Just had my second viewing of Solo earlier today, and IMHO it still holds up as a really fun Star Wars movie… and a really fun movie in general. There’s a few parts that drag here and there… and there’s almost enough plot material for two movies (I feel that way about a lot of movies these days though), but overall I left the theater thrilled, wanting more stories with these characters.
The cast in general was awesome. Alden Ehrenreich’s interpretation of the young Han Solo was really fun and worked well for me (sure, he’s not quite a young Harrison Ford, but no one will be… that’s why I call it an interpretation). Joonas Suotamo, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Paul Bettany, and of course, “Childish Gambino” himself - Donald Glover - all delivered spot-on performances that I thoroughly enjoyed watching.
Being a fan of the new Westworld series, I also really enjoyed Thandie Newton’s part… as brief as it was… and Jon Favreau’s voice work for the pilot Rio Durant was also really well done (it made that character come alive for me… again, briefly). Oh… and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s portrayal of L3 was hilarious! I understand why some people find L3 annoying, but I think she’s great! Whether she’s supposed to be a parody or an actual SJW type of character doesn’t bother me either way. She has personality and it’s an interesting dynamic with the other characters.
If there’s only one thing I would really complain about, it would be a technical detail… the brightness… or lack there-of. My first viewing was in 3D which seemed waaay too dark. My second viewing was is 2D, which still seemed really dark, but not as bad. In general I found the movie worked better for me in 2D (which just seems right for Star Wars movies… I’ll save the 3D for Jurassic World).
And now I’ll leave you with a Yoda-style Haiku…
This Solo movie.
Much fun to see it is hmmm?
See it too… you should.