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| 2 | %% *** MODERATOR NOTICE *** |
| 3 | %% As with all the Star Wars films, Star Wars Legends material is irrelevant to the tropes presented in this article. |
| 4 | %% Please discuss all Legends material in the Franchise/StarWarsLegends article. |
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| 7 | %% This page is SPOILERS OFF due to the sheer volume of spoilers. PLEASE DO NOT ADD ANY TEXT IN SPOILER BRACKETS. |
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| 10 | |
| 11 | ! This page contains unmarked spoilers. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned! |
| 12 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starwarssolo.jpg]] |
| 13 | [-[[caption-width-right:350:'''Han Solo:''' We're gonna win.\ |
| 14 | '''Qi'ra:''' It’s not that kind of game, Han. The objective is not to win but to stay in it as long as you can.]]-] |
| 15 | |
| 16 | [[center:[[AC:It is a lawless time.\ |
| 17 | CRIME SYNDICATES compete for\ |
| 18 | resources - food, medicine, and HYPERFUEL.\ |
| 19 | \ |
| 20 | On the shipbuilding planet of CORELLIA,\ |
| 21 | the foul LADY PROXIMA forces runaways into a life\ |
| 22 | of crime in exchange for shelter and protection.\ |
| 23 | \ |
| 24 | On these mean streets, a young man fights for\ |
| 25 | survival, but yearns to fly among the stars...]]]]\ |
| 26 | |
| 27 | ''Solo: A Star Wars Story'', marketed as ''Star Wars: Solo'' or simply ''Solo'', is a 2018 SpaceWestern film directed by Creator/RonHoward[[note]]who replaced Creator/PhilLordAndChrisMiller mid-production; the latter two receiving "executive producer" credits.[[/note]] and written by Creator/{{Lawrence|Kasdan}} & Jonathan Kasdan. It is the second entry in the ''A Star Wars Story'' series after ''Film/RogueOne'', the tenth ''Franchise/StarWars'' live action film and the fourth to be produced by Disney. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | The film opens on a young StreetUrchin named Han (Creator/AldenEhrenreich) who's attempting to flee his [[WretchedHive miserable, crime-ridden homeworld]] of Corellia alongside his [[ChildhoodFriendRomance long-time girlfriend]] Qi'ra (Creator/EmiliaClarke), only for her to be kidnapped by gangsters. Desperate and with few options, the boy takes up the surname "Solo" and joins the Imperial military to gain the skills he needs to rescue his lover and fulfill his dream of becoming a starship pilot. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Three years of harrowing frontline service later, Han finally gets his chance, deserting to join a CaperCrew led by smuggler Tobias Beckett (Creator/WoodyHarrelson) in service to the crime lord Dryden Vos (Creator/PaulBettany). At his side is the Wookiee outlaw Chewbacca (Creator/JoonasSuotamo) and legendary gambler Lando Calrissian (Creator/DonaldGlover), and soon they become embroiled in a [[TheCaper risky, high-stakes heist]]. But Han quickly learns that the life of a scoundrel isn't all it's cracked up to be -- and, while he is reunited with his beloved Qi'ra, she is [[FemmeFatale no longer the innocent girl he remembers]]... |
| 32 | |
| 33 | The film also stars Creator/PhoebeWallerBridge, Creator/ThandiweNewton [[labelnote:*]]Credited as Thandie Newton[[/labelnote]], Creator/ErinKellyman, Ian Kenny and Creator/ClintHoward in supporting roles. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | The film released on May 25, 2018. The world premiere happened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2018. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | Its story is followed by ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'', ''Film/RogueOne'' and ''Film/ANewHope'', while the film is followed by ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' in production order. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | Not to be confused with the [[Film/Solo1996 1996 film by the same name]] about a combat android in South America. |
| 40 | |
| 41 | '''Previews:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Szts88zY4o Super Bowl TV spot]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNW0B0HsvVs Teaser]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPEYpryMp2s Trailer]]. |
| 42 | ---- |
| 43 | !!"Good luck, Solo. We'll have you troping in no time." |
| 44 | * ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: Beckett and his crew talking about their personal motivations the night before the TrainJob. |
| 45 | * ActionPrologue: The opening scene is Han racing through Corellia on a boosted speeder. This leads to him and Qi'ra fighting and then fleeing from Lady Proxima's {{mooks}}. |
| 46 | * AdaptationalHeroism: Enfys Nest's gang, the Cloud-Riders, were a straightforward gang of pirate marauders in ''Legends'' - here they're a group of nascent Rebels who try to seek to protect the innocent both from the Empire and from criminals like Dryden. |
| 47 | * AdvertisedExtra: Beckett's partner and lover Val (played by Thandie Newton) appears in several trailers and posters, but she doesn't survive the TrainJob on Vandor-1. |
| 48 | * AerithAndBob: As per the norm for ''Star Wars''. Of the human protagonists alone we have the normal-sounding names of Han Solo and Tobias Beckett mixed in with the sci-fi names of Qi'ra and Lando Calrissian. For viewers in Ireland, though, Qi'ra is on the other side, as it's pronounced the same as Ciara. |
| 49 | * AffablyEvil: The Imperial officer handling Han's enlistment is rather chipper and polite, very unlike the Empire personnel in previous films whose most prominent dialogue are usually variations of "YouRebelScum". It makes sense since the Empire has to attract recruits. |
| 50 | * AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Sagwa the Wookie gives Han a head rub while they escape the Kessel mine. |
| 51 | * AfroAsskicker: Val has a curly afro and is also an ActionGirl. |
| 52 | * AIIsACrapshoot: When L3 deactivates the restraining bolts of the control room droids on Kessel, they immediately begin smashing consoles, freeing the slaves, and causing total chaos. Then again, when the first droid she freed asked what it should do now, she replied "I don't know, go free your brothers and sisters or something!" |
| 53 | * AlasPoorVillain: Beckett meets his death at the end of Han's blaster, but it's not portrayed as much of a victory. |
| 54 | * AllThereInTheManual: |
| 55 | ** {{Downplayed}}, as the manual in this case is the [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] rather than supplemental material. The WhamShot near the end of the film of Maul as the boss of Crimson Dawn will need serious explaining to any ''Star Wars'' fan who is only familiar with the live action films. Maul's survival and return to power were detailed in the animated series ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars.'' |
| 56 | ** According to Jon Kasdan, Lando's full name was to be revealed as Landonis Balthazar Calrissian III. L3 actually does call him "Landonis" once. |
| 57 | * TheAllegedCar: The ''Millennium Falcon'' is practically a work of art when she first shows up on screen, but going through an intense firefight during the escape from Kessel, a harrowing chase through the Maelstrom by a pack of TIE fighters, several high speed collisions (including a long slide that tears off half the landing gear), and being grappled and munched by a [[BuffySpeak giant space squid thing]] while trying to escape from a black hole, leaves her as an absolute wreck by the time Lando takes her away near the end of the film. Lando is ''not'' pleased, to say the least. |
| 58 | * AlliterativeTitle: '''''S'''olo: A '''S'''tar Wars '''S'''tory''. |
| 59 | * AnalogyBackfire: When the ''Millennium Falcon'' is under TIE Fighter pursuit, Beckett makes a few analogies that are lost on Han. A nice little TakeThatMe from a franchise that loves to make up weird versions of common analogies. |
| 60 | --> '''Han:''' Beckett, you see them? They still on us? Beckett, do you hear me? Are they on us?\ |
| 61 | '''Beckett:''' Like rashnolds on a kalak.\ |
| 62 | '''Han:''' I-I don't know what that means.\ |
| 63 | '''Beckett:''' Like a gingleson's pelt.\ |
| 64 | '''Han:''' Wha-- ''are they or aren't they?!''\ |
| 65 | '''Beckett:''' Yes, they're still on us! |
| 66 | * AndroidsArePeopleToo: L3-37 strongly believes this, urging fellow droids to stand up for themselves and resist their programming when it's harmful. In the Kessel mines' control center, she instigates a full-scale revolt by freeing a droid who then frees its fellows, along with the organic slaves there. |
| 67 | * AnyoneCanDie: If the character isn't in the original movies, there's no guarantee of survival. The body count is lower than ''Film/RogueOne'', but this still includes four characters in the poster above. |
| 68 | * ArcWelding: The ending ties it pretty tightly to the events of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', with Maul apparently having escaped to rebuild his criminal empire, after the Shadow Collective was all but destroyed in ''ComicBook/DarthMaulSonOfDathomir''. |
| 69 | * ArmorPiercingResponse: When Qi'ra tells Han that "You're the good guy", it clearly shakes him. He doesn't think of himself that way, and wants to join her in her criminal life. |
| 70 | * AscendedMeme: The final confrontation between Han and Beckett, where Beckett's finger twitches on his blaster but Han shoots him before he has a chance to draw, is a deliberate reference to the Han Shot First meme. The writers directly confirmed that the very script itself declares "there can be no question that Han shoots first." |
| 71 | * AsteroidThicket: The Kessel Run is this on steroids, with dangerous debris everywhere, carbon masses colliding, gigantic space cephalopods, and black holes that suck everything in. |
| 72 | * BadassCape: Lando has a closet full of capes on the ''Falcon'', one of which Qi'ra uses as part of her disguise to allow her into one of the Kessel mines. She uses another one to smother a fire over Lando's objections. |
| 73 | * BackupBluff: When confronted by the Cloud-Riders, Han tries to bluff them by saying there are thirty armed men aboard the ''Falcon'' who will come running at his call. The ''Falcon'' [[InstantlyProvenWrong promptly takes off.]] |
| 74 | * BaitTheDog: Beckett is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment first seen]] in the Battle of Mimban, dual-wielding pistols in spectacular fashion while nearly everyone else on the battlefield is either screaming and running or getting killed and noting how much he likes Han when Solo comes up to him after the battle. The moment that Han figures out Beckett is a deserter wearing a stolen uniform, Beckett calls the other officers over, tells them ''Han'' is the deserter, and walks off while they throw Han into a pit to be FedToTheBeast. |
| 75 | * BaseOnWheels: Dryden Vos headquarters in his luxury yacht of a ship. |
| 76 | * BarFullOfAliens: |
| 77 | ** Dryden Vos's luxury yacht of a ship has one of these including the requisite alien band. The guys wait here for Dryden Vos to appear. |
| 78 | ** There's also the seedy dive where Han meets Lando. |
| 79 | * BatmanGambit: How Han was able to trick Dryden Vos and Beckett into thinking the coaxium delivered to them was fake, when it was actually the real thing. He knew Beckett was aligned with Vos and would tell him about the Cloud-Riders and how much of a trickster Han was, knew Vos wouldn't trust Qi'ra anymore and rely more on Beckett's word, and knew Vos and his men would assault the Cloud-Riders for the coaxium they supposedly have because of their opposition to him. Beckett chides Han for not taking his "assume everyone is out to betray you" admonishment to heart, and Han retorts that not only did he really, but took Beckett's admonishment to Chewie about people being predictable to heart too. |
