• Skip to content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact

Daily Business Magazine

A magazine complement to the Daily Business website

  • Life, Arts & Leisure
    • Creative
    • Festival
      • Festival Reviews
    • Film
    • Stage Shows
    • Food & Drink
    • Leisure
      • Rio Recommends
    • Life
    • Style
    • Travel
  • As I See It
  • Interviews
  • Notebook
  • Working Life
    • Careers & Management
    • Law
    • Technology
      • Brodies Tech Talk
    • Well Being
  • Daily Business News
    • All Content
Home » All Content » Life, Arts & Leisure » Retro, funny, and a curious entry to the canon

Retro, funny, and a curious entry to the canon

June 1, 2018 by Hayley Murden Leave a Comment

Star Wars Solo
Alden Ehrenreich manages to make this younger version of Han his own man

Film review: Solo: A Star Wars Story (4/5)

Since Disney took over the reins of the Star Wars franchise from George Lucas, its goal has been to expand the universe. First it started its own trilogy, with The Force Awakens (2015), and then showed us the people behind the destruction of the Death Star with the standalone film Rogue One (2016).

This year, hot on the heels of base-breaker The Last Jedi (2017), we are invited to witness the backstory of roguish and cynical smuggler Han Solo (icon of the original trilogy and a highlight of Harrison Ford’s career) in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Directed by Ron Howard (Willow, Far and Away, A Beautiful Mind), who took over halfway through production and reshot a good deal of the film, Solo is a curious entry into the Star Wars canon.

The plot is a slightly wiggly line with few deviations. There are no standout moments and nothing underwhelming either. Han Solo escapes from his unhappy planet, unfortunately abandoning the girl he loves, and becomes involved with a group of criminals (including Woody Harrelson) who report to the big bad, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany) and his shadowy organisation.

There is a great deal of action and everything zips along at a nice pace, interjected with good humour and nods to things fans will recognise. There are emotional moments, but many plot points would have benefited from deeper exploration, such as the relationship and history between Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) and Dryden Vos.

While interjecting a few of Harrison Ford’s mannerisms and quirks, Alden Ehrenreich manages to make this younger version of Han his own man. His talent is enough that he truly becomes this version of Han Solo, rather than just doing an impression of him (as a lesser actor might have done).

Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian is also worthy of praise as he delivers a smooth and humorous take on the smuggler previously portrayed by Billy Dee Williams.

The score, composed by John Powell, is unusual in places and used to great effect, providing an oftentimes beautiful background to even the simplest scene.

Overall Solo is well worth a trip to the cinema. It has more of the feeling of those first three films from the seventies and eighties, both in production design and tone. Though there are gaps in the plot and characterisation that could easily have been filled, there’s enough there to hold audience interest. Slightly retro, honestly funny, and nearly as cool as its protagonist.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is on general release, 2hrs, certificate 15

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Film, Hayley Murden, Life, Arts & Leisure Tagged With: Solo: A Star Wars Story




Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Editor’s Pick

Cookie welcome is a tasty starter at this oasis of relaxation

Cookie welcome is a tasty starter at this oasis of relaxation

Paul Kiddie

… [More...] about Cookie welcome is a tasty starter at this oasis of relaxation

Re-writing the rules means focusing on the little things

Re-writing the rules means focusing on the little things

Julena Drumi

… [More...] about Re-writing the rules means focusing on the little things

A tourist tax must support those who attract tourists

A tourist tax must support those who attract tourists

Brian Monteith

… [More...] about A tourist tax must support those who attract tourists

Car park tax unworkable? One English city would disagree

Car park tax unworkable? One English city would disagree

Terry Murden

… [More...] about Car park tax unworkable? One English city would disagree

Terry Murden

Editor and Director of Daily Business Group Read More…

Advertising




Footer

  • All Content
  • Site Map
  • Privacy Policy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • WordPress

Copyright © 2019 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in