by Chris Feil
Han Solo isn’t exactly a character that has our affections enmeshed in his origins. As played in the original Star Wars saga by peak hunk Harrison Ford, Han is about 50% swagger, 30% smart ass, and 20% emotional walls. He’s a crucial element, but one whose history isn’t essential to the story we all know and love - so in tracing his beginnings, Solo - A Star Wars Story needs a strong point of view to be more than a spin on the hampster wheel. It’s sadly almost there...
The film’s solution is to make Han’s origin story a silly fun romp, though it takes roughly half of the running time for all of its pieces to click into place, as if Solo realizes what it needs to be mid-movie. Director Ron Howard also makes it essentially a pirate story, with the galaxy’s political unrest revealing a world of thieves and marauders. What could have taken him back to the forgotten fantasy days of Willow is ultimately playing it too safe and unsure.
Like Rogue One, this side entry to the franchise isn’t afraid to be grungier or even a little weirder than what we would see on the Galaxy Far Away’s main stage. At its best, Solo flirts with Jim Henson fantasy strangeness, bursting with playful creature design and gadgetry and idiosyncratic costume design. Pair that with pristine smoky visuals from cinematographer Bradford Young, still one of the best in the business, and Solo sure is a lot of fun to look at. How can it not be with Alden Ehrenreich’s devilish charm doing admirable work to fill Ford’s shoes?
In this regard, we get more rewarding and layered introduction to those other beloved characters in Han’s orbit: Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian. Donald Glover slips into the charismatic, cape-donning role originated by Billy Dee Williams with delight, with an evident passion for the saga that’s kept oddly subdued elsewhere. When Glover arrives around the film’s midpoint, his presence is what finally kicks the film into its sweet spot of sly fun. Meanwhile Chewbacca surprisingly serves as the heart of the film and its sole emotional underpinning, serving as the one of the few links to the saga’s crucial element of the search for justice.
Unfortunately for nearly its entire slew of other original characters, Solo doesn’t make the case for them as crucial players in the history of this universe. It’s already a conundrum that the film would give Han a pre-Leia love interest, and the results don’t fare any better with the unremarkable Qi’ra played with minimum distinctiveness by Emilia Clarke. Woody Harrelson’s Beckett is more leash-holder to Han than mentor and Paul Bettany’s villainous Dryden Vos struggles to register beyond simple narrative necessity.
It becomes a bursting supporting ensemble without much intrigue or screen time, save for the ever flawless Thandie Newton. Her Val is like a life-sized action figure for gay people, with her fabulous costuming and signature unimpressed demeanor - but alas, not enough of her either. And there’s also Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s revolutionary droid L3, hilariously meeting the Star Wars quota for kooky robots we love for their own sake.
Does this sound like both too much and not enough? Sure. The film tracks Han’s team’s heist for intergalactic uber-fuel as Han tries to get back home to rescue his abandoned Qi’ra, and its plot messiness is mostly forgivable on sheer goodwill. While the film doesn’t always serve him, Ehrenreich does the heaviest lifting to keep us engaged as Solo drifts from one disparate fascination to another. It doesn’t allow him to play with much of the oddness that’s made him such a fascinating performer in the likes of Hail, Caesar! but he does show himself ready to shoulder a massive enterprise. It t’were so simple - he’s a star.
Grade: C+