| 80 | * BeautyEqualsGoodness: The first indication that Enfys Nest is a good person is when she removes her helmet to reveal that she's not a hideous alien or grizzled old man but a pretty young girl. |
| 81 | * BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Han shocks Chewie into listening to him and working with him to escape the pit by speaking to him in Shyriiwook, the implication being that he's the first human to treat Chewie like a person who could be talked to in who knows how long. |
| 82 | * BigBad: Dryden Vos is the one who gives Han and the others a job. He's also the central antagonist and a major figure in the Crimson Dawn syndicate. |
| 83 | * TheBigBadShuffle: At first, Enfys Nest is the most prominent physical threat to Han and his companions. Then Vos is introduced as a major potential problem for Han. Ultimately, Han betrays Vos to side with Enfys, leaving Vos to take the BigBad status. After he's dealt with, Beckett, who has double-crossed everyone, becomes the new villain until Han kills him. |
| 84 | * BittersweetEnding: Han not only splits ways with [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Qi'ra]], but ends up betrayed by [[TheMentor Beckett]], the latter of whom he is forced to kill in a duel, and both Qi'ra and Beckett end up shattering Han's idealism and turn him into the cynical smuggler he is in the Original Trilogy. On the other hand, the events of the movie are why he and Chewie are friends in the first place, and making him acquaintances with Lando Calrissian, who provides him with none other than the ''Millennium Falcon'', the ship that will go on to save the galaxy time and time again. |
| 85 | * BookEnds: In the beginning, Han and Qi'ra lose each other and also the blue star jewel that he was hoping would fund the start of their new life together. At the ending, Qi'ra abandons Han and he gets back the jewel again, which he uses to win the ''Millennium Falcon'' which will start the new chapter in his life. |
| 86 | * {{Bowdlerise}}: In March 2018, Disney announced it would be altering the film's Brazilian poster to remove the blasters to present a more family-friendly image. This came after a string of shooting massacres in the United States. |
| 87 | * BlackAndGreyMorality: Most of the characters in the movie are some variety of criminal, with varying degrees of ruthlessness. Han, Chewie, Lando, and L3 are all {{Loveable Rogue}}s, but none of them hesitate to sign up with seedy crime lords for their own purposes. Beckett and Qi'ra are backstabbing thieves with no allegiance to anyone but themselves, and Dryden is an [[AxCrazy unhinged]] [[TheDon criminal mastermind]]. The Empire are obviously still the bad guys, but even the [[GoodAllAlong ultimately noble]] Cloud-Riders are [[GoodIsNotNice pretty ruthless]] in pursuit of their goals. |
| 88 | * BlackDudeDiesFirst: Val is the first significant human character to die. |
| 89 | * TheBusCameBack: |
| 90 | ** Weazel (Creator/WarwickDavis), [[Film/ThePhantomMenace one of the people to watch Anakin Skywalker win the Boonta Eve Classic]], is now a member of Enfys' gang. |
| 91 | ** ''Maul'' of all people turns up, being seen on the big screen for the first time since ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', nineteen ''years'' previously. This is a downplayed example, though, since that particular bus already came back in Extended Universe materials more than once. |
| 92 | * ButtMonkey: |
| 93 | ** Lando. Over the course of the film he loses his best friend and co-pilot, gets shot in the arm, gets his ship wrecked making the Kessel Run, and then ultimately losing the ship to Han. |
| 94 | ** The ''Falcon'' gets the crap beaten out of her during the Kessel Run, going from a pristine luxury craft to a shredded hulk that's only spaceworthy in the loosest possible sense of the word. |
| 95 | * CallBack: |
| 96 | ** The reveal of the Summa-verminoth in the Maw is similar to how the Colo Claw Fish is introduced in ''The Phantom Menace'', with the crew of a ship flying/diving into a dark area before their vehicle loses power. After fixing the circuits and the lights turning back on, they find themselves coming face to face with a gigantic monster. And incidentally Dryden is eating Colo Claw Fish sashimi when they meet him next. |
| 97 | ** [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars Once again,]] Maul is the leader of a massive criminal syndicate. |
| 98 | * CallForward: |
| 99 | ** The movie shows us how Han made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs using the ''Millennium Falcon''. |
| 100 | ** Beckett asks Han if he knows what it's like to live with a bounty on his head. He will soon enough. |
| 101 | ** Before seeing the ''Falcon'', Han calls it a "[[Film/ANewHope piece of junk]]". |
| 102 | ** Han quips "Oh yeah? Watch this!" during the opening speeder chase, something he'll say in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' during the escape from Hoth. |
| 103 | ** When Han introduces himself to Lando, Lando intentionally mispronounces his name ("Han" in a way that rhymes with "can", instead of the correct "Han" rhymes with "con"), just like he does in the Original Trilogy--but Han says it's fine. |
| 104 | ** During his first game of Sabacc with Lando, Han claims that he has a Corellian VCX-100 light freighter that he's betting on the game, which is the same model of starship as [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels the]] ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Ghost]].'' |
| 105 | ** [[Film/ANewHope Chewie plays dejarik again.]] Only this time, it's with Tobias Beckett, but the latter beats him with the exact same move like R2-D2 will in that film. As a result, [[SoreLoser Chewie goes berserk]], which also happened in the same movie. |
| 106 | --->'''Tobias:''' No, you can't [[DeskSweepOfRage wipe them off]]. They're holograms. |
| 107 | ** Also, in ''Film/ANewHope'', Han warns C-3PO that when Chewie gets very upset, he'll most likely rip someone's arms off. In this movie, we get to see Chewie doing ''exactly that'', right in front of Han, no less! |
| 108 | ** Lando may not be fond of mining colonies like the one on Kessel, but he'll run one, Bespin's Cloud City, by the time of ''The Empire Strikes Back''. To make it even funnier, in the ''Legends'' continuity he ended up running not one, but two other mining operations after Cloud City...and one of them was Kessel itself. |
| 109 | ** Lady Proxima is a large StarfishAlien gangster and mob boss who resembles some kind of giant insect or invertebrate, like Jabba the Hutt - Jabba is something like a giant slug with arms, Proxima is close to a giant centipede. |
| 110 | ** Han and Chewie using a TrojanPrisoner gambit to reach their objective like they would in ''A New Hope''. |
| 111 | ** Tobias's disguise on Kessel is the same Lando would use to infiltrate Jabba's palace and help rescue Han in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. |
| 112 | ** Han using the ''Falcon'' to smack a TIE Fighter during a dogfight [[https://www.reddit.com/r/starwarsrebels/comments/7vg0pz/parallel_between_han_solohera_syndulla_move/ is something Hera would later do]] with the ''Ghost'' in ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'' Season 4. |
| 113 | ** The music score as the [=TIEs=] chase the ''Falcon'' through the Maelstrom is the one from the chase through the asteroid field in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. |
| 114 | ** The line in a trailer, "I thought we were in trouble for a second, but it's fine. We're fine." is delivered in a similar fashion to Han's "Everything's perfectly all right now, we're all fine." from ''Film/ANewHope''. |
| 115 | ** L3 is sadly destroyed and her memory core is uploaded to the ''Falcon''. Years later, [=C-3PO=] will complain about the ''Falcon's'' uncooperative and rude main computer. |
| 116 | ** One of the Cloud-Riders is Benthic "Two Tubes" before he was a member of [[Film/RogueOne Saw Gerrera's partisan gang.]] Another is a Rodian, the same species as Greedo. |
| 117 | ** Han shot Tobias - ''first''. |
| 118 | ** Enfys Nest reveals that Crimson Dawn would steal resources from poor planets; the resources would then find themselves in the Galactic Empire's possession, which is used to build a powerful weapon with a circular shape - the Death Star. |
| 119 | ** While Lando is contemplating the tremendous damage done to the ''Falcon'', Han happily approaches him. We get the following dialogue: |
| 120 | --->'''Lando:''' I hate you.\ |
| 121 | '''Han:''' I know. |
| 122 | ** When Han finds Lando in the ending, Han pretends to be upset and attempts to fistfight Lando, only to reveal that he's just messing with him. Lando would then do the same to Han when they meet again in ''The Empire Strikes Back''. |
| 123 | ** As in ''A New Hope'', a tracker is planted on the ''Falcon''. |
| 124 | ** When Han bluffs Proxima, his weapon of choice is a thermal detonator - just like Leia would later use in Jabba's Palace. (Of course, Leia used a ''real'' one.) |
| 125 | ** At the start of the film, Han is wearing a white vest over a black shirt, the inverse of what he wears in ''A New Hope''. |
| 126 | ** There are several lingering shots of Han's lucky dice charm, and idea of using it as a TragicKeepsake to remember Han by (as will eventually happen after his death in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'') is even brought up. |
| 127 | ** Maul has the same cane-lightsaber that he will use in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels''. |
| 128 | ** At about 2:52 into the track [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vax5y2ktgEw "Savareen Standoff"]] on the score, listen closely and you can hear the first five notes from the "March of the Resistance" leitmotif from the [[Film/TheForceAwakens sequel]] [[Film/TheLastJedi trilogy]]. |
| 129 | ** Han claims to have "just made the Kessel run in twelve parsecs.", to which Chewbacca objects and Han comments "Not if you round down.", thus combining both the "Han boasts to make himself look good." and "Han really is (nearly) that good." theories concerning the scene of ''A New Hope''. |
| 130 | ** Han kills his own father-figure in the climax and [[CradlingYourKill holds him in his arms]] after striking the fatal blow. Many years later, the same will happen to Han himself at the hands of his own ''actual'' son. |
| 131 | ** Enfys Nest tells Han "the war is just beginning", a line of dialogue Luke would later say verbatim to Kylo Ren in ''Film/TheLastJedi''. |
| 132 | * TheCameo: |
| 133 | ** Creator/AnthonyDaniels as the character named "Tak". It's the third time he appears in a ''Star Wars'' movie without playing C-3PO, after appearing as "Dannl Faytonni" in ''Attack of the Clones'' and ''Revenge of the Sith''. |
| 134 | ** At the very end, Ray Park ''and'' Creator/SamWitwer, performing the role of Maul together for the very first time. |
| 135 | ** Creator/RonHoward[==]'s wife, Cheryl, appears in a deleted scene as a female Imperial officer identified in the official guidebook as "Ardwyl Hercho", an anagram for "Cheryl Howard". |
| 136 | * CampfireCharacterExploration: Beckett and his crew relax around a campfire before the TrainJob, discussing their plans for the money they're hoping to earn. |
