Good morning, everyone!
Today I’m adding #10 to my list that ranks the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies.
SOLO (2018).
I saw this three times in the theater and had a blast each time!
It takes place in a fun time era to explore, between REVENGE OF THE SITH and STAR WARS.
(Luke was born at the end of SITH and is 20 in STAR WARS, so we know there’s a 20 year span between those films. Chewbacca is 200 years old in STAR WARS, and here in SOLO he’s 190, so we know SOLO takes place 10 years after SITH and 10 years before STAR WARS.)
By the way, since SOLO is new – be warned – SPOILERS ahead.
THE GOOD:
All the main characters are great!
There’s a ton of fun character interaction and comedy.
The train robbery is super cool!
Love the Kessel Run!
(And here’s a second SPOILER warning. If you haven’t seen SOLO yet, you might want to stop reading.)
There’s a good, unexpected twist about the pirates…
…and a VERY unexpected, super cool twist about the identity of the leader of Crimson Dawn!! Played again by original Darth Maul actor Ray Park!
(For those who only watch the movies and are confused about Darth Maul showing up after he had been cut in half in THE PHANTOM MENACE, the Clone Wars cartoon series revealed that he had miraculously survived his clash with Obi-Wan and now has a robot lower-half.)
I like the skirmish at the end between Han, Qi’ra, and Dryden.
Dryden has what looks like the idol Indiana Jones finds in RAIDERS – hahahaha!
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
The beginning feels off, when Han is escaping from Corellia. Pretending the rock was a thermal detonator felt a little too campy. I don’t start to feel engaged with the story until he meets Woody Harrelson’s crew and discovers they are not Imperials. Not a huge problem, since the Corellia stuff is a small portion of the movie.
The heist at the Kessel mining colony is kind of blah at times. The robot liberating the robots, and Han stealing the fuel – there’s nothing terrible here, but it starts to get a little boring in my opinion. (Once they’re outside and having the shootout right before escaping on the Falcon, I’m back on board.)
Harrelson’s character, Beckett, turning on Han is waaaaaay too predictable.
Also, compared to other SW movies, the stakes don’t seem that high. It lacks the grandiose, high scale battles and epic events that we get in other SW films. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it’s nice to get a smaller story in the SW universe like this. But on the other hand, when you compare the action at the end of SOLO to the large scale, high-stakes battles at the end of say, ROGUE ONE or RETURN OF THE JEDI, it does feel a little lacking.
But oh well.
All things considered, this is a solid entry in the Star Wars universe. The action is mostly good, the characters are likable and fun, and there’s great humor throughout. There’s no horrific dialogue or annoying characters. There’s no anticlimactic disappointments with how the story plays out. It’s a good ride!
Grade: B
#10 Solo
#11 The Phantom Menace
#12 The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
#13 The Last Jedi
#14 Attack of the Clones
TOMORROW:
#9
Way better than rouge one. I was fully emerged. In Rouge One I checked my watch twice in the theater
Yes, the first hour or so of Rogue One has pacing issues. That huge battle at the end makes the movie a win for me, though.
I struggled with Solo. I felt like I didn’t connect with the characters. Which is weird because these are characters there that I’ve loved for years and years!! But I loved the Kessel run!
My disappointment might also be because I had too high of hopes.