Solo Review

My review of Tokyo Drift…

Or was it Max Max IV...

Or was it The Chewbacca Movie...

Well the Solo movie started out like a space version of Tokyo Drift, the least popular (but probably my favorite) chapter of the Fast and Furious franchise and transitioned into a little bit of a modern version of the Great Train Robbery then into of kind of a Mad Max movie.  Then they threw in the mandatory casino like scene, a whole crap ton of new aliens (yet no Ithorians, Weequay, Jawas, Bothans, and only one token Rodian and Tognath each) a short space battle and topped it off with a final surprise ending.

Solo was good.  The most important thing for me was that it might shut up a progressively louder segment of fandom.  I usually like things to maintain a certain pattern and consistency.  So, when it comes to the episodic films of my favorite franchise, I want to see a scroll, I want to see the a story that somehow involves the Skywalker family - even if the story has to be moved forward 20 generations to get away from the current time period and freshen it up.  I want to see a star ship cross in front of the screen in the first shot then a pan to a planet below.... you get the idea.  I like that R2D2 and that other irritant are somehow present, they are the glue that keeps it all one continuous story.  As for Solo, I like that it violated all of these “rules.”  - Oh yeah, SPOILERS ahead…

What Solo left out is what makes it unique and sets the mold for what future Star Wars (Standalone, anthology, Stories…) have to do – or rather maybe even more importantly, not do. 

One off directors-

Apologies to Lord and Miller, but I am glad that they got the boot and Ron Howard was brought in to helm this flick.  I think GL had the right idea to have his friends do the prequels, too bad they all turned him down.  Finally someone made the world right again, and Opey got his turn, let’s hope this leads to a Eastwood directed Kenobi film, or a Taratino directed Maul film…a Spielberg directed film on the imprisonment of the Wookies and Chewbacca’s return post RTOJ to liberate them. Needless to say, I am happy with the Howard treatment.  Despite the satisfaction on my part, I hope this is Howard’s last foray (at least for a while) into the Galaxy Far Far Away.  Fans are crying for diversity; well let’s start with the directors.  More JJ or RJ is not the recipe for success.

Crawl, Walk, Run-

I am good with no crawl for the one-off movies.  A few inches of lines of introduction is big enough (at least that is what she keeps telling me).  This worked well since we were already well versed in the Star Wars universe.  No one needed to be filled in on the Empire, Corellia, or criminal gangs.  There was just enough information to set the scene.  The test will be the first movie they do that is set out of the period from the Prequel Trilogy (PT) to the Original Trilogy (OT).  When they start to venture out beyond the known Republic-Empire-Rebellion canopy they how will they handle that.  I just do not think that the audience is going to want to have to study before going into a film, and crib notes flashing on the screen to catch everyone one up will have to maintain the KISS method.

Solo is soooo…ummmm

Alden Ehrenreich plays Han Solo.  Ok…when this was announced I was indifferent on the choice.  At the time, I figured I might get around to seeing it after it was out a week or two.  My viewing plans changed, but my opinion on the actor has not, maybe I have shifted from indifferent to ambivalent.  There were times when Han Solo on the screen where I rather forgot who he was playing.  The voice and inflection was fine, for me what took me out of the moment was more his facial expressions. Many people wanted Anthony Ingruber to be in the role.  After his YouTube video of his Harrison Ford impressions went viral he had quit the fan following.  His role-playing the younger version of a Harrison Ford in the Age of Adeline also fed many to question why he wasn’t given the role.  I do not know if he would have been any better.  It might have been worse.  One thing I can say is at least this Ehrenreich guy wasn’t doing an impression for two hours and fifteen minutes which would have been unbearable.

Lando

This is the one aspect that could have killed this movie for me.  I was not a fan of the casting choice.  I still am not a fan of the casting choice, but I did not hate it.  One thing that went quite well, just seconds before we are being introduced to Lando we can hear his voice.  I could have sworn that was Billy Dee.  I even wonder if they somehow took clips of his voice and layered it over Donald Glover’s voice to kind of ease us into it, like a septuagenarian getting into a warm bath… As far as Glover’s acting, he did ok.  I felt there were times he was forcing something.  I know he can act; his portrayal in Community was fantastic.  Let us put it this way, I did not walk out of the theater so it could not have been that bad.

