SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (Malaysia, 24 May 2018)

Genre: Science Fiction / Adventure 

Running Length: 2:15

Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Joonas Suotamo, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Paul Bettany, Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Director: Ron Howard 

Screenplay: Jonathan Kasdan & Lawrence Kasdan, based on characters created by George Lucas

What's this movie about?

A prequel to the original trilogy, SOLO chronicles the adventures of young Han Solo; how he met Chewbacca, got his hands on the Millennium Falcon and his involvement in a heist. 

Highlights!

• Han and Chewie moments. When they are together on screen, it just lights up. The bromance is strong with these two.
• The action scenes. Most of the action scenes are well choreographed. There is one standout scene involving stealing an important cargo from a moving "train". 
• Performances. Everything you heard about Donald Glover's performance as Lando Calrissian...is true; he is so on point. Harrelson and Bettany's performances are commendable too. They definitely have screen presence.   
• Gambling scenes. Han and Lando's poker scenes are so much fun to watch.
• L3-37 droid. The droids from the standalone films are definitely more memorable than the Star Wars family saga. L3 is such a memorable character its performance is much more believable than most of the human actors in this movie. 

Lowlights

• Bad pacing. Some critics said the movie flowed really well eventhough there were different directors involved in the production (original directors duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller left due to "creative differences"). But to me, I just felt that the overall movie pacing was off. As a result, it just couldn't generate sufficient energy to lift off. 
• No sense of danger, whatsoever. Eventhough we are familiar with the events of the original trilogy, prequel Rogue One still got me at the edge of my seat. Can't say the same for Solo as we know our protagonist and his furry sidekick would not die or get their faces smashed in from an oncoming mountain rock. 
• Poor casting. Throughout the movie I just wasn't convinced that Alden Ehrenreich was playing the same Han Solo character as Harrison Ford did. Although I have not watched a single episode of GOT (*gasp*), I am convinced Emilia Clarke really cannot act. She was terrible in Terminator Genisys and she is terrible-r here. 

In summary

A fun, breezy and light adventure. Predictably, it checks all the boxes of an origins story but doesn't add any depth to the Han Solo we know. 

RATING: 7.5/10