I love Star Wars. The Disney stuff has been solid thus far (I love The Last Jedi) adding and expanding the mythology outwards. However, the galaxy is seemingly feeling smaller and smaller as we keep circling back to old characters. When Solo: A Star Wars Story was first announced I asked why. Walking out of the film, I still have the same question. Why?

Han (Alden Ehrenreich) is desperate to leave his home world with his girlfriend Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke). When fate intervenes, Han is desperate to get a ship and rescue Qi’ra. Joining up with Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his crew, Han meets up with Chewbacca and the team of sordid criminals embark on a big heist for crime lord Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany).

Production troubles aside, let’s focus on the finished film at hand. As it stands, I really wish this was more about the criminal underworld that these characters live in. Sure, it’s a Western mixed with a crime film in the Star Wars universe, but it’s still an origin movie that revolves around a character that didn’t need one. Let’s get one thing straight here. Alden Ehrenreich is a great Han Solo. He’s just in a film with far more interesting characters.

I would love to see a whole film based on Tobias Beckett. Woody Harrelson has crafted an iconic character I would like to see more of. Imagine a film with Tobias, his girl Val played by a sorely underused Thandie Newton (she’s seriously great here) and Rio Durant set in the criminal underworld.
Hell, even a Lando Calrissian movie starring Donald Glover would be a worthwhile venture. That is a character who starts here and where he ends up in Return of the Jedi, has the most interesting story on how exactly he ended up where he did. THAT should be explored. And yes, for those of you wondering Donald is excellent as is his scene-stealing co-pilot L3-37 portrayed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (she’s giving it her all).

This film is written by series stalwart Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jonathan. So much praise was given to this script about how good it is. As it stands, it’s decent. Most of the double crosses you can see coming from a mile. It’s standard gangster stuff mixed with Star Wars imagery. Honestly, the war parts of this made me wanna go watch Rogue One again. But seeing how Han met Chewie, got his last name (seriously this is not a joke), and how he got his blaster is so unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. The biggest waste here, however, is the Kessel Run. A throwaway line in the original film that’s been referenced again and again is brought to life here. It’s a major set piece in the film and what’s given to us doesn’t live up to legend. What I imagined the Kessel Run to be is much cooler than the CG extravaganza that brought it to life. This is the problem of making films like these, demystifying things does not help anyone. Sorry, but the big reveal on who’s really running a big criminal organization fell flat to me. This is a character that has been explored in other various mediums that I shrugged so hard Atlas felt it. I hope this isn’t explored further and once the film is out, we’ll talk about it later.

Ron Howard does inject some life into this film. How much of it is his I can’t say for sure, but at least the action is well handled here. The train robbery that you’ve seen in all the promos is so much cooler seen playing out in full. The various shootouts have much-needed life injected into them. Honestly, this is Ron’s best-directed film in a long, long time.

The true star of the show is cinematographer Bradford Young’s photography. Every frame of this is beautiful and it might beat The Last Jedi in terms of best looking Star Wars film. The imagery matches the characters in that everything is dirty and nasty and Young manages to make it look like something I would want to live in. At times, I stopped watching the film and I started admiring the imagery.

Is this a bad film? Absolutely not. There’s stuff here I love as well as some very entertaining sequences, but as a whole, it doesn’t do it for me. Die hard Star Wars fans will probably feel as if this is the best that’s been put out by Disney thus far. Everyone else can wait to catch this on DVD as Deadpool 2 works much better and is shorter than this. Seriously it got to point where I wanted this to wrap it up.

I’m still asking the question why. Even now all I have to say is Fan Service: A Star Wars Story or Solo: A Moderately Adequate Star Wars Story. Since the Star Wars train is not slowing down any time soon let’s move forward with exploring different parts of the galaxy with different characters. Don’t get me wrong, we can go to the past to tell new stories. But not like this.

Based on your review here, the end result is pretty close to the general sense most people around here had of the movie. A movie that isn't necessarily bad, but just didn't need to be made.

I'm glad that the acting is good. All of the actors involved, outside of Han, who I hadn't seen before, could act more. Hopefully, they were able to add to their profile.

Maybe the quality of the movie initially planned by the let-go directors might have made this movie seem important but at the least this seems like it didn't tarnish the run of these recent Star Wars flicks.

But this movie might be forgotten about two weeks after its released, which is kind of a shame because to me all of the Star Wars movies ought to be important and not easily-forgotten.

It's really something that this much Star Wars exist like this.

But yeah man. The die hards will love this everyone else's milage may vary.

As has been run into the ground at this point, our enthusiasm for this shit was about the same.

But you make this sound a bit more fun than I might have guessed.

That's good enough.

On a side note, this might be too much to ask, but I would really dig it if they threw in some little details or Easter Eggs that tied into the current trilogy in some way, or made some reference that would become important in Eps 7-9. Rogue One did that in a TINY way with the whole Hyper Space tracking thing.

I feel like there is so much potential with prequels, and usually all of it is wasted in lieu of explaining shit that was referenced in passing before. Give me something more. Like what if Lando did something here, and then Billy Dee shows up in Ep. 9 and made reference to it, or it somehow related to his actions in that movie?

