Sheep Movie Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story

Solo: A Star Wars Story
May 24, 2018
Directed by: Ron Howard
Screenplay by: Jonathan Kasdan, Lawrence Kasdan
Cast: 
Film Series: Star Wars Anthology Series
Music Composed By: John Williams, John Powell
Production Company: Lucasfilm, Disney Pictures

During an adventure into the criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his future copilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian years before joining the Rebellion.

Han Solo is a young Corellian man seeking a way off the planet and from under the thumb of Lady Proxima (voiced by actress Linda Hunt), leader of the White Worms gang, who is after a hyperfuel known as coaxium. After getting his hands on some coaxium, he meets up with his girlfriend, Qi'ra and they try to escape. He bribes an Imperial officer with it and makes it through the gate, but Qi'ra doesn’t. Han promises to find a way to get her out. He enlists to become a pilot for the Empire (here we find out how he got his last name, Solo), but never one to listen to orders, he is kicked out of the academy for insubordination and ends up an Imperial infantryman, fighting in a war. After his troop is killed, he joins up with three thieves pretending to be infantrymen: Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), his girlfriend Val (Thandie Newton), and the alien, Rio Durant (Jon Favreau). The three set out to rob an Imperial train for coaxium. Instead, they feed him to a beast, which happens to be none other than Chewbacca!

This is the first Star Wars film (other than the Ewoks TV films from the 80s) where the robots, C3PO and R2D2 don’t appear, not even for a second or two, though Anthology Daniels does play a part in the film. Nor Leia or Luke. But again, this is about Han’s past before they met him and Chewie (though we did see some of Chewie’s past on his home planet in Episode 3, Attack of the Clones).

Surprisingly, the movie wasn’t as bad as I feared. Actor Alden Ehrenreich wouldn’t have been my first choice to play Han, a part Harrison Ford did well and most memorably, it was obvious that the acting coach brought in helped and he did a better job than anyone would have thought. Chewie was done well, even though not played by Peter Mayhew this time around. But Chewie, younger than he was in Star Wars: A New Hope, actor Joonas Suotamo did the mannerisms and personality of Chewie right. Actor Danny Glover made a great Lando Calrissian. Many of the things Han mentions to Luke or Leia, happen in this film like how he won the Millennium Falcon from Lando to how he did the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs.

Redoing the whole film after taking over the reins from the previously fired directors, and a new script written, director Ron Howard did better than many could have. Between him, Lawrence Kasdan (wrote the screenplay for Empire Strikes Back—still the best of the Star Wars films) and his son rewriting the new script, like I said in the beginning, the film was better than I’d expected. Sadly, coming not long after the badly done Star Wars: The Last Jedi, maybe even Star Wars fatigue with so much Star Wars, it may not get much of a chance.

I gave Solo: A Star Wars Story 4 “May the Force Be With You” sheep.

Pamela K. Kinney

Book of SITH: Secrets from the Dark Side

Tired of lurking in the shadows of the Jedi, waiting for a chance to seize control? At long last, the secrets of the dark side are being revealed. Whether you are a master or an apprentice, you can now fulfill your destiny with BOOK OF SITH: Secrets from the Dark Side, a collection of Sith texts written throughout galactic history and gathered in one epic volume.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….

Fragments of five essential dark side texts were passed among numerous Sith and Jedi—Darth Sidious, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Asajj Ventress, Mace Windu, Quinlan Vos, and others—who added their comments to the pages. Through the years, Darth Sidious pilfered and secreted away these texts, along with various objects created by his most powerful predecessors. Using this collected knowledge, the Emperor wrote his own manifesto, a sixth text, as well as a preface for the compilation. Each original text sheds light on the plots, exploits, and philosophy of the infamous Sith Order. For years these texts and various accompanying artifacts remained concealed within a mysterious pyramid-like case. But now, with this recovered collection, all students of the Force can unleash the power and the madness of the dark side.

BOOK OF SITH: Secrets from the Dark Side is headed for new generations of STAR WARS™ fans in a deluxe special edition produced by becker&mayer! in collaboration with Lucasfilm, New York Times bestselling author Daniel Wallace, and celebrated STAR WARS® illustrators.

“BOOK OF SITH and THE JEDI PATH, which preceded it, are the first STAR WARS

books that were conceived and developed as actual artifacts that originated in the STAR WARS galaxy,” says Carol Roeder, director of publishing for Lucasfilm Ltd. “Now both sides, dark and light, have the chance to learn from the powerful Sith Lords and the Jedi Masters who came before them."

The 160-page book features a faux-leather cover with debossing and heat stamping. Five removable artifacts—including a scrap of a Sith burial shroud, a battle map from the Great Galactic War, a diagram of Palpatine’s master plan, an Empire propaganda poster, and a note from Luke Skywalker—are tucked within the pages of the book.

The book’s elegant design showcases original illustrations by acclaimed STAR WARS® artists, including Paul Allan Ballard, Jeff Carlisle, Chris Reiff, Chris Trevas, Russell Walks, Terryl Whitlatch, and the illustrators of Aristia/Hive Studios. The book and two accompanying mementoes—a Sith crystal and a Sith talisman—are enclosed in a mechanized blood-red and black Holocron case, which opens at the touch of a button with flashing lights and sounds.

As each Sith Lord rose to power and then fell, the knowledge he gained vanished with him. Or so it seemed … Delve into the dark with BOOK OF SITH: Secrets from the Dark Side.

Book Of Sith will go on-sale February 10th, the same day Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace 3D hits theaters. Coincidence? I think not young Jedi. I think not.

KD