| 137 | * CanonImmigrant: As with most recent Star Wars material, elements from Franchise/StarWarsLegends make their return. |
| 138 | ** We ''finally'' get to see the Imperial Infantry, the [[TableTopGame/WarHammer40000 Astra Militarum]] to the Stormtroopers' Tempestus Scions. |
| 139 | ** Coronet Spaceport, a major spaceport on Corellia, returns from VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic. Jon Kasdan admitted that the writers searched Wookieepedia for spaceports on Corellia and decided to use the name. |
| 140 | ** To most people's surprise, [[ComicBook/StarWarsTagAndBink Tag and Bink]] were meant to show up, but their scene was cut (they were properly recanonised in the novelisation, though). This is something of a surprise inclusion, as [[WhatIf they weren't even canon in Legends]]. |
| 141 | ** The Cloud-Riders return, still a swoop bike gang, but now [[AdaptationalHeroism with a much more noble purpose]]. |
| 142 | * TheCaper: The film is a straight-up heist movie, centered around Han, Chewie, and Lando working with several others to steal a large amount of coaxium for the criminal syndicate Crimson Dawn. |
| 143 | * CaptainsLog: Lando tries to record one on Kessel, but gets interrupted when the mission goes OffTheRails. |
| 144 | -->'''Lando:''' ''The Calrissian Chronicles'', Chapter Five, continued. Personally, I wasn't all that impressed with the Sharu. No sense of humor or style. Nonetheless, there L3 and I were, deep in their sacred temple. And that's when we saw it...''(sees the commotion)'' Always something. |
| 145 | * CardGames: Sabacc is the ''Star Wars'' equivalent of TabletopGame/{{poker}}. |
| 146 | * CeilingSmash: Chewbacca throws a Stormtrooper into the cave ceiling while fighting his way through a Kessel mine. |
| 147 | * ChaseFight: Several TIE Fighters chase the ''Falcon'' through the Akkadese Maelstrom. |
| 148 | * CheatersNeverProsper: Lando beats Han at sabacc by cheating, with a card hidden up his sleeve. During a rematch, Han steals that card and beats Lando to win the ''Millennium Falcon''. |
| 149 | * ChekhovsGun: |
| 150 | ** When Han first sees the ''Falcon'', he immediately notices that the ship has been heavily modified from its stock configuration, and Lando explains that he added a large escape pod between the mandibles that he uses as additional living space. While they are being chased by the Summa-verminoth, Han launches the escape pod to draw the beast towards the Maw. |
| 151 | ** During the first game of sabacc, Lando hides a clip up his sleeve, loaded with an extra card so he can cheat: Han later complains that there's no way Lando should have had that card. Lando tries to use it again in the rematch, but Han spots it and swipes the card without Lando noticing. |
| 152 | ** The quintessential version when Dryden Vos, after killing the regional governor, orders his dagger to be placed in his office because he might need it again. Sure enough he uses it in the final fight with Han. |
| 153 | * ChekhovsSkill: During the Kessel heist, Qi'ra shows herself to be quite proficient in the martial art Teräs Käsi. She puts those skills to use during the fight with Dryden during the climax of the movie. |
| 154 | * {{Chiaroscuro}}: A lot of the movie has very little lighting overall, especially during the indoor scenes. |
| 155 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Practically the whole main cast has this. Beckett even warns Han not to trust anyone. In the climax of the film, Lando deserts Han; Han, Chewie, and Qi'ra double-cross Vos; Beckett double-crosses Han ''and'' Vos (though Han [[BatmanGambit accounted for this likelihood]]); and Qi'ra abandons Han, kills Vos, and takes over his position within Crimson Dawn. |
| 156 | * ComicBookAdaptation: |
| 157 | ** Robbie Thompson wrote a seven issue series for [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel]]. |
| 158 | ** Alessandro Ferrari wrote a graphic novel aimed at children for Creator/IDWPublishing. |
| 159 | * ComingInHot: As if getting shredded in the Maelstrom isn't bad enough, the ''Falcon'' also has a rough landing when she finally reaches Savareen. |
| 160 | * ContinuityNod: |
| 161 | ** The ''Millennium Falcon'' gradually turns from a luxury ship in pristine condition into the piece of junk it's famous for in the Original Trilogy. Han pulls some extreme maneuvers that heavily damage the ship while navigating in the Akkadese Maesltrom after escaping Kessel, and makes a rough landing on Savareen. [[RunningGag It also loses its radar dish]]... [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi once]] [[Film/TheLastJedi again]]. |
| 162 | ** During one of those maneuvers, Tobias injects the engines with unrefined coaxium to give the ''Falcon'' a NitroBoost. The result is a [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack familiar engine-failure sound]] right before the ''Falcon'' blasts out of a black hole. |
| 163 | ** Bossk, a Transdoshan who would later become one of the bounty hunters hired by the Empire to track down the ''Millennium Falcon'' in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', is name-dropped as one of the possible crewmates for Tobias's train job. Ironically, the person who takes Bossk's place is Han Solo, whom he would later be hired to track down some thirteen years later. |
| 164 | ** Tobias also considers the Xan sisters. Val's goggles that she wears in the film belonged to one of the sisters before she "borrowed" them. |
| 165 | ** Tam Posla, a background character from ''Film/RogueOne'', also shows up as a spectator watching Lando's first game of Sabacc with Han. |
| 166 | ** Beckett claims to have killed Aurra Sing, the bounty hunter who mentored a young Boba Fett during the Clone Wars, who first appeared as a background character in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''. |
| 167 | ** Kessel is controlled by the Pyke Syndicate, a recurring criminal gang from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''. |
| 168 | ** When listing the Imperial stations where coaxium could be stolen, one of those is the vault on Scarif, where the climactic battle of ''Film/RogueOne'' will occur. |
| 169 | ** A ''heroic'' version of "The Imperial March" (similar to the one played in the "Empire Day" episode of ''Star Wars Rebels'') plays in the Imperial recruitment video inside Coronet Spaceport. |
| 170 | ** Maul has the same cybernetic legs and kimono-like outfit that he wore in ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]].'' |
| 171 | ** It was noted in ''Film/ANewHope'' that stormtroopers do not form the primary ranks of the Imperial Army, and are, in fact, [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy supposed to be]] EliteMooks. This finally plays out with the introduction of the Imperial Infantry, who, as shown in the Battle of Mimban, are mostly green conscripts like Han and really ''are'' so [[WarIsHell terrified, untrained, and incompetent]] that Stormtroopers qualify as elite soldiers by comparison. |
| 172 | ** Felucia is mentioned as the planet where Lando set things straight with the Crimson Dawn in their previous cooperation. It is the tropical jungle planet on which Aayla Secura is executed by Clone Troopers during Order 66 in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. |
| 173 | ** Dryden Vos's trophies include a Sith holocron and a set of Mandalorian armor (like Boba Fett's). One of his servants is also a member of the Decraniated, the people who had parts or all of their heads ''[[BodyHorror removed]]'' and showed up briefly as background extras in ''Film/RogueOne.'' |
| 174 | ** ''Rebels'' shows that bribing a Stormtrooper is a bad idea. Here, bribing an Imperial officer is an ''even worse'' idea, as the officer only pretends to accept the bribe before betraying the briber. |
| 175 | ** The novelization goes on to show that the Cloud Riders pass on the coaxium given to them by Han to none other than Saw Gerrera and Jyn Erso. |
| 176 | ** Maul is already being hunted by the Empire and has killed at least one Inquisitor, as [[FreezeFrameBonus closer inspection]] reveals that he's already got the broken Inquisitor-saber he'll later use in ''Rebels''. |
| 177 | ** The unrefined coaxium is hidden in the same smuggling compartments where the heroes hide in ''Film/ANewHope''. |
| 178 | * ContrivedCoincidence: Han has intended to search for someone for years, and suddenly a long series of random events forces them to meet up and do a job together (neither party was actively looking for the other at the time this happened). It seems highly unlikely in such a broad setting. |
| 179 | * CoolShip: A given for a ''Star Wars'' movie. Vos's yacht/[[BaseOnWheels mobile headquarters]], the ''First Light'', is especially cool. As is Lando's souped-up ''Millennium Falcon'', at least until Han does the Kessel Run in it. Well, it still ends up the [[WhatAPieceOfJunk "piece of junk"]] ''Falcon'' we all know and love. |
| 180 | * CoolTrain: The target of the film's first heist, the [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Conveyex Conveyex]], an armored train that glides on magnetic rails, with wagons both above and below the rails. |
| 181 | * CorruptBureaucrat: Han and Qi'ra's plan to escape the Control Zone is to bribe their way past the checkpoint. It's incredibly easy. It would have worked, but Qi'ra got snagged by Proxima's goons just before she could get through and the bureaucrat, knowing the attention will get her caught, sounds the alarm, claiming Han broke through. |
| 182 | * CradlingYourKill: Han holds Beckett as he dies, after shooting him (first). Beckett was a mentor to Han, and Han was grieved that Beckett betrayed him and that he was forced to kill him. |
| 183 | * CrapsackWorld: |
| 184 | ** Under the Empire, Corellia is a poverty-ridden urban hellhole dominated by criminal gangs who are in a trust or collaborate with the government, and the shipyards -- once the planet's pride and joy -- have been co-opted to support its massive war machine. Moreover, the control of the Galaxy as a whole is divided between the Empire and powerful criminal gangs, neither of whom make life easy for people of low station. |
| 185 | ** Kessel is pretty crappy as well. |
| 186 | ---> '''Lando:''' Mining colonies are the worst. |
| 187 | * CreatorCameo: Behind the camera, even! While visiting the set, Creator/GeorgeLucas was invited to direct a scene on the ''Millennium Falcon''. |
| 188 | * CruelAndUnusualDeath: The Summa-verminoth, the creature Han and crew encounter in the Maw. The creature is pulled into the event horizon of a black hole and spends a solid minute struggling not to get sucked in. It gets visibly ''fried'' while still alive, and is pulled into the black hole, one layer at a time starting with its skin. The skeleton is then mulched by the gravity well as it finally gets sucked in. |
| 189 | * CunningPeoplePlayPoker: The film establishes the course of Han and Lando's relationship through the rest of the franchise over a game of Sabacc (think space poker). This demonstrates Lando's cunning and shows off Han's wit as well. |
| 190 | * CurbstompBattle: Right at the moment when Dryden's guards realize that [[OutGambitted they've been had]], the Cloud-Riders demolish them in less than a minute without apparently suffering any losses at all. |
| 191 | * DarkReprise: The song that plays as Qi'ra takes control of Crimson Dawn and prepares to call Maul (can be heard at the end of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubcqxXHik-U Testing Allegiance]]") is a dramatic, sorrowful, and ominous remix of Han and Qi'ra's dreamy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wummwZCt5s0 love theme]] from earlier in the film. |
| 192 | * DeadPersonImpersonation: On Mimban, Tobias and his crew use stolen Imperial Army uniforms (taken off dead Imperial officers) to infiltrate their forward operating base. Han notices the blaster marks on the uniforms and immediately deduces their intentions. |
| 193 | * DeceasedFallGuyGambit: At the end of the movie, Qi'ra pins the deaths of Dryden and all his men on Beckett, who she knows is about to be killed by Han. |
| 194 | * DecompositeCharacter: [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Garris_Shrike Garris Shrike]], Han's mentor from Legends, has his role essentially split into two characters here. Lady Proxima fulfills the role of TheFagin who uses Han and his fellow street urchins as her slaves, while Beckett takes his place in every other regard, especially as the mentor-figure who has a YouWouldntShootMe confrontation with Han in the finale. |
| 195 | * DeskSweepOfRage: Chewie tries this while losing a game of dejarik -- but, as Beckett points out, it doesn't work so well with holograms. |
| 196 | * DisneyVillainDeath: In this film, it's revealed that the bounty hunter Aurra Sing died this way at the hands of Tobias Beckett. He points out that ''he'' didn't kill her, the fall did after he "pushed her". |
| 197 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: L3-37 has to cut through the fence where the Falcon is impounded, but says she "can't do it with everyone watching". From their POV the android looks like someone urinating on a fence. |
| 198 | * DoubleMeaningTitle: Solo is Han's last name, but this movie can also be described as a standalone, or "solo" movie, like ''Film/RogueOne'' before it. |
| 199 | * DressingAsTheEnemy: |
| 200 | ** Tobias, Val, and Rio dress as Imperials while on Mimban. |
| 201 | ** During the slave/droid revolt on Kessel, Han wears the uniform of one of the guards to get into the coaxium storage. He's nearly found out by another guard when he doesn't understand what the latter is saying. |
| 202 | * EldritchLocation: To complete the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs, Han ends up flying through the Maw -- a collection of black holes, giant planet-sized chunks of ice and rock, [[SpaceClouds winds and space storms]], and giant tentacled horrors. |
| 203 | * EliteMooks: The Cloud-Riders function as this at first, giving Han and the crew way more trouble than the Imperial soldiers, and are directly responsible for the deaths of Rio and Val. It later turns out that they're [[GoodAllAlong actually the good guys]], and consequently switch from this trope to BadassArmy. |
| 204 | * EqualOpportunityEvil: Though it had been established in the Disney ExpandedUniverse materials that women served in the Empire without issue, ''Film/{{Solo}}'' is chronologically the first ''Franchise/StarWars'' movie to depict female Imperials. |
| 205 | * EnemyMine: Briefly discussed in the climax. After Beckett betrays them both, Dryden Vos offers to Han that they align together to get even with Beckett first. Han entertains the offer but realizes that it’s just a ploy to trick him into getting out of cover first, and resumes fighting Vos. |
| 206 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: |
| 207 | ** For the twelve people on the planet who still needed an introduction to Han Solo, the opening of this movie has him 1) steal a CoolCar landspeeder from a gangster, 2) make out with a hot girl after charming her with an incredibly expensive gift he stole from their gangster boss, 3) get chewed out by said gangster boss, 4) beat up one of her guards with his own weapon, 5) ''threaten'' his boss with a [[GuileHero (fake)]] thermal detonator, and 6) escape from said gangster boss with his girlfriend in said stolen landspeeder by [[BadassDriver driving like]] [[DrivesLikeCrazy a maniac]] through a busy highway and into an active ''factory''. All in the first ten minutes of the movie. |
| 208 | ** Beckett appears silhouetted against an explosion in the Battle of Mimban, fighting GunsAkimbo to deadly effect while everyone else is in various degrees of panic. The moment that Han tries to blackmail him, Beckett doesn't hesitate to use his (fake) officer credentials to have Han thrown into a pit to be FedToTheBeast. |
| 209 | ** The first we see of Dryden Vos is one of his servants mention that he's "done negotiating" with a regional governor. And by "negotiating" with the man, we mean literally the first shot we see of Vos is him ''ripping his blades out of the guy's chest''. Not only that, but he's also breathing heavily, suggesting that he is either seriously pissed off or ''seriously'' enjoyed murdering the guy. [[AxCrazy Or both.]] |
| 210 | ** This also has the benefit of establishing just how powerful the Crimson Dawn criminal empire really is: Vos killed a ''regional Imperial governor'' by his own hand, at a well-attended party. It won't be hard to determine how the governor was killed (by any Imperial investigators that bother to look). Vos simply doesn't care as either the Empire will look the other way, or his superiors will protect him. Either way, wow. Vos killed an Imperial elite, and has no foreseeable comeuppance coming from the Empire. That's power. |
| 211 | * EveryManHasHisPrice: Han and Qi'ra bribe their way past the emigration officer in the Imperial control zone, using a vial of coaxium. |
| 212 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: One of Beckett's biggest weaknesses. Han explains that this in turn made Beckett predictable. |
| 213 | --> '''Han:''' You know what your problem is? You think everybody's like you! |
| 214 | * ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Qi'ra has shoulder-length hair with a thick fringe in the prologue. When she meets up with Han three years later, her hair has grown longer and the fringe is kept off her forehead. |
| 215 | * FailedASpotCheck: Apparently, the entire Imperial infantry did this on Mimban. Only Han noticed that Tobias's uniform had blaster marks, but Beckett wasn't injured. |
| 216 | * FalseFlagOperation: Beckett's gang has to carry out the heist on Kessel while doing their best to hide the fact that Dryden Vos and the Crimson syndicate are behind it, since the Pyke syndicate, which controls the mines of Kessel, is in a truce with the Crimson Dawn. |
| 217 | * FascistButInefficient: The opening text makes it clear that, far from being a totalitarian well-oiled machine of "safe and secure society," the Galactic Empire has caused lawlessness and chaos across the galaxy which allowed criminal syndicates to flourish and become the true powers in this time period. |
| 218 | * FashionableAsymmetry: L3-37's arms and legs are noticeably not the same on both sides. It's not explained [[AllThereInTheManual in the movie]], but the reason for this is that L3 has repeatedly been upgrading herself by replacing her body parts with parts scavenged from other fallen droids. |
| 219 | * FedToTheBeast: For deserting the army, Han is dumped into an enclosure with a "beast" that hasn't eaten in three days. The "beast" is Chewbacca. |
| 220 | * {{Fembot}}: A downplayed example, although she doesn't look particularly feminine (or humanoid), Lando's droid L3-37 is the first main droid character in the series with explicitly feminine programming, with the only others in the main films being the minor droids EV-9D9 in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', TC-14 in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', and FLO the waitress at Dex's diner in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''. |
| 221 | * ForegoneConclusion: |
| 222 | ** Han, Chewie and Lando will survive this film; Han and Chewie will gain ownership of the ''Millennium Falcon''. |
| 223 | ** Han mentions in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' that he won the ship from Lando "fair and square" (over a game of Sabacc as revealed in this film). The film tries to play with this by having Lando win the match though cheating. When Han has a rematch with him in the ending, he's figured out Lando's trick and finally wins the ship from him "fair and square" (Han notably doesn't bother to use the cheat card he stole from Lando, meaning he has no grounds to argue). |
| 224 | ** Han's optimism and brighter personality will be eventually tempered by forces out of his control, as ''A New Hope'' establishes Han as the cynical smuggler who isn't a team player and is OnlyInItForTheMoney. |
| 225 | ** The romance between Han and Qi'ra is ultimately going to fall apart, since Han and Leia are the OfficialCouple of the Original Trilogy. |
| 226 | ** Whatever plans that Maul has will eventually be for naught, since we've already seen him die at some point after this film, and for some time before that he was seemingly bereft of any criminal syndicate resources. |
| 227 | ** The film ends with Han and Chewie flying to Tatooine to work for a certain "big-shot gangster" who can safely assumed to be Jabba the Hutt. However, we already know Han will end up in debt to Jabba by the time of ''A New Hope''. |
| 228 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 229 | ** When Han and Qi’ra are in line in Coronet Spaceport, Qi’ra briefly questions if leaving is the right choice because they could get snatched by Crimson Dawn or the Hutt Cartel. Qi’ra becomes a top lieutenant in Crimson Dawn and Han will ultimately become a smuggler for Jabba the Hutt. |
| 230 | ** The Crimson Dawn syndicate sounds like they ripped off their name from the Black Sun syndicate. Given that Maul turns out to be in charge of Crimson Dawn, just as he was in charge of Black Sun before they split, it was probably intentional naming by him. |
| 231 | ** Additionally, what kind of planet would have a ''crimson'' dawn? The red planet Dathomir, with its deep crimson atmosphere- Maul's homeworld. |
| 232 | ** Dryden says he can't officially condone the coaxium heist from Kessel because he has an alliance with the Pykes. Attentive viewers will be reminded of the Shadow Collective, AKA the massive criminal conglomerate that was assembled and led by Maul. |
| 233 | ** When Han first arrives at Lady Proxima's lair at the beginning of the movie, two of the kids can be heard playing sabacc in the background: one of them wins with a hand called "Full Sabacc" and the other one accuses him of cheating. During Han and Lando's first sabacc game, Lando wins with a "Full Sabacc"... which he obtains by cheating. |
| 234 | ** Vos has red double-bladed vibro-daggers, and Qi'ra mentions learning Teräs Käsi from him. Vos serves Maul, who was a practitioner of Teräs Käsi in ''Legends'' and has a red double-bladed lightsaber. |
| 235 | ** Vos' scars look like someone raked a lightsaber across his face, and he says he knows the price of failure. Maul would be the kind of person who would punish that way. The scars down his face also visually resemble Maul's facial markings. |
| 236 | ** Part of Vos' collection appears to be a large Sith holocron. Which makes sense, because his boss is a former Sith lord. |
| 237 | ** With its orchestral chanting, Enfys Nest's theme sounds similar to "Duel of the Fates", a piece of music heavily associated with Darth Maul. |
| 238 | ** The singers doing the OminousLatinChanting in Enfys Nest's leitmotif sound very notably [[SamusIsAGirl young and female.]] |
| 239 | ** The audience will probably join Dryden in wondering how Han was able to make convincing fake coaxium so easily. That's because he didn't. |
| 240 | ** For someone who claims to care about others, Beckett [[LackOfEmpathy sure gets over the deaths of Val and Rio easily.]] So it's not much surprise when he betrays Han to Vos in the climax. |
| 241 | ** Likewise, when Beckett tells Han, "Assume everyone will betray you and you will never be disappointed," it hints at Beckett's own untrustworthy nature. |
| 242 | ** While teaching Chewie how to play dejarik, Beckett tells him to anticipate his opponent and plan a few moves ahead. Little does he know that Han will do that to him. |
| 243 | * FTLTestBlunder: The Kessel Run is a risky coaxium smuggling route, due to the danger of carrying a volatile fuel across a path that takes multiple stops to ensure the ship's hyperspace flight doesn't get brought to an end by the Akkadese Maelstrom's black holes. During a heist, Han Solo attempts to save time before the coaxium explodes by charting a new route directly through the Maelstrom, though it runs into numerous hazards of carbonbergs, Imperial patrols, predators in the Maelstrom, and the infamous black hole "The Maw". When the ''Millenium Falcon'' gets caught in the Maw's grip, only a careful dose of coaxium gives the boost they need to escape it. |
| 244 | * GenreBusting: Much like previous Star Wars films, it's been described as a SpaceWestern, blending [[TheWestern Western]] tropes, elements of heist and crime-based stories, and the classic SpaceOpera genre. |
| 245 | * GilliganCut: Han enlists in the Imperial navy on Corellia, stating that he's going to be a pilot. Cut to three years later, and he's a ground trooper in the trenches of a [[WarIsHell chaotic war zone]]. (On the other hand, the Imperial recruiter ''did'' promise Han "We'll have you flying in no time" and that one explosion ''did'' send Han flying, so at least ''that'' part was accurate.) |
| 246 | * GoodAllAlong: The Cloud-Riders are a nascent rebel cell fighting the Empire, the group's members composed of people who suffered under the Empire or its criminal cartels' rule. |
| 247 | * GoodIsNotDumb: When Han agrees to help the Cloud-Riders, he tells Beckett his plan to dupe Dryden, but Beckett decides to leave, claiming he's going to take a job on Tatooine. It turns out, however, that Beckett, whose life philosophy is based on expecting everyone to betray him, had actually gone to tell Dryden about the plan. Fortunately, Han knew that Beckett would do this, saying that Beckett's philosophy made him predictable, which allows Han, Chewie, Qi'ra & the Cloud-Riders to defeat Beckett, Dryden & his Goons, and secure the Coaxium. |
| 248 | * GoodIsNotNice: Despite being GoodAllAlong, the Cloud-Riders are absolutely ruthless in the pursuit of their goals, attacking Beckett's first crew without hesitation (killing Rio in the process) during the Conveyex heist and seemingly killing every last one of Dryden's guards after [[OutGambitted outwitting them]] in the climax. |
| 249 | * GoodLuckGesture: Lando and L3-37's exchange before making the jump to lightspeed is probably a pre-flight ritual they've done hundreds of times. It was actually first seen on film in ''Return of the Jedi'', between Lando and Han. |
| 250 | * GravitySucks: THE MAW. They fly as HARD as they can, and it keeps pulling them backward. Painfully slowly. |
| 251 | * GreaterScopeVillain: |
| 252 | ** This time it's not Emperor Palpatine, but his former apprentice Maul, who has become a [[TheDon crime lord]] and is Vos's superior, meaning the whole operation was indirectly his doing. With that said, he only appears via hologram for one scene and Han has no idea who was behind it all along. |
| 253 | ** Also, of course, TheEmpire, who tyrannically rule the galaxy during this period, making them about the Greatest Scope Villains you could get. They turn up a few times to do generic villain stuff: trying to capture Han and Qi'ra in the prologue, spreading military propaganda, recruiting mooks (and demoting those who show a mind of their own, according to Han), invading a planet, imprisoning Chewie, trying to feed Han ''to'' Chewie as punishment for desertion, and finally turning up to antagonise Han and his comrades during the famous Kessel Run, plus they're mentioned as having massacred or otherwise oppressed the various homeworlds of the Cloud-Riders, prompting them to found a [[CallForward rebellion]]. Nonetheless, despite being recurring antagonists, the self-contained main plot of the movie barely concerns them. |
| 254 | * GroinAttack: During the heist in the Kessel mines, Han takes down a guard by faking the language and kicking him in the balls. |
| 255 | -->'''Beckett:''' That's... impressive, that's what that is.\ |
| 256 | '''Qi'ra:''' [nods] |
| 257 | * GunsAkimbo: Both Beckett and Lando wield and fire two guns at once, Beckett on Mimban and both of them on Kessel. |
| 258 | * GunTwirling: Tobias Beckett can draw and holster with style (and with [[GunsAkimbo two guns at once]], no less). Han is impressed and asks him for some pointers, which he flatly refuses. |
| 259 | * HeKnowsTooMuch: When Han figures out that Beckett and his crew aren't Imperials, Val offers to shoot him. Beckett prefers a NeckSnap before having Han thrown into the pit with Chewbacca. |
| 260 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Dryden taught Qi'ra how to use Teras Kasi. She uses that to kill him. |
| 261 | * HoldYourHippogriffs: |
| 262 | --> '''L3:''' ''(to a droid)'' You've been neurowashed[[labelnote:*]]brainwashed[[/labelnote]]! |
| 263 | * IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: |
| 264 | --> '''Lando:''' [L3] says we're approaching The Maw.\ |
| 265 | '''Beckett:''' That doesn't sound like something we wanna be approaching. |
| 266 | * IJustWantToBeSpecial: "I'm gonna be a pilot. Best in the galaxy." |
| 267 | * IJustWantToHaveFriends: A large part of Han's story is how he wants to have people he can trust and rely on but how everyone he tries to form a relationship with ends up leaving him if not stabbing him in the back. The film's bitter-sweet ending sees Han abandoned by his girlfriend and forced to kill the man he wants to be his mentor/father figure, but he ''does'' find one true friend in Chewie. Fortunately, we know that he has more friends coming in his future. |
| 268 | * INeedAFreakingDrink: |
| 269 | ** Enfys Nest declares such after realizing it is too late to steal the coaxium and that all her efforts have been in vain. Entering the cantina Han and his associates were just in with her gang. |
| 270 | ** This is written all over Beckett's face when he heads for the bar while waiting to meet Dryden Voss. |
| 271 | * InstantlyProvenWrong: |
| 272 | ** As they are leaving Kessel and see the Imperial blockade, Han assures the others they won't bother sending TIE fighters after a freighter like them. Cue TIE fighters. |
| 273 | ** Later when confronted by the Cloud-Riders, Han tries to pull a BackupBluff on them, saying there are thirty armed men aboard the ''Falcon'' who will come running at his call. The ''Falcon'' promptly takes off. |
| 274 | * IntelligibleUnintelligible: Han understands Shyriiwook and can even speak some, which saves him from suffocating in the mud at the hands of Chewbacca. |
| 275 | * InternalReveal: Played with. Maul's return is a legitimate shock to the audience, and is rightfully portrayed as such. Unlike the audience, however, Qi'ra doesn't know who quite who she's dealing with until he [[OhCrap grabs his lightsaber with the Force and ignites it.]] |
| 276 | * {{Interquel}}: The story takes place 10 BBY, nine years after the rise of the Empire in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', and a decade before Han and Chewbacca meet Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine in ''Film/ANewHope''. |
| 277 | * IShallReturn: Han's LoveInterest Qi'ra is captured as they're on the verge of escaping from Corellia. He swears he will return for her as she's dragged off, even joining the Imperial military to become a pilot. After deserting and hooking up with a CaperCrew to get enough money for a spaceship so he can return to Corella to keep his promise, he's surprised to encounter Qi'ra sooner than he expects, working as a lieutenant in the criminal organisation that employs them. Han doesn't listen when it's pointed out that Qi'ra may not be the same innocent girl he once knew. |
| 278 | * ItHasBeenAnHonor: Val's last words to Beckett before she blows the bridge (that she's standing on): "It's been a ride, babe. And I wouldn't trade it for anything." |
| 279 | * KansasCityShuffle: Han's plan at the end was to trick Vos and Tobias into believing that the coaxium was fake so that Vos's men would be distracted when they find that the boxes they found were empty and are not ready for the Cloud-Riders to attack them leaving Vos and Tobias alone aside from two Mooks. |
| 280 | * KilledMidSentence: |
| 281 | ** An Imperial officer gets blown up mid-rallying cry on Mimban. |
| 282 | ---> '''Han:''' Where are we going?\ |
| 283 | '''Officer:''' Just over that ridge! Victory is--''(BOOM)'' |
| 284 | ** Beckett gets fatally shot by Han mid-speech. |
| 285 | ---> '''Beckett:''' I hope you're still paying attention, because now I'm gonna tell you the most import--''(gets shot)'' |
| 286 | * KneelBeforeZod: During their TrojanPrisoner gambit, Han and Chewie are forced to their knees by mooks with shock prods. |
| 287 | * LaserGuidedKarma: After cheating to win their first game of Sabacc and abandoning the others to face the Cloud-Riders and Crimson Dawn on their own, Lando loses the ''Millennium Falcon'' to Han in a rematch because Han stole his extra card beforehand. |
| 288 | * LateArrivalSpoiler: The fact that Maul is alive may surprise anyone who hasn't watched either ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' or ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels''. |
| 289 | * LaterInstallmentWeirdness: |
| 290 | ** This is the first ''Star Wars'' film where C-3PO and R2-D2 don't appear, even in a cameo (though Anthony Daniels does show up briefly). |
| 291 | ** Similarly, the first ''Star Wars'' film where none of the Original Trilogy actors reprise their roles in any fashion. |
| 292 | ** It's also the first ''Star Wars'' movie where no Skywalker family member is seen or mentioned whatsoever. |
| 293 | ** Also, the first ''Star Wars'' film without any use of lightsabers in battle - in fact, we only even see one for a few seconds, and even that's in a hologram. |
| 294 | ** It's the first ''Star Wars'' movie where an actual ''war'' is not part of the main plot. The Mimban campaign makes a [[WarIsHell brief but memorable appearance]], but none of the main characters actually have any investment in it except for trying to get the hell away as far as possible. No Rebels appear except Enfys Nest and her Cloud-Riders. |
| 295 | ** It's also the first film where the Force isn't mentioned anywhere and where no Force-sensitive individual is seen in action apart from Maul's very brief scene at the end. For that matter, the word "Jedi" is not pronounced anywhere. Although, those that have read Expanded Universe material get a major clue with the use of Teras Kasi, a martial art form known to be developed for use ''against Jedi'', giving savvy viewers an indication that somewhere, a Force-user is involved. |
| 296 | ** Also, the first film in the franchise where the RunningGag of a character saying "I have a bad feeling about this!" OnceAnEpisode is broken. Instead, the line is ironically inverted to "I have a '''really good''' feeling about this!". |
| 297 | * LeetLingo: Lando's right-hand droid is named L3-37. 1337 is leetspeak for "leet/elite." |
| 298 | * LemmingCops: The TIE Fighters pursuing the ''Falcon'' blindly dive out of the Kessel Run safe lane and into the Maelstrom, where they stand an even smaller chance of surviving than their quarry. |
| 299 | * LineOfSightName: How Han gets his famous last name: while being recruited by the Empire, he's asked to enlist and only shares his first name (which could also be his '''only''' name). Since he's by himself, the recruitment officer improvises with "Han Solo". (This works better when dubbed into languages like Spanish, where "alone" is translated into "solo", making it much more obvious.) |
| 300 | * LighterAndSofter: |
| 301 | ** The film is lighter in tone compared to the previous ''Anthology'' film, ''Film/RogueOne'', essentially being a Western-inspired crime caper ([[InSpace IN SPACE!]]), while ''Rogue One'' is a gritty war film. |
| 302 | ** It's also lighter than ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' and ''Film/TheLastJedi'', the other two films since the Disney buyout. While they're lighter than ''Rogue One'', they have very high stakes and go into some rather dark territory and themes (especially with Kylo Ren's scenes), and large amounts of death. While ''Solo'' does have some dark moments and quite a few deaths, it's much lower-stakes and (possibly excluding the Battle of Mimban) doesn't go as dark as the other two, rather being a mostly lighthearted ''Indiana Jones''-esque film. |
| 303 | * LowerDeckEpisode: The movie is set during a less chaotic time in the Galaxy, after the end of the Clone Wars and prior to the all-out war between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire. The plot focuses on Han's first ventures into the galaxy's criminal underworld and doesn't involve the MythArc of the Skywalker family. |
| 304 | * MadeOfExplodium: Unrefined coaxium is ''extremely'' unstable. This is why Han has to make his famous "Kessel Run" to get the containers to a non-imperial refinery before they overheat and explode. Even refined coaxium blows up quite nicely. . . one train car full dropped down a chasm obliterates two-thirds of an entire mountain. |
| 305 | * MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Rio gets shot in the shoulder but passes it off as JustAFleshWound. He dies minutes later. |
| 306 | * TheManBehindTheMan: Vos warns that, if they fail them, they'll be at the mercy of the criminal boss that '''he''' answers to. Turns out that "he" is none other than Maul himself. |
| 307 | * MauveShirt: Beckett's original partners Val and Rio get a bit of characterization, but they don't survive the train heist. |
| 308 | * MeleeATrois: The MexicanStandoff in the climax splinters into at least ''four'' opposing sides - Han and Chewie are double-crossed by Beckett, and Qi'ra reluctantly takes Vos' side. Then Han reveals that he [[OutGambitted predicted Beckett's betrayal ahead of time]], and Beckett betrays Vos and leaves with the coaxium, setting up a threeway battle between Vos, Han, and Qi'ra, ''all'' of whom want to kill Beckett and take back the coaxium. Then Qi'ra pretends to betray Han, only to betray Vos for real, and ''then'' abandon Han after he leaves to hunt down Beckett. |
| 309 | * MentorOccupationalHazard: Beckett serves as a mentor to Han... and by the end of the film, Han is forced to shoot him. Beckett even congratulates him for it; he finally learned not to trust anyone. |
| 310 | * MomentKiller: Tobias Beckett to Han and Qi'ra, twice: first aboard the ''Falcon'' and later on Savareen, both times by reminding them they have a mission. |
| 311 | --> '''Beckett:''' Am I interrupting something?\ |
| 312 | '''Han:''' Kinda...\ |
| 313 | '''Beckett:''' Good, because we got a lot of work to do. |
| 314 | * MookDepletion: After Dreydan''s ambush on the Cloud-Raiders backfires and causes his goons to be killed, Han quips that if he had dispatched his entire team of enforcers, then his organization was going to be severely under-manned. |
| 315 | * MuckingInTheMud: |
| 316 | ** The battlefield on Mimban is directly comparable to [=WW1=] fortifications: a series of trenches and foxholes in a huge swamp created by shelling and rain. Han is ''not'' enthused about being told to scout a nearby marsh. |
| 317 | --->'''Han:''' Great. More mud. |
| 318 | ** There's also the execution pit Han is thrown into, wherein he meets Chewbacca. |
| 319 | * MuggedForDisguise: Han was planning to do so with a guard in the Kessel mine elevator, but Chewbacca spoiled the opportunity by ripping the guard's arms off. Doubles as a MythologyGag, wherein we learn that Han wasn't lying that a Wookie might just rip your arms off. |
| 320 | -->'''Han:''' Great. That was the uniform that would've fit me perfectly, but it's fine. |
| 321 | * MySensorsIndicateYouWantToTapThat: L3 can detect Han's heart fluctuations whenever he's near Qi'ra. |
| 322 | * MythologyGag: |
| 323 | ** In order to get Lando to bet the ''Falcon'', Han bets a VCX-100 freighter (which he doesn't have), the same model of ship as the ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Ghost]]''. |
| 324 | ** Various elements of the story seem to be inspired by ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': |
| 325 | *** The idea of Han being in the Imperial military in the film is a definite nod. There are also a number of similarities between Tobias Beckett and Garris Shrike in terms of appearance, personality, and role in the story, as well as Qi'ra and Bria Tharen: |
| 326 | *** Beckett betrays Han, and dies in the same manner as Shrike--shot to death so that Han can escape to live his new life with Chewie as a smuggler, although unlike Shrike, Han greatly regrets how their relationship ends, and Beckett doesn't act as the cruel enslaver forcing street urchins to steal for him, that role being given to Lady Proxima instead. |
| 327 | *** Qi'ra, meanwhile, also hails from Corellia and is an early love Han gets separated from, and like Bria she grows to become a highly-placed member of an elite and clandestine organization competing with various crime syndicates for the materials and funding to support its secret goals, and [[IDidWhatIHadToDo willing to do whatever it takes to achieve them]]. Like Bria, she also betrays Han, but rather than the nascent Rebellion being her ultimate employer, it's a villainous organization--and one which actually has its origin in the Empire thanks to Maul--and in fact she ends up working at odds with the Cloud-Raiders, who are a Rebel precursor cell. Bria's team, incidentally, was called the ''Red'' Hand Squadron, while Qi'ra is part of the ''Crimson'' Dawn. In general, it feels as if the writers took a number of elements from the novels and either inverted them or divided them between several characters. |
| 328 | ** Lando namedrops Sharu, Oseon and the Starcave, three main settings of the ''Literature/TheLandoCalrissianAdventures'' trilogy. The fact that he has a droid as a co-pilot, meanwhile, is a nod to Vuffi Raa. |
| 329 | ** L3 bears resemblance to [=LE-BO2D9=], a.k.a. Leebo, Dash Rendar's droid copilot from ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire''. |
| 330 | ** L3 refers to Black Spire, the setting for the [[Ride/StarWarsGalaxysEdge Galaxy's Edge]] Land in the Disney Parks. |
| 331 | ** Beckett walks in on Han and Qi'ra kissing in a tucked away place in the ''Falcon''. |
| 332 | ** When Qi'ra contacts her boss, Maul, he tells her to meet him on Dathomir, first identified as his home planet in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''. |
| 333 | ** Dryden's organization being called "The Crimson Dawn" sounds very similar to the Black Sun Syndicate from Legends and ''The Clone Wars''. Given that Maul is holding the reins of both organizations, it's probably not a coincidence that they have similar names. |
| 334 | ** Solo is offered a place in the Rebellion at the end, and when he refuses, he's told that the spot is open if he reconsiders. [[ChangedMyMindKid The word "kid" is used]]. |
| 335 | ** The way Beckett deconstructs his DL-44 from rifle into a pistol before giving it to Han is similar how Kyle Katarn's father sawed down his Bryar rifle into Katarn's Bryar pistol. |
| 336 | ** As ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'' fans will remember, this isn't the first time the Pykes have been allied with Maul's criminal organization. |
| 337 | ** Beckett tells Han that he has one last thing to teach him. Han shoots him first. |
| 338 | ** In the Legends continuity the ''Falcon'''s temperamental nature was chalked up to Han modifying her with non-compatible parts that were jury-rigged together simply because they were the best and most powerful he could get his hands on. Here he does largely the same thing: plugging L3's droid brain into the ''Falcon's'' main computer to use her specialized navigational systems. |
| 339 | ** Han being a talented pilot who was kicked out of the Imperial Academy and demoted down to a mere stormtrooper, only to end up as a vital part of the Empire's defeat, brings to mind Legends character Davin Felth. |
| 340 | ** Beckett says that he'll spend his retirement days on Glee Anselm: an ocean world and the Nautolan Jedi Master Kit Fisto's home planet. |
| 341 | ** The deformed BigBad orders his dark-haired second-in-command to kill the main character, who they have feelings for, with a sword, only for the dark-haired second-in-command to turn on the villain and kill him with a blade, before taking his place and betraying the main character. [[Film/TheLastJedi Sound familiar?]] |
| 342 | ** Dryden Vos' office aboard the ''First Light'' contains a number of artifacts, including two [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Rakatan_wraith_box Rakatan Wraith Boxes]], which made their first ''Legends'' appearance in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic''. In the ''Legends'' continuity, the Rakatans were a race of AbusivePrecursors known for their immense dark side power, and the box itself was allegedly mentioned in in-universe legends by the ancient Sith lord Ajunta Pall, which could be taken as additional {{Foreshadowing}} for eagle-eyed fans as to the true nature of Vos' superior. |
| 343 | *** Other artifacts of the Old Republic present in Dryden Vos's office include a slab of obsidian taken from the Tomb of the Sith Lord [[ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi Exar Kun]], a near complete suit of [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Mandalorian Rally Master]] armor, and the aforementioned Sith holocron. |
| 344 | ** Han brags to Qi'ra that he's here on Dryden's yacht working on a "very big deal". Never forget the advice he gave Finn. "Listen up, Big Deal, women can always tell." |
| 345 | ** [=C3PO=] said that the Falcon navicomputer was the worst he'd ever met. Well, now we've met the navicomputer; it's L3, and there's a very good reason she'd never get along with [[HappinessInSlavery 3PO]]. |
| 346 | ** Han warned R2 and [=3PO=] that a wookie might "tear your arms off when he's upset". We finally get to see Chewie do exactly that. |
| 347 | * NiceMeanAndInBetween: The original CaperCrew. |
| 348 | ** Nice: Rio, the most affable and easygoing of the three. |
| 349 | ** Mean: Val, who's openly contemptuous of Han. |
| 350 | ** In-Between: Beckett, who's gruff but acts as TheMentor for Han. |
