Solo: A Star Wars Story

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)

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)

The name of the movie should have been Holo. A Generic Space Story. In that case, the film could have avoided showing tiring and dull facts that no one really wants to know but that are on a to-do-list of the film makers, like how Han came to this and that and how he got to know him or her. The story that the third movie of Indy managed to tell in 14-minute prologue with grace and at a frantic pace here takes two and a quarter hours. At the same time, it will not enrich the iconic character of Sol in any way. What is even more unfortunate is that when the film makers don´t want to please the fans or don´t try to create a fantastic show spectacle (a horrible sequence with a space monster or an uprising in the mine working), then there are many wonderful things (introduction, Madmax-style train attack, “spaghetti" westerns tricky ending), where it´s unique thanks to a refreshing sympathetically earthbound and dirty view of the Star Wars universe, that is free from all the padding of "we are one family, we save galaxies", it has obviously a lot to offer. And maybe the filmmakers will realize that as soon as we find out after seeing 20 sequels who Jabby's first lover was, why Boba Fett has shabby armor, why the second musician from the left in canteen from the original film plays the clarinet and not the saxophone etc. (28/05/2018)

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)

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)