SOLO: A Spoiler Story (contains spoilers)

[Werthead]

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Maul's appearance was great. Best part about it was that they kept that connection with the shows alive by having Sam Witwer voice the character.

 

They also had Ray Park provide the mocap for the character (I think he was otherwise all CGI). They didn't invite Peter Serafinowicz back, but they felt that Witwer (aka Crashdown from Battlestar Galactica) had earned the voice gig because of this work on the animated shows.

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

12 hours ago, Aemon Stark said:

Just came back from seeing this. 

While it was kind of fun, this movie was something of a disaster in execution. It shows a lot of evidence of production and writing problems and above all being rushed. The highlights were some of world-building details like the Corelia spaceport scene and the brief thing with the Imperial recruiter (though the Solo name origin bit was all too cute) and Donald Glover. He completely pulled off Lando, almost emulating Billy Dee Williams voice. I also liked all the little EU callbacks like sabacc and Kessel and the like. The idea of big crime syndicates that seem heavily embedded with the Empire (all those officers at Vision's party) was pretty interesting too. 

Unfortunately, I thought the Solo actor was utterly unconvincing and he looked far too old for the part. Ehrenreich almost seems older than Ford in A New Hope (certainly his face is more creased). It's jarring and weird. If his appearance weren't a problem, his performance is still problematic. There was far too much smirking. Nothing about it seemed natural. But then he also had no real narrative or emotional arc to work with. He's a cocky orphan who becomes a cocky soldier (what happened at the Academy??) who becomes a cocky smuggler I guess. But I didn't buy any of it, didn't feel like anything had any real stakes, and felt almost no tension about anything about his character or his emotions. 

That's a big problem. He's the main character. The title character! Yet I don't feel we really figure out anything about Han here other than how he got his name. His relationship with Qi'ra feels underwritten and I found myself uninterested in their relationship even from that opening scene - little to no chemistry between Clarke and Ehrenreich and they never have any "normal" moments in which to show more about their time together. 

I thought Emilia Clarke was okay, but her range is kinda limited and it shows. This would have been less of an issue had her character been better written. It would have been way more interesting to *see* some of the apparently ruthless/terrible stuff she did to survive. Instead she talked about it repeatedly and then killed Vision (who I did kinda like simply because Paul Bettany is capable of doing a lot with little) as if we'd seen prior evidence of her as a true femme fatale. 

Everyone else was fine. I liked Chewie and Harrelson - even if his character was an inconsistent mess - and I was surprised that they killed off Harrelson's friends to early on (Thandie Newton didn't get to do much at all sadly). I still didn't feel much tension about anything. The reveal about the Marauders was fairly bizarre and random. Didn't work for me at all. L3 wasn't bad as a droid character but was kinda too ridiculous for me to take seriously at all. 

I never watched Clone Wars so I actually had no idea that Darth Maul was still alive through some harebrained explanation. (The Internet told me after the fact.) Buddy was cut in half in an almost comical fashion and careened down a classic Star Wars exhaust shaft. Maybe his resurrection could be sold in animated fashion but in a live action film I thought it was RIDICULOUS. And since I didn't and don't have any interest in watching Clone Wars it made for a fairly laughable ending. But at least there was a little callback to "Duel of the Fates" and the relevant Williams music for that scene. 

But that brings me to my last complaint: the music. I like John Powell but I can only assume that this movie was almost entirely temp-tracked with pre-existing Star Wars music. The whole Kessel/Maw sequence was comprised of direct reprises of the "Asteroid Field" and "Here They Come" cues from Empire and A New Hope, respectively. A bit of reuse is okay but it's sad that (evidently) there wasn't time even to write/record something halfway original. Otherwise Powell just used existing themes haphazardly throughout the rest of the movie - the rebel motif without the presence of any rebels, Luke's theme without Luke. I'm not always a fan of Giacchino but he did good work with Rogue One. Williams's themes are leitmotifs and as such relate to specific characters and specific moments, but they're used without any care here. Very disappointing. I'm sure this reflects time constraints more than anything else, but it's inexcusable all the same. But I did like the kinda major Imperial March for that recruiting video. 

