Short version: Solo is a decent heist flick, when judged on its own merits. It is impossible to judge the movie on its own merits, however. Why? Because the second half of the title is A Star Wars Story.
Slightly longer version: Solo is not glorious cinema, by any stretch of the imagination. But it is a perfectly good science fiction heist flick with decent performances and reasonable pacing. The problem is, of course, that it’s a Star Wars movie, which means that people will have Views. Particularly since it’s likely to make a lot of money at the box office (it’s gonna have to).
All in all, I had a good time. The inevitable sequel was set up in a non-aggravating fashion, the Solo/Chewie dynamic was presented in a believable way while still leaving room to develop further, and if there was a message deeper than criminal organizations are horrible things that do horrible things I missed it. Oh, sure, there was all that stuff about how everybody will betray you in the end, but come on: Chewbacca is right there. That riff came already pre-self-sabotaged, is what I’m saying.
You’re holding out on us. That’s not what I want to know. Story? Who cares? Effects? Bah. What I want to know is how good Clint Howard was. I suspect the entire movie hinges on his performance.
Dammit, it took me five minutes to figure that reference out. Well played.
Box Office Mojo shows it with an estimated $35 million Friday. That’s not very good considering Force Awakens had a $119 million opening Friday.
Having said that, it was, as Moe says, a serviceable heist flick. It wasn’t bad, either, but they definitely should’ve sent Kathleen Kennedy to a vacation somewhere with no cell signal for the last couple of months.