Solo: A Star Wars Story (Ron Howard, May 25, 2018) Movie • Page 70

Seeing this tonight at 7. Going in with very low expectations

 

I didn't realize this was 135 mminutes. It honestly didn't feel that long. It seemed more like an hour and 40 minutes.

 

Yeah I think I'll go see this again tonight.

Did anyone notice the in-universe use of the "Imperial March" during that recruitment animation in the beginning? It was all weird in a major key lol

Even though it only lasted like 3 minutes, I really liked the scene with the Imperial troopers in the trenches. It felt like a gritty battle scene that I've always wanted to see in the SW universe, not shiny stormtroopers missing everything in bright lit hallways lol. Like, the Empire is out here on remote worlds trying to conquer everything and this is what that looks like.

 

Yeah, and honestly that 3 minute scene did more for me in conveying the grittiness of the actual "war" than the entirety of Rogue One did. Loved it.

 

much like The Last Jedi, the more I think about this movie the more I like it. Looking forward to using Movie Pass on it again some night next week.

 

I thought the Imperial March was a nice touch.

Agreed on the battle scene. I understand why they kinda breezed by it, but it felt great and I’d love more scenes like that in the universe.

 

One thing that annoys me a little. Dryden Vos agrees to the Kessel heist because the Pike's won't know that Beckett and Han are working for him... but then he sends Qi'ra, who is his top lieutenant, along with them. Not super smart, Mr. Vos.

 

It suddenly makes sense when C-3PO mentions the Falcon having a strange dialect...he was talking to L-3 the whole time lol

 

I'm mostly just a Star Wars movie guy (though I've seen the final Obi-Wan/Maul scene), so I don't know how much is already canon about Obi-Wan between III & IV. But, I really like the idea of him mostly remaining in exile in that time. If we get an Obi-Wan film, I'd like to see it just focus on stuff on Tatooine. Would also be a fun change of pace for the franchise to stay grounded for one film.

 

Yep!

 

I'd like to see the Boba Fett film's story incorporate Maul, Vader, and Jabba.

Some of the connective tissue in this franchise feels a bit much, and I don't necessarily want more of that. But, with the way they've already connected things, they could fit all those characters into a compelling Boba Fett character arc pretty easily without stretching things even further. There could be, say, just one scene where Boba Fett encounters Vader. Just enough to make the film the perfect piece of Star Wars villain fan service while, again, still prioritizing story and exploring a character ripe for exploration.

 

This was fine. Too long, and I have issues with some of the execution of the thematic angles they were pursuing. But it was mostly fun enough.

 

14.1 million in late night showings. Not horrible but really not that great at all

 

also, when Han is holding Beckett as he's dying, and Beckett was saying something like "smart move kid....i was gonna kill you" i was reaaaaaallllly expecting him to say something like "...but you shot first."

 

I'll give the movie kudos for resisting so many cringe-worthy lines like that. The only one they fucked up on was "hmm, okay we'll call you Solo then".

 

also hilarious when L3 and Qi'ra are talking about robot sex

"oh...it works."

 

Maul's appearance does make me a little more interested in a Boba Fett movie. If it's exploring more of that criminal underworld, I'm down for it. I would love it if they tied Dr. Aphra in there somewhere.

 

Dr. Aphra is the one thing I want it off all of this

 

The Kessell run was the most boring part of this movie. Very little of the action was thematically resonant or cleverly choreographed, very little of it was imbibed with character.

Han himself is a bit of a messily drawn up protagonist. He starts out the movie as part of a community with a partner, but once he leaves the planet the movie tries to paint him as this guy who's always alone and doesn't trust anyone, even though we know that's not the case and they don't dramatize him becoming some hardened, cynical loner. In fact, he jumps at the first opportunity to join another team. They repeat some empty thematic platitudes like "Just who are you" and the whole Imperial officer naming him "Solo" and Kira (sp?) telling him she's the only one who knows he's a good guy... I don't get that. It should have played him as a single-mindedly determined guy whose only care is getting back to Kira and who would use any means to do so, whether it's the Empire, Woody Harrelson's crew, Chewie, Lando, the Falcon, whatever else. And the movie does, kind of, play into those elements, but he's always happy go lucky and again, has that weird focus on "I'm a pilot", like that's his whole character or something. But if they replaced that angle with "I need to get back to Kira" and made him more cold, more single-minded, caring less about the people he's aligning himself with, then it would mean so much more when he finally reaches her (preferably at the end of the movie, not in the middle where she randomly happens to be at the same place as him in a literal galaxy of possibilities), and her betrayal would cut him so deeply, and then you make her the final antagonist and Han has to mend bridges with Chewie and Lando or something and pull the heist on her, not Paul Bettany. I think that angle is a lot more emotionally resonant, though as a character arc it kind of conflicts with the Han who appears in A New Hope, but that's the whole problem with making prequels that were never intended to exist... They don't need to exist and most attempts to explain the backstories of already well established characters just falls flat. And that whole business about him always insisting he wants to be a pilot? He is a pilot. He's a very good one. He drives that speeder all over the place in a big action setpiece. But then the movie tries to play it like that's a journey he needs to go on, but he repeatedly gets opportunities to fly and just always does it amazingly.

Alden was good, though. So was Donald Glover, though I wish they played up Lando's cunning and self-preservation a bit more outside of the space poker scenes, rather than give him a weird implied romance with a droid that he never remarks upon.

the movie was mostly fine. Rivals Rogue One for the second tier of Disney's Star Wars ouput as a middling, mostly fun bit of spectacle.

 

The movie tries to have it both ways by making Han a "good guy" who does the right thing at great monetary sacrifice by helping the rebels, but also tries to make him a self-preserving outlaw. This Han Solo doesn't actually have a reason to reject joining the rebels at the end of the movie. He just does it because we know that's what Han does, even though they painted an arc where he becomes "a good guy" and gives the rebels tens of millions of credits. Why? Make this a movie about how someone who trusted someone once was betrayed, so that we feel how monumental an obstacle that will be for him to climb to become the Han who risks his life to help destroy the Death Star in A New Hope. Make this a movie where Han digs himself into a bottomless pit of debt so that, when he has to give up all those credits, we know how much it means. Make it so that he has a choice to give up the credits to the rebels, or pay off his debts, and really play up those conflicting sides of him: outlaw in debt, good guy at heart, so that they're both present. Maybe dramatize a conflict between the Rebels and Kira, so that by funding the Rebels, Han is opposing Kira, so that when he makes the choice to give his bounty to them, it's a little bit of the good hearted guy he is, but also a little bit of personal vindictive pettiness. Then, when he makes that choice, play up some angle about him swearing never to do that again, where the movie leaves off with him having some resolution about Kira, but we still understand that there's a massive price on his head and we know the next steps in his story are going to be pure self-preservation and attempting to dig his way out of the hole he created this movie, while we, at the same time, know he has the capability to do the right thing when it matters most. We know where that Han ends up, it's A New Hope.

 

I’d love Aphra on the big screen.

 

Close!

It makes these movies harder to sit through when characters recite lines they've already said/knowingly wink at things they've done in previous movies.

 

"I have a great feeling about this!" lol

 

Repeating phrases has been a thing throughout all of the Star Wars movies though.

 

When it was three movies, that was bearable. When it's turned into seven movies all referencing those original three, it's gotten tedious.

Plus the original references were usually tied to character, signifying reversal or change. Han saying "I love you" to Leia on Endor, and Leia replying, "I know", was a culmination and embodiment of their relationship: a play on the original line to show how they've grown into a seamless team. Now they're almost entirely nods and references.