I have recently come to the conclusion that Star Wars parallels life.

Well, to be more accurate, reactions to Star Wars parallels certain periods in our lives.

This is what I mean:

• When episodes 4-6 came out, we were young. We were positive, loving our simple lives, and pretty much liked everything that was on TV or in the theater. And wow, did we eat up anything Star Wars or what. Whether it were the action figures or seeing the movies over and over again, Star Wars was pretty much the coolest thing in our lives; it could do no wrong.

• When episodes 1-3 came out, we were in high school or college. We were more cynical and negative; everything was stupid. But yet we wanted things to be good, like they were only 12 years before. So desperately. This definitely went with the prequels. The dialog was bad, the characters were lame, and the acting was hard to watch at times. We were so excited for them but we hated those films….absolutely hated them!

Now we are in our adult years. And in this time we are not as naive as we were as kids, or as moody as teenagers. We have now learned to give up on life and realize it is just a pile of shit. Yes, at one time we had hopes of something great, then were frustrated with what the reality of the situation is, and now it is time to resign ourselves to the facts of life: it sucks ass.

And this is the way we should approach these new Star Wars movies.

Sure, we remember the originals as high quality art, and even though that may not be true, it is fun to remember them as such. Maybe the prequels were a victim of impossible expectations and were not that bad, but sometimes it is fun to hate. But when looking at these new Star Wars films, in order to be fair, maybe it is time to resign ourselves to the fact that all the movies are really not THAT great, the premise is fun but doesn’t have the legs or strong base to justify all these spin offs, and maybe just give up on the idea that Star Wars is going to produce movies as awesome as the ones we remembered as kids.

So I went into Solo last night with the devil-may-care low expectations that my adults years have taught me.

And you know what? It wasn’t all that good.

But it wasn’t that BAD!!

And that is the important thing. Yes, it was no epic, and it is even debatable if it was a movie that was needed to be made. But at least it wasn’t awful. And that’s pretty good in my book.

So should you see Solo? Eh, up to you. Either way, if you go into it with the lowest of expectations, with a defeatist attitude that you should have about life and the world around us, I pretty much guarantee you will not be too disappointed.