200.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
7/10
Every year we are getting a Star War movie thanks to Disney and they usually come around December time. This year, due to their own ideas about how successful their latest instalment was going to be, it got thrown at us pretty early on. I'm not going to complain too much because I was in the same mind frame. This wasn't part of the main trilogy that carries on after The Last Jedi, this was going to be featuring a young Han Solo and his story. Just like Rouge One was a one-off, this could be the exact same scenario. Alden Ehrenreich is going to be tasked with bringing one of Harrison Ford's most famous characters back to the big screen and this is no easy task. The rest of the cast isn't too bad either. We have Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Paul Bettany and Emilia Clarke. I have a little problem with Clarke because although her character in Thrones is a dry cow, she transferred this across in the latest Terminator movie and I hated her acting. I really hope she's better in this. Before going in, it was hard not to read some of the so-called critics rip this movie apart but one good thing was how highly Ford spoke of the role played by Ehrenreich and that's the highest praise you could get. Let's get into this and find out if the idea of bringing a young Solo to the screen should have been left in a galaxy far, far away.
The movie begins with the traditional 'A long time ago...' but without the scroll and then moves downwards with a mini heist gone wrong for Han and Qi'ra. Once apprehended, we instantly get back into the style and quick wit that we have come to know from Han. We've seen a kiss scene with Qi'ra, so there's the love interest. The main task for them was to steal a fuel called Coaxium but when this goes wrong, they are forced to try and leave the planet in a high-speed chase through some streets before arriving at a spaceport and carrying on, on foot in disguise.
Han makes it through 'immigration' but the girlfriend isn't lucky enough. She gets taken and Han is broken, joining the Empire to become a pilot and work his way back to this planet and find Qi'ra. As he signs up, he is asked his name, to which he actually doesn't have a last name. This means that it was someone from the Empire that gave him the last name of Solo, with him not having 'people' that he belongs to.
Three years later and Han is on a war field. He's been kicked out of the academy for not listening to orders. Most of the army on the ground have been killed and Han comes across a small group, one with Captain medals and state that he is in charge now. His name is Tobias Beckett, Harrelson's character and along with his girlfriend Val, Thandie Newton ad an alien voiced by Jon Favreau named Rio. They aren't really there for the fight and are instead looking to steal a ship for a heist they have coming up. Han, who is sick of all the conflicts, wants to join them and threatens to turn them in if they don't let him join. Instead, they turn him in for desertion and he is chucked in with the 'beast'. Now for those wondering where Chewie is, wonder no more. There is a bit of silence and grunting before we hear that familiar noise of Chewbacca entering the scene. Han and this massive hairball have a fight and Han attempts to use Chewie's language to calm him and get them to work together for the escape, which works and even after trying to run in opposite directions, Han explains that they need to catch up with Beckett and his gang in order to escape. They are finally let on board and get off the planet. After cleaning themselves up, they take some time aside to have their first normal chat and exchange names. Han explains that Chewbacca is too long of a name to keep saying and explains that he needs to think of another, shorter name to call him, hence the birth of 'Chewie'. Val still isn't too happy that the pair has joined the crew.
The crew rest on a new planet and they discuss what each will do with their cut. We mainly focus on the fact that Han wants to still return home to Qi'ra, whilst Chewie is on the lookout for his own family who has been enslaved. Their plan is to steal some Coaxium from a train and although they are almost successful, a gang of marauders ambushes them and shit starts to hit the fan. Val ends up still needing to blow the bridge, which she does but takes her own like. Rio gets shot and ends up dying, leaving Han to need to turn pilot and attempt the heist with only Beckett and Chewie left hanging from the carriage. In order to save them, Han cuts the cables and no-one gets the Coaxium, which doesn't go down well with a grieving Beckett, who explains that the Coaxium wasn't for himself. We saw the full force of the Coaxium exploding, bringing down nearly a whole mountain and getting across the point that this concoction is really bad business.
The delivery was meant for a criminal named Dryden Vos, Paul Bettany's character, who is the leader of the Crimson Dawn. Beckett fears to let the duo accompany him due to Vos probably wanting to kill them all. The three get to a luxurious ship that screams bad guy with its colours, clientele and the fact that upstairs, Vos is instantly seeing killing a guy with something that looks like a knuckle-duster with mini lightsabers out the side, it's pretty cool. I'm going to make this clear now. I do not like Paul Bettany as an actor. His voice irritates me massively and I just dislike his roles. This also crosses over into Marvel with how boring Vision is as a character anyway. This though could work. I could actually buy into this villain because I already dislike the actor. This reasoning soon comes to fruition. He's a smarmy bastard and doesn't care about anything. Back at the party, Han is told to keep his head down and don't talk to anyone. This doesn't go well though as he feels a tap on his shoulder, turns around and it's Qi'ra. She's working for Vos, who had helped her out of a tough situation. The gang are heading to Dryden's office and up there they discuss the failed mission and how they are going to make it right. This time they'll die if they fail and Qi'ra has to attend the mission with them, to Han's happiness. She isn't best pleased but knows she has no choice.
