(Reviewed by our Guest Critic: The Movie Knight) Disney bought the Star Wars franchise from George Lucas for $4 billion dollars and promised they would put out a new movie every year. Besides extending the original storyline, they are producing individual stories as well, beginning with Rogue One. This new story focuses on everyone’s favorite scoundrel in the galaxy, Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich). Here we see him in his early years when he meets Chewbacca, wins the Millennium Falcon and handles his first underworld adventure.
Internet rumors swirled around this troubled production. They included talk that the original directors were fired and that the studio felt the final cut was so bad, they already thought it was a write-off. I am sad to report the rumors are true. This is an all time low for the beloved franchise. Maybe they would have been better off leaving the original directors in place.
The first problem resides with the lead they chose. Ehrenreich never carries the same swagger and cockiness that Harrison Ford originally brought to the role. His character is written to possess those qualities, but the young actor fails to truly exhibit them on screen. Woody Harrelson plays a mentor role to Han in the movie and he is the one who feels more like the “Han Solo” of the picture.
It’s hard to know how it went so wrong. Was it with the writing team of Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan or with Ron Howard taking the directing reigns? Lawrence wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Howard directed Apollo 13, a story most people were familiar with, yet Howard managed to make a tension-filled and exciting movie. Nothing works here. Very few of the action scenes are worthy of being in the Star Wars franchise. The stakes feel so low. We know none of our heroes are going to die, so we never get any “edge of you seat” moments.
Finally, there is no real imposing villain in this piece. Paul Bettany plays Dryden Vos who can be classified as a “bad guy”, but he doesn’t bring anything special to the role. The filmmakers did not have to have someone as large as Darth Vader or the Emperor, but Solo: A Star Wars Story lacks a character that could give Han Solo a run for his money. Disney may feel all they have to do is slap “Star Wars” in front of a title and they’ll make a ton of money regardless of the quality, but if they keep heaping garbage like this on the fans, that won’t be the case for long.
½ Tiara