| 351 | * NitroBoost: Beckett injects some drops of unrefined coaxium in the ''Millennium Falcon'''s engine, which gives the ship an acceleration boost that's powerful enough to escape the Maw. |
| 352 | * NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Lando races after a mortally wounded L3 when she's cut down on Kessel. When he gets shot himself, Han charges in to rescue them both. To show this trope even further: Chewie charges in to carry Lando and L3 to help Han, and Qi'ra tosses two heavy grenades to help cover all of them. |
| 353 | * NoodleIncident: |
| 354 | ** Whatever it was that Han did during the TimeSkip to get himself kicked out of the Naval Academy at Carida and reassigned to the Imperial Army. When asked, he only says that it involved him thinking for himself. |
| 355 | ** The film is the [[ResolvedNoodleIncident un-noodling]] of various Noodle Incidents that Han and Lando refer to in the original trilogy. |
| 356 | * NotHisSled: Long-time fans will know that Han won the ''Falcon'' from Lando in a game of Sabacc. This film pulls the rug out on the audience's expectations by having Han lose the initial card game to Lando (via cheating), only to [[DoubleSubverted win it in a rematch]] at the end of the movie. |
| 357 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Maul somehow managed to escape the [[ComicBook/DarthMaulSonOfDathomir destruction of the Shadow Collective]] and rebuild his criminal syndicate, and given that [[FreezeFrameBonus he's already got]] the broken Inquisitor-saber he'll later use in ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'', he's already fought and killed at least one Inquisitor. |
| 358 | * OhCrap: |
| 359 | ** Han's reaction when Beckett tells him that the failed TrainJob was for [[TheDreaded Crimson Dawn]]. |
| 360 | ** The look on the crew's faces when an Imperial Star Destroyer shows up to block their escape from Kessel. |
| 361 | ** Not long after the crew evade the Imperial Star Destroyer, when they restore power to the ''Falcon'', they see a giant eyeball staring right at them. |
| 362 | ** And then another one when the coaxium NitroBoost almost kills the ''Falcon's'' engine and sends them falling into a black hole. |
| 363 | ** Dryden has this reaction when he realizes that Han and Chewie have just tricked him into [[BatmanGambit sending all of his guards after the fake coaxium]], leaving him virtually defenseless. |
| 364 | ** You can see it really start to sink in for Qi'ra just how ''dangerous'' the leader of Crimson Dawn is when Maul ignites his lightsaber, [[InternalReveal revealing himself to be a Sith Lord]]. |
| 365 | * OminousLatinChanting: Enfys Nest's leitmotif makes use of this, although the voices in it sound more [[SamusIsAGirl younger and female]] than the classic version of the trope. |
| 366 | * OneDegreeOfSeparation: Turns out just before he flew from one end of the galaxy to the other, Han worked with someone who worked for someone else who would all too eagerly show him how real the Force is. |
| 367 | * OncePerEpisode: |
| 368 | ** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]: "I got a really ''good'' feeling about this." |
| 369 | ** The ''Millennium Falcon'' is - again - called a [[WhatAPieceOfJunk piece of junk]]. |
| 370 | * OriginsEpisode: The film details Han's [[CrapsackWorld crapsack homeworld]], how he and Chewie's legendary friendship came to be, how Han came to know Lando Calrissian, how he obtained the ''Millennium Falcon'', and moreover, how Han embraced a career in the Galaxy's criminal underworld. |
| 371 | * OutGambitted: |
| 372 | ** Han tries to blackmail Becket to get a spot on his squad, threatening to expose his scam to the lieutenant, only for Beckett to call the lieutenant over and claim to have caught Han deserting. |
| 373 | ** Done at least twice. Han plans to betray Vos with a shipment of fake coaxium, only for Vos to spot the ruse thanks to Beckett informing on him. Then Han reveals that he ''[[BatmanGambit knew]]'' Beckett would betray him, and the coaxium in the shipment he's giving to Vos is actually ''real''. |
| 374 | * OutOfTheFryingPan: The ''Millennium Falcon'' crew successfully evades a squadron of TIE fighters chasing them in the Kessel Run... only to bump into the Summa-verminoth. And by evading ''that'', they nearly fall into a black hole. |
| 375 | * ParentalAbandonment: Han apparently ended up on the streets by the age of ten. It's not stated exactly what happened with his parents (only his father is mentioned) but they seemingly died somehow and left him an orphan. |
| 376 | * PassingTheTorch: Beckett intentionally does this to Han when he passes his DL-44 blaster pistol (Beckett had it in rifle configuration) to Han. Han later uses his blaster for the rest of his life. |
| 377 | * PlausibleDeniability: The only reason Vos okays the Kessel heist is because Beckett and his crew aren't members of Crimson Dawn, so if they’re caught, it won't jeopardize his tenuous alliance with the Pyke Syndicate. |
| 378 | * PointOfNoReturn: After the disastrous TrainJob, Beckett explains to Han that he now has the misfortune of reporting to his boss, Dryden Vos. Since Vos has never heard of Han before, if Han elects to continue associating with Beckett past this point, there's no turning back for him. |
| 379 | * ThePreciousPreciousCar: The Kessel Run shreds the ''Millennium Falcon'' from the space equivalent of a luxury yacht to the [[WhatAPieceOfJunk piece of junk]] she becomes known as. Lando is ''not'' happy about it. |
| 380 | --> '''Lando:''' I hate you.\ |
| 381 | '''Han:''' I know. |
| 382 | * {{Prequel}}: Functions as one for the Original Trilogy, as it happens ten years before Han and Chewbacca met Luke and Obi-Wan in ''A New Hope'' and details Han's first meeting with Lando Calrissian, who was first seen in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. It also happens about ten years before ''Rogue One'' and four years before the start of ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]''. |
| 383 | * RailCarSeparation: During the TrainJob, Han and Chewie are the ones who decouple the cars with the coaxium. |
| 384 | * RammingAlwaysWorks: When a TIE Fighter flies above the ''Falcon'' where Beckett can't shoot it, Han flips the ''Falcon'' to knock the fighter into an asteroid. |
| 385 | * RealityIsUnrealistic: Done InUniverse in the climax. Vos compliments Han on the "realism" of the fake coaxium Han has given to him, only for Han to reveal that it actually ''is'' real. Justified, as Vos has been told by an informer that it is fake, so he probably isn't looking very closely. |
| 386 | * ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Chewbacca tells Han he is 190 years old. All Han can say in response is that he "looks great". |
| 387 | * RecruitersAlwaysLie: The Imperial recruitment officer tells Han he'll love working for the Empire. Three years later, he's on a muddy battlefield on Mimban, and he tries to desert when he sees an opportunity. (In fairness he ''had'' been assigned to flight training as promised, but was demoted to CannonFodder for unexplained reasons). |
| 388 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: Dryden's eyes and scars turn red as he gets angry. |
| 389 | * RedRightHand: Dryden has what appear to be scars covering his face and a weird hook-like claw on one thumb. |
| 390 | * RefugeInAudacity: Han tries to pretend a rock is a thermal detonator, makes a clicking sound and says he's armed it. {{Subverted}}, because it completely fails in half a second. |
| 391 | * RefusalOfTheCall: This is, confusingly, both the first time and not the first time, that Han has opted not to join the rebellion. |
| 392 | * ResolvedNoodleIncident: We now get to see the storied Kessel Run speed record being broken (mentioned in ''A New Hope'') ''and'' the Sabacc game with the ''Millennium Falcon'' on the line (mentioned in ''Empire Strikes Back''). Han did the stupidest thing possible and flew into a black hole storm for the former, and out-cheated the cheater for the second. |
| 393 | * {{Retirony}}: Rio talks about paying off his debts and opening a cantina, and more than once Beckett talks about returning to his home planet and learning to play the valachord (originally with Val going with him). None of them survive the events of this film. |
| 394 | * RetroactiveIdiotBall: Han and Leia choosing to pass on the Solo name rather than the Organa name as revealed in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' never made a ton of sense considering that Alderaan was a [[{{Matriarchy}} matriarchal society]] and Organa is the name of a royal house and of one of the few remaining Alderaanian bloodlines, but it makes even less sense after this film revealed that Solo wasn't even Han's original last name and was given to him as a placeholder by an ''Imperial officer''. |
| 395 | ** Then again, Leia isn't an Organa by blood herself, being a Skywalker instead. |
| 396 | * TheReveal: For fans not familiar with the extended universe, the fact that Maul survived and is the head of the Crimson Dawn would come as a huge shock. |
| 397 | * RobbingTheMobBank: Beckett's gang steals unrefined coaxium from the Pyke cartel on Kessel during the second heist. |
| 398 | * {{Robosexual}}: L3 claims that Lando has feelings of a romantic nature for her. This is never confirmed, though Lando does seem very distraught by the prospect of losing her. |
| 399 | * RobosexualsAreCreeps: Qi'ra is noticeably unnerved by Lando and L3-37's relationship, particularly when L3-37 says their relationship "works." |
| 400 | * ARoundOfDrinksForTheHouse: Lando buys drinks for everyone after beating Han at sabacc. |
| 401 | * RunningGag: |
| 402 | ** The ''Millennium Falcon'' loses its radar dish again (for the first time) during the escape from Kessel. |
| 403 | ** Han just can't seem to kiss the girl aboard the ''Falcon'' without being interrupted. |
| 404 | ** Inverted, when at one point, Han says, "I have a really good feeling about this." |
| 405 | * SamusIsAGirl: It's revealed that Enfys Nest, who wears gender-obscuring armor and uses a voice filter, is a very young woman allied with the nascent Rebellion. |
| 406 | * SavedByCanon: Similar to ''Film/RogueOne'', characters from the Original Trilogy (Han, Chewie and Lando) are in zero danger during this movie. Their relationships and personal histories are up for grabs, though. |
| 407 | * SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud: Han tries to scare Lady Proxima with a rock by saying it's a bomb and makes a clicking noise to "activate" it. |
| 408 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Lando takes off in the falling-apart ''Falcon'' soon after the Cloud-Riders arrive on Savareen, with the Crimson Dawn on the way as well. He doesn't even stick around to get his share of coaxium as payment. |
| 409 | * SchrodingersCanon: |
| 410 | ** ''Solo'' renders two parts of Han's ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'' backstory from ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'' canon, in that he's been living on the streets and running scams since childhood, and he enlisted to become a pilot in the Imperial Navy for some time before deserting to become a smuggler instead. (The movie does change the precise circumstances of his departure from Corellia significantly, however.) |
| 411 | ** The planet Mimban originally appeared in ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'', arguably the first ''Legends'' work. However, because of the perspective we see it from and the brief time the plot spends there, it's unclear just how similar it is to the earlier version ([[SingleBiomePlanet though it is foggy and swampy, two things the book version had in abundance]]). |
