I'll just caveat this review from the start by saying I came at this movie agenda free. I was not part of the audience/Star Wars fandom who went into this movie holding a grudge over The Last Jedi, a movie I did not think was particularly bad despite the huge fan backlash it received. I have no interest in boycotting any Star Wars product right now and have generally found the Disney Star Wars output serviceable to date. However, for me this is where the shine began to wear off.
Quite simply this movie should not have been made. The Han Solo of the original Star Wars relied very much on the charisma of Harrison Ford. We knew he was a hot shot pilot and a scoundrel. We knew he was a legend for the "Kessel Run". That was it. That was his character. The rest was entirely down to Ford taking that one dimensional background and creating an entertaining character out of it. Quite simply you take him out of the picture and you lose a good 60-70% of the Han Solo character. Because of the amount of Han Solo that was Ford, Alden Ehrenreich is unrecognisable as the character. He just comes across as a generic 20 something American actor. While I would never expect an impression of Ford, you at least expected to be reminded of the character, in the same way as you could believe Ewan McGregor was Obi-Wan Kenobi. But here I did not recognise the character at all. That proves how Ford is irreplaceable because it shows how much the character relied on Ford. It is also unfortunate that the movie comes only two and a half years after Ford last played the role. So right from the off the movie has a key problem.
Given that there is little back story to Han Solo you'd think there is a bit of scope for an interesting story. But what we get is the most predictable series of events any Star Wars fan could predict. The Kessel Run. Han meeting Chewbacca. Han winning the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian. All the greatest hits from Star Wars legend. So, again, the movie has another disadvantage. If you are familiar with Star Wars and Han Solo you know what you're going to get before you sit down - and sadly on top of that the mystery and intrigue of these talked about events goes immediately if not done well, a problem suffered by the George Lucas prequel films as well. So, what's the draw to see this movie if you know what you're going to get? Each of these events are played out and, with the possible exception of the Kessel Run, are done so in generally average manner. Afterwards you sit there and ask yourself "was it worth it"? Sadly I don't think it was.
Average, in fact, is a very apt word for the movie. Add in words like "competent, bland , pedestrian, safe" in place of words like "great, stunning, huge fun". Frankly I was bored for many scenes. This will be in no small part a result of the widely known directorial change. While Ron Howard is a competent director who has in the past given us classics like Parenthood and Apollo 13, here his task is to finish someone else's movie, with specific instructions to stick closely to the script. It shows. There is no personal touch to this movie. It feels like a product, not a director's vision - and how could it not when all of the preproduction and the direction was decided by someone else? Frankly the original directors, Lord & Miller, should have been retained if for no other reason than to give the picture some sort of identity.
Then there is the simply fact that you have Disney relying too much on nostalgia for their Star Wars movies by repeatedly going back to the well of original trilogy content. Star Wars is a huge universe, but Disney is making it a small one. When you do that and, worse still, you do it in quick succession, people start to get tired. Disney wants another Marvel style mega franchise , but more thought needs to go in to what made Star Wars special in the first place if they are going to come close. We need an huge, expansive universe instead of just building around the original three movies otherwise over-saturation will be here soon enough. Indeed, as of the time of writing this the box office suggests it may already be here.
Is the film flat out bad? No, it isn't. Like I say, average is the key word here. The score is okay, but not Star Wars level epic. The action is fine, but nothing we haven't really seen before. The SFX if as good as previous SW entries. The supporting cast are all competent. The score is good but not great. But nothing truly quite hits the heights required of a SW movie. The humour is just okay. The drama is serviceable. The pacing is largely okay. It just lacks those special wow moments you'd expect from events talked about for forty years, Harrison Ford present or otherwise.
For me the movie is instantly forgettable and the weakest of the Disney Star Wars movies. It is casual Sunday afternoon DVD entertainment rather than a blockbuster must see. Disney needs to rethink its strategy if the series is to survive, let alone prosper.
Quite simply this movie should not have been made. The Han Solo of the original Star Wars relied very much on the charisma of Harrison Ford. We knew he was a hot shot pilot and a scoundrel. We knew he was a legend for the "Kessel Run". That was it. That was his character. The rest was entirely down to Ford taking that one dimensional background and creating an entertaining character out of it. Quite simply you take him out of the picture and you lose a good 60-70% of the Han Solo character. Because of the amount of Han Solo that was Ford, Alden Ehrenreich is unrecognisable as the character. He just comes across as a generic 20 something American actor. While I would never expect an impression of Ford, you at least expected to be reminded of the character, in the same way as you could believe Ewan McGregor was Obi-Wan Kenobi. But here I did not recognise the character at all. That proves how Ford is irreplaceable because it shows how much the character relied on Ford. It is also unfortunate that the movie comes only two and a half years after Ford last played the role. So right from the off the movie has a key problem.
Given that there is little back story to Han Solo you'd think there is a bit of scope for an interesting story. But what we get is the most predictable series of events any Star Wars fan could predict. The Kessel Run. Han meeting Chewbacca. Han winning the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian. All the greatest hits from Star Wars legend. So, again, the movie has another disadvantage. If you are familiar with Star Wars and Han Solo you know what you're going to get before you sit down - and sadly on top of that the mystery and intrigue of these talked about events goes immediately if not done well, a problem suffered by the George Lucas prequel films as well. So, what's the draw to see this movie if you know what you're going to get? Each of these events are played out and, with the possible exception of the Kessel Run, are done so in generally average manner. Afterwards you sit there and ask yourself "was it worth it"? Sadly I don't think it was.
Average, in fact, is a very apt word for the movie. Add in words like "competent, bland , pedestrian, safe" in place of words like "great, stunning, huge fun". Frankly I was bored for many scenes. This will be in no small part a result of the widely known directorial change. While Ron Howard is a competent director who has in the past given us classics like Parenthood and Apollo 13, here his task is to finish someone else's movie, with specific instructions to stick closely to the script. It shows. There is no personal touch to this movie. It feels like a product, not a director's vision - and how could it not when all of the preproduction and the direction was decided by someone else? Frankly the original directors, Lord & Miller, should have been retained if for no other reason than to give the picture some sort of identity.
Then there is the simply fact that you have Disney relying too much on nostalgia for their Star Wars movies by repeatedly going back to the well of original trilogy content. Star Wars is a huge universe, but Disney is making it a small one. When you do that and, worse still, you do it in quick succession, people start to get tired. Disney wants another Marvel style mega franchise , but more thought needs to go in to what made Star Wars special in the first place if they are going to come close. We need an huge, expansive universe instead of just building around the original three movies otherwise over-saturation will be here soon enough. Indeed, as of the time of writing this the box office suggests it may already be here.
Is the film flat out bad? No, it isn't. Like I say, average is the key word here. The score is okay, but not Star Wars level epic. The action is fine, but nothing we haven't really seen before. The SFX if as good as previous SW entries. The supporting cast are all competent. The score is good but not great. But nothing truly quite hits the heights required of a SW movie. The humour is just okay. The drama is serviceable. The pacing is largely okay. It just lacks those special wow moments you'd expect from events talked about for forty years, Harrison Ford present or otherwise.
For me the movie is instantly forgettable and the weakest of the Disney Star Wars movies. It is casual Sunday afternoon DVD entertainment rather than a blockbuster must see. Disney needs to rethink its strategy if the series is to survive, let alone prosper.
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