I know that's a tangent. But Disney/Marvel is so good with Easter Eggs in the MCU. I want some of that to carry over into the Star Wars universe.

Given out exchanges about this, I think you should wait for DVD.

I'm still torn between seeing it in theater and waiting for dvd/streaming because of all the early issues with this film being made. As a Die Hard, I even felt that we didn't need this and a film on Lando who still had some mystery to him would've been better.

It sounds like it turned out to be a decent film in Howard's hands but it's not Rouge One quality which is fine. But hopefully, Disney will take a step back after this and re-think the rumored Kenobi film.

I'll catch it in theaters but I don't think I'll be rushing to go see it now.

Now we just need to wait for ol' boy to come flame ya post and this review will be fully operational.

And I'm not even sweating dude TBH.


I'm more worried about a mod who got upset when I even questioned Kennedy's choice of bringing back JJ for 9.

Cause I'm on board with JJ. Appreciated with Johnson was trying to do with TLJ, but we should just let JJ take it on home.

Bwood isn't totally on board with JJ coming back to direct.

I kind of agree.

I enjoyed The Force Awakens, but Abrams' whole approach to franchises seems to be 'stick to the formula.' For all the backlash, I appreciated that Rian Johnson came in for TLJ to throw a huge monkey wrench in it all. It wasn't an Empire Strikes Back reboot. It completely shifts the focus of the franchise, and subverts expectations. Love it or hate it, it brought something starkly different to the table.

I think the fear is that with JJ coming back in, Episode 9 is basically just going to be Return of the Jedi, Part II.

Which will still be fun, but...eh.

I still enjoyed what he did with TFA more than I enjoyed what Johnson did with TLJ. TLJ was still an Empire Strikes light and I appreciate what he was doing trying to move the story along and away from the original trilogy but I felt it was sloppy in parts.

Honestly I don't need another Star Wars film that deals with the Skywalker fam, I'm ready to see other characters and other parts of that universe ala RG1 and hopefully solo.

I just wanna go at anyone that thinks It should only be Abrhams over Johnson.

I definitely don't want to that whole debate on whether TLJ was great or a disappointment. It was the Star Wars movie *I* wanted, but it didn't go over so well for a lot of other people, some diehards especially. So be it.

I was just clarifying. I think bwood questioned JJ's return to the franchise as the right move, and took heat for it.

>
>I was just clarifying. I think bwood questioned JJ's return to
>the franchise as the right move, and took heat for it.
>
>

It's a valid point to not let JJ take the reigns again.

Still great to look at overall (it IS a SW film after all) but lookswise I rank it 6th, after OT, TFA and R1

>Still great to look at overall (it IS a SW film after all)
>but lookswise I rank it 6th, after OT, TFA and R1

Like awesome shots and cinemetography
but trippy places that feel alien were in short supply. Like the weirdest set peace was the casino...and it worked because out of nowhere we in a casino in star wars! lol.

But things like the throne room fight, when they used the star cruiser as a ram...well thought out impactful scenes

they kinda botched it...barely got to explore or look around the city with it's narrow streets etc, next to no lingering, useless subplot (not a visual critque), and I thought the actual casino stuff could've been done much better.

And Snoke's throne room was so flagrantly devoid of any imagination or creativity. Just a generic shiny spaceship room with a big red wall. Yay.

I feel you on some of the nice shot compositions...and Ahch-To was obviously beautiful, but it's gotta be almost impossible for that location to look bad lol

All of a sudden that whole world looked fake once they did that fight scene




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IG @h_n_z

I have such a love-hate relationship with TLJ.

Luke's last hoorah was one of the most exhilarating things I ever experienced as a SW fan...and then 2 seconds later, he's dead smh

Just wasnt executed well. Looked like a fake backdrop when it shouldn't have. Just like the scene from Infinity War when Spidey, Iron Man, Star Lord are talking about a plan. Shit looked horrible.


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IG @h_n_z

I'd have nominated it for a Cinematography Oscar last year.

references to a character who's last name rhymes with bling and the other is one you can almost most certainly guess.

I hate pandering shit like that.

In fact, the more I think about this film, the more it's value decreases.

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IG @h_n_z

He went with his girlfriend last night and left pissed.

Talking to him some of his grievances are right.

As much as I’ve liked the other three films since this restart, they’re all pretty dark and self-serious. This was a very good change in pace.

Well-acted, well-plotted, used humor effectively. Set pieces were all pretty awesome. Yeah, I saw the double crosses coming, but they still well done.

Harrelson and Glover were probably the best parts, along with Chewbacca. I don’t know why there was all that hand wringing and negative press about Aldrich; the kids did just fine. Chanelled Ford’s performance without aping. And L3 as the “woke” robot was pretty entertaining.

Lot of the groundwork at the end for future sequels, which I don’t mind. There’s room out there for these films to go anywhere they want. They can both go in new directions or cover previous favorites. They’ve got a good track record and will keep making money regardless.

