Solo: A Star Wars Story

I saw Solo last weekend during it's first week in theaters. However, due to work and other things, I forgot to do a review until now. The latest Star Wars film isn't doing so very well and if I am any part to blame for not reflecting on my experience, I apologize to my fellow Star Wars devotees. 

Solo doesn't have any of the original cast in the film. The ever cool Harrison Ford is now replaced by the ever trying Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!). Instead of super-suave Billy Dee Williams as Lando, Childish Gambino himself, Donald Glover, has some big capes to fill. Sadly, Peter Mayhew is unable to portray the Wookiee Chewbacca due to ill health even in sitting down roles. But I don't think it was the acting that kept fans away.

The biggest kiss of death for a film is anytime there are massive re-shoots. Needing to go back and do a couple of scenes due to corruption of the film or poor sound quality is one thing. But Solo had around 70% of the film redone due to the poor directorial efforts of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Thankfully, the legendary film maker, Ron Howard (Apollo 13) stepped in and saved the film. However, I don't think many had faith in Howard's ability to save the project.

You can tell when the movie has the original scenes still attached and not fixed by Ron Howard. They lack the magical Star Wars feel to them. They're quite gritty, extremely slow paced and don't seem to fit. Howard, being a former protege of George Lucas with the filming of Willow, at least knew how to rekindle that flame of wonderment and excitement that I remember having watching Star Wars as a kid.

Solo does exactly what I expected it to do- fill in the huge gaps in the backstory of Han Solo. However, some fans feel that this film did too much to try and answer all of the questions at once. I might agree with one or two aspects. But overall, I think the effort of this movie was just fine. 

Some critics say that because Solo wasn't as cerebral as the past two Star Wars sequels, it failed as a Star Wars story. Clearly, there's some childhood bias here because I can site a number of things wrong with the original 3 Star Wars films- like Luke's whining about going to Toshi Station, Leia losing her British accent after the destruction of Alderaan, and the entire plot of the Ewoks in the last act of Jedi. 

Solo is a return to the feel good days of sci-fi movies that didn't have to be 100% scientific nor did it have to be Oscar quality. I came out of the film wanting to see it again and that was something I did not feel about watching Avengers: Infinity War. Besides with all of the Easter eggs in Solo, I probably need to watch it again to catch them all. But that biggie at the end of the film- I caught it and I loved it!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.