@Werthead

I'm surprised you liked this as much as you did! I'd certainly put this one welllllll below Rogue One (which I like best of all the newer ones). It gains some points over the new trilogy instalments with nice world-building details but really fails at any kind of emotional core or compelling character arcs. I suppose it's better than Episodes I and II, but Revenge of the Sith worked on an emotional level that Solo absolutely faltered on. Episode III is fairly flawed but generally earns its self-seriousness. 

I give it two Picard facepalms out of five (though Picard would argue there were only ever four possible facepalms). 

The Picard facepalms is hysterical.  

[felice]

7 hours ago, Corvinus said:

I don't know why that's a mistake. The movie shows that to get to Kessel you need to get out of lightspeed, navigate through the maelstrom a bit, then go into lightspeed again. (It may be multiple short jumps) All in all a distance of 20 parsecs. Han takes a shortcut, therefore doing it in 12. After they escape the gravity well, the Falcon goes to lightspeed, but they were still in the maelstrom. 

The official route through the Maelstrom doesn't appear to involve any lightspeed travel at all, and there's no indication given that the Falcon's lightspeed jump doesn't take it straight out of the Maelstrom. The official route would have to involve multiple short jumps in different directions to make it possible to shave 26 light years off the distance, but that's not shown onscreen, and what we are shown would be pretty hard to reconcile with offscreen jumps.

[Werthead]

1 hour ago, felice said:

The official route through the Maelstrom doesn't appear to involve any lightspeed travel at all, and there's no indication given that the Falcon's lightspeed jump doesn't take it straight out of the Maelstrom. The official route would have to involve multiple short jumps in different directions to make it possible to shave 26 light years off the distance, but that's not shown onscreen, and what we are shown would be pretty hard to reconcile with offscreen jumps.

At one point, when the tunnel through the Maelstrom straightens out, the Falcon makes a hyperspace jump to the next turn, which presumably was one of several such jumps.

No, it doesn't make any sense but Star Wars's grasp of actual science and physics has always been iffy.

[felice]

1 minute ago, Werthead said:

At one point, when the tunnel through the Maelstrom straightens out, the Falcon makes a hyperspace jump to the next turn, which presumably was one of several such jumps.

Ok, I missed that. The next turn must have been a looooong way off...

[Iskaral Pust]

I enjoyed it.  A solid 7/10 movie.  It doesn’t have the thematic/narrative aspiration of the central story, but it’s an entertaining visit to the SW universe.  It also has fewer glaring plot holes than the current main trilogy.  I did not have high expectations and I don’t demand precise fidelity to the EU.  Lower stakes than Rogue One, but less gloomy too; a similar level of overall entertainment.

Beckett’s crew were fun and gave the story some humor and energy, and the train heist was good.  Then pivot to Lando for some charismatic fun to keep it ticking along.  Chewie brought the feel-goods throughout.  I agree with the prior post that pointed out how badly lit many of the scenes were; an unnecessary weak spot.  I liked L3 as a bit-part character, in a similar vein to K2 without feeling like a facsimile.  Character motivations take diverse and improbable swings to serve the plot.  EC’s wooden acting could be generously viewed as intentional to maintain suspense about the character.  Young Han seemed a lot like young Kirk in the Star Trek reboot; considering it’s his origin story we don’t really see his character taking shape, it’s more of a retcon for lots of things that got mentioned in eps IV and V.

There is a lot of social agenda packed in, but that seems to be the SJW cultural ocean in which we currently swim.  It makes me wonder how this decade’s pop culture will be viewed in twenty years, like looking back on the Cold War omnipresence of the 1980s. 

[Relic]

4 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

 

There is a lot of social agenda packed in, but that seems to be the SJW cultural ocean in which we currently swim.  It makes me wonder how this decade’s pop culture will be viewed in twenty years, like looking back on the Cold War omnipresence of the 1980s. 

...........

