Jack Goes Confidential: Disney Does ‘Solo’ Proud

She said she loved STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI last Christmas…

She said she couldn’t wait for the next one to open this weekend.

That’s when I had to bust her bubble and let her know that SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY was certainly not a continuation of THE LAST JEDI.

I gently broke it to her that this is another stand-alone story, very much like ROGUE ONE was in 2016.

Then I had to share the bad news that the next STAR WARS movie – the one she so anxiously was looking forward to would not open until December—of 2019, that is.

So what of SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY?

It is a stand-alone prequel focusing on Han Solo’s early, formative years.

An entertaining insight into Solo’s total being. His first association with Chewbacca.

His encounter(s) with Qi’Ra. Lando Calrissian. Tobias Beckett. But foremost his love and association with the Millennium Falcon.

“I want to be a pilot!”

And so a young Han Solo connects himself to the eventual master franchise and takes  us along on his whirlwind adventure of what his future would eventually turn into.

Young Alden Ehrenreich as Solo definitely does him justice as we experience many of the early traits of what his future being, as portrayed by Harrison Ford, would become in many of the chapters of one of the most beloved film series in all of celluloid history.

It is no secret that Disney apparently had its hands full with this production.

Call it creative differences or whatever. Bottom line Disney parted ways with the film’s original co-directors well into the production process.

Filling those shoes was director Ron Howard who apparently lightened up the scope of things.

It goes without saying that his footprint is all over this movie—and in a good way.

Is it a bit too long? Probably.

There are instances where it could have been tightened up a bit.

And some of the CGI to my way of thinking just didn’t overwhelm me the way I had expected.

Oh, and if you’re expecting the intergalactic story crawl at the beginning, there just isn’t one.

It’s handled here a bit differently.

As for the STAR WARS theme on the soundtrack, it is dropped in only sparingly during key scenes.

The well cast supporting roles include the likes of Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, Paul Bettany and Donald Glover who (almost) steals the proceedings as Lando Calrissian.

What else can I tell you? 

Not much because then I would be stepping into spoiler territory.

So just sit back and take in as much as you can.

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY—My grade: B