A Keaton Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story
By: Keaton Marcus
Genre/Sci-Fi/Action
Age Rating/10+
Lemonradar/50% sour
So What’s The Story?
Hi, this is Keaton Marcus and today I will be reviewing the newest installment in the Star Wars franchise, Solo: A Star Wars Story. On the dirty, lawless streets of Corella, a rogue named Han Solo yearns to get out of this horrible planet and fly and explore the universe. To do that Solo must perform a series of daring escapes, and to fully accomplish his future dream he must become a total outlaw of the galaxy, trusting nobody. As he meets more and more people, he forms a small crew and rebellion hoping to finally stop the wrath of the Empire.
How Was The Cast?
Casted in this Star Wars spin-off is Alden Ehrenreich playing the ultimate Lone Ranger-type role of Han Solo, secondly casted as the get-drunk-get-lucky type character Lando Callrissian is actor Danny Glover, thirdly performing Han’s girlfriend and parter-in-crime Qi’ra is Emila Clarke and lastly actor Woody Harrelson is casted to wanted-criminal Tobias Beckett. As I said portraying the main character Han Solo is Alden Ehrenreich known for Tetro, Rules Don’t Apply and Hail, Ceaser. Barely holding his own against Harrison Ford who played Solo in the original trilogy (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) plus some of the newer Disney spin-offs such as The Force Awakens; Ehrenreich ultimately fails to carry on the well-written, well-scripted-type funny, cunning and brave Han Solo that was originally portrayed. Again since the film was really missing out with the story, Ehrenreich had nowhere-to-run, in other words he did not have enough laughs, “actual” action sequences and a good-sense-of-slyness to elevate these problems at all and although with a few nostalgic and promising moments from the cast, Alden Ehrenreich is surely no Harrison Ford. More extremely important rebooted characters come-along with Lando Callrissian played by actor Danny Glover known for The Lazarus Effect, Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Martian. Although never able to fully emit what Billy Dee Williams did as the original Lando, surprisingly Danny Glover is completely up to the task with a decent-almost sharp script, while having just enough excitement and good scenes to fully lift Glover off the ground. Having had no real experience with these types of characters, actor Danny Glover had low expectations for my case, but the weak-Star Wars spin-off actually completed Glover’s solid performance. Playing twisty, twisty Qi’ra is Emila Clarke known for many seasons of Game of Thrones and Terminator Genisys. Though Clarke promotes female power in this and everyone of her films and TV, this was a failed performance overall, with too many twists and turns evolving around this character Clarke was never able to float amidst such madness; And although the actress does have some experience with high-octane action sequences, she was not the right pick for the actually promising character of Qi’ra, meaning the character did not deserve such a performance. Script and writing wise, Clarke was stiff on every point-considerable coming up with a serious shortage of fun and sheer energy with her character overall Clarke flunked this grade. Playing other out-law and wanted man Tobias Beckett played by Woody Harrelson known for The Hunger Games franchise, Now You See Me couplet and War for the Planet of the Apes. Combining Harrelson’s strong, southern like charisma along with the solid character, the actor massively succeeded with an unusual, creative performance that went-well along with the film.
Is It Worth Your While?
An interesting story however that director Ron Howard was not always the main filmmaker for this film, it was originally Lord then Miller before they were fired by Disney as Howard took over and ultimately saved the film from complete disaster. Ron Howard is currently known for The Da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind and Rush. However this critically-acclaimed director (most-of-the-time) had some tough flaws including a long, sometimes boring talkative flick, slapstick special effects while having to deal with a weirdly crafted story and plot line with too many twists. And although director Ron Howard manages to create some nostalgic Star Wars scenes and is better than some of the other films that he has been associated with, Howard has just completed another sour film for Star Wars and ultimately for him. Special effects wise, this was the biggest budgeted Star Wars flick of all time, standing at an estimated 250M (The Force Awakens 245M, The Last Jedi 200M, Rogue One 200M, Attack of the Clones 115M, The Phantom Menace 115M, Revenge of the Sith 113M, Return of the Jedi 32.5M, The Empire Strikes Back 18M and Star Wars 11M). Although fellow newer, big-budgeted installments to the franchise actually look like the CGI-crew put some work into it, with 250M Solo: A Star Wars Story looked like a waste-of-money compared to other Star Wars flicks with some action sequences, a couple high-octane shoot-outs and common flies into hyperspace and such, considering this I was estimating in the theatre about 120-140M which would be considered reasonable for the type of film it is. Though despite having a much-too-bloated budget, Solo did have some acclaimed, memorable Star Wars-type special effects. Story and plot wise, like I said the supposed “thrilling action-flick” did sometimes get a little long at 2hr 15 min with some very, very talky, confusing scenes (even for the franchise), though on the good side of things a couple good performances by Glover and Harrelson helped the film up most of the time with sheer charisma, even that could not stop the unrelentless choices of plot twists acossiated with Qi’ra (bad/good/bad/good) which bored the action-hungry audiences out-of-their minds.
Aging ‘The Millenium Falcon’
Being one of the most kid-friendly Star Wars flicks of all time, Solo: A Star Wars Story still goes to PG-13-type levels with lot’s of violent action sequences, some minor kissing, and obvious insults and a small amount of language. Violent wise, there are many shoot-outs, a very-loud war scene with explosions everywhere, and many chases through hyperspace that include obstacles such as giant (disguisting) monsters. Language wise, it was very minimal, although there were a few insults such as s..t, presumtous ass, hell, damn and scum rat. Sexuality wise, like most franchise installments does not usually apply, except for a few quick kisses between Qi’ra and Han and the creepy character Drydan Vos (Paul Bettany) does embrace Qi’ra on many occasions.
Star Wars Prequel Showdown
Solo: A Star Wars Story 50% sour
Violence: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Sex: ⭐☆☆☆☆
Language: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
Age Rating: 10+
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 75% sweet
Violence: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Sex: ⭐☆☆☆☆
Language: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
Age Rating: 11+
Solo: A Star Wars Story 50% sour
Storyline: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
Cast: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Role Models: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 75% sweet
Storyline: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Cast: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Role Models: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
