"Solo" Review - Watch This. (hyperdrive fails)

I wouldn’t call “Solo” a bad film. But it is extremely unforgettable.

Sure, this film has got some awesome effects, a wonderful score by John Powell of HTTYD, some good fight/space battle scenes, and an incredible casting of Lando, but everything else to me fell so flat.

All of the characters were horribly developed, and I simply didn’t care for anyone. If someone got injured or killed off, I just felt like Willy Wonka when he says, “Help…police…murder.” Even though no one really comes close to being as good as Donald Glover, the cast is pretty damn good. I have to give Alden Ehrenreich some credit, because he did a good job at trying to replicate what made Harrison Ford’s Han so great. It’s just the script was so uneven from trying to develop the characters to the overall story, which felt so uneven. It never felt at any point like it was a well written story unless Han was flying the falcon. It almost seemed to me like a collection of short stories that may have done better in a comic book series or even a miniseries. I feel like there was so much more to develop and clean up in the overall story, but the movie length just completely cramped so much together. Maybe there was something more that Lord and Miller wanted to do that we didn’t get to see.

It also didn’t help that the cinematography felt so dark and dull. Deadpool 2 had this some kind of problem, but it still did much better than “Solo”. Every scene was lit and shot like it was a TV drama. The back lit lighting never changed, so scenes that I think were supposed to make me laugh or cheer in applause just felt dull and dramatic. It may just be me being a film nerd, but I think more people will catch that as the movie ages in the future.

And one last random final thought. I despised that climax. Without spoiling too much, the climax happens in a blink of an eye and it feels so anti-climatic. Plus, there is a cameo that will shock a lot of people, but I truly hated that cameo. When you see who it is, hopefully you’ll say to yourself, “what the hell?” Because if you’re okay with the kamikaze light speed attack in “The Last Jedi”, but perfectly okay with the cameo at the end, you may be a bit of a hypocritical Star Wars fan.

Is this film fun? Yes, does it have some great moments? Yes. Was it worth it? Overall, at least I don’t think so. I’m not sure if I could call it better or worse than “The Last Jedi”. Both have it’s slew of fair share crap, but I guess it all depends on what you prefer.

So go in with caution, and if you don’t care about a lot of the smaller things I said, you may like it, but I I just felt so mixed. If I did enjoy it in some form, I sure will never watch it again.

Neutral Nebs