9. Solo: A Star Wars Story
Solo was the second Disney-produced SW spin-off, and the only Star Wars film to ever bomb at the box office.
Plagued with production troubles, the directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were replaced midway through filming by Ron Howard due to their approach conflicting with the higher-ups at Lucasfilm.
Howard was one of the ones who passed on Lucas’ offer to direct the prequels, so here he finally gets to step into the universe.
Solo isn’t a bad film, but it isn’t great either. It’s just fine, which is perhaps its biggest offense. The film plays it safe. It’s more like a Star Wars photo album, giving fans snippets of things we think we want to see.
It’s not a huge miss, but mostly because it doesn’t take a big enough swing.
Solo falls into the prequel-trap of answering questions we never had in the first place. No one left the theater in 1977 wondering where Han Solo got his gun or if Solo was even his family name.
Still, the train sequence is excellent; a Star Wars twist on the classic train robbery set-piece. The cast are also on point.
Alden Ehrenreich didn’t have small shoes to fill. He steps into the role with ease, bringing a unique confidence and charisma to the character.
Woody Harrelson was also great as Beckett and brings humor to Solo when needed.
It’s an undeniable thrill seeing Han and Chewie in the Falcon cockpit for the first time. Unfortunately, overall the movie fails to take risks in the way previous entries in the series have done. You won’t regret watching Solo, but you might forget watching Solo.