 

no words

[Aemon Stark]

@Iskaral Pust

I don't know what you mean by social agenda other than, maybe, the Empire is evil? I did like how they showed that the Empire is fairly corrupt and maintained lots of connections to organized crime. Not that there was a lot there. 

Otherwise the whole thing with the Marauders was far too underwritten to ascribe any social agenda, let alone liken this to the "SJW cultural ocean" (???). An extra Picard faceplam there. 

[JGP]

Welp, it bombed in China and is performing way under projection in NA. Which... is hardly surprising, imo.

The story was disjointed, the pacing/expectation/reveals more or less absurd, and most (not all) of the acting ranged from terrible to uninspired. Unlike many, I actually found the droid to be one of the highlights of the film but was disappointed in how they handled Chewie, and thought the actor standing in for our titular antihero was some kind of goddamned awful. 

Always thought the kid from Baby Driver would've been a great young Solo, but whatever.

5/10 from me. Maybe I'm a dick. Or maybe not.

 

[Jace, Extat]

9 minutes ago, JEORDHl said:

Welp, it bombed in China and is performing way under projection in NA. Which... is hardly surprising, imo.

The story was disjointed, the pacing/expectation/reveals more or less absurd, and most (not all) of the acting ranged from terrible to uninspired. Unlike many, I actually found the droid to be one of the highlights of the film but was disappointed in how they handled Chewie, and thought the actor standing in for our titular antihero was some kind of goddamned awful. 

Always thought the kid from Baby Driver would've been a great young Solo, but whatever.

5/10 from me. Maybe I'm a dick. Or maybe not.

 

5/10 would mean 'average.'

Jace is a ratings nazi.

[JGP]

Just now, Pony Empress Jace said:

5/10 would mean 'average.'

Jace is a ratings nazi.

Hmn... Maybe. Couldn't speak to averages, but to me:

I. ESB 9/10

II. SW et TFA 8/10 (same movie)

III. RotJ et R1 7/10 

IV. TLJ 6.5/10

V. RotS 4/10

VI. AotC 3.5/10

VII. PM 2/10

Meh, guess you're kinda right. Really disappointed I suppose.

 

[dbunting]

1 hour ago, JEORDHl said:

Welp, it bombed in China and is performing way under projection in NA. Which... is hardly surprising, imo.

The story was disjointed, the pacing/expectation/reveals more or less absurd, and most (not all) of the acting ranged from terrible to uninspired. Unlike many, I actually found the droid to be one of the highlights of the film but was disappointed in how they handled Chewie, and thought the actor standing in for our titular antihero was some kind of goddamned awful. 

Always thought the kid from Baby Driver would've been a great young Solo, but whatever.

5/10 from me. Maybe I'm a dick. Or maybe not.

 

The article I read said it bombed in China but is close to records for Memorial day weekend, 120+/-million. Not bad to me, plus most word of mouth has been positive, per the same article. To me what hurt it the most was over saturation/build up of expectations not to mention opening right after The Avengers and Deadpool 2. Very similar audiences to fight for limited cinema dollars, hell Black Panther was still playing when I saw Solo Thursday.

Next weekend should tell the true story, does it drop off more than expected, does word of mouth help it or kill it. 

[Spring Bass]

It was pretty meh, but not boring - and it had some good parts while being mostly well-paced.

1. Anyone else notice how weirdly underlit almost the entire movie was? I don't know whether they were going for some type of gritty "western" or seedy "criminal" vibe with it, but it just made the movie seem more grim than it needed to be - this in a movie that was way too grim than any Han Solo movie should be. It mostly worked to the detriment of the action scenes, with the exception of the battle on the planet that Han deserts from the Empire on. 

2. The origin of Han's name is a little funny, but doesn't make sense. Doesn't he say later that he had a father who worked in a shipyard before Han became an orphan on the streets? Did he forget his original last name? 

3. Ahrenreich was only okay as Han. He never seemed to be able to shake off stiffness in the part, and it made a lot of the humor and bullshit bravado fall flat (River Phoenix as young Indiana Jones was a much more convincing "young Harrison Ford character"). Glover as Lando was better, but not like amazing or anything - I was a little disappointed after all the early reviews talking about how perfect he was. But I guess I would watch a Lando movie. 

