Well, of course I did go see Solo on opening night, but I am just now getting around to writing a review of it. Please forgive me. With the announcement about Star Wars Celebration coming again in April of 2019, I definitely plan on paying more attention to this site along with its related social media. So of course that means we need a review of Solo!
Although I only found out about tickets for Solo going on sale on May 4 because I happened to wake up in the early morning hours, I still somehow managed to grab a seat at the special event for it at AMC Disney Springs. I knew I would be there over that weekend for MegaCon Orlando, so of course I would go see it there. And the special event package included some cool extras like popcorn, buttons, a poster, and… Han Solo’s dice! This was probably the coolest little free extra you could possibly snag. These dice have been a thing since, well… A New Hope? Yes, they are in there but nobody really started talking about them until The Force Awakens came out. They are also featured again in Solo, but we still don’t really have an origin story for them, other than the fact that they are lucky somehow.
This is a side note, because it really has nothing to do with the movie itself, but I was a bit disappointed in how this special event went down. I hate the fact that this theater has two entrances – the dine-in side and the regular side. Yet the whole theater, both sides, calls itself “AMC Dine-In Disney Springs”. And since the words “dine-in” were on my ticket, I assumed it was that side. Nope, I was wrong. So I had to walk around to the regular entrance. And then, of the two people scanning tickets, both of their devices went down. So that caused a backup. There was a big line for food because of all the people getting free popcorn for the special event. Plus, it was yet another line for buying drinks. So even though I got there a half hour earlier, I was almost late to the show by the time I found my seat. Not cool, AMC. Anyway… moving on.
I’ll start with just my general opinion. I LOVED this movie. I know not everyone did, but honestly, there are just people that will find fault with anything, and in the Star Wars fandom, there are people that will like some Star Wars movies and not others. Which is actually a good thing, because we’re all different. And that’s ok. But to me, Solo, overall, was a very fun telling of a lot of backstory. Backstory that I didn’t even realize I wanted to know about, but love that I now do.
Solo tells the story of (of course) Han Solo before he ever met Luke Skywalker. And before he became a smuggler, even. It takes you back a few years to where he grew up, on Corellia. Of course I can’t go into the plot line too much without giving away spoilers, so I’ll just tell you what I liked about it. First, Han Solo is one of my favorite characters in the Star Wars movies. He’s a guy with an attitude, but when it comes right down to it, he is also loyal and tries to do the right thing. This comes through in his back story in Solo just as much as it does in the original trilogy. I loved finding out some of the back story of a guy that is, to me, one of the most interesting characters in Star Wars.
Also, there are a lot of little comments or quirks in the original trilogy that you don’t really even give a lot of thought to anymore, simply because you’ve seen the movies so many times. Or at least that’s true for me. Solo took so many of those little things and expanded on them or at least made mention of them. I loved this. It was a really fun movie to watch, even if just because I found myself watching it and being like “oh hey, I remember that”. It was especially fun to watch with a bunch of other fans on opening night. I remember several times when I didn’t exactly “catch” something, but someone else in the audience would laugh or make a sound and I would immediately get it. I even found myself laughing at something when no one else did at first… but then after I laughed, I heard others start laughing as well. This made the experience even more fun.
The story in Solo was decent enough that I think even a non-fan would find it enjoyable to watch without having seen any other Star Wars movies. They wouldn’t get all of the in-jokes that long-time Star Wars fans will appreciate, but it still should be an enjoyable action movie. I think all of the newcomers did a great job too. Alden Ehrenreich may not look just like Harrison Ford, but he does do a good job as young Han Solo. Donald Glover is, of course, perfect as young Lando. And even Joonas Suotamo injected a fun bit of personality into the young(er) Chewbacca.
Overall, if you are a Star Wars fan and haven’t seen Solo, go do it. You will probably love it. You may only like it. Or you may not. But at any rate, I’m sure you’ll have some fun.
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