They won't have to rely on doing stories or off stories in just books and comics and in doing so would see a way better return in money than any of the books or comics would do. The more people aware of these stories the more they will go to the movies. The best way to do that...make them in movies and part of the whole world. I hope they do this. It seems like are announcing less and less books these days and that might just be due to not wanting to get ahead of the movies. But im assuming they see a better returns by putting them on film or tv.


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IG @h_n_z

but why was the movie so dark, I couldn't make out everyone.

>but why was the movie so dark, I couldn't make out everyone.


thought it was just my theater

I didn't love it or hate it. I fell asleep during a good chunk of it, so I was completely lost for the rest of what I saw.

I guess Vision's gonna die all gotdamn summer.

I enjoyed Donald, Emilia Clarke, the sassy droid, and the pretty red girl.

https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2018/05/25/solo-star-wars-as-big-screen-fan-fiction

SOLO: Star Wars As Big Screen Fan Fiction
How Ron Howard's clean up job is a wrongheaded "course correction" following THE LAST JEDI.
By JACOB KNIGHT May. 25, 2018

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***Caution: Spoilers For Solo Ahoy***

We're three years into Disney/Lucasfilm's re-launched Star Wars programming, having received a new tale – be it a chapter in the latest "trilogy" (JJ Abrams' The Force Awakens, Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi) or the stand-alone "stories" (Rogue One, Solo) – every calendar cycle since '15. This inundation of IP is so thorough – building on Marvel’s expanded universe model – that it’s somewhat easy to forget there was a sixteen-year gap when we didn’t receive any sort of Star Wars on the big screen before The Phantom Menace arrived in ‘99. Sure, there was a smattering of small screen installments – two Ewok TV movies (Caravan of Courage and The Battle For Endor) being the most prominent examples – but for the most part, George Lucas' adventures in a galaxy far, far away were left up to our imaginations to continue.

Nevertheless, that didn't stop scores of authors from penning their own Jedi texts; tomes to be separated into canon and non-canon alike. Role-playing games were established in expensive, hardback rulebooks that would make the average Dungeonmaster swoon. Short story compilations were edited by authors like Kevin J. Anderson (The Jedi Academy trilogy), and comic book series like X-Wing Rogue Squadron were inked. Outside of these professional publications, the inception of the Internet allowed amateur authors to start digitally scribbling their own takes on this intergalactic mythology (peruse the archives here). Though this author doesn't have any sort of quantifiable data in front of him, it still feels like a safe assumption to say that – out of all the franchises in pop culture history – none have been expanded upon in the absence its creator quite like Star Wars (except for maybe Star Trek?). It's a credit to Lucas and the rest of the series' visionaries that these sorts of digressions – both authorized and unauthorized – were voluminous in number, as these characters and intergalactic environments set fans' brains on fire.

Unfortunately, with this sort of fervent admiration, creation and consumption comes the price tag of presumed fan ownership. While most of these novels were providing further stories for the devoted to explore while desperately hoping Lucas would eventually announce a new movie, they mostly filled in back stories, added shades and new character elements to the canon, and provided the blueprints for a galaxy that stretched far beyond where its initial inventor intended for it to go. An attachment to these place-holders was created, as the tone and focus they provided became just as ingrained in admirers' heads as the original slices of cinema. Thus, their essential place in the hearts of the hardcore also cemented a certain resistance to change. Stories in the Star Wars universe were expected to fall in line and adhere to what came before, not buck against expectations in any grand fashion. To be fair, this attitude isn't an anomaly in fandom – just look to continuity-obsessed horror nerds for a great companion collection – yet the texts heightened this entrenched outlook.

Cut to '17 and the rather violent reaction certain circles of Star Wars fans had to The Last Jedi. BMD has explored this phenomenon in depth via James Emanuel Shapiro's examination of the manipulation of that movie’s Rotten Tomatoes audience scores, while Andrew Todd succinctly summed up what some SW junkies took issue with in his rather superlative piece, "Unlearning What We Have Learned":

"The Last Jedi is the first film in an age to meaningfully expand this fictional universe, and the first to truly follow through on The Empire Strikes Back’s ethereal ideas around the Force. Far from retreading empty nostalgia, it opens up new horizons, twisting familiar situations to communicate something fresh and exciting. It’s the most mystical movie in the series so far, yet also absolutely about demystification - serving almost as a rebuttal to (in particular) The Force Awakens’ ideas about legends and storytelling."

For those interested in Star Wars continuing to expand its mythos and perhaps even re-write them in the name of pushing the franchise into more progressive-minded territory, The Last Jedi was a breath of fresh air. For others looking for another nostalgic retread of the past with some new character trivia thrown in for good measure (essentially the filmic equivalent of those old '90s pieces of expanded universe pulp), Rian Johnson's picture was an enraging 2.5 hours. Here was a movie where a character verbalizes the themes ("Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to") before Luke burns down the ancient Jedi texts (while Yoda simultaneously disses them: "page turners, they were not"). It was Johnson signaling that the franchise was going to be untethered to its roots, willing to grow and venture into uncharted territory (especially once he started developing the next trilogy).

