Solo: a Star Wars Story

Expect the unexpected!

After the disastrous premiere of  The Last Jedi last year, and after all the fake postive reviews made by paid critics from big websites (too big to mention here) Rian "Jar Jar" Johnson created the most divisive Star Wars film ever made. Claiming his "daring vision" would expand the SW universe like you've never seen before, he spent the whole year after the premiere explaining every single thing he did, while on the other hand Mark Hamill apparently regreted himself for saying publicly how much he disliked the new take on Luke Skywalker (we all hated it Mark, don't worry!). In addition, The Last Jedi is the lowest ranked SW films by viewers at Rotten Tomatoes with a 46% (yeah baby! let the truth be heard across the internet!) While today's entry, that has only been out for 4 days, is already a solid 60% that I'm sure it will grow as days go by. 

Solo, a Star Wars Story, is kind of a prequel in a sense it tells how Han Solo got to be the Han Solo we all grew up with in the sacred original Star Wars trilogy. Directed by experienced B Movie  maker Mr. Ron Howard, the film has everything you need to enjoy a film from start to finish. Besides, it has all the Star Wars humor piece-of-shit-Johson failed to add to his "groundbreaking ball swallowing episode VIII". So right after the TLJ effect, people even started to talk about "Star Wars fatigue". A term, I even found myself agreeing with after all the incisively aggressive Disney marketing campaign to promote their new characters as equally interesting characters as the originals. Fuck no they aren't!

Larger than life friendship.

Lando Calrissian, the gambler!

However, Seeing that millions of people were sick and tired of the latest in the SW universe, it is only natural to think that a new side quest/side story would feel strictly unnecessary. Did we really need to see who stole the Death Star's plans in Rogue One? Maybe, maybe not. I for one, think that what made SW great, was precisely that: the curtain of mystery that not only surrounded most of the main characters, but also interesting sub plots and subtle appearances of background characters that were actually as interesting as the leads (Boba Fett, anyone?)

The day Solo premiered I checked at our local theater that there were only 25 seats sold! Which kinda led me into thinking this film would be a train wreck. Later, once I actually went to the movies with me wife, we found the theater to be almost empty, as if they were about to call it a day. Moreover, and to our sad surprise it was only us and around 10 people who actually showed up once the film began to roll. Luckily, this was a real Star Wars movie, one with the heart and spirit the original trilogy had, so in a way those who were there, were the lucky ones!

Dryden Vos, a mean motherfucker.

The mysterious Enfys Nest.

Obviously, Solo, expands its universe with an interesting selection of characters that not only look cool but that also are really relevant to the development of the main plot, sub plots and other shockingly surprising reveals the film feeds us off with every hour. The new additions are Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke), Han Solo's former girlfriend, Beckett (Woody Harrelson), a professional smuggler and double crosser from which Solo gets his now world famous blaster and apparently a lot more. Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), the mob boss who runs not only Beckett's life but also a powerful contraband company that seems to be working for the empire. Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman), Beckett's rival and last but not least L3-37 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Lando's companion droid with a mind of her own. 

Plotwise, Solo is pretty straight forward. Han Solo quits working for the empire once he realizes he's on the wrong battlefield. As soon as he escapes, he meets Beckett's pose and gets a job as a pilot and smuggler with the one character we all know so much: Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). Their first assignment, seems pretty simple: steal a precious energy source from the empire to get a load of cash after delivering it to Dryden Vos. Obviously, things go south pretty quickly, and the smuggler team has to retry their mission in order to make it out alive. 

I need to get me a fast ship.

Long time no see Han!

Solo is a rollercoaster ride full of fan service, unexpected SW references, and a incredibly well staged set of plot twists that will reassure our faith in the SW universe. While the plot may seem a bit too simplistic, it's good enough to develop the many surprises and jokes the film comes packed with. For instance, L3-37 leads a unique war of her own on demanding rights for droids, and all of her scenes are done graciously in the likes of every SW joke you've seen in the classic films. In fact, most of the funniest jokes come from the many creatures and droids our heroes find in their way to survival. The jokes look and feel so natural, that you will gladly thank yourself for having bought the tickets to what I'd like to call the "latest hidden gem" in the SW franchise. 

Solo marks Lawrence Kasdan's fourth and final time working as a writer on the "Star Wars" film franchise. He was also a screenwriter for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).  

