Review #1,394: 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' (2018)

During the countless times I watched George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy as a child, teenager and adult, I don't recall ever wondering how Han Solo became the sarcastic, smirking smuggler that definitely shot first. Ever since Disney acquired Lucasfilm and announced that not only would they be continuing the story that began back in 1977 but would also be giving some of the fan-favourite supporting characters their very own spin-offs, there's been a split in the fandom between those gagging for anything Star Wars related on the big screen again and those opposed to a project that would both render the many beloved novels set in the Star Wars universe as un-canon, and undermine the story already told. Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi is either loved or hated (I loved it), but the one announcement that brought all the fans together in united opposition was Han Solo's very own spin-off, which would be set in the past and not feature the man who helped make the character so iconic, Harrison Ford.

You may not care just how Han won the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian, or how he met Chewbacca, or how he got his hands on that cool blaster, or how he made the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs - but Solo: A Star Wars Story is going to tell you anyway. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it does give Solo a sense of weightlessness and the feeling of a filler episode in the middle of television series with too many episodes. With such little stakes at play, the success of Solo comes down to the charm of its actors, and the casting of Alden Ehrenreich was a very shrewd move indeed. He isn't a famous name, or even a pronounceable one, but his scene-stealing performance in 2016's Hail, Caesar!, where he managed to overshadow the likes of George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, John Brolin and Ralph Fiennes, bristled with star quality. Harrison Ford could never be replaced and Ehrenreich seems to know that, so while every now and then you get a glimmer of Ford's smile and his iconic one-handed shooting stance, Ehrenreich makes the role his own, replicating the charisma and infusing it with a youthful innocence.

We first meet Han hot-wiring cars on Corellia, an awful planet where orphaned children are forced to steal for slug-like gang-boss Lady Proxima (voiced by Linda Hunt). With their lives in danger from the local gangs, Han and his lady friend Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) decide to make a break for it, but at the airport they are separated, with Han fleeing to join the Imperial Navy and Qi'ra taken away by her pursuers. Three years later, Han is serving in the Military after being kicked out of the Flight Academy, fighting as an infantryman on a planet called Mimban. There he encounters a gang of criminals posing as Imperial soldiers led by the enigmatic Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and attempts to blackmail them into letting him join them. Instead, he is thrown into a pit for desertion, where he meets the formidable Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). They escape and manage to convince Beckett to enlist them for a job to steal a shipment of coaxium. Now officially an outlaw, Han is brought into a dangerous world controlled by a criminal syndicate called Crimson Dawn. Beckett answers directly to crime boss Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), whose favourite advisor is a young lieutenant named Qi'ra.

Solo likely won't convince those soured by The Last Jedi or especially those who failed to see any potential in Han Solo origin movie in the first place, but it may be a nice, if forgettable, surprise for some. Like the other 'Star Wars Story', Rogue One, Solo was hit with numerous problems during production, the most notable being the firing of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and the subsequent hiring of Ron Howard. Star Wars has always been a rule-bound universe, and Lord and Miller's loose, improvised style was perhaps too much for studio executives looking for a guaranteed hit. Howard was a reliable, safe choice, but one has to wonder how much fun Solo could have been in the hands of those responsible for 21 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie. What we have is a perfectly entertaining adventure movie that is surprisingly coherent given the patchwork built into it, but nothing worthy of the Star Wars banner. History will remember the film as the first Star Wars flop, and will cause historians to wonder why they didn't choose to given Donald Glover's Lando his own movie instead. On a positive note that will no doubt unite the fan-base, a box-office return of south of $400 million seem to have woken Disney executives up to the idea that there is such a thing as too much, too soon.


Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Joonas Suotamo, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Paul Bettany
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,019: 'Captain America: Civil War' (2016)

'Superhero fatigue' is a phrase commonly batted around amongst critics and forum lurkers whenever a new caped crusader is unleashed into cinemas. Cries of Hollywood running out of ideas are often heard too. Despite all of this, the likes of Spider-Man, Batman and the Avengers crew have Hulk-smashed the box office for years. Most impressively, Marvel's ever-increasing 'Cinematic Universe' has been building now for 8 years and 13 films, films that occasionally claw in over a billion at the box-office. This is not down to audiences simply flocking to the promise of CGI explosions and wise-cracks, but Marvel's insistence on keeping the formula fresh.

