My personal reaction to Solo: A Star Wars Story

Hey all,

I’m just back from seeing Solo: ASWS and I thought I should share my thoughts and a couple of vague spoilers (hidden behind tags). I do not intend to ruin the movie for anyone, but if you are like me and prefer to know something about the movie, to build expectations and pre-anchor the story to better enjoy the ride, then I think these spoilers might work for you.

First, the non-spoiler stuff.

I really liked Solo: ASWS. Going into it, I was thinking "this will probably not feel entirely like a Star Wars story, ironically, as the stakes are likely much lower and the drama much more character focused than in most save-the-galaxy-again SW stories". In part, I was right in this – Solo is a smaller and tighter story – but the scope of it was also bigger than I expected it to be. Basically, it is a super fun little swashbuckling action adventure and I think it worked brilliantly! I can’t wait to see it again

Alden surprised me a lot and I love his Han Solo. Of course he isn’t Harrison Ford, but Alden’s Solo is quite as great a character, albite somewhat different. By analogy, (and beware that I don’t actually know this franchise), I guess you could compare this to James Bond; there are several great Bonds – although no one else will ever be Sean Connery’s Bond, some of the other Bonds are great as well, and they all bring different aspects to the very one-dimensional character. It’s pretty similar with Solo now, as Harrison & Alden both have great takes on the character and although Harrison is the original, Alden does a very good job. In fact, Alden is a fantastic cast choice for Solo and I expect this ‘kid’ to go places! To me, Alden was a lot better than expected, and I expected him to be just fine.

As for Glover… here I expected to be vowed and charmed, but… and this is strange to me, Glover’s Lando did not steal the show as I had expected he would. Don’t take that the wrong way, ‘cause Glover did a marvelous job – his Billy Dee Williams impersonation was scarily accurate at times (so much so that I fear there might have been some sound-mixing/over dubbing involved, ‘cause if there weren’t then OMG Glover can nail BDW’s voice EXACTLY… although he doesn’t always do so). But yeah, my opinion of Glover was the exact opposite of my Alden opinion; I expected Glover to be fantastic, and he was fine. (<-- don’t over read that… “fine” is a compliment. Glover is good).

Edit: What I am trying to say here is that it wasn't Glover who stole the show here, it was, perhaps surprisingly, Alden!

Emilia Clark. Again, she was a pleasant surprise to me. I’m not the biggest fan of her character in GoT, finding her a bit 1-dimensional with a maxed out Righteousness stat, but here Clark shows a lot more range than we’re used to from GoT. (A show I love, btw). Kudos to you, Clark; you’re awesome!

Woody. Of course he was brilliant. Nuff said.

Joonas… I want to marry this man! His Chewbacca is soooo good, so full of character and warmth. Chewie was a bit of a pet in the OT, but he’s such a larger character now. I love it! Peter Mayhew schooled Joonas well, and then Joonas ran with it, and boy does he run!

L3-37. She just might be my new favorite character in all of Star Wars, although I should add that I tend to say that about the hero-droid in every new SW movie. She is fantastic in her own right, a funny and very strong character, and what the Kasdans does with her? …oh man, you could see it coming a long way, but BY THE WHILLS is it awesome. The love for Star Wars displayed by the Kasdans in this movie (with L3 and other things) just warms my heart.

There are many characters/actors worth mentioning in this one, but I have to stop somewhere. A special shout-out goes to Warwick Davis (very minor role), whose Weazel character needs more screen time!

Overall opinion: Solo: ASWS is full of warmth and character, a real love letter to Star Wars. It doesn’t quite feel like a ‘proper’ Star Wars film, with the stakes being small and personal, but that is actually a good thing; SW is branching out into motion pictures about other things than rebels hopelessly facing off tyrannical fascist overlords. This movie adds so much color and texture and context to the movies and storylines we know and love, that it warms my aging heart and makes me feel as excited for Star Wars as I did as kid in the 80s. It even works as a standalone SciFi film and I’m pretty sure a non-fan with no knowledge of SW could easily jump right into this story and follow the plot and characters, no problem. And then there are the call-backs and foreshadowings, which could have felt forced and pandering, but which works beautifully and are all (bare one – see below) cleverly written and excellently executed. I shan’t go on waxing poetically, but I think you can see that I feel strongly for this film. I am sure the loud minority of ‘SW fans’ who have decided to hate Star Wars will find things to latch onto and anchor their hate on, but to the Spice Mines of Kessel with them!

That one thing, though. As CinemaSins says, no film is ever without sin… I’m not going to spoil the one thing that I didn’t like about Solo, but I must, in all fairness, mention that it exists. It is a VERY small thing, but with some pretty serious implications, and I am sure the Kasdans/LFL/KK/Story Group are going to get some flak for it from the fans. I have already overstated this thing, for it is really small, but there’s one very writeresque point made in the film that, frankly, someone should have nipped in the bud. It’s one of those, “wouldn’t it be interesting if…” things, that someone should have said, “yeah… but no, it doesn’t feel right for this movie and the implications it brings”, and cut it from the film. Nuff said (and I have said much more than the “thing” deserves).

And now some (minor, I think) spoilers:

Spoiler: Opening Crawl?

No, there’s no opening crawl although there is a series of brief intro texts, written in the “A Long Time Ago…/end credits” blue font, that sets up the story. I really liked this.

Spoiler: The trailers/TV-spots?

They lie… but we knew that. I estimate of 80% of the trailer/TV spot footage is from the first act of Solo: ASWS, and much of it from the very first scene.

Spoiler: "That" cameo

Yes, Darth Maul shows up in hologram form in the film. “Fans” have already poured hate on the film for this, without seeing it, and they are stupid. Solo: ASWS uses Maul in a very reserved yet powerful way, and it makes all kinds of sense in context of the Clone Wars & Rebels TV shows. I liked it a lot.

Solo: ASWS is fun, charming, dramatic, and adventurous, and a great addition to Star Wars canon. I hope they make at least one more Solo film. Now, go watch this one! (when it comes to a movie theater near you... I don't know why Norway gets big movies 2 days+time difference before the US... sorry guys!)