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Solo: A Star Wars Story
Spoiler free. This movie has grown on me since watching it with my office friends last night. It’s not a great movie, but it’s a solid Star Wars story — which is exactly what it says in the title.
I should preface any Star Wars comment with a borrowed stance from John Siracusa on the topic:
I prefer to live in an universe where there’s a Star Wars movie every year, rather than the alternative of just having the three original movies exist.
Even with this lowered bar, I haven’t been an instant fan of the new ones. I did enjoy Rogue One a lot, even with its weird plot moments.
If Rogue One had some big ups and downs, Solo is flatter. Which isn’t a bad thing. While I did laugh out loud in Rogue One a lot, I mostly smiled throughout Solo. Yet the movie felt more consistent.
All the characters that we know from the original trilogy — including the Millennium Falcon — were familiar and recognizable. Naturally different enough since they’re younger, but similar without being an imitation of the original performance.
Just after leaving the theater, I wondered if this was a movie for average Star Wars fans, but after playing it back in my mind it’s quite the opposite. There’s so many references to the expanded universe that I didn’t recognize most. Even some references to the original movies flew over my head.
I had fun during the movie and thinking about how it expands the Star Wars universe in my head-cannon afterwards. And that’s good enough for me.