 Alright guys, we are now in the fourth film of the Star Wars saga since Disney has taken over Lucas Films with Solo a Star Wars Story. How was it? Let's find out. My name is Brandon Keith Avery and this is just my pen. Hey guys, thank you so much for tuning in to my opinion slash review for Solo a Star Wars Story. I really do appreciate it. Now before I actually get into this review this is a pen of mine. I think it's very important for you to know how I felt about this movie, my expectations growing in and how I just feel about the Star Wars saga, the Star Wars films and just the whole lore in general. I am a Star Wars fan, I am a light hearted casual fan, I am not a diehard Star Wars fan. And what that means is to me a casual Star Wars fan is that you've seen all the movies and I have a diehard person a Star Wars fan and there's nothing wrong with that at all. You've seen all the movies, you can quote everything back and forth, you read all the books, you've played all the games, you've watched all the TV shows and paid attention to all the canon and things like that. I'm not that you know, delved into Star Wars like that. So if there's something that I leave out, you know, hey, you've been warned, I'm just not letting you know. Now as far as the Star Wars series as a whole, I love it for the most part right here. I have the original trilogy, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back in Return of the Jedi right here on Blu-ray. I love this. These are my favorite films out of the whole Star Wars series. Then of course I have Episode 7 right here, The Force Awakens. Really did enjoy the film, not as much as the original trilogy, but was slightly disappointed because I feel that it bit off a little too much of Episode 4, A New Hope. Right now, or not right now, next is Star Wars Rogue One. I really did love this film. I like it more than I do The Force Awakens. I'm not quite in love with it as the original trilogy, but you know, I am very proud to have this film in my collection. And last but not least, I have Star Wars The Last Jedi. Got that right there on 4K. Got this a number of weeks ago and I watched a few of the special features, but I still have not watched the full movie yet at home. Just haven't had the time or made time for it because I was disappointed with that film as well with some story points. You can go check out my non-spoiler review and spoiler review for that that I did last December. Just to let you know, as I said, spoilers, this will be a non-spoiler review while I do a spoiler review in the future. I'm not quite sure. Actually, I will address that later on in this review. So that's just how I felt about the Star Wars series. And now you know, you just have an idea of how I felt about it and my expectations. Well, actually, I didn't talk about my expectations. Just like you probably heard this a number of times. Nobody was really asking for this movie. If they asked me, if Disney Lucas films were to ask me, hey, Brandon, what Star Wars movie do you want? I would probably say something new that we've never seen before or I wouldn't mind an Obi-Wan movie. So going into this, you know, I don't want to say that I mean that they had the trailers that came out doing the Superbowl. They were fine. And then one came out a little later and that got me excited. But I wasn't just really excited about this movie. I wanted to see it, but you know, but wasn't in a rush to see it or anything like that. Now, about the movie itself, and just real quick, one thing that I hate about going to the movies or just the whole experience is when you miss the very beginning of the movie. And unfortunately, guys, I was late to the theater. I so I did miss the very beginning of this movie. I don't know if I missed 30 seconds. You know, I think I just missed maybe a minute or two. So I don't know if there is an opening crawl or anything like that. But I just had to make you aware. But overall, guys, I'm not going to just waste your time here because I've wasted enough time with my intro. I really did enjoy this movie solo or Star Wars story. I thought it was great. I think that has a lot to do with me being a casual fan of Star Wars and not a diehard fan of Star Wars and with my expectations being so low. But so I didn't have a lot of bags going in this, but I really did enjoy this movie so much to the point where I do want to see it again. And I can't wait to, you know, add it to the collection. I will go ahead and say right now that I enjoyed this movie more than Star Wars The Force Awakens, and I also enjoyed it more than The Last Jedi. I'm not quite sure that I enjoyed it more than Rogue One. I'm just going to have to see it again to make sure now. There was a lot of drama that went on with this film right here behind the scenes. Of course, you know that they had Phil Lord and Chris Miller to be the I'm sorry, the writers and or directors of the film. And they just kind of wanted to