When it
comes to my absolute favorite movie characters, one that ranks right at the top
for me is Indiana Jones as portrayed by Harrison Ford. As a kid, he was the
awesome action hero I always wanted to be, and Harrisons portrayal of him was
about as iconic as they get. Along with his first three theatrical movies, I
also owned the home video collection of the live action series “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones”.
In this series, the young Indiana Jones was played mostly by Sean Patrick Flanery, and while he
wasn’t on par with Harrison Ford’s performance, I was still able to except him
as just a younger version of my favorite character. The series also didn’t
develop or explore his character, it just gave him a variety of different
adventures to embark on, and I enjoyed it for what it was. For the longest
time, I’ve also wanted my favorite “Star
Wars” character Han Solo to get a similar series, one that would revolve
around him as a younger man going on different and unique adventures in the “Star Wars” universe. Well, I never got
the live action series I wanted, but I certainly got a theatrical movie in 2018
simply titled “Solo: A Star Wars Story”,
and while I would have preferred a series for Han, the movie left me satisfied. I can't act like it was any kind of masterpiece, but for a simple, strait
forward space adventure with a younger Han Solo at the helm, it didn't disappoint.
Our adventure begins on Han’s home world
of Corellia, where crime is everywhere, and runaways are forced to serve under
a giant centipede creature named Lady Proxima. On a side note, I love the design and animatronic
puppet work of this character, as it proves once again that the best creature
effects are the practical ones in front of the camera. One day, the young Han
Solo decides its finally time leave his filthy home planet, take his new place
among the stars as a pilot, and most importantly start a new life with his girlfriend
Qi'ra.
Unfortunately, sneaking off the planet is no easy task, as our young heroes are met with opposition at the departure station. In a deeply griping scene, Han is sadly separated from his girlfriend, who gets apprehended, while Han escapes to join the Imperial Navy. This opening was outstanding and instantly got me hooked for the ride to come. Years later, Han deserts his post and joins a team of pirates lead by one Captain Beckett. After failing a heist, Han finds himself reunited with his love interest Qi’ra, only to discover that she’s under the thumb of a dangerous crime lord, who Han now owes money to. A plan is then set in motion to pull off a heist, pay off the crime lord, and somehow maybe even free Qi’ra … unless of course she has a more sinister elegance then Han knows. From there, the movie plays out almost like a Sinbad adventure in space, as it’s not really about exploring the main character, but having a likable lead take us from one crazy encounter after another. Along the way, we see how many of Han Solo’s iconic staples came to be, like how he became friends with Chewbacca, how he became Captain of the Millennium Falcon, how he flew the Kessel Run, and how he even got his name.
Alden Ehrenreich stars as our young Han Solo, and may not be on par with Harrison Ford, but I still felt he escaped his long shadow, and was a very charming screen presence in his own right. I get the impression that Alden Ehrenreich could have shined as an original character, and the title of Han Solo is keeping him from being as charismatic as the actor genuinely is.
Still, I loved watching him in this film, I thought he was very likable, and I
cheered for him all the way. I will admit, I felt the film got a little too
caught up in crossing off a check list of events we’d expect to see in a Solo
Origen film, when it could have potentially explored some deeper family topics,
like why he abandoned his original family name, etc. Never the less, I still
enjoyed seeing how certain Solo character traits first took shape. I loved when
Han has his “love at first sight” moment with the Millennium Falcon, as it’s
just him sitting down in the cock pit, watching the ship go to lightspeed for
the first time, and you can just feel him taking it in as a life changing
moment. It was there in that scene I was saying to myself “oh yeah, that’s Han
Solo without a doubt”. I also liked seeing how Han met Chewbacca, and how their
friendship took shape. Plus, while this film contains many nods to classic Solo
staples, I feel it has some new material that added some merit to the character.
For example, this film contains one of my favorite new Han Solo lines during a toast - “Lets drink to … and see where we go from
there.”. It was also great to see a side of Han we never got to see in the
original trilogy. While he always had a level of charm to his personality, he
also had a bed side manner that stemmed from believing he knew better than
those around him. That was a trait that came about through age and years of
experience, yet in this film, we see Han as a star-y-eyed innocent who thinks
he can take on the galaxy, no matter what it throws at him. At last, while this
isn’t an in-depth character centered story, I feel it has just enough cornels
of one to balance out.