Solo: A Star Wars Story takes place approximately 10 years prior to the events of Star Wars : A New Hope and 7 years before the Star Wars: Rebels TV series. Chewbacca and Leia Organa both made appearances in the Rebels series, but it is unknown who Chewbacca was allied with. Lando Calrissian also appeared and was voiced by Billy Dee Williams. 

Bad guys wear capes.

Run Han, run!

And now more spoiler-free cool trivia about Solo, A Star Wars Story:

-Dryden Vos has a set of Mandalorian Battle Armor in his collection on his yacht. This is the same style of armor made famous by bounty hunter Boba Fett.  

-During the train heist Val mentions the character Bossk(a personal favorite o'mine), who is one of the bounty hunters that is shown in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. 

-While posing as slave traders, Beckett (Woody Harrelson) wears the same helmet and uniform that Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) wore while posing as a bodyguard for Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi (1983). 

-Just before attempting a very risky maneuver in the Millennium Falcon, Han says "I have a really good feeling about this." In previous 'Star Wars' films, characters (including Han) have said the exact opposite "I have a bad feeling about this." 

-The theme of the Imperial March can be heard playing on the recruitment film featured at the beginning of the film before Han signs up to the Empire.  

-With this film, Warwick Davis has been involved in 10 Star Wars related projects starting with Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). 

-The Golden Idol (Fertility Idol) from the opening scene of Raiders Of The Lost Ark can be seen sitting on a table in the meeting room of Paul Bettany's character Dryden Vos. Harrison Ford who originally played Han Solo also played Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Director Ron Howard confirmed this Easter egg on Twitter. 

- In the mine elevator on Kessell, Chewbacca tears a guard's arms out of his sockets. This refers to a line spoken by Han in the original 'Star Wars.' 

It's not wise to upset a wookie.

Sorry, seat taken.

Overall, Solo is an unexpectedly good addition to the now divisive SW universe. The film delivers two hours of entertainment based solely on the premise of respecting the franchise, their fans and not going over its head with "groundbreaking twists". Solo actually learned a lot from the failure of TLJ and decided to play it safe but with many interesting yet, subtle twists that will have you cumming several times by the end of the film. 

Here's the movie trailer collection:

Teaser trailer:

Official Trailer:

Behind the scenes with the cast:

Terminator Genisys

Reset the future.

31 years ago the world witnessed the premier of a Sci-Fi film like no other: The Terminator!  a film so massively popular, that spawned a film franchise, a TV series, videogames, collectible merchandise (being sold until this very day) and an extended list of doppelgangers. Clearly, the talented eye of James Cameron had what it took to deliver a couple of fantastic man versus machine science fiction films.  Terminator Genisys attempts to make the franchise relevant for a whole new generation while paying homage to the old school fans of the franchise around the world. Since these films deal with time travel, and time travel it's still a science fiction thing, all the liberties this film took to explain why everything has been reset may or may not be everyone's cup of tea. Personally, it was my cup of tea, pour me some more please!

Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier ( T5 screen writers) have built an impressive scenario that balances paying homage to the first two Cameron films with the need for new creative possibilities beyond the original Terminator story arc. The film opens with a prologue, which tells of the death of three billion people on Judgement Day plus the origin and current state of resistance led by you know who. Then, one of the greatest Terminator mysteries is solved on screen: We finally get to know the time machine Terminators & humans used in the previous films to save mankind from ultimate doom. It is at that same moment that Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) steps into the time machine to go back in time to protect Sarah Connor, mother of the leader of the resistance (as if we didn't know this already but, hey! this film also wants to captivate newer generations)

I am fucking back.

Miss me?

Terminator Genisys tagline, "The Rules Have Been Reset" make total sense in the first ten minutes of the film. While Kyle Reese is inside the time machine being transported to that legendary date of  May 12 1984. However, before Reese's walking nude in the past asking "What day is it? The date!" John Connor (Jason Clarke) is brutally attacked by an infiltrated Terminator. Helpless, Reese travels back in time with a mission and a deadline. Now, will this attack on Connor have any influence in the past? Well, we're about to find out!

Although  Kyle Reese arrives stark naked in the same dark and grungy alley of Cameron's first movie, the 1984 which he finds himself in is vastly different. Somewhere else (maybe the greatest retro feels you can get are on this scene) , the T-100 which Skynet had sent to kill Sarah Connor is greeted and terminated by a T-800, which is no less than Sarah's guardian. Nevertheless Sarah Connor is no longer hapless and confused (as she was in The Terminator)  instead she's a tough warrior who has been resisting the Terminators since her childhood days! In another turn of events, while Reese is escaping the police He's welcomed by a very special kind of police officer: a T-1000!! just like the one from T2 Judgment Day!!

