Thoughts on Solo

Two things: 1) tonight (Dec. 25th, 2018) I am feeling the joy of a new Star Wars movie at Christmas time when there isn't one in the theatre this year.. I purposefully didn't see the Han Solo movie in the theater so I could watch it here at Christmas as has become a tradition these past few years to watch a new Star Wars movie at Christmas.. 2) reviews of the movie (both good and bad) are unrealistically polarized.. my own opinion is, in my best Lando Calrissian voice, that "everything you heard about the movie is true" .. both the good and the bad.

I was born in 1972, if there was ever a generation where Star Wars penetrated into one's worldview with the magical inspiration it is famous for.. it was mine.. I will always love the original Star Wars trilogy as part of my beloved childhood.. My summary of Solo is simply this: As a generic Sci-Fi Heist movie - it's fantastic.. as a Star Wars side movie.. it's really quite good.. as the "Han Solo origin story", it's too rushed.. Han Solo's backstory deserves more time for gravitas.. imagine if the Lord of the Rings (or the entire original Star Wars trilogy) was to be edited down to a single two hour film .. there would be barely enough time to tell the extremely simplified version of the story and zero time to develop the characters.. that's how Solo feels to me. I think a 4-Hour director's cut with a slower pace and more time to let the characters breathe is what would make it right. As it is, all the cinematic explanations behind Han's origin stories occur on film pretty much as long as it takes them to say it in A New Hope.. all the characters and actors that played the were fine .. it's just that the overall product just feels too rushed.

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