All
the meaningful seeds of heart and a good character story come in the form of
the love interest Qi’ra, who’s brought to life with an equal amount of charisma
by Emilia Clarke, who was ridding the high or her breakout character from "Game of Thrones".
Aside from the novelty of the actress, Qi’ra has now subtilled with me as
one of my new favorite Star Wars
girls. Although, this admittedly becomes a double edge sword, as I found Qi’ra
a far more interesting and compelling character then Han Solo himself. This is
a woman who’s as good as they get, and her love for Han is very real, yet her
current place in life is forced to serve an evil crime lord, and in order to
keep the ones she loves safe, she has to commit to doing some awful things in
his name. When she goes on her journey with Han, you can see her open up, genuinely
enjoy herself for who she knows she is, and convey her feelings toward Han, yet
you can still see the person behind her eyes who knows that she just can’t
fully escape the life she’s trapped in. That’s the kind of character worthy of
Shakespeare status, but the movie just never takes full advantage of what it’s
got. The issue is that the scrip needs Han to have a story arc with Captain Beckett played by Woody Harrelson, and that
relationship just isn’t as interesting. Clearly the film is trying to make
Beckett the figurative John
Silver to his Jim Hawkins, but I never once felt that same connection or
chemistry, largely because his character arc with Han just doesn’t balance
alongside Hans relation with Qi’ra. In my view, the character Beckett should have been dropped completely, that way
the film could have centered on the more compelling relationship of Han and Qi'ra, and would
have also led to a more impactful ending … but I’ll talk about that later.
The film also contains a solid ensemble supporting characters, with a decent cast.
It’s hard to explain, but there was something about seeing these characters
play off each other that was extremely satisfying, and such a joy to watch. I
loved their banter, I loved how their individual personalities bounced off each
other, I loved that they were friends and competitors in equal measure,
and it was such a treat just to see some fresh new faces aboard the Millennium
Falcon. Even some of the supporting players added a lot to the film. I loved
the alien monkey named Rio, who’s a very original species and voice actor Jon Favreau
brings him to life with a distinct personality. It’s just a shame he was pulled
out of the movie so soon, because he was a welcomed presence. The droid L3 was
a character I could have probably done without, but sense she’s here, I’ll go
ahead and say that I loved the effects on display, as that droid looked more
real than any other droid I’ve seen in this series. Even the voice actress for
L3 was very good, and the overall design of this robot was wonderful.
I absolutely loved Chewbacca in this film, his action scenes were
great, his relation with Han was great, and he just seemed to have more
personality then usual. Of course, the big show stealer that everyone was
excited for is Donald Glover as a young Lando Calrissian. Holly cow, what a
perfect cast choice, as he not only looks the part, but it really feels like a
younger version of Lando. He basically steals every scene he’s in, and his
chemistry with Han Solo is spot on. My favorite
individual Lando line in this film comes after Beckett gives him a touchy
ultimatum, which Lando colorful responds to with “I don’t like it, I don’t
agree with it … but I’ll accept it.” I also liked seeing his personal
collection of capes in his closet. The one Lando related topic I didn’t care
for was his relationship with the droid L3, as it was … questionable to say the
least.
For the most part, this film plays it safe, and delivers what you'd expect, but there are some noteworthy change-ups. For example, “Solo” is the first Star Wars movie that doesn’t bank on
the novelty of a main villain, which was quiet the gamble. Seeing new iconic villains
in a Star Wars movie is like seeing
your favorite comic book villains in superhero movies, and it’s just something I feel needs to be present in each film. This film however throws the concept of
a lead villain under the buss, and chooses to do something that’s more
thematic.