Solo: A Star Wars Story seems tailor-made for the latter group mentioned in the last 'graph. Instead of re-mapping the cosmos, it's operating purely as ”gap filler", letting us know how Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) obtained his last name, met Wookiee wing man Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), first laid eyes upon the Millennium Falcon, and met gambling smuggler extraordinaire, Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover). Hell, it even contains a line of dialogue where Han decides that Chewbacca "needs a nickname", and references an upcoming job "for a big time gangster on Tatooine". Unlike The Last Jedi, it’s a series of cute winks to fans, as if letting them know that Disney/Lucasfilm are still here to satiate their burning hunger for Star Wars minutiae, allowing them to assemble the very best bar trivia teams of all time.

Even at a performance level, Ehrenreich and Glover are doing approximations of how we remember Han and Lando. Ehrenreich's especially dire; a sort of wooden, pretty boy Harrison Ford impersonation, saying the lines with minimal conviction and hoping that his charming, outlaw get up will compensate for the fact that he's doing little with the character beyond hitting his marks and tossing out a few come hither eyebrow raises. Unlike Chris Pine's take on Captain James T. Kirk in Abrams' Star Trek revival – which feels like the closest point for a 1:1 comparison of young actors rebooting iconography (though, in fairness, those movies take place in an alternate timeline from the OST) – Ehrenreich does nothing to truly make the character his own. Glover's turn is mildly better (though those clamoring for a Lando picture might be overreaching), but even his "pansexual"* iteration becomes a human cape rack, all smooth Billy Dee Williams line delivery as he teasingly butchers the pronunciation of Han's name.

Perhaps most disturbing of all is how Solo treats its women, who are either offed to add “depth” to their male counterparts, or simply inserted into the narrative to act as motivation for these same central men of action. Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan’s screenplay applies a “boys club” approach to storytelling that flies in the face of Johnson’s strong female character building. When Han joins up with a band of thieves – led by lovers Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and Val (Thandie Newton) – to pull an icy Conveyex train heist, Val is quickly dispatched in a moment of self-sacrifice, while Beckett survives to mourn her loss. A similar fate is handed down to Lando's spunky droid L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who’s destroyed during a daring escape set piece, only to be uploaded into the Falcon as a navigational port, never to be heard from again (the implications of which require a whole new essay to explore). Even Han's criminal love Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) is merely offered up as a beacon for Han to return to, after the two are separated on their home sewer planet Corellia, only to betray him in Solo's climactic moments.

One of the main fan criticisms lobbed at The Last Jedi was that it contained some sort of "SJW Agenda" that threatened a portion of its developmentally stunted male base (to the point that these doofuses are making hilarious "Boycott Solo" videos). This ire was drawn because Johnson's movie featured exceedingly rounded female characters – from Rey (Daisy Ridley) to Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern). Qi'ra is the closest Solo gets to duplicating these mighty women, but even her final act of betrayal feels like a wrongheaded illustration of how our male hero can never trust anyone but himself. We're a far cry away from "I love you"/"I know", with the Kasdans’ script sending our rascally rogue off into space with the woman’s memory to float him through further adventures, until eventually ending up with General (not “Princess”) Leia all those years later (presumably after eventually showing down with Qi’ra over her illicit alliances).

Major Spoiler Alert: Qi'ra's betrayal also occurs during one of the most egregious moments of fan service, as she communicates with the secret leader of the "Crimson Dawn" (hurr hurr) criminal organization: Darth Maul (once again played by stuntman/actor Ray Park). In a true instance of "you gotta read the books" multimedia universe connection, we learn that The Phantom Menace villain – who has been a major canon player in animated series The Clone Wars and Rebels – will now (again presumably) be the big bad in these continued Solo cinematic shenanigans, waiting in the wings to wield his double-ended lightsaber. A quick search explains how he survived being cut in half during the prequel’s famous duel:

"After his run in with Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) on Naboo, Maul clung onto life before being dumped on Lotho Minor, feeding on vermin and constructing sweet mechanical spider legs. Eventually teaming up with his brother Savage Opress, and handed a more practical pair of cybernetic legs, Maul went on to form the Shadow Collective – an alliance of criminal syndicates (including the Pyke Syndicate, Black Sun and Hutt Clan, which may or may not be three of the five syndicates mentioned in Solo) and take over Mandalore. This attracted the attention of Darth Sidious, who killed Savage Oppress and took Maul captive, only for the Sith Lord’s former apprentice to escape and flee into the night."

Solo takes place years after all this occurs, and now Maul is again head of the mafia. But the character's appearance is another cutesy nod to the devoted, itching to revisit material they were already familiar with. It's a very strange bit of universe shrinking, as Ron Howard's movie – much like Rogue One did with A New Hope during its finale – feels this need to connect back to other pieces of the franchise, despite being labeled as a stand-alone. It’s fiction made only for fans, obsessed with the past instead of adhering to The Last Jedi's ethos of looking toward the future.