After a few years churning out average to above-average (and one excellent in 2008's Iron Man) origin stories for the individuals that would, in 2012, reluctantly team up to become The Avengers, producer Kevin Fiege was obviously wary of wavering interests. Marvel's work since 2014, since the mediocre Thor: The Dark World in 2013, has been exceptional, placing their heroes and villains in a variety of cinematic genres. Captain America: The Winter Soldier played out like a 70's spy thriller, casting Robert Redford to reinforce the tone, Guardians of the Galaxy often felt like bizarre B-movie with a bigger budget and a more talented cast, and Ant-Man, a movie many predicted to be a disaster, was a full-on comedy, bolstered by the presence of an effortlessly charming Paul Rudd.

The latest - and by far the best - is the third and possibly final entry into the stand-alone Captain America series. Retaining The Winter Soldier's directors Anthony and Joe Russo and also much of the same tone, Civil War pits its second most popular superhero against its first, Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man. Also along for the ride is almost every other hero on the roster, along with a couple of new ones. But what makes Civil War very much a Captain America film and not The Avengers 3 is the Russo's remarkable grasp of their characters. With Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) back on the scene as a very wanted man, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) finds himself torn between his loyalty to an old friend and being held accountable for his superhero actions. It is the friendship between the two that remains at the heart of the film.

When Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) accidentally causes mass destruction in Lagos on a mission led by Captain America, the Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) informs the Avengers that the United Nations are passing a bill known as the Sokovia Accords, which will see them under the control of a UN panel. Full of guilt over his balls-up with creating Ultron, Tony Stark backs the bill, as do War Machine (Don Cheadle), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Vision (Paul Bettany). With little confidence in the government, Steve opposes the bill, and is followed by Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Ant-Man. Tensions are raised higher when The Winter Soldier is accused of bombing the UN conference in Vienna and becomes a wanted man all over the world.

What makes Civil War such a gripping film is its refusal to offer any easy answers. Depending on your own political and personal views, Captain America could be the antagonist of his own movie, causing a war between friends over his blind loyalty to a friend he knows is a mass-murderer, albeit a brain-washed super soldier experiment. On the flip-side, the character Downey Jr. has now immortalised and the hero to always receive top billing could become a knee-bending traitor seeking accountability for his own irresponsible actions during the events of Age of Ultron. More likely, and more interestingly, you will come to realise that there is simply no right answer.

So it all comes down to who wins the fight. And what a fight it is. One of biggest flaws of Batman v Superman was its failure to come up with a believable scenario that would cause the good guys to beat on each other only to come to realise they are on the same side. Not only does the brawl feel organic, taking place at Leipzig airport with each character allowed more than one moment to shine, but it also refuses to offer any easy solution or a big bad for the team to unite against. The motivation and plan of the film's villain, Helmut Zemo, played with a remarkable subtlety by Daniel Bruhl, is kept a mystery until near towards the end. And just when you think you finally know where it's all heading, it side-steps you and goes in a completely different direction.

The film's biggest flaw is the introduction of Spider-Man, who is finally back in the hands of Marvel after Sony's failure to re-boot the franchise with Andrew Garfield. Played by Tom Holland, who is the best Peter Parker yet, his entry into the fold feels shoe-horned and slightly awkward. But when he is let loose during the airport fight, he damn near steals it until Ant-Man shows his new friends just what he can do. The other newbie, Black Panther aka the Wakandan T'Challa (a gravelly Chadwick Boseman), plays a bigger role than you might expect, still learning and developing into the king he will become. Above all else, Civil War is simply a blast. With such care taken with its army of characters, each getting their own arc, its easy to become emotionally invested. So when Cap and Iron Man really get down to business, it becomes unbearable to think that one of them may not walk away. Bravo, Marvel and the Russo's.


Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, Chadwick Boseman, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany
Country: USA/Germany

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #867: 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' (2015)

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe growing increasingly larger every year, returning director Joss Whedon was faced with an even more monumental task than he did in 2012 with The Avengers, the movie that finally brought together the superhero collection of huge personalities united by one goal, but each wanting to go about it in their own way. Each standalone film has developed key supporting players necessary to the character whose name is on the poster, and with The Avengers' climax allowing its Earthlings to gaze into a wormhole and last year's Guardians of the Galaxy unleashing aliens a-plenty, Marvel's world has truly become a universe.

The last time a director returned for a Marvel sequel, we ended up with Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 (2010), a messy let-down of a film that lacked invention, to the point that it felt like the guy behind the camera had lost all interest by the end. In a way, Age of Ultron suffers from some of the same problems. Like all Marvel films, it pits it's leads against a 'new threat', climaxing with a battle in the air that features lots of punches, blasts and quips. But for all it's narrative familiarity, Whedon still finds new ways for his heroes to batter their opponents, keeping the jokes fresh and genuinely witty, and ensuring the ragtag, flawed bunch are always eager to be at each other throats (quite literally - I think every character is grabbed by the throat at some point).

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is still suffering from nightmares and flashbacks of his journey through the wormhole and seeing the threats lurking amongst the stars. He and the Avengers, now led by Captain America (Chris Evans), attack the Hydra outpost of Baron von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann), the monocled Nazy glimpsed at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) in possession of Loki's scepter. Von Strucker's defences are useless when faced by the Avengers, but that is until he unleashes the twins Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen); the former possessing super-speed, and the latter able to enter people's mind and unleashing their darkest fear. When Wanda screws with Stark, he sees his friends dead, powerless to stop it. She is like the ultimate bum acid trip.

After retrieving the scepter, Stark and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) discover an artificial intelligence hidden inside, and use it to kick-start the Ultron program, an independent-thinking army of robots designed to protect Earth from any threats, allowing the Avengers to retire in the process. But Ultron (wonderfully voiced by James Spader), having consumed huge amounts of data through the internet within seconds of being activate, concludes that the only way to save the planet is to eliminate the one's responsible for slowly destroying it - humanity. Upon discovering what Stark has created, Captain America and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) are furious. And so are the public, who are terrified with the amount of carnage taking place around them as Ultron journeys to Africa in search of vibranium, the near-invincible metal that will allow him to create the ultimate body.

On top of the character's already mentioned, the Avengers also consist of Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner. Add to the mix the returning Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Hayley Atwell, Stellan Skarsgard, Idris Elba and Paul Bettany - who appears in the flesh for the first time as the Vision - as well as newcomers Linda Cardellini and Andy Serkis, and you have one hell of a hefty line-up. Whedon has juggled large ensemble's before with the tragically cancelled Firefly and it's follow-up movie Serenity (2005), as well as the first Avengers, but he has a noticeably weaker grip on his cast this time around. It jumps from one action scene to another, slightly smothering the quieter scenes in between, failing to allow them to breathe and flow.

The one exception involves a welcome retreat for the Avengers, who choose to lay-low at Hawkeye's (Renner) humble abode after causing more chaos with Ultron. Clearly feeling guilty at the shoddy deal Hawkeye got last time around, who spent most of the movie controlled by Loki, Whedon has finally made him interesting. He acknowledges his inferiority when compared an unstoppable green monster and the God of Thunder, and even comments on the lunacy of fighting off an army of killer robots with a bow and arrow. His warm relationship with his wife (Cardellini) and his children, as well as his various personal face-off's with Pietro, provide a human connection in the midst of a 90 year-old super soldier and a millionaire playboy genius.