The villain of the movie is a generalization of how the crime,
poverty and corruption of the galaxy brings out the worst and most desperate
actions from seemingly good people. Through the course of the film, Han is
betrayed by two close friends, but neither do it because their evil, it’s merely
the complications of their current life status that’s forcing them to act out
of desperation. There’s an extremely dangerous group of pirates lead by one Enfys Nest, who present a threat to our heroes, but
they actually have noble intentions, and are resorting to violence once again
out of desperation. Even the Empire isn’t acting out like traditional villains,
and are just present for once, which I fond very refreshing. Now there is a
crime lord named Dryden Vos, played very well by Paul Bettany, who can be
branded as a bad guy, but even he isn’t what I’d call a main villain. Truthfully, he’s not in the movie enough to earn that title, and he also isn’t evil the
same way all other villains in this series have been. He has no sinister
motivations that our heroes need to thwart, he’s really just a businessman who
acks hostel when a job goes south. He even tries to sit down and negotiate
possibilities before resorting to violence, so I can’t really brand him as a
run of the mil “Star Wars”
villain.
Another thing I fond refreshing about “Solo”, is that despite some riveting
action sequences, there are no large-scale Sci-Fi battles, which have
characterized the franchise to this point. There’s a short scene in the opening
with Han running through trenches during his Imperial days, which was an
effective nod to World War 1, but it wasn’t like a large-scale battle scene.
Most of the action felt tighter, more contained, and it did a better job
putting me in the action. When Han and team pull off their big heist at the
spice mines, all the laser shooting action and mayhem feels practical and
intense. There’s two stand out tracking shots that really pulled me into the excitement.
The first was a tracking shot following Lando as he dashes across a battle
field to aid a fallen comrade. The second was a tracking shot of our heroes
backing up the ramp of the ship and into the Falcon without any cuts. Also,
whenever characters did little things like twirl their blasters in hand, or
boost a hover car, I always felt that jolt of energy. My favorite action set
piece by far was the train heist, which closed out the first act of the film.
This scene was very creative, with a train that operates like a roller-coaster,
multiple adversaries shooting at our heroes, high stakes, and lots of tense
choreography as characters maintained balance on the vehicle.
In general, the big take away scene is
watching the Millennium Falcon make the classic Kessel Run. This was a highly
entertaining scene, and probably my favorite outer space sequence since the
asteroid field chase from “The Empire
Strikes Back”. After accomplishing their big heist, The Falcon gets lost in
a giant gas cloud, which is like an expansive space labyrinth with multiple
twists and turns. It’s full of uncharted passage ways, enemy ships on the hunt,
gravity wells and a giant squid monster. I love the atmosphere of this scene,
as well as the concept of being lost in a giant space nebula. Aside from being
very creative, this is also an important moment when we see Han take command of
the Falcon, and how Chewbacca becomes his co-pilot. I also
loved how this scene made select call backs to classic “Star Wars” music. The great John Williams returns to conduct the
music for this film, which is welcome, but he doesn’t provide the film with an
original score that really stood out. After composing the iconic Indiana Jones
score, I was hoping he’d bring something just as legendary to Han Solo, but
that sadly didn’t happen. The only piece of music I really loved was the Enfys
Nest score, which gave me chills, and reminded me of the opening theme from “Ghost in the Shell”.
Let’s talk about director Ron Howard, who
for the longest time I’ve wanted to see in the directing chair of a Star Wars movie. His first start at
acting was George Lucas's “American
Graffiti”, they both collaborated on the underrated fantasy movie “Willow” and still to this day I view
Ron Howards “Apollo 13” as one of
the best the genera has to offer. He was even supposed to direct “The Phantom Menace”, but just couldn’t
commit to it at the time. So, putting him in the directing chair for “Solo” felt as perfect as you could get. He certainly knows how to work with his cast, and there’s select shots
that really credit his directing talents. I especially love this one shot when a band
of pirates make a sudden arrival, and the scene is framed though a hole in a
rotating fan. However, I truthfully wasn’t too pleased with the overall look he
gave the film. All the color is muted, and there’s a real emphasis on dark,
murky locations. I get that it’s supposed to go along with the overall crime
flavor of the film, but still I would have preferred to look at other colors
rather then browns mixed with ugly yellow. The effects on display are top
notch, and received a nomination at the Academy Awards for Best Special Effects, but lost to "First Man". Naturally, I love the films commitment to practical creature puppets and
animatronics. I love when Han sits down at a gambling table surrounded by all
these unique alien designs, and each with their own personality. The one
location I found myself really disappointed with was the crime lords saloon,
which just felt very boring and lifeless. The design of it is great, and I love
the golden singer in the center, but she just needed an up-tempo song, and the
location once again just needed more color.