In fairness, we probably should've expected this following the rather noisy outcry from a niche part of the Star Wars population. Disney and Lucasfilm are here to build a universe, and one of the key components to that construction is undoubtedly going to be keeping the overzealous placated. Yet this seems to come at the cost of actually making an interesting movie. Nothing about Solo feels fresh. Nothing about Solo feels exciting. Instead, it's an IV drip into the nostalgia receptors of our consciousness, transporting us back to the era where we never knew if there was going to be another movie. Back then, it was a "beggars can't be choosers" market, and fans would take what they could get. Nowadays, Solo feels like a step back from the radical province The Last Jedi explored. In short, why should we settle for flimsy reminiscences when we've already glimpsed the revolution?

*The definition of which is (very) loosely interpreted in the text, via his possible intimate relationship with droid L3-37.


Jacob Knight
Rising up from the sewers of Philadelphia, Jacob Knight is a man out of time currently residing in Austin, TX. When not lamenting the Disneyfication of our current culture, he's usually enjoying a whiskey, watching some form of disreputable trash cinema, or drunkenly perusing one of the few remaining video stores. No matter what, do not @ him.

one that i will give no further thought to after i hit post message

Glover killed it.hope the final Keira scenes leads to something.

Would kill to know what Lord and Miller were going to do but whatever. This version has enough going for it that it's worth a matinee.

The phenomenon we're experiencing with SOLO is this: this is the first live-action piece of STAR WARS business that isn't essential for pop culture literacy. Never before have we been able to say "eh, you can skip it."

Congrats, LucasFilm. You are now, somehow, ordinary.

Wonder if any of it is from TLJ backlash as well. I can't decide if its just a bunch of trolls that say they hate that movie and are boycotting all future SW movies or if some of that is real. lol

I wasn't too excited about Solo but went and I had fun. It was better than I expected it to be, still not sure if necessarily needed it tho. I also still need to catch up with Rebels. Was surprised at the suprise cameo but guess we haven't seen his true death yet.

He did have final demise

It's gonna be some more connect the dots bullshit with him too.

aww, I thought he might but I haven't got past season 2 yet. I got a warning email for downloading that season so decided to stay away from Disney stuff the illegal way. lol I still don't know why they haven't put it on Netflix yet.

This is set much earlier in the timeline than Rebels, which happened right before Rogue One and the Original Trilogy. So there is a huge gap of time during which this character was alive and well after getting kicked out of Mandalore and before Rebels.

Agreed. Dont think it ruins it at all. I stood up in the theatre lol


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IG @h_n_z

Good: I liked it - and I recommend it.

Crazy good special effects.

The train robbery was very well executed.

I liked Han in this film - not quite the Han we knew but the nugget is in there.

Chewbacca was kicking ass.

Specific bad (story)
Darth Maul has definitely been taking steroids.

The musics is in no way up to John Williams/Star Wars standards.

WTF was the maelstrom? I mean sometimes it was a giant asteroid field, other times it was a planet, other times it was planet size frozen ice? Just confusing.

Did Vision's crew consist if 14 people? He's that feared with a small crew?

Kessel Spice mine vault - with as much money as Fort Know - had one guard? And you know the Imperials just straight killed/slaughtered all the people that were left behind about an hour after Han escaped.

I was a Star Wars MEGAFAN in the 80s and 90s and I never noticed the dice in the Flacon - stop focusing on those - it's pretty meaningless.

I saw it in Dolby Cinema - and I think the projection was bad (I think convergence was off between the two projectors sometimes - and I think the black levels were getting crushed) but GODDAMn it was a dark film - I can't imagine it looking good on a cheap TV - it looked washed out in the cinema. (I have OLED TV - I'll be fine.)

The same bad as every other film lately:
1)Unrealistic violence absorption: Chewbacca killed Han like 13 times during the fight, yet Han snaps right out of it. Like his spleen was DESTROYED, as well as many of his vertebra, but it's fine - I guess.

2)Slight smiles from characters when they are supposed to be foreshadowing something: If the freckled girl did NOT crack a small smile during her speech it would have been a lot better.

3)Confusing call backs : I vaguely remember Darth Maul came back - but the shit was and is whack. (And why make him into a management figure??)

4)Gambling is always made to be easy. We know Lando was cheating - but how is Han so much better than the other players? Movies make it seem like gambling is a sure thing for main characters.

5)Why bookend/foreshadow everything so specifically? (Or too many call backs - or pre-call backs). I mean this is 10-12 years before Star Wars - why make him go to Tatooine at that point?

It's just okay. There's nothing awful about it, but nothing so out there for fan boys to rage out against.

Donald Glover is fine. They at least give Chewbacca more to do for once, and a semblance of a character. Dude that played Han was fine, even if he completely lacks the charisma and swagger of Harrison Ford's Solo. Woody was actually much more interesting to watch. And yes, the robot stole the show, just like the robot from Rogue One.

Han Solo speaking Wookie was just embarrassing.

The big villain reveal definitely surprised me (I was expecting Jabba or Boba Fett). But I also thought it was dumb and (SLIGHT SPOILER) retroactively ruins one of the only decent moments of the prequels.

Overall? It was fine. I don't really need to see it again. People here were giving me shit over my lack of enthusiasm for this movie, and now, well, I think I was right. It's nothing to get excited about.

