Solo: A Star Wars Story Review

With all of the drama surrounding the latest Star Wars film, it should be called Solo: A Social Justice Story. Despite a boycott against the film some of the franchises most hardcore fans, the opening day showing of the film at the local Regal Cinemas was packed with only a few seats left open in the very front row.

Some of the most valid complaints with the current direction of Star Wars is the way the company has seen it more important to push political messages in the films even if it means the film's quality will suffer. But if you are willing to see some of the main characters' backstories filled in from the original trilogy by a company that isn't afraid to prioritize the latest social justice politics of 2018 over character development, it isn't that bad of a film.

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I say it wasn't "that bad" because reports from the writers of the film confirming Lando is "pansexual" was a bad omen and had me expecting the worst. However, the idea that Lando is sexually attracted to a droid wasn't actually in the movie directly but was somewhat hinted at and eluded to in brief moments of mild humor. To be honest, Lando's strange obsession with the droid L337 turned out to be used in a way that served the character fairly well and moved the overall plot forward. I still think the whole idea of the social justice warrior droid that L337 embodied sort of fell flat on its face, and I mean, literally, she is a social justice warrior in the movie who campaigns for droid rights.

That whole side plot didn't need to be in the movie, and the character could have just as easily been played by an actual human or even an alien without the whole social justice agenda, and it wouldn't have felt so weird -especially when you consider how attracted Lando was to Leia in the original trilogy. Rewriting original trilogy characters to fit a modern-day political agenda only dates the film and alienates fans. It felt like Disney smacking us in the face with their political messages, and L337 was sort of like the "Canto Bight" of Solo.

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Without spoiling it too much, I can say that this film is a lot better than The Last Jedi. It's unclear where directors Chris Lord and Phill Miller's work ends and director Ron Howard's work begins since Howard was hired to finish the film after the previous directors were fired, but it's clear the director's had at least some modicum of respect for the source material. That being said, the rampant feminist agenda that Disney has been pushing in these films was painfully apparent. All of the female characters are super powerful all the way down to a young girl who turns out to be a certain someone from the trailers. Han Solo is constantly being put in place and talked down to by the woman around him and half of the film is him just trying to show that he is a man and not this little boy that he is treated like.

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All of the politics aside, the film is a technical masterpiece visually and nothing short of what you would expect from a film with over a $200 million budget. One scene, in particular, that was shown briefly in the trailer when a giant star destroyer emerges from a swirling space vortex was amazing and had me griping at the nearest armrest. The whole portion of the film that was the Kessel Run was one of the few moments when you truly felt like you were in a Star Wars movie just having a good time and all of the politics were removed. One of the film's best reveals was a character from the prequel era who makes a "reappearance," but I won't spoil it by saying who.

The visuals of a giant Star Destroyer, a giant tentacled space creature, and asteroids set against the backdrop of what amounts to a black hole on fire was stunning. Ron Howard still has my respect, and although it had some painfully obvious identity politics injected in the film it was overall a great buddy comedy/ heist film set in the Star Wars universe. The whole film had a gritty feel to it and many of the ships, creatures, and settings were done with practical effects giving it more of an original trilogy vibe than the recent CGI-heavy releases. My final rating would be 6.7 and if you are a Star Wars fan it's definitely worth seeing it in theaters. Just be prepared for a fun ride and don't go into the film expecting Alden Ehrenreich to be the Han Solo of your childhood.

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