Solo is a perfectly pleasant movie that entertains, incrementally adds to the Star Wars universe, and competently (if not brilliantly) tackles the thankless task of creating a backstory for a character (or two) whose future is deeply known by pretty much everyone.
The result is that the movie does its best when giving us new stuff — origin tales, incidents in Han’s youth or formative period — but falters when things that couldn’t be left hanging after this one-shot, but whose ultimate resolution is known, come up. The plot still gives us a few surprises along the way, but sometimes gets a bit too cute in foreshadowing things that happen (“again”) later (sometimes reinforced with musical notes).
That all said, +Margie Kleerup and +James Hill and I had a good time, or didn’t feel we wasted our time or money in going. The acting talent is up to the job — Alden Ehrenreich does decent work in the title role, channeling an appropriate mix of brash hubris and youthful idealism. Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian plays well if as expected. Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, and, heck, even Joonas Suotamo as Chewy all do well, and Paul Bettany channels Christopher Walken delightfully.
Plus I now have a new favorite droid, Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37.
(Though there are some character deaths that come as a surprise, and it’s never quite clear that their deaths are to any great purpose besides generating momentary sadness.)
There are some enjoyable characters, character notes, and a continuing look at the gritty, corrupt, brutal underside of the Empire. Plus, we finally get a justification for Han’s most famous boast.
Worth going to see, definitely worth watching. I’m pleased.
I really enjoyed this movie. I think it's the best Star Wars film since the original trilogy. Lots of nods to us OT fans. This will likely be the first movie in a couple of decades that I will see in theaters more than once. I went to a fan event showing and got a poster and buttons, but didn't realize that my theater wasn't giving out the dice. 🙁
L3 still doesn't replace R2 as my favorite droid, but it's a very near thing.
I haven't quite processed where it is in my personal Star Wars force ranking. I'd probably put it about 2/3 the way up the scale. But that's why force ranking is often unfair, because I enjoyed it a lot.
After I read your post, this was my next notification:
https://plus.google.com/+nymag/posts/8xL9dpeasva
I love your honest review my friend. This is exactly how we all felt after seeing Solo as well. Plus we all agree L-3 was the breakout secondary star for sure.
Did they address how he came to think it was okay to back a woman up against a tight space and kiss her without consent?
Does he have more or less respect for women as a youth? (Which in itself will make an interesting story arc).
+Travis Bird I've been hearing about Solo "underperforming" for weeks (based on advance ticket sales), that its not surprising if it "underperforms" this weekend. It's not part of a Jedi trilogy (as much as people keep saying they're "tired" of that).
I, personally, feel no "fatigue" about the franchise, and if people have reasons to not see it this weekend, or to choose other movies instead, that's their prerogative. I think it's an enjoyable flick that anyone who's enjoyed the SW movies will enjoy.
+Travis Bird To which I'll add, the idea that a movie that doesn't turn a profit in its very first weekend of release would be seen as an abject failure (since nobody doesn't think it will fail to turn a profit, Hollywood jiggery-pokery notwithstanding) is silliness. There there are certain groups that always enjoy trumpeting such news — about Star Wars, about Disney, etc.
+Joseph Sokolowski There's probably a paper to be written (and several that have) on why Star Wars droids always seem to steal the show.
This review (SPOILERS!!!) does a good summing up of my feelings: the movie is smooth, not spectacular. It doesn't (it can't) take any spectacular chances (cf Rogue One), but is solid, smooth entertainment.
http://www.vulture.com/2018/05/solo-a-star-wars-story-review.html
+Dave Hill Hahahaha Agreed
There were only about 15 people at the 6:00 PM Thursday Fan Event I attended. I was very surprised by that. I hope word of mouth improves the movie’s performance.
C3PO: Your navigational computer speaks a VERY peculiar dialect…
Liked it too
I really wish they had done the origin story from the Han Solo Trilogy books, but it's been pointed out that would not be family friendly and that wouldn't do for Disney. However, do we need every single reference ever explained to us? We know Han won the Falcon in a card game, we don't need to to see it. Plus, we were never sure what a "Kessel Run" was (unlesss you read the books), but do we_need_ to know? It takes away some of the mystery of Han's boasts, as we never were sure if he was lying or not (btw, in the books, the Maw cluster of black holes distorts space and time, so the distance of the run is shortened by flying close to it. Han and Chewie make the time – and distance – while escaping from an Imperial customs ship).
+Paul Scollon You raise a good point that the question of whether people need (or want) to see the origin tale of Han Solo is a fundamental question that should be asked (preferably by the studio before beginning filming). That may be a reason for the movie's relatively weak performance this weekend, though I think Star Wars saturation (we just had the previous SW movie less than a year ago) plays a role, as does the far edgier Deadpool 2.
I don't regret that they made the film — it was, as I said, well crafted, and I enjoyed seeing it. On the other hand, if it had never been made, I'm not sure we or the Star Wars universe would be significantly poorer (with the exception of a few nuggets of new stuff that was added in or expanded on).
Expanding on the above, something I just wrote elsewhere as to why Solo is doing relatively poorly in the box office this weekend:
1. We just had, several months ago, another Star Wars film. I wouldn't say that people are "over" SW by any means, but we may have reached saturation.
2. Deadpool 2 is hot and edgy. It's almost certainly sucking in some natural SW (and Han Solo) audience.
3. I'm increasingly wondering (per +Paul Scollon) if this film was necessary. It talked about a beloved character — who's "now" dead. It illuminated some parts of the SW mythos without actually changing anything, including how we see the SW world. We already know who Han is/was — this movie made clearer how he became that, but not in a way that gave us tremendous new insight or altering the way we looked at the character.
This article was commended to me — it does contain spoilers — and it echoes one of the points above.
Money quotes:
"Disney was trying to sell us a ticket to see a story we already knew that has an ending we’ve already seen that ties into a large universe in a manner we’re all very acquainted with."
and
"Solo is likely to serve as a warning to future Star Wars films: Tell us something we don’t know, or at least preserve some kind of mystery that’s fun to think about before we see the movie, not after. Solo isn’t a bad movie — I found it to be much better than I was expecting — but I understand why audiences are staying away. Fans walk out knowing exactly as much about Han Solo as they knew walking in."
My concern is that rather than that be the lesson, that Disney/Lucas will assume "People don't want more Star Wars" or "They only want grand epics and not personal stories" or "Prequels are BAD".
Prequels are difficult, but only because you have to give us something new. What if we'd gotten some profound secret about Han that we didn't know about? Family, or something awful he did and regretted? Something that would change (enrich) how we see him in the later films, that would contribute something to the SW Universe, something that takes something Han says or does later in the series and changes it drastically — rather than coloring in the currently known outline.
(What? I don't know. Nobody's hired me to write a Han Solo film.)
https://www.polygon.com/2018/5/28/17402484/solo-star-wars-box-office-reviews-cameo-death