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‘Solo’ Is The Third Best ‘Star Wars’ Movie

I’m not trying to start an argument, but I’m 100% correct about this

6 min readJan 25, 2024

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I am learning to forgive myself for being wrong. Here’s an example: when I first saw 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story in the theater, I dismissed it as a misfire, and I was not alone in that opinion. At the time, the critics weren’t seduced by the adventures of a young Han Solo, and there just wasn’t enough excitement for this would-be franchise. Solo became the first big-screen Star Wars flop.

There are all sorts of reasons why this came to be. The movie had a troubled production history: The original directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, were fired, and Hollywood heavyweight Ron Howard was brought in to save the shoot. The gossip was that the former directors were trying to turn the Disney intellectual property into a sci-fi buddy comedy. (Thankfully, some of the humor remains. Solo is also the funniest Star Wars movie.)

And that wasn’t the only gossip: nasty rumors swirled around the press that Alden Ehrenreich, the actor cast to fill Harrison Ford’s boots, couldn’t act.

Another factor in the lack of enthusiasm for Solo was probably Star Wars overload. The previous two years saw the sequel to Star Wars

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John DeVore

Written by John DeVore

My memoir 'Theatre Kids: A True Tale of Off-Off Broadway' is now available. jdv.lol

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