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Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Big fan of Star Wars, but not this film
I've grown up with Star Wars; I was eight when the first film came out. I've seen them all at least 50 times. I'm a die-hard fan, I really am.
But not of this film. Yes, it was decent CGI and decent action scenes, but I found it incredibly boring. Boring in the sense that it didn't entertain me like a Star Wars film does. I wanted to like it. No, I wanted to love it and book my return cinema ticket, but I won't be. I don't even feel compelled to watch it on DVD or download it.
Alden Ehrenreich did an OK job portraying Han Solo, but he wasn't Han and we knew it. The movie felt like it was a patch-up job to get in all the historical story-lines that we have come to know about Han, which made the actual film less of a story and more of a necessity to put meat on the bones of things that were once magical to us, because we had to use our imagination to ponder how Han met Chewie, what happened with the Kessel Run, how Han won the Falcon from Lando, what did Han do as a smuggler. All those things and more, are now revealed and the magic is gone. For me, none of them were delivered in a great and exciting way and now I wish I could un-see them and stick to my imagination.
Another problem with this film which Rogue One didn't suffer from, is that we know the main protagonists, Han, Chewie and to a lesser extent, Lando, all lived on afterwards. So any impending danger and drama that was attempted to be created failed because we always knew they would get past it OK.
I think making this film, now that I've seen it, was a poor decision. Maybe because of the execution or maybe because it was better to leave it all to the imagination and allow our own creativity to let us picture forever, what those events might have looked like.
It may be harsh to admit it, but this, of all the films, including the prequels, is the one I like the least.
I'm as big a fan of Star Wars as the next person, but I'm not a fan of this film, and that is a shame.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Reviewed through the eyes of a fan
I'm a real Star Wars fan; seen all of the films a lot of times over a period of 35 years (there's not much I don't know), so for me, Star Wars, The Force Awakens, is viewed through the eyes of a fan and not just a film-goer. If I was reviewing the film as a standalone, I'd probably give it a score of 8 - fast paced, easy to follow, great effects, sound, decent enough story from start to finish and the actors all carried off their roles.
The problem I have, hence giving it a score of 5/10, is that a real Star Wars fan would pick this film to pieces, so why weren't real fans involved in the script at least as advisers - how else could JJ Abrams deliver something that is so un-Star Wars like in its plot and the fact that it is a rehash of some the first three films that were made (IV,V and VI) but mostly IV.
I've briefly touched on the good bits and could go into detail, but the film is flawed from a Star Wars perspective because of the bad bits.
We're looking at a 30yr gap where Leia and Solo have a son, fall out, get separated and meet up again. We are given no back story to fill in the missing pieces and understand what happened between ROTJ and TFA. Would have been good to know some of the detail, but there was very little character development in the film. When you think that the best Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes back, was also 2 hours long, but whilst managing to take us from Hoth, through space and in tandem to Dagobah and Bespin, it beautifully developed characters and relationships. In TFA, it feels like it tries to do too much at once and is very action-based but weak on story. The time goes quickly, but there are so many unanswered questions that in the others films, would have managed to get answered as we went along.
We have this new bad-guy, Kylo Ren, who ***spoiler alert*** is Han and Leia's son, but we don't know how or why he went to the dark side, to end up as such a pathetic Sith Lord (presumably, with his lightsaber) that Rey can kick his butt the first time she ever picks up a lightsaber, and manages to become Jedi-standard without any training. Look what Luke and the others had to go through? Would George Lucas have allowed that? No.
So this new and useless Kylo Ren is allowed to ***spoiler alert*** kill his father, the much loved Han Solo, in a bit of a wet and wimpy way, is a tragedy. The best-loved Star Wars character being killed off by a noob that we don't know much about, though he wears a mask for some unknown reason, which he's quick to take off. At least Vader wore a mask to stay alive but Kylo Ren doesn't look menacing so they had to do something I guess.
I couldn't believe I was seeing a 3rd Death Star in 4 films - do the bad guys really have no other ideas on how to fight? The fact that each Death Star appears to be much easier to destroy than the previous one is a bit of a joke. Takes two people to plant some charges after crash-landing under the radar and then a couple of minutes later, it's all over as the rebels get their X-Wings in to fire at the key installation and blow up the entire First Order plant. As Darth Vader would say "All too easy".
For me, the story is too rehashed. Let's just say that in every scene, you will liken it to a scene in one of the previous films (mainly A New Hope), so in effect, it had no new good ideas. I could list at least twenty things, but you only have to watch the film as a fan to see it all readily thrown at you.
C3PO and R2D3 were just in it for nostalgia, but the cynic in me says that the only reason C3PO has a red arm was to sell new toys. Leia's role was pointless and she basically was a cameo, with Luke getting a non-speaking 30 seconds of screen time. Not quite what we were expecting.
The star(s) of the film, for me, were Han and Chewie - it was meant to be Rey and Finn, but their roles were too forced and unrealistic. A Stormtrooper turning good and it just so happens to work out perfectly for him to play a role in bringing down the First Order. And Rey is this exceptional talent, who was clearly benign for all of her life until this one day when she can single-handedly pilot the Falcon, use a lightsaber and do mind-tricks on Stormtroopers, without each form of tuition.
I liked Poe Dameron by the way and he could have had more of a back story and screen time. Same with Captain Phasma – a new idea to have someone in charge of the Stormtroopers, though he (she?) was hardly difficult to persuade to shut down the shield and let the rebels blow up the final (I doubt it) Death Star.
If they developed the characters, put some originality into the plot and let us get some back-story, this film could easily have been split into VII and VIII all on its own. It didn't feel like Star Wars and if it didn't have some familiar faces (perhaps this is why they were recalled) and Stormtroopers, no-one would have been any the wiser.
Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels (2011)
Thomas continues to please
Day of the Diesels sees two new steam trains "steamies" arrive on the island of Sodor; Belle, a vibrant blue and red female train with water jets to put out fires, and Flynn, an American fire truck with two sets of wheels, one for roads and one for rail tracks. Their arrival is greeted by all, though more so by Thomas, who takes time out to show them around.
To balance up the new entries to the island, the steamies' rivals, the diesels, also gain two new trains and we get to see their home for the first time, the diesel works.
There are typical rivalries between the two types of trains and an interesting story that develops in the hour long movie. For me, the CGI version of Thomas works really well and gives the characters more scope.
For those who love the series and previous films, you will not be disappointed. The new trains fit in very well and they end up interacting with all of the old familiar faces. An enjoyable film, especially for the kids and one not to be missed for true 'Thomas' fans.