed coaxium but because it is unprocessed, they must make it back to Dryden in time before it explodes.
Fans were somewhat divided when Disney announced news of this film back in 2015 as many felt trying to establish Han Solo and his backstory, was completely unnecessary, much like the prequels. There was also a lot of behind-the-scenes turmoil during its production, with original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller being replaced by veteran filmmaker Ron Howard, due to “creative differences,” and because of this, many people, including myself, were very skeptical as to how it would turn out but fear not, it is actually one of the best Star Wars movies out there. While technically it is a standalone film and not connected in any way to the original Star Wars series, it puts to shame all of the prequels and the lackluster “The Last Jedi.” When George Lucas shot the original trilogy, he built real sets which felt authentic and utterly believable and Howard has followed suit here, with very little in the way of CGI being used for anything other than necessary special effects. The Millennium Falcon was built to scale so when the actors stand next to it, you know it’s the real deal. I also enjoyed “Rogue One,” another entry in the Star Wars universe that was not a part of the original series and at the rate these standalone movies are being made, and their overall impressive narratives, they may surpass the uninspired quality of Disney’s new Star Wars trilogy and offer fans a new hope.
In theaters Friday, May 25th