With Marvel's Phase Three almost upon us (once Ant-Man is finally released later this year), Age of Ultron was always in danger of being little more than a stepping-stone to what's to come. Yet although it certainly hints at upcoming characters (the fictional country of Wakanda, home of the Black Panther, is mentioned) and future events (Thor is troubled by his Wanda-induced apocalyptic visions, which are to take place in Thor: Ragnarok (due 2017)), it also moves the story forward and evolves its characters. Marvel certainly needs to change its formula though (the paranoid thriller twist on The Winter Soldier was a stroke of genius); the smash-heavy climaxes have become tired. Ultron is also not really the threat he was set-up to be, but he's utterly electric when on screen, Spader providing a biting wit to his growls. It is far for perfect, and inferior to its predecessor, but riotously entertaining throughout.


Directed by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #604: 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World' (2003)

One of the best failures to launch a franchise in film history, Peter Weir's beautiful sea-faring epic, Master and Commander, was overshadowed commercially by that other ship-based film to come out the same year, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. While Gore Verbinski's box-office smash was a lot of fun and managed to re-create the sense of comedy-adventure perfected in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (while making billions with its sequels for Disney), Master and Commander goes about its business quietly, creating tender scenes of human interaction alongside some magnificent sea-battles of its own. So the novels of Patrick O'Brian are seemingly destined to remain an untapped resource in cinema, but there is still plenty to enjoy here as a stand-alone film.

During the Napoleonic wars, captain of the HMS Surprise, 'Lucky' Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe), has been given the task of pursuing French privateer Ancheron, and to 'sink, burn, or take her as a prize'. When one of the crew hears the distant sound of bells one night, the Surprise is taken unawares by the immense power of Ancheron, which is near twice the size of Surprise, and wields much more firepower. Almost fatefully damaged, Aubrey takes the Surprise and retreats into the fog to repair the damage, only to be attacked and pursued again. They reach the Galapagos Islands, where Aubrey predicts Ancheron will head to in order to attack Britain's whaling fleet, and will allow time for the ships doctor Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany) to walk the islands to gather specimens and notes on the wildlife.

After the exciting opening that shows the almost complete destruction of the HMS Surprise, Weir takes us in close quarters with the various levels of the ship's hierarchy from the mates who lie packed like sardines inside the ship being fed on gruel and rum, to the spacious quarters of the captain and his lieutenants. Drinking wine and eating steaks in what looks like a grand dining room of aristocracy, Aubrey and his immediate underlings are certainly privileged. This is mirrored in the scenes of Jack and Stephen playing violin together, and while these moments are key to understanding the close friendship between the two despite them clearly being men of differing values, it also shows their upper-class backgrounds. The shipmates are less so. They are happy being rewarded for good work with double-helpings of gruel, but have an almost necessary brutish nature that becomes apparent when they begin to bully Midshipman Hollom (Lee Ingleby).

As well as portraying the societal structure of Britain within the confines of a ship, the film is also about the trappings of power. Jack and Stephen's philosophical discussions about this subject when Jack's hand is forced for the survival of the ship, causes Stephen to compare Jack's behaviour to Nero. Jack argues that the men require discipline and a strong hand to follow while Stephen advises that such an attitude can lead a man to be seduced by the trappings of power. There is also the matter of Jack's pride. At what point does duty end and ego begin? The pursuit of Ancheron will surely lead to the Surprise's demise and the death of its crew, but the men will follow 'Lucky' Jack no matter what.

Don't be fooled though, Master and Commander offers scenes of relentless action, with the Academy Award-winning cinematography and sound editing coming together to form scenes that are as beautiful as they are breathless. The hand-held camera gets deep into the action, as cannonball's smash through the ship, sending razor-sharp splinters into the air and taking men's limbs with them. 14-year old midshipman Blakeney (Max Pirkis) loses an arm in the opening battle, and his idolising of Jack and Stephen forms the heart of the film. Jack is strength and leadership, Stephen is calm and thoughtful, characteristics on opposite sides of the spectrum, but Blakeney wants to be both. Sometimes it can feel crammed with too many ideas, but Master and Commander is a terrific film, and, like a lot of Weir's back catalogue, manages to be as thoughtful as it is gripping.


Directed by: Peter Weir
Starring: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'Arcy, Max Pirkis
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie