OFFICIAL NEWS Solo Reaction Thread

Solo is good movie.

It does not hurt Star Wars legacy by one inch, it does no shame to any Star Wars character or element from lore.

And it adds some connecting stuff to the canon.

Solo gets my thumb up.

Its easy to satissfy Star Wars fans .

I give it 7.5 /10.

 

On par with. There were more exciting one off moments in RO but I much prefer the central characters in Solo over RO. They're nice little filler movies but nothing much beyond that so far, imo. Overall they have added to the story and the SW universe is better off for having them (when there was a danger it could've gone the other way - especially with Solo). Solo definitely added to Han's character and added context to his character traits. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film - more so than I did RO on first viewing. I just wasn't blown away at any stage, moved emotionally or given goosebumps. And personally, I think all these things should be a given in a Star Wars film.

 

So, I went on a whim last night. I wasn't planning to, I wasn't hyped but I was in a general good mood. I as literally driving past the movie theater after work, it was warm, it was early in the evening, I thought, "Hey, why not?"

Ugh.

1. The entire movie is an easter egg basket. There's almost nothing in it that isn't a reference. For the first hour I sat there thinking: "Oh, they're doing Casablanca...they're doing The Defiant Ones...that's the Great Escape...The Good the Bad and the Ugly....OCean's 11....The Godfather....James Bond...." etc. etc. When I wasn't doing that I was thinking, "Clone Wars reference. Novel reference. Comic reference. OT reference. PT reference. Arcane reference to this that or the other...." There was No Story, it was just a bunch of homages and references glued together.
2. The tone was all over the place. You could definitely tell it had three directors and many rewrites.
3. The guy playing Han has no charisma and did not remind me of Harrison at all.
4. The John Williams theme stuck out like a sore thumb, the rest of the score was Netflix series level.
5. They set up this big puppet master behind the whole thing. I'm thinking, "The Emperor? Wasn't he controlling the crime world? No, I guess not. Jabba? Nope. Oh, wait, it's gonna be Snoke! Yeah, that would be fun, a little back story for him. No, I guess not. Maybe an intriguing mystery? Han's lost mom or pop?" Then it turns out to be...you know who...looking very paunchy and middle aged. Huh?!? Half the audience was confused (isn't he dead?) the other was disappointed. TCW already established that he could take over the whole criminal world in his sleep, why not just get the unobtainium himself? Dumb, dumb, dumb. Just another easter egg.

Wow. Dire. Lifeless. Bad idea.

I give it 1.5 stars. Mildly entertaining Trivial Pursuit game.

The guy playing Lando was very good though. I'd see him in something else if it looked interesting.

 

We went to the 10:15PM showing last night at our favorite theater.

We had a great time. Really had no issues with the film. It is different solely because unlike every other Star Wars film the fate of the galaxy doesnt hang in the balance. It is just the story of how one of the hero's met up with some other pivotal people. All the performances were really good and film surprised us a number of times.

Cant wait to see it again.

 

Loved it! My second favorite Disney SW, right above TFA and right below the OT and R1.

There were a lot of moments I was laughing with delight, and it felt like it went by super fast.

I thought it took risks and I dug the story. I think it was clearly setting up a sequel, and would agree that it's the most Marvel-esque of the SW films, but at the same time, I think it was better than those movies on many levels, especially the writing for Han and the acting by Alden.

Emilia was better than I expected. The Donald was pretty great, aside from a couple moments where I felt he had a forced "accent."

Can't wait to see it again!

--- Double Post Merged, May 25, 2018, Original Post Date: May 25, 2018 ---

This is where you lose all credibility with me. That's just not remotely true!

 

Something nobody seems to talk about is the war sequence. While it's short and is only meant to have Han meet Beckett, it's still a dirty, gritty WWI-movie like scene, which I liked a lot and I feel like a franchise called "Star Wars" should have more off.

 

Went last night, really enjoyed it.

I think it is worth seeing in theaters.

Solo is a lot of fun! It isn't without some flaws, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

I enjoyed the movie, though it's never going to be my favorite. I love the mythos of the saga movies, but TBH it was nice to have a little break from the weightiness and drama and just experience a rollicking adventure set in a GFFA. It has its weaknesses, but overall it was a nice light "side dish" to accompany the entrée of the saga movies.

I think Alden and Glover both did a great job of evoking their characters without trying to do an impression of them. And Chewie was fantastic!

 

this is its great strength. i'll happily put this into my Star Wars marathon line-up just to help balance some of the darkness. : D

 

The more I think about this alleged "movie" the more I hate it. Imagine if this was a historical movie --

Two soldiers in camp in front of a fire.

Soldier 1
Well, here we are at WATERLOO on June 17 1815 with NAPOLEON. We're so going to win this battle!

Soldier 2
I wonder if anyone's ever gonna write a NOVEL about this?

Soldier 1
Well it sure would be long. WINK WINK!!!!

The constant references and BS "continuity" and cameos -- we're in deep shark jumping territory here.

Maybe they didn't go far enough? "Anybody want some Colo Clawfish? From Naboo? Who else hates Gungans, ha ha? Anybody remember Queen Amidala? How about those CLONE WARS, huh?"

I feel like there's cutting room floor footage from the (you know who) scene. "And then I will find the Holocron of Darth Andeddu and surpass Darth Bane, but first I need the blood of a Krayat dragon...I hear there are some living in the DUNE SEA on TATOOINE....wonder if I'll run into any OLD ENEMIES there? Nah!"

Yeesh. They seem to be modeling this on the Marvel movies. I call it a branching web of open ended anti-narrative. There's no end in sight. Solo branches to Maul branches to Episode 10 branches to a TV series branches to the Obi Wan movie etc etc etc

 

Let me use a YouTube clip to describe my feelings towards this film:

Spoiler

On the basic level i.e. the story, characters, acting, etc. it was all good with some shades of great. Alden is a good Han, Emilia Clarke was decent, so were the other actors except for Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She was excellent. She was sassy, crude, vulgar but also strangly feminine. Her death was emotionally resonant. She's easily my favourite aspect of the film. I also enojyed the Tobias twist - it wasn't anything earth-shattering but it was well-executed. If that was it, I would conasider it on par with the first Guardians of the Galaxy - a solid popcorn flick. However, I have a number of problems with this film that significantly detract from my enjoyment. Watch out, I might sound slightly obnoxious.

1. Cinematography. I've been talking about it since the first trailers and the final film didn't really do any changes in terms of colour grading. This film is incredibly dark to the point that some scenes become illegible. That is especially the case with the Corellia scenes. There wasn't enough contrast.
2. "The prequel problem." What do I mean by it? A bizarre need to explain every little detail that is considered to be an iconic characteristic of the... character in question. That is especially visible during the scene when Han gets recruited to the military. The fact that he got his surname because he was "solo" made me cringe. Or that time when Enfys Nest offers Han a place in their little rebellion. Yes, Solo, I remember A New Hope and that Han joins the Rebellion, you really don't have to remind me. There are a couple smaller moments like these (Falcon loosing its radar dish, Falcon's delapidation, Han getting his gun from IV, etc.)
3. Fan service. It ties really strongly to my previous issue. This film is littered with WINKS and NUDGES towards the die-hard fans and I must say this stuff really grates my nerves. Yes, movie, I know what Teräs Käsi is. Yes, that tetrahedron in Dryden Vos' room is a Sith holocron. Yes, I did notice that Tobias wore on Kessell the same outfit as Lando did during the first act of Episode VI. Yes, I know who Aurra Sing is (or was.) And no, movie, including these references doesn't make you seem smarter. Easter eggs are cool, but they shouldn't be in your face and they shouldn't be too many of them. In my opinion Solo overdid both.
4. The Enfys Nest reveal. I have no problem with her being either young or female but I don't understand why her being her is supposed to be such a bing deal. The last three SW films all had female protagonists. We already know that female characters can be cool. Remember Leia? What I'd do instead is make the helmet make her sound older, but still undoubtedly female.

That's my take. Thank you for your attention.

 

I thought the film was awful. My theater was half-empty and silent throughout the whole showing. The film will make money, but I wager it comes in even less than Rogue One.

I am excited for those who liked it, but I thought this was a sloppy, lazy script, muddled together with more continuity errors than I've ever seen in Star Wars. Has the clunkiest first act of any Star Wars film ever and never really takes off too much after that.

 

just as a counterpoint: my big-city late night theatre was packed (10:15 pm IMAX show, so not the cheap convenient seats).
the crowd laughed, clapped, and actually cheered the reveal at the end (i didn't like it, but that's me ~ hahahaha).
people were very psyched leaving the theatre.

it will be interesting to see what the next group is like as i will be out in the country on a sunday afternoon.

 

I'm going check out a cam job before I spend money on this one. There's some pretty mixed reactions here.

 

Just seen it for the second time, went with my 8 year old son this time and he absolutely loved it. He was smiling ear to ear by the end of it, said it was much more fun than Rogue One and thought it was second only to The Last Jedi which is his favourite.

 

Theres some problems with the story
1.Han Solo can speak Wookie but only in this film no others of him speakin Wookie?
2.Lando is a bot banger yet doesnt have any bots hes bangin in cloud city unless you count C3PO and possibly R2D2?
Overall was a good story but didnt focus much on the first encounter of the millenium falcon or the aspect of making theThe Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs was talked about but we didnt see the achievement as it happened.

 

1. Han Solo doesn't need to speak the language; he does in this case because he doesn't want to tip off the guards.
2. Lobot was a cyborg [shrug].

 

Plus it earns Chewie's trust - he realises Han is someone who respects his species and culture, not someone who labels him a 'beast'. Considering Han's wearing an Imperial uniform and Chewie's clearly been there for a while, it obviously suggests he's not the first cowardly deserting Imperial to have been thrown down there. Chewie understands English and I'm sure many of the others had tried to cut a deal to save their lives, except in their cases it was out of desperation and they had previously enjoyed mistreating various cultures during their occupations. This is what makes him realise Han is different to all the others.

--- Double Post Merged, May 25, 2018, Original Post Date: May 25, 2018 ---

I do wish to add after my second viewing especially, how much I loathe Dryden Vos... in the best possible way. He is such a wretched vile man and I'll be honest and say I'm happy the role was recast. It's likely we'll never see the 'lion man' role originally created for the character, but Paul Bettany's character was so disgustingly loathsome that I honestly have little desire to see what the original version was since he brings so much monstrous character to the role. The way he toes the line between creepily caring-superior to violent boss to sadistic monster is just utterly perfect. It's that Joe Pesci Goodfellas-level of sinister that is pure toying evil that I found every line and every scene with him utterly deliciously horrid. I would have enjoyed seeing even more of him in the movie, but he has such gravitas in every scene he does appear that I'm thoroughly happy with what we got. The best villains are the ones you detest and Dryden Vos was utterly disgusting and a perfect insight into the real people who populate places like Canto Bight.