improvise on set and make this film a comedy disagreeing with one of the cast and brothers that wrote this script and Kathleen Kennedy. She is like the Kevin Feige over at Lucas Films. And excuse me, it seems like I have a cold or something like that. But, you know, there was a lot of drama run. Howard came in to take over the directing job. And it was reported reported that he actually shot a reshot about 80 percent of the film. I am a big fan of Ron Howard as a director. If you don't know his previous work, he has done Apollo 13, the Da Vinci Code and also Rush. He has a much longer formography than that. But those are just some films that stood out to me. Rush came out no more than five years ago with Chris Hemsworth. And I forgot the guy's name, the guy that plays Zemo in Captain America's Civil War. That film was freaking fantastic. It's based on a true story. So when I heard that Ron Howard was coming on board, replacing Chris Field Lord and Chris Miller, you know, I was disappointed that they left. But I was OK. You have Ron Howard coming in here now. So I think everything is going to be taken care of. So, you know, I was satisfied as far as that's concerned. The writers for this is Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan. They are siblings. And as far as the timeline for this film, it takes place 10 years before Episode Four, A New Hope and seven years before Star Wars Rebels, the TV show that I believe is on Cartoon Network. If I am wrong there, please let me know down in the comments section below. I haven't seen Rebels. I do want to see it, but that just kind of goes into why I say that I'm a casual fan and not a diehard Star Wars fan. But just to go ahead and get into the likes of this film and we can just start with the characters. Alden Aaron Wright is playing the titular character Han Solo. He was freaking fantastic. I loved him in the role. I think he knocked it out of the park. I feel that he really did really did take on the role of Han Solo without mimicking Harrison Ford. I did not feel like he was trying to do a Harrison Ford impression. I felt like he was just a younger version of Han Solo the way he should be. And I think he was freaking fantastic. I am not too familiar with this work when I looked up his filmography, the only thing that I see that he was in that I've seen before was Hale Caesar, which came out a few years ago with George Clooney. And I believe that film I was going to I can't really think of the directors right now of the film that but that's irrelevant. But Alden Aaron Wright was freaking fantastic. His charisma, his mannerisms, you know, we know Han Solo as a scoundrel and kind of a hustler and a sweet talker and just kind of seeing the young version of that and like his origins or whatever. I mean, it was great. You know, in the Star Wars lore, we really don't know of Harrison Ford to have a romantic relationship with anyone other than Leia. You know, but in this right here, you know, he he did have somebody that, you know, he was cutting for that he was tripping on in a good way. And, you know, I love that I thought it was fantastic. You know, Alden Aaron Wright, you know, you're going to the top if you wasn't there already. Chewbacca was great. Actually, going back to Aaron Han Solo, I also really like the way they wrote how he got the name Solo. I thought that was very clever. I thought it was very organic. It flowed. So, you know, a great job there to the writing team. I also love Chewie and this Chewbacca play played by Jonas Sue Otomo. Now, I don't know if this is the original guy that played Chewbacca. I don't think it is. Let me click and look at a picture. Yeah, this is not the original person that played Chewbacca. I could just look at his picture and tell. He was, you know, Chewbacca, you know, he's Chewie. Everybody loves Chewie. But I really do like the way that Chewie was introduced in the film in the way Han Solo and Chewbacca came together. I mean, they have this bond, this friendship, this, you know, friends to their die type of relationship, you know. And that's what's something I really did like there. And just to go into how the story was flowing, this was something that I really like. The film really tricked me two times. It fooled me in a good way to where there was that I was thinking that this was about to take place at the film. And I was like, OK, I know where they're going here. I've seen this before and past all those films. And they really did treat me there. And it went another way. And actually, I wasn't going to say something about that, but I think that would be a spoiler. But I really do like that. We also have Woody Harrison. This film played as Beckett or whatever. He is this kind of a kind of, in my opinion, Han Solo's teacher. You know, Han Solo took after him. And after seeing this film, you and going back to the previous Star Wars films with Han Solo being played by Harrison Ford, you can really see