(No spoilers.)
The boys and I are just back from my now well-established favorite way to see a movie: a first-thing-Saturday-morning showing. (This is even highly crowd-resistant for blockbusters, it would seem.) Lea wanted to see Solo: A Star Wars Story with us but was sadly a little under the weather. (That’ll make our first home viewing a little more special, though.)
The film works. As Rogue One was, it’s a bite from a different part of the apple as the trilogies, but it’s definitely the same apple. The narrative is suitably but straightforwardly layered. The action sequences are exciting, and made with appropriate discretion. There are some satisfying Western homages.
I didn’t see even subtle evidence of a fractured production, which is probably more a tribute to Ron Howard’s expertise than anything else. The film never feels awkwardly stitched.
Alden Ehrenreich did a good job with Han Solo, though Nathan thought he might have been a little bit too much of a white hat. I mean, if he ever did anything truly sketchy, it seems like this would be the film in which to show it. I’m still chewing on that notion, because Solo never took particular interest in anything secondary for its own sake. He acted in his self-interest throughout, which was the original charge Luke leveled in A New Hope (“Take care of yourself…I guess that’s what you’re best at”). I’m not sure it was necessary for him to stomp baby bunny rabbits to death, you know?
The one bit that undermines the viewing experience, just a little, is the audience’s existing knowledge. We know Han, Chewbacca, and Lando all live, and that robs a couple of scenes of some tension. But what are you going to do about that? It’s a prequel. Nature of the beast. Perhaps as compensation, there are a couple of intriguing questions left open, which is an interesting break from the Rogue One template. Are sequels to non-trilogy Star Wars films on the horizon? Hmmm.
Maybe as a manifestation of our infuriating sociocultural tendency to view taking offense as noble in itself, it’s become rather fashionable in some quarters to bash Disney’s handling of the Star Wars franchise. This is remarkably selective outrage, given the sustained mess a certain crazy old man made before he finally turned loose of it. I think all four of the Disney Star Wars films have been fabulous, and at this point I’m looking forward to enjoying Star Wars for the rest of my life.
9/10
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