The new Sarah Connor & Kyle Reese.

John Connor's original scars return.

To its credit, the film does reflect the inevitable bewilderment of its fans in Kyle's struggle to reconcile the past he knows with flashbacks that he gained from the time jump – and for those who are wondering what's the science behind it, Sarah's T-800 offers some reasoning for the changes in the time line mentioning a "nexus point" as the possible cause. That same logic is also used to justify the new date for Judgment Day (Originally August 29 1997 in Terminator 2 & July 25 2004 in Terminator 3), which is now scheduled to take place in 2017 via an omnipresent operating system known as Genisys. Just as the original tapped into the zeitgeist's fears of technology, this reboot retains the same paranoia but updates it for the smartphone era of interconnected devices.

As we are soon told, Genisys is no more than a cover for Skynet to unleash global annihilation with the help of none other than John Connor himself, who after sending Reese to the past was captured and transformed into the latest Terminator trend: An organic metal alloy body. Jason Clarke does an excellent job of making the character fearsome and formidable. His John Connor makes a perfect foil to Courtney's Kyle Reese, whose fresh-faced earnestness makes him an endearingly empathetic hero. Then we have Game Of Thrones starlet Emilia Clarke, whose portrayal of a hardened Sarah Connor lacks the original  combination of grit and vulnerability seen in the first two films of the franchise. Nevertheless, this does not mean Emilia Clarke doesn't deliver. Her Sarah Connor has grown up fighting robots under the tutelage of an old T-800 which she fondly calls "Pops". I really liked her tough girl who's always ready rendition of the character. Unfortunately, she wasn't nude during the film (Game of Thrones fans will know what I'm talking about)

Come with me if you wanna live!

shit, shit shit!

What about Arnie? the franchise's most iconic star Arnold Schwarzenegger gets a pleasantly surprising breath of 'Terminator' roles with the parallel timelines – not only as the T-100 and T-800 we've seen him as, but also a much more visibly aged T-800 and a spiffy new upgrade right at the end. Schwarzenegger is still having fun turning his character's utter humorlessness into deadpan comedy – and besides trying to add new catchphrases like "bite me" and "I'm old… not obsolete" into the lexicon, also has a field day trying to look friendlier by putting on a robotic smile.

Now the man behind the chair, Alan Taylor, does a fine job keeping all the moving pieces together. As he did with 'Thor: The Dark World', Taylor demonstrates a workmanlike proficiency in summer blockbuster-making, alternating between deafening action sequences and obligatory exposition while interspersing the proceedings with cheeky self-aware humor and moments of obligatory poignancy. Unlike the entirely dour 2009 sequel 'Terminator Salvation'(we won't review it, it's so bad it hurts), Taylor pretty much keeps to the tone of the first two James Cameron movies, so much so that his rendition feels familiar and fresh at the same time. Except for a massive vehicular smash-up on the Golden Gate Bridge that culminates in a school bus dangling over its edge, there are no standout sequences here, but Taylor maintains a brisk pace throughout so you'll never get bored.

Hi mom, I'm back from the future!

...with a few surprising upgrades.

At this point in the franchise, it is perhaps too tall an order for any filmmaker to reclaim the aura of Cameron's groundbreaking originals, but 'Terminator Genisys' comes the closest of the three sequels since to their spirit. Even if it isn't outstanding, it is a fine piece of popcorn entertainment that is as good an introduction as any to the franchise as much as it will be nostalgia for fans, provided they can accept that the timeline they knew will be no more. And at thirty- one years (or sixty-seven for Schwarzenegger), one could certainly say that the Terminator is old, but as this sequel cum reboot shows, age does not necessarily make one obsolete. 

Overall, Terminator Genisys offers a new possibility in a universe that has been already established, whether in the past films Judgment Day was inevitable, this new film goes for the "life is what you make it" tagline so we're clearly entering a new trilogy were Skynet has grown smarter and meaner. Luckily our heroes are up to the challenge...

Sarah Connor in a very different nude timeline.

Don't let Pops find this picture Sarah!

Here's the first trailer:
 

Here's the second trailer: