[Papa Bear]

No spoilers, I'll just say that acting, directing, scoring, effects, cinematography, etc., no matter how great, can't save a bad script. This movie was packed with greatness in all those categories, plus the best writing I've seen in a galaxy far, far away since Return of the Jedi.


It wasn't just a good science fiction story, it was a great STORY. The characters had a depth and complexity that was missing in episodes 1, 2, & 3. The problem with many backstories is that they don't have backstories. They may work as scenery, but as stories they feel too thin and flat. One reason Tolkien continues to fascinate is that his backstories are often 3, and sometimes 4, 5, or 6 layers deep, and they are not just scenery, they are interesting as stories in their own right.

But don't worry that this makes the plot too complicated. The action is easy to follow, (and there is plenty of action) but you're never sure what any character is going to do next. And even when the movie is over, you're still wondering what each character was thinking at each critical moment.
Well worth the ticket price, and I plan to buy it as soon as it's available on disc.

[Darrell]

I'm definitely looking forward to it!

[WalrusWrangler]

I agree with all the things you said. I've seen a lot of complaining about the movie, but most of that falls into the category of "we didn't need a Solo prequel." I mean, we didn't need Empire Strikes Back, but I'm glad we got it, because it's still one of the greatest sequels in history. Solo was fun. Where Star Wars proper feels more like Space Fantasy, Solo was more Space Western, and I dug it. It was something different.

Also, I'm curious how they're going to expand on all the seeds they planted in the movie. They did a good job of laying the groundwork for future stories without letting those encroach on the story in this film. Disney has a ton of Star Wars movies planned, but they haven't given details about them beyond some of the directors. Rumors are a Lando movie and Obi Wan movie. I'm down for either, or both. Donald Glover did a great job as Billy Dee Williams as Lando in Solo.

[myotch]

Thanks for the good reviews. I’m a Star Wars nut, but had heard a bunch of bad things about this film.

[Papa Bear]

IMHO, Episodes 1-3 featured mediocre to bad acting, forgettable scores, bad CGI that would have looked outdated even in 1997, decent (but not outstanding) cinematography, and scripts that could have been written by a committee of 7th grade girls. (Except the love scenes, which were even worse. Maybe they let 7th grade boys write these?) They were missing Solo's wry, cynical asides and gallows humor. Jar-jar was intended as comic relief, but he was more like an annoying kid who kept tripping over his own feet while pacing back and forth in front of the screen. (And I imagine the Rebellion would have salvaged, surplus, or captured Imperial spacecraft, but why hadn't the empire designed any new ships in 20 years?)

Episodes 7 and 8 fixed these problems (except that, even with  the Alliance / Rebellion constantly blowing up their spacecraft, the Empire / First Order were still building / flying spacecraft 40 years outdated. They hadn't even managed to steal any new plans. They made the Soviet Union seem competent by comparison.) Rae, Finn, and Poe were well-written, but Kylo was no Sith: he was just a whiny brat who had learned a few magic tricks and kept doing them over and over.  These were decent stories about Star Wars, but not in the same category as the Original Trilogy.

Because Solo was set in a different part of the galaxy, where everyone wasn't related to everyone else, and where technology was at a similar level, but with different designs, it had more room to expand the story in new directions, rather than connect every obscure character (with four lines of dialogue) and every extra (with 3 seconds of screen time) to every film in the epic. If they make a Solo trilogy, I will definitely watch it.

[Miss TTU Runner-Up]

I saw it Thursday. I had heard some negative stuff too, but I really liked it, especially the second half. My only complaint is that some scenes were so poorly lit that it was hard to tell what was going on at times. I thought the story was good and the acting was excellent. It was fun to see things that were referred to in the Saga, like how Han got the Millennium Falcon and how he met Chewbacca.

Has anyone ever seen the Star Wars Christmas special? My husband found it a few months ago and we watched it. It is unbelievably awful.