“Woody” Beckett

Woody Harrelson plays what was supposed to be Han’s mentor.  I was fine with his role – at least it was more Haymitch Abernathy, with a mix of Larry Flynt and thankfully no Woody Boyd or Roy Munson.  I think 100 actors could have played it and it would have been as equal a performance.  He played a role that was so-far unestablished in cannon and was dead by the end of the movie, so no harm no foul. I know that I am in the minority on this, but when Han shoots him near the end of the film, I would have loved to hear him say something to the effect of “my last lesson kid – always shoot first…” I know, people would have rioted but sometimes I think we need a good purge.

Ewoks and B Actors

I was hoping to not get distracted by a sudden forced in appearance of R2 or that other guy.  On the contrary I was really was looking for the Warwick Davis obligatory appearance and the hopeful but not quite confirmed (I was spoiler free) appearance of Ron’s brother Clint.  They both got their cameos, the droids did not, all is right in the world.

That damn droid

All I can say about L3-37 is that the destruction of that droid is one casualty that I was thankful for.  I am NOT racist against droids. One of my bffs is a droid.  Anyway…I got chocked up when K2-SO dies(?) in Rogue One, I kept getting misty eyed even after the 14^th time I saw it in theaters.  However, when L3 gets blown up, I almost stood up and cheered.  I did like how they used her “brain” to make her part of the Falcon but everything prior to that was just irritating.  The whole “Free the slave droids” act was too much over the top.  I would think as a droid she could act without emotion and be more subtle about what she was doing.  The one cool part of her scenes it gave Ron Howard a reason to bring Clint in the action. The whole – did they or didn’t they, dynamic between Lando and the droid was unnecessary and I thought it was forced. It just made me feel the droid was delusional, and droids are not supposed to be delusional, are they? See how it just takes you out of the movie?

Maul  -

WTF? I am so glad I missed this spoiler. Not much surprised me throughout the movie. I was usually a step or two in front of the reveals and the double and triple crossing The Maul reveal however was the one thing that got me.  I am cool with the PT, never hated it and to be honest Maul was not my favorite part of TPM.  But I am glad he is back in the live action part of SW

Of course we had plenty of the requisite  explaining every facet of every off-handed comment made in the OT

Meeting Chewie, meeting Lando, Han’s time as an Imperial, Han seeing/flying the Falcon for the first time, the Kessel Run..all things that were covered and were probably the top of the list of everything we already knew about.  With a reference to Jabba, the (over inclusion) of the dice, and we covered about every possible reference Han made during the OT. We even got the anti “I’ve got a bad feeling…” I am not sure if we were explained to on why Han does not like to be told the odds, where the red stripe came from, and THANK GOD no Boba Fett. Not even a off handed reference. I’d have bet a crap-ton of credits that there would have been something related to Fett – whew, I dogged that one. Ahhh but LFL got me in the end.  I walk out of the theater, check my phone and see the news that they are planning a Fett movie. Couldn’t give me just a day?

One more reveal kind of showed how expecting fan service and everything how the idea that the Star Wars universe is one big trailer park where everyone and everything is related kind of messes with you –was the reveal of the Enfys Nest.  I lost a few minutes trying to figure out if that was someone I should already know. After consulting a few oricles of fandom I now know that I didn’t miss anything. She is new. Totally new. Meaning no backstory, no connection to anyone.  At least until LFL realized she needs a story, then she will end up being Kenobi’s best friend’s sister’s granddaughter. 

So overall I am good with it. There was a point in the middle of the movie, during the battle to get off Kessel, I got a a flash of - "man I'd love to see this crew in a second movie."  Of course half of them are dead now, and at least one is a traitor to the other (not that I blame her, I'd have done the same thing, chase the dollas!!!). But in the end I would support a Solo II; Not so Solo.