Friday, May 25, 2018

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Eh, you should know all the details by now.. but I will mention the Rotten Tomatoes score of (as of posting) 71%, out of 283 reviews.

Or... Solo: A Mediocre Star Wars Story.

Everyone has biases when it comes to films that they like and what cinema they prefer. For a long while I have been fed up with a lot of what Hollywood shovels out (for a long while now, the summer is the least busy season for me when it comes to theatrical viewings) and this movie has two things I have grown to dislike more and more: producers needlessly meddling with projects, and the proliferation of sequels over original ideas.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, I'll just say that any trailer I've seen for any of their films, I've never laughed even once. That is why I've only seen The Lego Movie (that's been watched twice) and as I thought it was below average-and ironically, with hindsight I'd say the same about The Last Jedi, a movie that gets worse the more I think about it; why it's beloved by so many, I'll never comprehend-I never went and saw anything else they did. It is likely they would have made this into something I really did not like, but the way they were treated and fired was BS on principle. They shouldn't have been surprised with how filming was going if they hired them for the job. I am sure I'll always think highly of Rogue One, but it wasn't until months after first viewing that I heard how Gareth Edwards was treated and I am no fan of that either.

Those that say this is a Space Western, the term is quite apt. I won't say much about plot specifics as everyone has seen the trailers; basically, a bunch of smugglers steal s***. Not surprisingly, the movie is quite uneven and is only sporadically successful. There are some quality action setpieces and while Alden Ehrenrich usually did not make me think he was a young Han Solo, the actual performance wasn't bad. I am not sure when the Internet turned against Emilia Clarke; I haven't watched Game of Thrones either and honestly this is the first film I've even seen her in. Her performance wasn't THAT bad to me. Donald Glover as young Lando was memorable, and it wasn't just because he mimicked the original character very well at times.

Unfortunately, I had big problems with the story; it is not as clever as it thinks it is. Yeah, it's one of those deals. That kind of stuff works in Spaghetti Westerns, but hey they are Spaghetti Westerns and not only is it a unique animal of its own, but it's usually done better there. Thankfully this wasn't a quip a minute BS you got in The Last Jedi which ruined many scenes, was usually just stupid and in no way made me feel as if I was watching Star Wars... that crap isn't in this film. The humor that you do get... sometimes it is bad.

There's a character I ended up hating. I won't reveal anything that would give away who I am referring to. When I legit would have preferred Jar Jar Binks in the same role... it'd paint another character in a new light but honestly what I am referring to was a fail all around... tremendously annoying and a caricature instead of funny or insightful. Then again, the big bad villain of this was totally “meh”; I did not really care about them at all even if they tried to make them a threatening menace. They were just dull and forgettable and like this movie, pointless. That actor originally wasn't the one in the role; instead it was another actor but when there were reshoots, in went this new person... that character was originally going to resemble a bipedal mountain lion (?!) instead of the appearance we got here.

One last thing: if you thought the prequels were full of references to all sorts of Star Wars lore, wait until you see this film. It's like the entire movie was based on references. Not only do you get nods to the original trilogy, but also the prequels themselves. That got old pretty quickly for me. But already I see that many enjoyed this more than I did, so your mileage may vary. There are plenty who aren't as cynical about modern Hollywood as I am, or thought this was a story worth telling... which I am unsure if THIS tale was worth telling.

No comments:

Post a Comment