Solo: A Better Than Expected Star Wars Story

   Die hard Star Wars fans have had a tough go of it. The Disney owned Star Wars has been a financial success, but it hasn't done much to win the hearts of it's loyal fan base. In fact, it has been the opposite. Most people seem to think that they only make these for the guaranteed money. They are not wrong. They are not totally right either. The problem has been the fans need to decide what they want. The biggest criticism of The Force Awakens was the fact that it was pretty much a copy of a New Hope. Rogue One was a great movie that fans didn't even know they wanted or needed. What came next was the worst thing for the franchise. The Last Jedi.  This isn't about that. This is the story of a young Han Solo. Let's start there.

We meet a younger version of the lovable scoundrel on the streets of Corellia. He is trying to buy a way off world and out of the criminal underworld for him and his friend/girlfriend. Things go wrong, he joins the empire, flees the empire, joins up with criminals, and meets some well known friends ten years prior to the rebellion.

  The cast works for what it is. Alden Edenreich is now Han Solo. He is tasked with the nearly impossible. Don't mimic Harrison Ford, but don't be so different that we don't recognize the character. He does alright. It takes a minute to get used too, but he plays it well. Emilia Clarke is a predictable, but interesting character. Jon Favreau and Thandie Newton have minor, but impactful roles. Paul Bettany is serviceable villain for the story, but he doesn't get much screen time. Phoebe Waller-Bridge lends her voice to one of the best droids to grace the saga, L3-37. She is the first mate to Lando Calrissian.

 Donald Glover was made for this role. It is the Lando we expect and a little that we don't . He is the smoothest man in the galaxy and in just enough trouble to make it interesting. There are a few things from him that I wanted to see, but again it is 10-12 years before Empire Strikes Back.

 We do get to see the Lando's version of the Millennium Falcon. It is beyond a trip down memory lane. The big complaint has been how new it looks and the design. The latter serves as part of the story and it provides for a cool moment. The fresh new look is purely Lando. He made some modifications and has an image to uphold.

 The pacing in the beginning is a little sluggish, but it is fun when it kicks in. Ron Howard basically re-shot a big chunk of the movie. The action scenes seem to just pop up, but they are well done. The train heist is great and we get to understand the Kessel Run! Both of these are fun to see play out. It is a small and somewhat predictable story that connects to a much larger and more familiar universe.

  It is a bromance. Chewbacca finally gets his moments to shine and they are fantastic. We always new that he and Han were close, but we finally see where it begins. While fans might not have asked for this, it is fun to see how it began for one of the most well known duos in pop culture history.

 The film is good with twists. A few will be called predictable., but a few we didn't see coming. It also does a great job of connecting to the new and old cannon. A few of the Rebels and Clone Wars might go over the casual movie fan, but will be loved by the hardcore. We get character mentions and a cameo that had the audience with me gasping. We learn more about what we already knew. We get some great action and more than a few iconic moments.  The moment that Han and Chewie fly the Falcon for the first time is goose bump worthy.

  The Last Jedi had the hopes of fans at an all time high and then did a great job of taking a giant crap all over them. It was something that never felt like a Star Wars movie. It also divided a fan base that was loyal for over 30 years. That isn't easy to do. A few praised it for taking chances, but most did not. This is a franchise that you don';t take chances with. There are expectations to be met. While Solo has it's flaws, it feels more like Star Wars than that Rian Johnson abomination ever did. It is an almost by the numbers Star Wars movie. It starts slow, but finishes strong. A good cast. A decent story. A side of nostalgia. Overall worth climbing aboard for a jump to light speed.

Deadpool 2: Fun But Forgettable

 Deadpool 2 is exactly what I expected it to be. That is a good and bad thing. There is a lot to like, but there is also a lot that you shake your head at. I am going into mild spoiler territory so read at your own risk,. The best way I can some up DP2 is making The Hangover 2 comparison. It was fun and OK, but just not as good as the original.

  When we find Deadpool he is working with Dopinder, going place to place, and killing bad guys. He is still with Vanessa. He is still the merc with a mouth. He is as Deadpool as can be. One of his hits goes terribly wrong and he finds himself in a bad place. So bad that he sort of joins the X-Men. On his first mission he encounters a mutant kid who is more than emotionally disturbed. Although he is only a kid now, he attracts the attention of the time travelling mutant, Cable. This leads to Wade protecting the kid from Cable, who wants to kill him now to prevent a horrible future.

  The story is a mixed bag. It offers some great moments, but it also has it's fair share of moments that just make you shake your head. Comic book geeks like me were excited to see what they did with X-Force. We were getting Shatterstar and that was supposed to be great! We get a taste of Wade interviewing candidates in the trailer and it all looked hilarious. It was, but here come the spoilers. The trailer, unfortunately, gives us the only real glimpse of X-Force. The team does NOTHING! Outside of  Domino, who we will cover in a few, they are just there for comic relief.  They had so much potential to do more, but it is all cut short. They fix this in post credit scenes, but it still does not play well at all! Sorry Rob Liefeld. These characters were wasted.

 I think that there was a different version of the film that sees Bedlam and Shatterstar doing more. The pic above and some of the trailers lend credibility to this. We don't get to see that in the final version of the film. I really would have liked to see these guys throw down with Cable and the film's real big bad who we will spoil later. Peter, who just saw the ad, deserved a little better. X-Force was one of the jokes that the movie could have left out.

  The one member of the team that does shine is Domino. Zazzie Beets is fantastic! She is smokin hot, a bad ass, and holds her own comically. She steals every scene that she is in. Fanboys don't like her altered look, but it plays very well. She is a great character and is without a doubt, one of the best parts of the movie.

  Cable was also one of the things we were looking forward to seeing. Josh Brolin is good, but he will draw the Thanos performance which is better. No denying that. It is funny. Hugh Jackman embodied the character of Wolverine, but was physically much taller than the comic version. Brolin is the opposite. He is GREAT as the character, but is much shorter. He looks fantastic and kicks a lot of ass. His back story is altered a bit, but it works for what they are doing here. He is a highlight for sure, but I would have like to see his origin touched on a little more.

 Julian Dennison is good and I loved the return of Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Here comes the spoiler, Juggernaut was excellent! They really got that part right. The fight with Colossus was pretty solid. I go back to my earlier statement about X-force though. It would have been cool to seem them all throw down.

   Vanessa plays an important role in the story, but we don't get enough of her. I will not short change Ryan Reynolds either. He was born to play Wade Wilson. I love what he does, but the dick jokes and 12 year old boy humor doesn't play as well this time around. The comic references will be too much for the common movie goer. Sure, fanboys will get them all. The screening that I was full of people who didn't understand the references that were dropped. Bigger budget doesn't mean better movie. There are a couple of cool cameos, but all in all DP2 is just O.K. The post credit scenes are fun and some of the best in the film. The action sequences are good. The CGI is alright, but it just fails to capture the magic of the first one. 

 All of these characters are up in the air with the possible Disney merger. It is tough to plot out their long term futures. I for one, hope Comcast buys Fox. I don't want to see this universe Disney-fied.
I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fox has certainly done a great job of screwing up the mutant universe, but I don't want Disney controlling everything.

Anyway. Deadpool 2 is good. It's not great. It will not make as much financially as the first one did. It probably would have done better if it came out before Infinity War. Go see it, but think of it as Hangover 2 and lower your expectations.