The team needs to go to a planet, get some Coaxium that isn't stable and head back to another place to drop it off with Dryden Vos. In order to do this well, they need a decent ship and you'd be an idiot not to see where this is going. They walk in on Lando, who is played by Glover, playing a game of cards and loving it.
He's a confident guy and after a battle, ends up beating Han, with a little help of something up the sleeve. Still though, after meeting his once friend Qi'ra and negotiating a cut with Beckett, Lando joins the crew. He brings with him a smart female droid, who is busy protesting against droid fights that reminded me of watching Robot Wars when I was younger. There's quite a bit of humour and tension brought to the screen between Han, Lando and the droid named L3-37. We are then lead to our first look of the Millennium Falcon, which looks clean and almost unused. Arriving at a mining planet to collection what they need, Qi'ra poses as a woman selling slaves. Beckett is the bodyguard and he's wearing a familiar outfit. It's the disguise Lando used to infiltrate Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi. They finally take out some guards, free the slaves that are already there and cause a riot so that they can get to the lower levels a little easier. On their way, Chewie finds his own family and goes after them to free them all and this comes with Han's best wishes. We know they won't be apart for long and after Han gets the Coaxium and needs help to get it out, in comes Chewie and the rest of the hair bear bunch to save the day. They get the Coaxium on board and are against the clock to make it safe. We do have a casualty though. The droid is down and Lando has been shot on trying to retrieve her. As Han flies out, they are found by an Imperial star destroyer and now they must evade them through the Maw, which is a cluster of black holes.
So the plane they came from was called the mining planet of Kessel and we are about to witness Han do the 'Kessel Run', another homage to other movies. Lando points out that no-one can do it in less than 20 parsecs, which wouldn't give them enough time to make the Coaxium safe. Using a piece of L3's navigation system, they find the only route out that they can take but on they way, they run into a massive monster and need to shake that off first. Beckett injects a small amount of their bounty into the Falcon and boom, they are done in 12 parsecs.
The team is set to meet Dryden on a planet named Savareen and when they think they are nice and relaxed, the same team of marauders from earlier turn up. Han tries to bluff them with a huge team of gunners on the Falcon but Lando has had enough and flies off. The actual marauder theory isn't true though. Beckett always thought this but their leader, Enfys Nest reveals herself as a small resistance against the Empire and doesn't want the Coaxium in the Crimson Dawn's hands. She wants it for her own fight. A plan needs to be made. Beckett doesn't want to be part of it and instead flees the scene. We are left out of the actual plan and instead follow Han, Qi'ra and Chewie as they bring the Coaxium to Dryden. On inspection, he instantly knows that they are fake and shit starts to hit the fan. There was an inside man who grassed them all in and this man was Beckett. He had filled Dryden in on the outline of any betrayal that was coming. Han however, has thought this was coming. Earlier in the movie, Beckett has told Han never to trust anybody. This is the rule he followed and the Coaxium in the room is actually the real deal. Beckett sees his chance, take the Coaxium and Chewie as ahostage, leaving the ship and the rest to fight amongst each other. Qi'ra turns on Dryden and after a fight scene, stabs him with his own blade and tells Han to chase down Beckett. He does so and Beckett tries to sweet talk his way out of it, whilst also slowly reaching for his gun. Han notices this and shoots first, killing him. That right, Han shoots first! Meanwhile, back on the ship, Qi'ra contacts her true boss and this is probably the best moment of the movie. Up pops a hologram of a shadowy figure and after a few seconds of the conversation, the figure reveals themselves. It's Darth Maul! The thing is still alive.
She fills him in on the mission's failure and is soon appointed in Dryden's position. She leaves on the ship with Han and Chewie watching on helplessly. Han is left with simply giving the Coaxium over to Enfys and her team. She offers him a chance to join ranks but he declines and is left with a vial of Coaxium for his troubles. If I never have to mention Coaxium again, it would be too soon. The movie ends with Han finding Lando in another card game and this time he manages to steal Lando's cheat card during a handshake. Han wins using it and even wins the Falcon before going along with Chewie to follow up a lead on Tatooine after Beckett mentioned a job for the Hutts. We end with a scene in hyperspace and I'm buzzed.
