Solo: A Star Wars Story

It’s a shame. Unlike other Star Wars spin-offs, this one has a nice chemistry between the main characters, which we probably owe to Howard, as we've known for years that this is his great strength, something we last saw a couple of years ago in Rush, when he basically built an entire film around it. He tries to do the same in Solo, but with the help of spectacular fictional worlds and all the Star Wars trappings you can think of – the only things missing perhaps are the Death Star and light sabres. That's why one wonders where the balls of the whole film and the screenwriter in particular go in the second half. It should have all ended at the 50th minute with the hijacking of the train and the appropriate character interaction. Everything that comes after that is like another film that slowly descends into an overwrought finale that is anything but entertaining. (16/09/2018)

For someone who doesn’t like any of the episodes of Star Wars, I give this one a thumbs up. A surprisingly solid and brisk heist space flick, with Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, and an unknown Solo lookalike pulling it off. It's nicely entertaining, decently filmed, sufficiently suspenseful and action-packed, and the weird creatures are kept to a minimum compared to Star Wars, which just suits me. A nice surprise and finally can I say the best Star Wars movie?? ! 80% (15/09/2018)

A solid summer diversion, but nobody wanted to see SW like that. It has fine action sequences, fine chemistry between Han and Chewbacca (whose friendship is surprisingly well thought out), and the occasional funny line or wink to past episodes, but the generic, strangely uncontained script just doesn't pull it off, and after a promising first hour, it gradually runs out of steam until it eventually flounders in uninteresting buddy conspiracy waters. It's no a dud, but the most famous space bad boy deserved a considerably more wholesome and fateful story, so in retrospect we have no choice but to bow again to Gareth Edwards, whose Rogue One is in a completely different league (which was fairly reflected in the box office)... 65% (21/09/2018)

Given the huge production difficulties, I do not understand how it is possible that the outcome turned out this well. Some things were reshot, some scenes were cut, some things were added with a bit of force, but Solo remains a successful adventure film that is perhaps most disruptive precisely because it is stitched together from so many different pieces. Gambling, chemistry with Lando, the train heist, the divine Qi'ra, and against all odds, Alden Ehrenreich leading a new Star Wars Story into a successful blockbuster, which loses in its episodic parts. The droid evil that L3 represents bothers me, as it brings ideas into the saga that I definitely do not need to see in it. The second misstep is the mining escapade, which feels like it came straight out of an average salad. I could do without the final cameo, which unnecessarily disrupts the (at that point incredibly intense) pace for fan viewers. Despite moments that may throw you off, the first financial failure in Star Wars history is a more than worthy fairytale that happily shoves the overcomplicated Rogue One into its pocket. (18/06/2018)

“I hate you." - “I know." Solo is a great pleasure especially for familiarized fans, but I think even a complete Star Wars layman can take some things from it. It is primarily a fun adventure film (in places there is MAYBE a little too much humor, but it never exceeds a healthy measure) with the excellent Alden Ehrenreich, who did great at an almost impossible task - he acts more or less his way, he borrowed only some of those gestures and smirks from Harrison Ford, not particularly imitating him, and yet, he is Solo. The direction by Ron Howard is fine, the story is not stupid and has a lot of surprises up its sleeve, including the return of one very familiar character (but with the character’s return, people might be saying: What? How? Why?), and John Powell literally did an amazing job. With the help of John Williams (he also added a new main theme) he composed a great soundtrack that I'll enjoy listening to just like Williams' Star Wars albums or Giacchino's Rogue One. (23/05/2018)