4. So we got three noticeable named female characters, two of whom get killed off and one of which is going to presumably disappear because she's not hanging around with Han by the time of ANH? 

5. The droid riot on Kessel was amusing, although I expect Star Wars going forward will put zero thought into the whole "droid slavery" thing and treat L3-37 as just some weird anomaly. 

6. I guess we're getting that Obi-Wan prequel movie, given the Darth Maul reveal. 

7. TONS of Star Wars references from the former Legends EU shoe-horned into this. Lando dictating a story about the Mindharp, Han being sent to the academy on Carida, the muddy planet he deserts on being Mimban, Kessel, the "twelve parsecs" Kessel Run, etc. Personally, I've always thought the whole "Kessel Run" thing was fans and later authors taking that bit too seriously when it was obviously just some bullshit that Han spouted off to try and impress whom he thought were Tattooine farm yokels (the expression on Obi-Wan's face in that scene says it), but whatever. 

5 hours ago, Relic said:

no words

Yeah, I'm at a loss as well as to what he could be referring to. It's way less overt in any sort of message than The Last Jedi. 

[Corvinus85]

2 hours ago, Fall Bass said:

6. I guess we're getting that Obi-Wan prequel movie, given the Darth Maul reveal. 

The Kenobi-Maul conflict is resolved in the Rebels animated show. I doubt we'll get a rehash of that in live action, but it's possible Maul will re-appear in that movie in some capacity. I think that Maul could find a better place in the Boba Fett movie, given that he controls his own criminal empire. I think a Vader v. Maul encounter is more likely to happen on screen than Kenobi v. Maul. This is, again, because of certain events in the Rebels show.

[Fez]

I enjoyed the movie. It wasn't great, and didn't feel that much like a Star Wars movie (other than a few specific moments), but it was a fun time. Lando and L3 were the highlights for me, but I thought Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson did really good jobs as well. I had no idea Darth Maul was alive in the canon, and thought that reveal was a really cool moment. The story was a decent space western/heist plot.

Han's actor was definitely a weak link though and there was a curious lack of major set-pieces or "wow factor" moments, it all felt very low-key. Also, I'm one of those folks who think Star Wars movies should be an event; I think making them more common than once a year is a mistake that dilutes the experience.

[Lordsteve666]

I actually really enjoyed it.

It had a few issues i'll admit, the ending felt a bit hashed together it think, as if it wasn't quite sure who was gonna double cross who until they got to the cutting room. But overall i think it was a good fun romp through some previously unused lore.

Kessel run was a nice bit of fun with some added cosmic horror thrown in for good measure, and it was a tip of the hat to the now non-canon EU novels that explained the background to that area of space.

I thought Lando was really well played and the voice was pretty close to the original at times.

But you know what i really want after seeing it? A film centered around the Imperial Army in some form of campaign, where the majority of the cast are not the bad guys but are just soldiers trying to survive. I thought that brief section where they were n a ground warzone was really cool and I just think for once it would be nice to have an Empire view of things, but from the perspective of the grunts on  the ground (the real troops, not the Stormtroopers). Something a bit like Malazan Book of the Fallen, with some humor thrown in and nice and gritty, perhaps a means to show that there are people in the Empire who are just trying to survive and they aren't all the evil bastard the rest of the films make them out to be.

[Veltigar]

1 hour ago, Lordsteve666 said:

But you know what i really want after seeing it? A film centered around the Imperial Army in some form of campaign, where the majority of the cast are not the bad guys but are just soldiers trying to survive. I thought that brief section where they were n a ground warzone was really cool and I just think for once it would be nice to have an Empire view of things, but from the perspective of the grunts on  the ground (the real troops, not the Stormtroopers). Something a bit like Malazan Book of the Fallen, with some humor thrown in and nice and gritty, perhaps a means to show that there are people in the Empire who are just trying to survive and they aren't all the evil bastard the rest of the films make them out to be.