And it looks like that early buzz about Disney taking a hit on this one turned out to be true.

>People here were giving me shit over my lack of enthusiasm for
>this movie, and now, well, I think I was right. It's nothing
>to get excited about.
>
>And it looks like that early buzz about Disney taking a hit on
>this one turned out to be true.
>
>

We were right b. Week 2 is not looking too good either.

The original trilogy > The Force Awakens > Rogue One > Solo > The Last Jedi > The prequel trilogy

Thought this would be silly investigating stuff we really don't need details on, but it worked much better throughout than I thought. Ehrenreich did a good job playing Harrison Ford's Solo, and Glover did a great job playing Billy Dee Williams as Lando. It was cool finally seeing Chewbacca do more than stand there, shoot, and growl.
I also like these spin-offs incorporating the Expanded Universe stuff.

I enjoyed the movie over all and I’ll see it again/dvd purchase.. totally something you could come in the middle of and not feel lost. But this movie wasn’t nesseceary needs in the overall scheme of things, the Expanded Universe kinda served this purpose where you could read these stories and get everything you needed to know about a character. In fact most were written better than this film so it baffles me why this was needed. I don’t think the hardcore fan base was clamoring for this and your casual fan didn’t need a back story, you kinda get everything you need to know about Han from the OT.

As for the film, it was fun and I felt certain plot reveals weren’t needed (crimson dawn boss & pirates) couldve gone a different way, like everything doesn’t have to tie into OT. Landon was great but I felt a bit under used, L-3 stole the show and Beckett was a more compelling character to watch than Han. The movie moved fast enough but I fell at h sacrifice of lingering plot threads (namely Kessel).


Lastly they big bad reveal was obviously fan services for those that watched the anitmated shows and read the comics/novels.

and not nearly as much as Rogue one

Force Awakens I enjoyed as a contrast to the horrible prequels but it was too much of a rehash of ep4,

TLJ had too many things that i found annoying to counter the good.

Solo had a couple small things i didn't care for. (wasn't crazy about L3), but overall was a good time. I thought everyone was solid

Also, shot out to Bossk

Props to Brad Young for that....one of the best looking SW movies you are ever going to see. Great angles, mix of cropped and open shots, supremely clean.

I enjoyed it thoroughly for what it was. We'll always wonder what Lord and Miller had in mind but it is what it is

expectations, and without seeing it as a big Star Wars event movie like every other Star Wars movie before it. But it still felt weird not seeing a Star Wars movie opening weekend for the first time, and not feeling very invested in it at all. And honestly that was my expectation with this going in, but it still felt weird. But I really did enjoy it.

Someone in this post or maybe the pre-release post said that LucasFilm has made SW films feel "normal" with this, and yeah, I completely agree.

And the numbers show.

But damn, when we called this months ago, mf'ers were ready to battle over it.

Hopefully Disney/Lucasfilm learned a big lesson. But within days of Solo's opening, they broke the news of the Boba Fett movie...so probably not.

I want a Boba Fett movie even less than a Han Solo movie.

But oh well. You can't stop the hustle.

much at all to do with the quality of the movie itself. Again - I didn't go see it until after it had been out for a week and I'm a HUGE Star Wars fan. I had greater anticipation for some episodes of Rebels than I did for this film. And after seeing it, while I enjoyed it, I didn't feel like "dang I should have saw this opening night!"

Not the studio. They threw money at this thing marketing wise like they always do. It has all the same DNA that we always get.

WE whether you were for this movie or not, whether you loved Last Jedi or hated it, whether you hated Rogue One or loved it, whether you are upset with Kathleen Kennedy or champion her.....what is going on in the nerd world of Star Wars right now is no different than the whole "TEAM" shit going on in US politics right now or "insert cause here". Logic and reality is thrown to the side in the name of the agenda. Its laughable that we don't recognize it. Fans from the ones who work in the business to the ones who don't...we are the ones doing this crap. And bad opinions against something as big as this franchise will always outweigh the fanboy love for it. It's the better story whether its an article we pass around, a tweet we pass around, or just word of mouth from fan to fan.

At the end of the day. This movie was great. Every negative thing about the actual movie or even Last Jedi is nitpicking as fuck and forgetting what these movies always were. WE as the ones in the fan world of SW are just as responsible for it's "failures" as the people behind the actual movies. This movie was fun as fuck and I was hooked for the whole ride.

*shrugs*


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IG @h_n_z

>WE as the ones in the fan world of SW are just as responsible for
>it's "failures" as the people behind the actual movies. This
>movie was fun as fuck and I was hooked for the whole ride.

I know what you mean in terms of fan expectations. I loved TLJ and have spent plenty of time arguing with people about the fact that it was their own expectations that let them down, having spent two years on theories and making up backstories that turned out to all be false and then blaming LucasFilm for their own unmet expectations.

