Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Country: US
Technical: col/2.39:1 135m
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Joonas Suotamo, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Paul Bettany, Donald Glover, Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Synopsis:
Having grown up as a guttersnipe on a slave planet, Han blags his way into the Imperial Navy, gets demoted to infantry, deserts and joins a smuggling gang on a job to steal several hundred kilos of Cruiser fuel from the Empire. It is a dangerous and competitive market, however, and the stakes rise higher when he is reunited with his childhood sweetheart, who now works for one of the cartels. Whom to trust?
Review:
Given that the screenplay was made up from a handful of backstory lines in A New Hope, it's a miracle Howard's entry in the parallel Star Wars franchise works as well as it does. This is a whole lot down to the performances, particularly Harrelson and Bettany, and the Kasdans' sparky script. Ehrenreich does a creditable job as a younger Harrison Ford, too, and Clarke holds the camera well, though she looks confusingly similar to Felicity Jones in Rogue One. Waller-Bridge's street-savvy, right-on droid is another delight, along with Chewbacca and Calrissian. In short, it is all rather less than the sum of its parts, though it gains perhaps from its necessarily low-stakes scenario: no Empire to overthrow, no unstoppable villain, no Force with all that concomitant solemnity. Just lots of running and screaming, and a fair bit of shooting, and a train hold-up that would have been any film's action climax once upon a time; in fact, one hand-over-holster shot, together with Harrelson's old timer character, mark this out as the closest the franchise has yet come to a good old Western.
Country: US
Technical: col/2.39:1 135m
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Joonas Suotamo, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Paul Bettany, Donald Glover, Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Synopsis:
Having grown up as a guttersnipe on a slave planet, Han blags his way into the Imperial Navy, gets demoted to infantry, deserts and joins a smuggling gang on a job to steal several hundred kilos of Cruiser fuel from the Empire. It is a dangerous and competitive market, however, and the stakes rise higher when he is reunited with his childhood sweetheart, who now works for one of the cartels. Whom to trust?
Review:
Given that the screenplay was made up from a handful of backstory lines in A New Hope, it's a miracle Howard's entry in the parallel Star Wars franchise works as well as it does. This is a whole lot down to the performances, particularly Harrelson and Bettany, and the Kasdans' sparky script. Ehrenreich does a creditable job as a younger Harrison Ford, too, and Clarke holds the camera well, though she looks confusingly similar to Felicity Jones in Rogue One. Waller-Bridge's street-savvy, right-on droid is another delight, along with Chewbacca and Calrissian. In short, it is all rather less than the sum of its parts, though it gains perhaps from its necessarily low-stakes scenario: no Empire to overthrow, no unstoppable villain, no Force with all that concomitant solemnity. Just lots of running and screaming, and a fair bit of shooting, and a train hold-up that would have been any film's action climax once upon a time; in fact, one hand-over-holster shot, together with Harrelson's old timer character, mark this out as the closest the franchise has yet come to a good old Western.
Country: US
Technical: col/2.39:1 135m
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Joonas Suotamo, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Paul Bettany, Donald Glover, Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Synopsis:
Having grown up as a guttersnipe on a slave planet, Han blags his way into the Imperial Navy, gets demoted to infantry, deserts and joins a smuggling gang on a job to steal several hundred kilos of Cruiser fuel from the Empire. It is a dangerous and competitive market, however, and the stakes rise higher when he is reunited with his childhood sweetheart, who now works for one of the cartels. Whom to trust?
Review:
Given that the screenplay was made up from a handful of backstory lines in A New Hope, it's a miracle Howard's entry in the parallel Star Wars franchise works as well as it does. This is a whole lot down to the performances, particularly Harrelson and Bettany, and the Kasdans' sparky script. Ehrenreich does a creditable job as a younger Harrison Ford, too, and Clarke holds the camera well, though she looks confusingly similar to Felicity Jones in Rogue One. Waller-Bridge's street-savvy, right-on droid is another delight, along with Chewbacca and Calrissian. In short, it is all rather less than the sum of its parts, though it gains perhaps from its necessarily low-stakes scenario: no Empire to overthrow, no unstoppable villain, no Force with all that concomitant solemnity. Just lots of running and screaming, and a fair bit of shooting, and a train hold-up that would have been any film's action climax once upon a time; in fact, one hand-over-holster shot, together with Harrelson's old timer character, mark this out as the closest the franchise has yet come to a good old Western.