The film was also marketed as a western in
space, which I thought was a great idea. I loved the western elements featured
in “A New Hope”, and I’m a huge fan
of shows like “Firefly” and “Cowboy Bebop”, which were also like
westerns set in space. While “Solo”
certainly utilized familiar elements of the genera, it didn’t really feel like
a western until the third act of the movie. This is when all the classic
western tropes and visuals came into play, like stand offs in a desert setting,
and a cool foreground shot of a gun in the holster. The climax is also
appropriately subdued to fit the tone of a western. Han, Qi’ra, and the crime
lord Dryden Vos get into a little scuffle in his office, which supplies the
finale with just enough action, but the important scene is a quick gun duel
between Han and Beckett. This is classic western 101, when everything in the
film leads to a showdown between two cowboys, and their fate rests on who has
either the wits or brains to pull the gun first. However, as I eluded to
before, I just didn’t feel the connection between Han and Beckett to justify
the emotional context of this scene. Personally, I feel that a standoff between
Han and Qi’ra would have been far more impactful, and a dramatic turning point
in Han’s life. Still, I was mostly satisfied with this finale, and I really
just appreciated a small-scale climax as opposed to yet another large-scale
battle closing a Star Wars
film.
When all the action is said and done, it’s
revealed that Qi’ra this whole time was working for none other then … Darth
Maul, who previously perished in "The Phantom Menace", but was resurrected in the animated series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”. This was the only time the film threatened to go too far with the fan service ... but as a long time fan of the expanded animated series, I was very happy to get this tie-in continuity in a live action movie.
This brief Darth Maul
cameo also gave me renewed hope that perhaps one day I’ll see some of my
favorite Star Wars characters from
the animated shows in live action form and on the big screen. Also, Darth Maul
has always been one of my favorite villains from this franchise, so I'm always going to enjoy seeing him on some level. One little detail I loved is that when Maul ignites his blade, the
red glow is reflected in Qi’ra’s eyes, and it’s a chilling visual that I don’t
recall seeing in any of the previous films. Now, I don't know if this scene is leading into another TV show or movie, but I'm really excited for the potential of both Qi'ra and Maul in something together. At last, it was beyond gratifying
to finally have both Sam Witwer and Ray Park contribute their talents to the role of Darth Maul.
While Ray Park was the physical performer for Darth Maul in “The Phantom Menace”, Sam Witwer was the
voice of Maul in both “The Clone Wars”
and “Rebels”, and having them both
together playing Maul in this film was just a thing of beauty.
When
all is said and done, I can respect why fans would have split views on the
film. I can see why some would right this off as “just another Star Wars movie”, but I can also see
how some may view “Solo” as a
refreshing change of pace. Speaking personally, I’ve always felt that every
installment in the franchise following after “The Empire Strikes Back” has been trying too hard to be the next
absolute best film in the series. “Solo”
by contrast is the first film that just felt content to be a good enough movie,
and that really made me respect it. It was refreshingly simple, fun and bound
together by a charming cast. When ranking all the films, this one sits
comfortably in the middle, not one of the best, but certainly not one of the
worst. It’s just a perfect little adventure film, and I feel it’s very healthy
for long running franchises of this size to just have something okay for once. I
felt it gave me a little more then I was hoping for, I’ve grown to like it more
with repeat viewings, and I really hope it warms up to fans over time. It’s one
of those films I can just put on when I’m in the mood for Star Wars, but I don’t exactly feel like watching one of the major
films, and that for me in turn makes the film feel a little special. Considering
all the drama and production woes that went on behind the scenes, it’s actually
kind of a miracle that “Solo” turned
out as good as it did.
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