'Solo: A Star Wars Story' First Reactions: Did Alden Ehrenreich Do Justice to Han Solo?
The "Star Wars" movie this 2018 just had its world premiere on Thursday night, May 10, in Los Angeles, and all eyes were on one role. "Solo: A Star Wars Story" is a prequel centered on Han Solo, and all bets are on Alden Ehrenreich on whether he can pull it off or not.
It turned out that Ehrenreich is, indeed, "the real deal," at least according to first impressions shared by those lucky enough to be able to attend the world premiere. Although these fortunate fans are still hampered by review embargoes when it comes to providing more details about the movie, it's more or less safe for them to say what they thought of Ehrenreich's turn as the young Han Solo.
"Alden Ehrenreich is the real deal, Thandie Newton is who I want to be when I grow up, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge's L3... well we'll talk about that later," Angie Han of Mashable teased in her twitter post after seeing the movie, as she took to social media to assure fans that the actor did nail the part.
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Yahoo Entertainment's Kevin Polowy was likewise impressed by what he called a "straight intergalactic heist movie," as quoted by Variety. He also pointed out that "Solo" is a nice change of pace from the overarching themes and the serious stakes in play that comes with every new "Star Wars" episode.
Filling in for Harrison Ford is a tall order for any actor, but once the story goes through its paces, Ehrenreich was able to endear himself to even the most diehard of Han Solo fans, as IndieWire's Kate Erbland pointed out. "It takes a bit for it to find its feet and for [Ehrenreich] to turn on enough charm to make you forget he's not [Harrison Ford]," she noted.
"But once it kicks into its hey-let's-make-a-crew and yes-also-do-a-heist stuff, it totally flies," Erbland added, as quoted by Entertainment Weekly.
In "Solo: A Star Wars Story," fans get to see a bit of Han Solo's life before it gets all tangled up in the fate of the galaxy. Just before he turns to a life of smuggling and blockade running, it's in this movie that "Star Wars" fans get to witness his first meeting with Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and Lando Calrissian, the young version of which is played by Donald Glover.
A new droid L3 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and a friend that he goes way back with, Qi'Ra (Emilia Clarke) plus his mentor Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) round up the rest of the ensemble.
"Solo: A Star Wars Story" can be seen by the rest of the fans when it finally opens in theaters everywhere on May 25.