But with Solo this is different. And I'm not even talking about the movie itself. You talked about forgetting what these movies were. And yes it's a different world now - we didn't have message boards and YouTube channels dedicated to theories back in the 80's and 90's like we do now. Even with the prequels when there were message boards talking about the films leading up, it wasn't really "theory" focused because we knew exactly where that story would end up. But separate from all of that - the way these films are being released is WAY different from back in the day with a movie every 3 years and then a 15 year break before anything else. THAT made every release special.

And the thing is they still kinda had it now. Releasing one movie per year, with a year break in between the episodic films, and the releases always being in December was a way to make all of them special. Fore Awakens was a HUGE event because it was the first after coming back. Then Rogue One drops the next year, and it was clearly a special thing still. I saw RO five times in the theater. Half of the excitement was that I really loved that film, but the other half was just excitement because it seemed like Disney/LucasFilm had figured it out. They made a non-episodic film not about the characters we all know and love, and not only did it work, but it did numbers. Then TLJ drops, and while I liked it, it was divisive. I know it was over a year ago that they decided to move Solo from December to May, but however they made that decision I think it was a big mistake. They really had something special going with the December releases. A years time after TLJ might have built up anticipation more for Solo, even with it being a topic that I was "eh" on. Combine Solo's release with news about Kenobi and Boba Fett films coming out around the same time, and it's like "dang - they really DON'T have this figured out."

That needs to always happen its perfect for them. But i think the lack of support for Solo in May more has to do with the fans than it does the month.






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IG @h_n_z

time for fans to come together to some extent. At a minimum there'd have been time to have get marketing campaign at least get noticed. The first trailer for this didn't drop until February. Right after that you had Black Panther come out and take all attention, and Infinity War right before Solo. Then Solo drops and Deadpool 2 the following week. With the May release there just wasn't enough space to really build up anticipation.If there would have been more anticipation with the trailers then fans may have gotten more onboard with the excitement level leading into the opening weekend. Especially if it was happening in December. We are just used to looking forward to SW movies during the holidays at this point.

What a strange thing to say and put so much thought
into.

A lot of people werent interested in this film, a
lot of people didnt like it, a lot of people didnt
like the last flick.

It happens. Its not a failure of fans because they
dont like something.

And Disney isnt sweating. This thing made money,
thats all that matters.

You really just “cant we all just get along”-ed for
a star wars movie? ...yikes.

A lot of people are liking these less and less, no
need to overthink it or get in your feelings about it.

Loved it. Few gripes with the last name thing, it was corny but didn't hate it. Star Wars is always a bit of cornball. Had no issues with the pacing. I think that all that talk was stupid, also people need to stop pretending that these movies have been Citizen Kane. This movie was fucking awesome. Everyone killed it.

I'm dying at guys like Kristian Harloff and even people in these posts. All these people making bold statements of how the movie was going to be shit and it just wasn't. Did it underperform at the box office? Yeah....but not because it was a bad movie. Everyone can have their agenda as a fan, and if you want to be more right than other people about what you think Star Wars SHOULD be...cool keep wasting that breath. The. movie. Was. Awesome.



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IG @h_n_z

>Did it underperform at the box office? Yeah....but not because it >was a bad movie.

Like I mentioned above, I enjoyed this and I think the box office had much less to do with the film quality and much more to do with the circumstances surrounding it.

So let's put all that other stuff aside. This joint was FUN. To see that new, pristine Falcon get roughed up not gradually, but all during the Kessel Run? Brilliant. Especially with the "I hate you." "I know." lines following. The fanboy in me was geeking out the entire time. Han and Chewie meeting was handled perfectly. It was shot really well...I was on the edge of my seat throughout. Donald Glover killed it of course. L-3 becoming part of the Falcon? Genius.

My biggest worry going in was about Alden Ehrenreich not feeling like Han Solo. And that wasn't an issue at all...I was too busy just having fun watching the movie. I'll give it up to you because you were right about that in the pre-release post.

I had some small issues with some of the pacing, and while I loved the cameo, the ending felt like they did somewhat of a "maybe?" set up for a possible sequel that isn't gonna happen, and that felt cheap to me. Specifically with Qi-ra...if you're gonna spend an entire film building up her importance to Han when we know that in the OT he had completely moved on, I would have preferred a definitive resolution to the relationship - either her doing a full double-cross on Han, or her dying by sacrificing herself for him. Now were gonna be left with that story being resolved in either a book or comic.

Again though, all in all I really enjoyed it!

but i hope it sets up a movie that can continue one of the characters arcs where all the same characters who survive can show up and play key roles were its a continuation of "the story" not Han's story if that makes sense.

And i dont think Rebels is ruined because of this or a characters role in the series is ruined by this movie. Its no different than seeing Vader die and then seeing another part of his story in 3 other movies....i guess now 4 other movies if you count Rogue One. Trying not to spoil here. So decode lol





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IG @h_n_z

didn't ruin anything from Rebels...I talked about that up above in post 35. If anything it enhances that character.

game of thrones is ending, disney needs a show for streaming
www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

between ROTJ and Force Awakens to kick off the new Disney streaming service, so we won’t see another SW live action show for a good while.