I really enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I would. It seemed like Disney hadn't really backed this film, which could give anyone doubts but the only way is up from there really. It was filled with nostalgia and even a few mini storylines that are linked to the original trilogy. It really helps to have seen them to link up but if you're watching this movie, it should be easier to track the links. The cast works really well and Ehrenreich gives a really good account of Solo. The characteristics, even with his gunning stance and the wit, all add to the role. Even Emilia Clarke did well, especially how awkward a felt after seeing her in Terminator. Paul Bettany is far from my cup of tea but as already mentioned, hating him always adds to the hatred when he's going to be playing a villain. The graphics for this were phenomenal. Between each planet, space scene and how each creature of character was perceived, there was always something interesting to draw you further in. I much preferred this to The Last Jedi, by a long way and even with the ending, it felt like I would even want a sequel. Darth Maul has become a cult character over the years for many and to see him back on the screen added to many people's excitement. The studio had a massive amount of pressure on them for this movie and I'm glad that it came through in my opinion.
Han makes it through 'immigration' but the girlfriend isn't lucky enough. She gets taken and Han is broken, joining the Empire to become a pilot and work his way back to this planet and find Qi'ra. As he signs up, he is asked his name, to which he actually doesn't have a last name. This means that it was someone from the Empire that gave him the last name of Solo, with him not having 'people' that he belongs to.
Three years later and Han is on a war field. He's been kicked out of the academy for not listening to orders. Most of the army on the ground have been killed and Han comes across a small group, one with Captain medals and state that he is in charge now. His name is Tobias Beckett, Harrelson's character and along with his girlfriend Val, Thandie Newton ad an alien voiced by Jon Favreau named Rio. They aren't really there for the fight and are instead looking to steal a ship for a heist they have coming up. Han, who is sick of all the conflicts, wants to join them and threatens to turn them in if they don't let him join. Instead, they turn him in for desertion and he is chucked in with the 'beast'. Now for those wondering where Chewie is, wonder no more. There is a bit of silence and grunting before we hear that familiar noise of Chewbacca entering the scene. Han and this massive hairball have a fight and Han attempts to use Chewie's language to calm him and get them to work together for the escape, which works and even after trying to run in opposite directions, Han explains that they need to catch up with Beckett and his gang in order to escape. They are finally let on board and get off the planet. After cleaning themselves up, they take some time aside to have their first normal chat and exchange names. Han explains that Chewbacca is too long of a name to keep saying and explains that he needs to think of another, shorter name to call him, hence the birth of 'Chewie'. Val still isn't too happy that the pair has joined the crew.
The crew rest on a new planet and they discuss what each will do with their cut. We mainly focus on the fact that Han wants to still return home to Qi'ra, whilst Chewie is on the lookout for his own family who has been enslaved. Their plan is to steal some Coaxium from a train and although they are almost successful, a gang of marauders ambushes them and shit starts to hit the fan. Val ends up still needing to blow the bridge, which she does but takes her own like. Rio gets shot and ends up dying, leaving Han to need to turn pilot and attempt the heist with only Beckett and Chewie left hanging from the carriage. In order to save them, Han cuts the cables and no-one gets the Coaxium, which doesn't go down well with a grieving Beckett, who explains that the Coaxium wasn't for himself. We saw the full force of the Coaxium exploding, bringing down nearly a whole mountain and getting across the point that this concoction is really bad business.
The delivery was meant for a criminal named Dryden Vos, Paul Bettany's character, who is the leader of the Crimson Dawn. Beckett fears to let the duo accompany him due to Vos probably wanting to kill them all. The three get to a luxurious ship that screams bad guy with its colours, clientele and the fact that upstairs, Vos is instantly seeing killing a guy with something that looks like a knuckle-duster with mini lightsabers out the side, it's pretty cool. I'm going to make this clear now. I do not like Paul Bettany as an actor. His voice irritates me massively and I just dislike his roles. This also crosses over into Marvel with how boring Vision is as a character anyway. This though could work. I could actually buy into this villain because I already dislike the actor. This reasoning soon comes to fruition. He's a smarmy bastard and doesn't care about anything. Back at the party, Han is told to keep his head down and don't talk to anyone. This doesn't go well though as he feels a tap on his shoulder, turns around and it's Qi'ra. She's working for Vos, who had helped her out of a tough situation. The gang are heading to Dryden's office and up there they discuss the failed mission and how they are going to make it right. This time they'll die if they fail and Qi'ra has to attend the mission with them, to Han's happiness. She isn't best pleased but knows she has no choice.
The team needs to go to a planet, get some Coaxium that isn't stable and head back to another place to drop it off with Dryden Vos. In order to do this well, they need a decent ship and you'd be an idiot not to see where this is going. They walk in on Lando, who is played by Glover, playing a game of cards and loving it.
