Solo: A Star Wars Story (SPOILERS)

I've got a good feeling about this...

Well, it was probably happening one way or another, I guess. Whether you like the Star Wars franchise or not, it is safe to say that almost everyone knows who Han Solo is. From shooting down Greedo in the Cantina Bar, to finding himself trapped inside a case of carbonite, all the way to meeting his tragic death at the hands of his own son, he is a character who has more than ingrained himself into the world of pop culture for a while now so it seems quite inevitable that the Star Wars executives would want to capitalize on that success and give it a film that explains everything that happened to him up until Luke Skywalker and co meet him for the first time. The question is, was it really necessary? Honestly, the idea is a nice thought, but alas, this was a film that really had no business being made, serving up a product that really didn't deliver on anything that was truly exciting or fresh in terms of what we expect in Star Wars. That said, it's not all bad, and here is what I enjoyed about SOLO, and what I didn't: 

UPS

1. Alden Ehrenreich was surprisingly solid as a young Solo. I, like many, many others, was quite uncertain about how well he would do with his performance since he had little to no resemblance to Harrison Ford. What certainly didn't help matters was the news of an acting coach being hired for him. All in all, it looked like a recipe for disaster. That thankfully was not the case, as Ehrenreich was able to channel the core aspects of the character to a tee, playing him exactly as Ford did all those years back. All in all, he was certainly a pleasant surprise who was able to carry this otherwise mediocre venture the whole way through. And I do believe it's safe to say that he shot first this time ;)
2. Han's relationship with Chewie was very well handled. I think that if they really wanted to make a Han Solo movie, they would just need to take all the scenes focusing on him and his Wookie pal and go from there, because all of it made for some of the best parts of the film and was convincing enough to show how close these two are to each other and how no matter what happens, they always got each others' backs. 

DOWNS

1. The rest of the cast was, for the most part wasted. Donald Glover, who otherwise was solid as Lando, was not the scene stealer the trailers made him out to be, while others like Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, and Paul Bettany did their very best with otherwise lackluster material. I think they were fine otherwise, but more could've been done to make them and this movie even better.
2. It was boring. SO boring. Like I said before, this movie didn't really offer up anything new and exciting, which would be fine if it didn't feel like such a slog to sit through. The only scene that I found to have any thrills whatsoever was the part where they were flying through the asteroid field and trying to escape the giant space monster, but once that was over it returned to being a snooze fest. 

OVERALL

SOLO: A Star Wars Story was about what I expected while simultaneously being better and worse, if that's really possible. It wasn't as disappointing as The Last Jedi was, but it still isn't very memorable either. 

And that's it for this blog guys. Tune in for more on the way :)