where he got a lot of his attitude and just his thought process of how it kind of came from Woody Harrison. You know, because Han Solo, when you know when he's older or whatever, playing here, you know, playing by Harrison Ford, you know, he just really doesn't care. He looks after himself for the most part. And you get a lot of that from the Woody Harrison character. You just kind of just know where that comes from. Amelia Clark is in this film as well. I'm not too familiar with his work with her work, other than her being a game of thrones. She was freaking fantastic as well. She was not just some damsel in distress, just a pretty face on screen. She was a pretty face. She had an important role to play and something to do, but she also kicked a little butt, too. So I really was, you know, a fan of that. And of course, I knew that Donald Glover was at this movie playing Lando Clarision, you know what I'm saying? He just like, you know, just a cool cat. You know, I'm just saying, you know, sitting back, you know, you can. He's a smooth talk guy. You know that he's good with the ladies and all that good stuff. And I cannot believe I forgot the original guy's name that play Lando Clarision. I feel so bad for Billy Dee Williams. Oh, my goodness. I was not going to be able to forgive myself if I got his name. But Donald Glover, of course, I knew he was in the film. But when I walked in and as I was driving to the theater, I actually forgot that he was in the movie. So when that part was leading up, people are, oh, are we about to get Lando? We're about to see Donald Glover. I got so excited and I'm like, OK, please don't disappoint me. But when he was finally revealed, I was like, man, hold up, I'm loving it. So Donald Glover did a great job. I mean, just knocked this role out of the park. He really did embody everything that I know about Lando Calrissian from the previous Star Wars film. So I just want to say great job there, Donald Glover. And also we have Paul Bettany in this film as well, playing Dryden Vasu is a villain in this film. If that's the spoiler, I do apologize. I didn't know I just spoiled something if, you know, the trailers and things didn't reveal him as a villain. But Paul Bettany did a great job as well. He's a villain in this movie. He's crazy and he is very unstable. He's very emotional to me and those are the dangerous types because they usually act before they think. And I just got to give it up to Paul Bettany because I like him as an actor. And before he was cast as Vision in Avengers Age of Ultron, I believe his agent of the story was released at, you know, pretty much. He was like, Paul, you're great, but nobody's checking for you, bro. You know, you've had to run to Hollywood. You know, you're not going to get any more work. I'm sorry, you know, this is possibly the end of your career. And so, of course, he was depressed when I sat on the bench and then got a call from Josh Wheaton. He was in vision. That's great. We got to see his actual face in Infinity War. And now he has a prominent role in a solo, a Star Wars story. And so he just did a great job there. There's really nothing else about this film that I can complain about. Every character in this movie I loved the good guys and the bad guys. I also liked the action in this film. We got to see the Millennium Falcon. I like that we got to see the Kessel Run. And, you know, because that's what Han Solo is known for in the Star Wars films. There was some intense action. And what's great is I was still it's kind of on the edge of my seat just a little bit, you know, with the action in this movie. And that's crazy. What a great job they I can't even talk. It's crazy how great of a job they did when you know that Chewbacca and you know that Han Solo and you know that Lando is going to live. You don't know if Amelia Clark's character is going to live or you don't know if Woody Harrison's character is going to live because they're not in other Star Wars films. If you want to know, of course, you have to see the film yourself. But knowing that those three main people that I named before those two live, but I'm still just kind of like, oh, my God, just kind of tipped up in my seat. Like, I hope you get out of this. You know, you have all these dog fights in the air and chases and things like that. You know, it was really exhilarating. And I was just kind of smiling. You know, just like, wow, this is a really fun movie. It's a really true adventure. You know, and I'm I'm enjoying, you know, all of this. There's just really nothing else that I can that I can complain about. So I have some notes here. I didn't want to leave anything out because I really did enjoy this film. So I talked about that. Another great thing is the acting is great in this film. I may have mentioned that as well. But what was stood out to me that I really love the most is you can really tell that this is in the Star Wars universe, but it really felt like