I also really think that Han and Qi’ra’s relationship needed to be resolved in this film. His heart needed to be broken at the end either by her dying or her completely betraying him and turning his heart cold to her. As it is in he film, he doesn’t even know why she left him in that ship - he’s looking at it going away longing, likely thinking she was leaving to save him in some way. Which means that after the movie he’s going to still be trying to find her. That loop needed to be closed.

Can have an arc we could see Han show up and close it in a movie. I don't want another Han movie but I want to see him in another film


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IG @h_n_z

about as the “Boba Fett” movie actually being more of a broad movie about more of the crime syndicates and bounty hunters in the universe, just happening to include Boba along with groups like Crimson Dawn with Maul and Qi-ra. Solo could also appear in something like that, in a small enough role to have a resolution to their relationship. Multiple films that tie in together about the criminal underworld in the universe without being tied to the major plot points of the OT could work. We’ll see!

You idiots know I'm right. WAAAAAY better storytelling.

with a weekend total under $30 mil.

https://www.thewrap.com/solo-continues-nosedive-box-office/

i havent seen it yet but its been getting good word of mouth from everyone i know who was seen it or has heard about it from other people. i wonder where they went wrong on this.

>i wonder where they went wrong on this.

First because December had become THE month for Star Wars. Second because there wasn't enough time between The Last Jedi and Solo. And third because there is a LOT more competition in May than there was in December.

On top of that, the marketing/trailers sucked for this film. They had a much shorter window on the marketing for this than they've had on any other SW film. Probably partly because TLJ just released 5 months ago (another reason this shouldn't have came out in May), and partly because Ron Howard had to remake the entire film quickly so any teaser that would have come out a year in advance like most SW films would have been pretty off from what Solo ended up being. But even with that shorter window they could have done a MUCH better job of conveying how fun this film was than what they put out in the trailers.

no one ever seems satisfied tho

I honestly don't know what die hards want from the universe,

or the casuals still have a bad taste in their mouth after last jedi?

The diehards coming out in droves makes the casual fans what to go

If they make it seem like they aren't interested why would the casual fans be? Loyalists too busy trying to tank this movie to prove a point is so lame


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IG @h_n_z

This was a solid flick. Gave just enough.

Based on the reaction I expected it to be middle of the road but I really enjoyed this shit. I have no idea why it wasn’t well received. I’m looking forward to them (hopefully) making more

i enjoyed this way more than the last jedi. i read all the complaints, and can't say i agree with any of them after watching this. really fun, definitely will watch this again and again.

Still hazy and the black levels weren't quite right, but looked way better at home watching it on my OLED and in complete darkness.

I don't think its a bad movie, and the train robbery is pretty thrilling.

Still I never noticed the dice in the OG films so I'm not crazy how may times they showed those in the movie.

I guess I was surprised how much death there was. I'd have liked to see the Lord & Miller version, or have Howard less compelled to punctuate so many scenes with a joke. I don't think he figured out how to get these actors to sell the jokes most of the time.

I dunno, I don't want to complain too much. A solid 3/5 movie that really could've been fantastic if it'd just tightened up a bit. Like, I kind of wish the train heist had been it's own little movie with Woody's crew and Han had the whole thing with Qi'ra and trying to figure out whether she's still his dream girl or not in a separate movie. Both movies would've been perfect for me, I think.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

as mentioned, there was a more interesting movie 45 minutes in that had to be discarded so we can hit all the canon points of Han Solo's life.

Han Solo is great because of his smuggler mystique and the cocksure acting of Harrison Ford. there is nothing more about his backstory that we needed to know, and if anything it's detracting.

Just...bad.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

*************************************

Fuck aliens

-Warriorpoet415

#2dopebrothersandastackofwax

https://www.instagram.com/thirtythree.three/

The Greatest Story (N)ever Told (finished)

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=s

I'm expecting to be pelted with all types of "you bugging" comments, but I enjoyed watching it way more than I did Rouge One.

Naw, It aint too heavy, but thats exactly what I wanted. Save the heavy for the OGs, let the side movies breathe on their own



*************************************

Fuck aliens

-Warriorpoet415

#2dopebrothersandastackofwax

https://www.instagram.com/thirtythree.three/

The Greatest Story (N)ever Told (finished)

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=s

I felt differently but really though, after everyone was all ratchet about The Last Jedi and anyone who loved the Last Jedi, I don't even want to hate on anyone who liked Solo.

I will say Solo felt like more of a Star Wars flick than Rogue One did, for whatever that's worth. Rogue One was basically just the Wild Bunch set in the Star Wars universe.

*************************************

Fuck aliens

-Warriorpoet415

#2dopebrothersandastackofwax

https://www.instagram.com/thirtythree.three/

The Greatest Story (N)ever Told (finished)

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=s

i wanted to see this but not enough to go to the theaters. so i waited it out until it was on netflix. (tried finding it on kodi a few times). actually ended up watching the second half on new years. i thought i must of missed some really awesome set up because it was mostly flat.

when i watched the whole thing i realized that over all the movie was just flat. there were some enjoyable moments. its not a horrible movie. a couple days ago i was thinking i should go ahead and watch solo finally...until i remembered i already had.

its better than the prequels.