Comment on Movie review: 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' blasts fun back into the space saga

By Brandy McDonnellA version of this review appears in Friday's Weekend Life section of The Oklahoman. 3 1/2 out of 4 stars. Movie review: 'Solo: A Star Wars Story'It’s remarkable how much fun a certain “galaxy far, far away” can be when its adventures aren’t all bogged down in hokey religions and Skywalker family drama.Like its title character, “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is a likably scrappy underdog tale that insists on setting its own delightfully twisty course through this now-familiar cinematic terrain, casting off several of the tropes – mysterious parentages, wrong-headed philosophies, obligatory Star Destroyer battles – that have threatened to Force-choke much of the fun out of the new installments of the space saga.That’s what makes the second spin-off since Disney took over the epic franchise the new “Star Wars” movie longtime fans have been looking for: “Solo” is actually fun, a rip-roaring adventure that never forgets that it’s – and for better or worse, never aspires to more than – essentially a space Western, complete with a thrilling intergalactic train robbery.Even the movie’s infamously tumultuous making – for those who have been living under space rocks, Duncan-born Oscar winner Ron Howard took the helm of the faltering film several months into principal photography after the original directing team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“The LEGO Movie”) were jettisoned due to “creative differences” -- plays into its never-tell-me-the-odds ethos.Read more on NewsOK.com