his own standalone film. It was connected, but it didn't feel like it was connected. You know, I'm really glad they made this movie to flush out the Star Wars universe a lot more. There were no lightsabers in this movie. Not that I love lightsabers, but at the same time, you know, this this series of film, these stories is in an entire galaxy. So there's things going on across millions of light years around. So you don't want the same cookie cutter movie that you're always getting, and which is one reason why, you know, I didn't enjoy The Force Awakens in the last Jedi as much as I still did. But, you know, you know, that's just that the cinematography is great. This is not like a big, shiny, glossy movie like the original prequels were. I've seen those, but I didn't like them. I don't know if I mentioned that. You know, it was, of course, there was CGI in this film, but it didn't really seem like it. I mean, there was just something about this film that just kind of made it dark and gritty, and I know those terms get thrown around a lot. And this sounds kind of cliche and maybe annoying, but I really did enjoy, you know, all of that in the film, you know, with the grittiness and the cinematography and just not in a large abundance of CGI. And it just kind of feeling real intangible. I love the score as well. We got some new music by John Powell, who is he's did like some of the born movies. He's also a protege of Hans Zimmer, who works with Christopher Nolan and all the Batman dark night films and things like that. Great score. He did some things with born. There was new music and there was also some old school Star Wars stuff, too. So you kind of get a mix of everything and that's great. And oh, yeah, another character. I'm glad I wrote it down. Oh, three thirty seven. She was my favorite character in the whole movie played by Phoebe Waller Bridge, freaking fantastic. And this her character really did spoke to speak to me as a black man, as an African American or black American. She really did speak to me in this film because they were just something that I don't want to spoil it because I don't know if it's in the trailers. But there was something that she was really passionate about. She cracked jokes about equality, but she really did speak to me on a personal level and, you know, as a black man and just kind of how just how black people think in this country, things that we go through, things that we experience. See, there was a lot of that, you know, within her character that was brought to the forefront, you know, on screen. And I was down with her, you know, saying, you know, what's up, my sister, and this is an Android. And this also I have never seen in any Star Wars film a relationship between a human being and a joy being so deep as much as it was in this film. So I got to give kudos there. But guys, I really did enjoy the film. There's really just nothing much that I can complain about. I don't want to just say this film was just freaking amazing. Like, oh, my God, this was the best Star Wars movie. I'm not saying that. But at the same time, there was nothing I complained about. And I was just enjoying myself, you know, from beginning and end, there was not a boring or dull moment. And I'm just glancing over my notes just one more time because I want to make sure that I did not leave anything out. And I don't think I did. If I had to raise Star Wars, a solo story, I said Star Wars. If I had to raise solo a Star Wars story out of a one out of 10, I was going to give it in 8.5. But I think I'm actually going to give it a nine out of 10. Yes, a nine out of 10, I'm most likely going to see it again. And I don't know if I'm going to change my rating from what goes from nine to an 8.5. Last thing is that I really just have to think about if there are any plot holes in this movie that I missed because there were some lines of dialogue that I missed. So, you know, that's that. But guys, really, I said all that. But in the end, that's really just my opinion. So what did you think of solo or Star Wars story? I mean, you know, do you agree with me? Do you disagree with me? Did I tell you one? Did I tell you off? You know, let me know down in the comment section below. Let's get this conversation going and keep it flowing. If you like this video, go ahead and give me a thumbs up. And if you don't, that's fine. But you can still subscribe to my channel. You can also go to my website. Check me out there and bookmark. And also look me up on social media, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. All that good stuff. It's right there at the bottom of the screen. And I made it very easy by providing a link to all that good stuff down in the description box below. But guys, I just want to thank you so much. Again, for tuning in to my opinion slash review for solo or Star Wars story. And before you go, don't forget that my name is Brady. Hit that brief. And that's just my opinion. Peace.