Try Cross of Iron by Sam Peckinpah if you want that kind of film  

[Trebla]

I mostly disliked TLJ and was pretty meh about seeing this one but tagged along with my dad and daughter today. Color me shocked but I loved it. I actually really liked the performance of the new Han Solo and felt he captured the essence of the character. The one downside (pun intended) was that he is noticeably shorter than Harrison Ford but I'm willing to hand wave that away. I'll bet what sold the casting directors was this guy has that iconic Han Solo grin.  

Plot-wise, it was mostly good though it dipped a bit after the Kessel Run. It probably had one too many backstabs near the end but overall I thought they stuck the landing. Probably my biggest gripe was Dryden Voss' decision to send Qi'ra on the mission. They had JUST said that they would be going in as a third party yet then he sends his lieutenant. If the opposition didn't know Tobias Beckett, they'd DEFINITELY know her.

What I loved most about the movie was that it mostly stuck to being a heist movie which a Han Solo movie should be. I was thinking about 3/4 through the movie that I loved there was no Jedi, no Force, just ships and blasters and action. But then they brought in Darth Maul which first surprised me then disappointed me. I guess we'll have to see where they are going with it.

Though we shall have to see if they have a chance to go forward with it given that this movie cost $250 million to make and isn't exactly tearing up the box office. I wonder how much of it is the continued backlash against TLJ (or as what I've taken to calling that movie, "Hipster Star Wars") and/or the decision to release it May rather than December as the last few have been. I hope the movie does well enough because I would love to have more Han and Chewie movies movies. And more Lando, please!

[Werthead]

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But you know what i really want after seeing it? A film centered around the Imperial Army in some form of campaign, where the majority of the cast are not the bad guys but are just soldiers trying to survive. I thought that brief section where they were n a ground warzone was really cool and I just think for once it would be nice to have an Empire view of things, but from the perspective of the grunts on  the ground (the real troops, not the Stormtroopers). Something a bit like Malazan Book of the Fallen, with some humor thrown in and nice and gritty, perhaps a means to show that there are people in the Empire who are just trying to survive and they aren't all the evil bastard the rest of the films make them out to be.

 

They covered this very well in the video game TIE Fighter, and it'd be nice to see them do something similar in a movie.

 

[Kalbear]

1 hour ago, Trebla said:

I mostly disliked TLJ and was pretty meh about seeing this one but tagged along with my dad and daughter today. Color me shocked but I loved it. I actually really liked the performance of the new Han Solo and felt he captured the essence of the character. The one downside (pun intended) was that he is noticeably shorter than Harrison Ford but I'm willing to hand wave that away. I'll bet what sold the casting directors was this guy has that iconic Han Solo grin.  

This is as good a jumping off point for me as  any.

I thought this was a good movie other than having anything to do with Han Solo. Glover as Lando was perfect, Qi'ra was good, Beckett was fine, Bettany as whatever his name was was good, L3 was a fun take on droids, and Chewie had some extra stuff to do and was good. 

Han Solo was crap.

Han Solo's arc - from when we met him in the OT - was that he was a long veteran of doing what he had to do to survive and get by, being smarter and occasionally shittier than other people around him, and not sticking his neck out unnecessarily or without reward. Luke and Leia are the ones to convince him to change those ways and be an actual good guy - and even that doesn't last forever, as we see in TESB. So...why is he so unremarkably good in this movie? Every thing he does ends up being morally fine. He steals - but he steals from a slave mining operation and ends up freeing the slaves. He breaks out of Imperial service (though basically through no ability of his own, just luck) not because he wants to save his skin, but because of Qi'ra. He double crosses Beckett and the Crimson Dawn because it's the Right Thing To Do. 

That really wasn't the Han I wanted to see. I wanted to see the smuggler, the one who always shoots first, who does some good things some times but always has an angle for himself. That Han was few and far between in this movie, and was instead sanitized and made safe.

Also, Chewie sticking around Han because reasons was crap. I don't mind him not having a life debt, but him hanging out because...what? It's fun? It's fine? This is a guy who has been separated from his entire family for years, and he wants to hang out with this dick? Give me a break.