Solo: A Star Wars Story

As the second Star Wars spinoff and the first to focus on one of the major characters from the saga films, Solo: A Star Wars Story is the exact movie that this franchise needs and to learn from. Taking place less than ten years before the events of A New Hope, the film sees how Han Solo became the rogue smuggler we met at the start of the first film through his adventures with Chewbacca, winning the Millennium Falcon from Lando, and what led him to Tatooine. Most of the story of Han having to help a team of criminals steal from a train and then breaking into and escaping from a mining planet is very original with some of the events done to explain the references made by the previous films. Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover portray the younger versions of Han and Lando, respectively, and both do a fantastic job at capturing what their predecessors brought to their performances while also proving on their own with certain aspects not seen before. Many of the events in which the characters get themselves into feel very natural as opposed to being forced all in one to explain right away how certain things became, though some do have this problem. Unlike the rest of the films, Solo has an entirely different feel to it that shows you can make each of these films their own, going from space opera to full on space western. When the film was initially being made, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were the original directors who were then replaced by producers with Ron Howard as they felt it was being done with a much different directing style than the other Star Wars films and more of a comedy. While I can agree in not doing a Star Wars comedy when it deals with a character like Han, I do feel that now that it's been over forty years since the franchise was introduced that the movies should be made differently in both style and tone to show how diverse the universe of Star Wars is. Solo introduced some new memorable characters like Emilia Clarke's Qi'ra as Han's childhood love, Woody Harrelson as Han's mentor and the leader of a band of very likable criminals, and Phoebe Walter-Bridge as L3-37 who is Lando's droid companion. There's a surprising cameo at the end of the film that is really cool and promises something new in the future. While this film isn't flawless, I find that Solo is the best Star Wars film as it's the only one since A New Hope that even remotely tries to feel differently and not rely on constant references to the original trilogy as the movies should really move away from it as this is a large and diverse universe with thousands if not millions of years of history. Even if this is the first Star Wars to not make its money back Disney should think about how they make these films, to learn from this one, and how they should have a different tone and feel. All in all, with really great effects, a well told and original story, good acting, and memorable new characters Solo is a noteworthy entry that shouldn't be afraid to be different even with some familiarity. Over all: 100%

2018 top list so far:
1. Avengers: Infinity War

2. Solo: A Star Wars Story

3. A Quiet Place
4. Deadpool 2

5. Black Panther
6. Ready Player One
7. Isle of Dogs

8. Game Night
9. Thoroughbreds