“Solo: A Star Wars Story” – At Least We Hope…

The Final Trailer for “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is out and circulating the internet at lightning speed, not unlike other blockbuster flicks. To be honest, I was intending to skip this movie in the theaters due to my exorbitant anger over “Star War: The Last Jedi” that I displayed in my review of it, peppered with an extreme loss of objectivity. I apologize for that, but I refuse to give a pass on such a blatant deviation from the ideology and spirit of the franchise. I think they’re trying to wipe out George Lucas and all of his fans with him. But I digress. I promise to stay more objective moving forward, or at least until I see something that ridiculous again… I’m just saying.

This trailer seems like it’s working with some decent material though the story seems like it will be simplistic in nature. We know a few things have to be explored in this movie including Han’s background and maybe a visit to the legendary planet of Corellia, his meeting up with Chewie and Lando, the acquisition of the Millenium Falcon and the display and further development of his smuggling and piloting prowess. With it being Han Solo, who clearly didn’t walk into “A New Hope” as a good guy, we should expect a lot of anti-hero type of characterization with a hint of this guy being somewhat misguided in the beginning. We know he’s good at being a “scoundrel” but we also know it catches up to him eventually. With that said, they’ll probably really have to beef up the depth of the villain in this Star Wars outing to give the “bad guy” Han Solo a run for his money as he comes into his own in his chosen profession. There’s potential for a really good story if they (production team and studio) decided to stay away from movie cliche.

My feelings on what takes place in the trailer seems simplistic in nature but there some potential positives and negatives to note. First off, Woody Harrelson is in it and is slated to hook up with Han at some point in the movie – a potential mentor? Harrelson is usually compelling as an actor so, unless the director really messed with him, I’m not worried about the portrayal of his character in the film. Emilia Clarke is in this and I simply want to see her show up with her two remaining dragons and blow the crap out of something. Just kidding (actually I’m not). Paul Bettany is in it and though I don’t know his character, I’m glad he is because he always manages to bring grace to any scene he’s in. It looks like he’s going to be playing the big bad which should be fun. Donald Glover, who I honestly haven’t seen much of his work, seems to have the confidence of those who have. I hear nothing but good things about him and he seems to be the one that other reviewers note as a high point to this film. From the trailer, I felt from the few brief lines that he will pull off the character of Lando Calrissian which desperately needs to happen. That brings me to Alden Ehrenreich who plays the titular character. I haven’t seen anything with him in it either and I think that’s ok. It gives us a fresh, newer face that will allow us as viewers to not focus on the actor and get more absorbed into the character of young Han Solo. I can’t tell really well from the trailer how all of that will go, but I do know he needs to capture the full essence of the character in order to pull off the overall success of the movie. Lots and lots of pressure to be sure. If you’re excited to see this new Lucasfilm offering, comment below on what you think.