Review:

As a stand alone (solo) movie, it’s a highly entertaining action adventure Sci Fi film with great cinematography and special effects with the spirit of Star Wars present as felt in the various worlds we get to see, the eclectic species that inhabit the movie (including droids), the signature music and the lurking Empire. Alden Ehrenreich (Han Solo) does a solid job of portraying a younger version of Han Solo although it takes awhile to warm up to him because he doesn’t quite capture Harrison Ford’s voice but he somehow makes it work. The storyline is entertaining enough although I had hoped it would have introduced us to Han’s childhood but instead starts off with Han as a young adult as a slave/prisoner working as a thief in Corellia with his love Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke - GOT’s Mother of Dragons) and how they ultimately get separated with Han enlisting in the Empire and teaming up with Beckett’s (Woody Harrelson) motley crew, getting thrown in the pit and meeting Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and reconnecting with Qi’ra after a few years has passed and teaming up with Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and his Millennium Falcon to make the famous Kessel Run in twelve parsecs. As a Star Wars movie, it fell flat because although we were fed with all the visuals I mentioned above along with the music, the emotional pull was lacking. The characters were entertaining enough and like I said, Alden Ehrenreich did a fine job making me believe that he was a younger version of Han Solo but it just doesn’t feel like it’s part of the Star Wars universe because the story just didn’t have the true spirit of Star Wars. You get a glimpse of it, time and time again (maybe because of the music?) but it wasn’t consistent through out the film and as a Star Wars aficionado it was mediocre at best. The rapport between Han Solo and Chewbacca was spot on but it wasn’t enough to lift the movie and make me believe that I was experiencing a story from “a long time ago from a galaxy far far away…” The magic just wasn’t there. Again, as a solo stand alone story, it’s great but this wasn’t a “Star Wars” movie and I guess only die hard fans can sense that. Maybe it was from an alternate universe? Sadly, the force was lacking on this one.