He's a confident guy and after a battle, ends up beating Han, with a little help of something up the sleeve. Still though, after meeting his once friend Qi'ra and negotiating a cut with Beckett, Lando joins the crew. He brings with him a smart female droid, who is busy protesting against droid fights that reminded me of watching Robot Wars when I was younger. There's quite a bit of humour and tension brought to the screen between Han, Lando and the droid named L3-37. We are then lead to our first look of the Millennium Falcon, which looks clean and almost unused. Arriving at a mining planet to collection what they need, Qi'ra poses as a woman selling slaves. Beckett is the bodyguard and he's wearing a familiar outfit. It's the disguise Lando used to infiltrate Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi. They finally take out some guards, free the slaves that are already there and cause a riot so that they can get to the lower levels a little easier. On their way, Chewie finds his own family and goes after them to free them all and this comes with Han's best wishes. We know they won't be apart for long and after Han gets the Coaxium and needs help to get it out, in comes Chewie and the rest of the hair bear bunch to save the day. They get the Coaxium on board and are against the clock to make it safe. We do have a casualty though. The droid is down and Lando has been shot on trying to retrieve her. As Han flies out, they are found by an Imperial star destroyer and now they must evade them through the Maw, which is a cluster of black holes.
So the plane they came from was called the mining planet of Kessel and we are about to witness Han do the 'Kessel Run', another homage to other movies. Lando points out that no-one can do it in less than 20 parsecs, which wouldn't give them enough time to make the Coaxium safe. Using a piece of L3's navigation system, they find the only route out that they can take but on they way, they run into a massive monster and need to shake that off first. Beckett injects a small amount of their bounty into the Falcon and boom, they are done in 12 parsecs.
The team is set to meet Dryden on a planet named Savareen and when they think they are nice and relaxed, the same team of marauders from earlier turn up. Han tries to bluff them with a huge team of gunners on the Falcon but Lando has had enough and flies off. The actual marauder theory isn't true though. Beckett always thought this but their leader, Enfys Nest reveals herself as a small resistance against the Empire and doesn't want the Coaxium in the Crimson Dawn's hands. She wants it for her own fight. A plan needs to be made. Beckett doesn't want to be part of it and instead flees the scene. We are left out of the actual plan and instead follow Han, Qi'ra and Chewie as they bring the Coaxium to Dryden. On inspection, he instantly knows that they are fake and shit starts to hit the fan. There was an inside man who grassed them all in and this man was Beckett. He had filled Dryden in on the outline of any betrayal that was coming. Han however, has thought this was coming. Earlier in the movie, Beckett has told Han never to trust anybody. This is the rule he followed and the Coaxium in the room is actually the real deal. Beckett sees his chance, take the Coaxium and Chewie as ahostage, leaving the ship and the rest to fight amongst each other. Qi'ra turns on Dryden and after a fight scene, stabs him with his own blade and tells Han to chase down Beckett. He does so and Beckett tries to sweet talk his way out of it, whilst also slowly reaching for his gun. Han notices this and shoots first, killing him. That right, Han shoots first! Meanwhile, back on the ship, Qi'ra contacts her true boss and this is probably the best moment of the movie. Up pops a hologram of a shadowy figure and after a few seconds of the conversation, the figure reveals themselves. It's Darth Maul! The thing is still alive.
She fills him in on the mission's failure and is soon appointed in Dryden's position. She leaves on the ship with Han and Chewie watching on helplessly. Han is left with simply giving the Coaxium over to Enfys and her team. She offers him a chance to join ranks but he declines and is left with a vial of Coaxium for his troubles. If I never have to mention Coaxium again, it would be too soon. The movie ends with Han finding Lando in another card game and this time he manages to steal Lando's cheat card during a handshake. Han wins using it and even wins the Falcon before going along with Chewie to follow up a lead on Tatooine after Beckett mentioned a job for the Hutts. We end with a scene in hyperspace and I'm buzzed.
I really enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I would. It seemed like Disney hadn't really backed this film, which could give anyone doubts but the only way is up from there really. It was filled with nostalgia and even a few mini storylines that are linked to the original trilogy. It really helps to have seen them to link up but if you're watching this movie, it should be easier to track the links. The cast works really well and Ehrenreich gives a really good account of Solo. The characteristics, even with his gunning stance and the wit, all add to the role. Even Emilia Clarke did well, especially how awkward a felt after seeing her in Terminator. Paul Bettany is far from my cup of tea but as already mentioned, hating him always adds to the hatred when he's going to be playing a villain. The graphics for this were phenomenal. Between each planet, space scene and how each creature of character was perceived, there was always something interesting to draw you further in. I much preferred this to The Last Jedi, by a long way and even with the ending, it felt like I would even want a sequel. Darth Maul has become a cult character over the years for many and to see him back on the screen added to many people's excitement. The studio had a massive amount of pressure on them for this movie and I'm glad that it came through in my opinion.
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