In Star Wars there have been many things to define the franchise like the Jedi and the Rebellion. Yet despite the galaxy far, far, away centering on the heroic tales of the Skywalkers one character manages to steal the show and cannot help but love him for it. This character is none other than the scruffy looking nerfherder himself: Han Solo. Since appearing in the cantina and shooting Greedo the iconic smuggler has been a prevalent addition to the Star Wars franchise. However, despite his role in the franchise, the origin of Han Solo has been all but a mystery on the silver screen; that is until now. With the franchise branching out into the Star Wars Anthology film series, moviegoers can now see Han’s humble beginnings in
Solo: A Star Wars Story. While production of the film went through major changes the anthology movie was able to make its release date with director Ron Howard taking the helm for this installment. While it can be hard for me not to be excited for a new Star Wars film, my anticipation for
Solo was a subtle one as all I was expecting from this standalone tale was it being a swashbuckling adventure; and in that regard this Star Wars Story did not disappoint.
The story of
Solo centers on a young Han (Alden Ehrenreich) who is whisked into a crime filled adventure that leads the novice outlaw meeting the likes of Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) as well as finding his future ship the Millennium Falcon. Even for Star Wars the story of Solo was a simple one; though that was not necessarily a bad thing. Although it was a little jeering to get into the plot to this Star Wars Story was indeed thrilling. The second act in particular was adventurous and really got into the spirit of the series. Granted this was a double edged sword for the plot as the third act did not have the impact as the previous chapter. Another highlight for the plot, although a minor one, was its references to other stories in the Star Wars Saga; both in the films and other mediums. When it came down to it what held this plot back was its structure, but even that was not enough to keep this tale from being a engaging adventure.
