Solo: A Star Wars Story

Everybody’s fusses about how this isn’t what the old Star Wars used to be, but actually it’s good. Only Abrams could afford to copy the original and to do this only once. But this entertaining and light-weight adventure makes use of a gap between the first and second trilogy in different way. Solo’s solo reminds of Firefly, but with a huge special effects budget. The cast is good and of course if they had given us a young Ford, it would be a lever higher, but you get used to it. A lot of great lines and even though the narration sometimes flounders (some strange twists due to reshoots), it still plays beautifully. And John Powell’s music is just the best! With Williams’ new theme for Han, he presents ferocious style which is just right for the series. (01/06/2018)

A film about how an imperfect replica is desperately trying to get closer to the unrivalled original. I really didn't need to hear that Han Solo is based on the most run-of-the-mill cherchez le femme and a shabby heist. Unfortunately, Solo is a symptom of what SW could become if you continued this trend: a useless story generator and a silicone equivalent. It fills in the gaps, but it doesn't look particularly nice. (01/05/2019)

Disney is squeezing the last bits of juice from the Star Wars universe. In this movie, the action starts before we even know it. The actors are alright, and the visual effects are flawless… what is it that I want to complain about, then? Well, maybe that the movie is a bit lifeless. In terms of the story, I don’t care at all in which direction it will unfold because I know what will happen to Han Solo anyway. If it weren’t for the casting, which as always saved Disney from a fuck-up, I wouldn’t even have watched the movie to the end. (06/03/2019)

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)

“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)