| 412 | ** Qi'ra mentions being trained in Teräs Käsi, a martial art prominent in ''Legends'' continuity. The particularly eagle-eyed and informed will ''immediately'' raise an eyebrow that Qi'ra can use it, will understand L3's shock, and will not be quite as surprised at a later reveal and by how Qi'ra "can't leave Crimson Dawn behind". |
| 413 | ** The Maw has also been recanonized (albeit as one large black hole in a nearly-unnavigable nebula, instead of a large cluster of black holes). |
| 414 | ** The ''Falcon'''s designation as a YT-1300 transport, and that it's a Corellian design (specifically manufactured by a company called [=CEC=], in the Legends continuity short for Corellian Engineering Corporation), is first mentioned onscreen here. It had been known as such for ''decades'' in ''Legends'', but this is the first time it's been said on-screen. |
| 415 | ** Similarly, Corellia's capital is mentioned to be Coronet, as established in the novels. |
| 416 | ** Enfys Nest is the leader of the Cloud-Riders, a Swoop gang which first appeared in the original ''ComicBook/StarWarsMarvel1977'' comics. |
| 417 | ** Carida, a military world known for having the best Imperial training in the galaxy and introduced in ''Legends'', is mentioned by an Imperial recruiter at the beginning of the film. |
| 418 | ** Chewbacca being 190 years old fits with his age around the time of the Original Trilogy in the ''Legends'' continuity, which was stated by pre-Disney [=EU=] materials to be about 200. |
| 419 | * SedgwickSpeech: On Mimban, Han's commanding officer, Major Staz, pulls him to his feet and orders him to keep marching forward, insisting that their objective is "just over that last ridge" and shouting about the Empire's impending victory. He is KilledMidSentence by an artillery shell ''seconds'' later. |
| 420 | * SequelHook: Although the film was originally touted as a one-off OriginsEpisode for Han Solo, the ending sets up a number of possibilities for a sequel - Qi'ra has taken control of Crimson Dawn, and answers directly to Maul, and Han explains his plan to go to Tatooine to work for a certain "big shot gangster"[[note]]presumably Jabba the Hutt[[/note]]. We also meet Lando, but don't get to see him end up in Cloud City, so there's still room to explore the younger version of the character. |
| 421 | * ShipSinking: Although it was a ForegoneConclusion, Han and Qi'ra's relationship officially comes to an end when she parts ways with him to seize power within Crimson Dawn (while ensuring the blame for Vos' death falls on Beckett, sparing Han and Chewie the attention of Maul). |
| 422 | * ShooOutTheClowns: PluckyComicRelief guy Rio is killed during the conveyex heist. The story gets much more serious from there, with the introduction of the Crimson Dawn into the plot. |
| 423 | * ShootYourMate: Qi'ra herself suggests this as the only way to prove her loyalty, after being caught lying about Han's intentions. Fortunately we never see how far she's willing to go to survive. |
| 424 | * ShoutOut: |
| 425 | ** Dryden Vos's collection includes quite a few references to Franchise/IndianaJones, as does the movie at large: |
| 426 | *** A crystal skull from ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' |
| 427 | *** The idol from the beginning of ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' |
| 428 | ** One of Dryden's guards is named Toht-Ra. "Toht" was the name of the Nazi Gestapo agent in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''. He went after Indiana Jones to acquire the headpiece to the Staff of Ra. |
| 429 | ** L3 starts a slave uprising in the mines, with shots of the prisoners throwing off their chains that are almost identical to the rescue of the slave children in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom.'' |
| 430 | ** Beckett warns Han not to trust anyone, this becomes an IronicEcho when he tells him this after betraying him to Dryden. This is similar to the way how Donovan betrayed Indiana Jones in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. |
| 431 | ** The shot of Chewie nearly being hit by a rock during the conveyex heist is shot very similarly to the same thing happening to Indy during the tank chase in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade.'' |
| 432 | ** Han pulls a maneuver inspired by one pulled by an old friend of his on Corellia named Needles, who was a street racer, referring to the character from ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''. |
| 433 | ** The Corellian hounds were a tribute to the Death Dogs from Ron Howard's own ''Film/{{Willow}}''. |
| 434 | ** Han over powers a Kessel guard with a GroinAttack at one point. This type of move is used in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' as the standard interrupt for the Scoundrel class, and can be made available to the other classes through the Legacy system. |
| 435 | ** The art book reveals that the chrome visor on Enfys Nest's mask was inspired by The Boss's CoolShades from ''Film/CoolHandLuke'', and Weazel's fur-covered jacket by a similar one worn by Music/AdamAnt. Additionally, the red flags on the Cloud-Riders' swoop-bikes were modeled after the Sashimono banners from classic JidaiGeki films, particularly ''Film/{{Ran}}''. |
| 436 | ** It is nearly impossible not to watch the Imperial sergeant attempting to rally the men to ZergRush the objective on Mimban and not get flashes of the [[TableTopGame/WarHammer40000 Imperial Guard]] propaganda pictures in the artwork of that game. The color schemes even match exactly. |
| 437 | ** The Maw black hole having the appearance of a swirling red whirlpool nods to Disney's visualization in ''Film/TheBlackHole''. As both appear more red than black, Han refers to it as a gravity well and doesn't use the term black hole. |
| 438 | ** Teräs Käsi is reintegrated into the new canon when Qi'ra mentions having trained in it. "Teräs Käsi" is the Finnish translation for "steel hands", a reference to the FightingGame series ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'' ("Tekken" means "Iron Fist" in Japanese). Obviously, this carries over from [[VideoGame/StarWarsMastersOfTerasKasi the work]] that originally introduced it. |
| 439 | * ShutUpHannibal: Beckett gets as far as "I hope you're still paying attention, because now I'm gonna teach you the most important--" before Han shoots him in the chest. |
| 440 | * SideBet: While Han and Chewie are having their (pretend) fight in the mud pit, two Stormtroopers wager ten credits on how long Han can last. Too bad for them that neither one gets to collect on it. |
| 441 | * SigilSpam: Crimson Dawn likes to mark everything with their symbol. Including their lackeys, like Qi'ra. |
| 442 | * SkyHeist: The plan is to steal some train carriages by loading them in the space ship. |
| 443 | * SlaveLiberation: On Kessel, L3 deactivates the [[SlaveCollar slaves' collars]] and droids' restraining bolts to cause chaos and distract the Pyke Syndicate to pull off the heist. And it fits her ideological goals to a T, to say the least. |
| 444 | * {{Slurpasaur}}: The Corellian hounds are portrayed by actual dogs in specially-made costumes, as a homage to the Death Dogs in Creator/RonHoward's own ''Film/{{Willow}}''. |
| 445 | * SmugSmiler: Alden Ehrenreich upgrades Harrison Ford's [[http://www.custom-figures.com/images/HSpic5.JPG shit-eating smirk]] to a [[http://star98radio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/star-wars-solo-story.jpg shit-eating grin]]. |
| 446 | * SpaceIsNoisy: |
| 447 | ** The ''Millennium Falcon'' is shown moving through hyperspace accompanied by a low rumble the likes of which should make all subwoofer owners quite happy. Because when you see a ship from an external viewpoint you can hear sounds through the vacuum of space. Really. |
| 448 | ** Those carbonbergs are pretty noisy when they collide with each other, so much that Qi'ra can hear them from the cockpit even when the ''Falcon'' is in the safe route. |
| 449 | * SpaceWestern: The franchise has always featured Western influences, but this movie really brings them to the forefront. Beckett and his gang are essentially bandits, the Empire fulfills the role of the federal authority that the protagonists are fleeing from, and Enfys Nest and the Cloud-Riders are essentially a band of Indian raiders, only with swoop-bikes instead of horses. There's even a segment where the main characters have to pull a [[TrainJob train robbery]] (during which the music even sounds kinda western-y in places), and later on where they free a group of slave laborers working in a mine under terrible conditions. |
| 450 | * SoapboxSadie: L3 is introduced protesting about droid fighting and she later randomly decides to free all the droids on the coaxium mission. |
| 451 | * SourceMusic: "Glory of the Empire" (as it's called in the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' OST), an upbeat rendition of the out-of-universe Imperial March, plays during an Imperial recruitment advertisement at the ship depot where Han and Qi'ra attempt to leave Corellia. |
| 452 | * SpaceIsAnOcean: The maelstrom sequence seems cribbed straight from some old adventure novel, what with the ship heading into a PerpetualStorm full of iceberg-like floating masses, GiantSquid, and a [[MegaMaelstrom deadly vortex]]. All that's missing is a big "here be dragons" label on the star chart. |
| 453 | * SpottingTheThread: Han figures out that Beckett isn't really an Imperial officer when he realizes that his uniform has scars in it from a blaster shot that would definitely be lethal, but Beckett himself is unharmed. |
| 454 | * StarshipLuxurious: Dryden Vos's ''First Light'', as befits the BaseOnWheels of a classy crime lord. |
| 455 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: |
| 456 | ** Han threatens Lady Proxima with a "[[BlatantLies thermal detonator]]." She instantly points out that it's clearly a rock he's holding, and the "activation" sound was just him making a clicking sound with his mouth. (Fortunately, this distracts Proxima from Han's ''real'' plan.) |
| 457 | ** During the chase scene afterwards, Han tries to escape from Moloch by jamming his speeder diagonally through a tight gap in factory machinery. The gap isn't wide enough so the speeder gets stuck in the machinery, and Han and Qi'ra have to get out of the speeder and escape on foot. |
| 458 | ** Han's attempt at blackmailing a hardened criminal disguised as an Imperial officer backfires horribly when that same criminal promptly uses his "officer" credentials to have Han arrested as a deserter and thrown into a pit to be FedToTheBeast. |
| 459 | ** During the TrainJob, Rio gets shot in the shoulder. Many works of fiction pass this off as JustAFleshWound, which Rio himself does, but the truth is that such an injury can be fatal, and Beckett can tell by how much the AT-hauler is wobbling that Rio is ObviouslyNotFine. Sure enough, Rio dies just minutes later. Plus, being MultiArmedAndDangerous also means double the major arteries in that area. |
| 460 | ** L3 stands out in the open shouting about droid rights during the chaotic fire fight at the Kessel mine and ends up being shot by a stray bolt. Lando is likewise clipped in the shoulder during his mad dash to retrieve her. |
| 461 | ** When Han confronts Beckett during the climax, Beckett begins to lecture him, only to be shot before he can finish. |
| 462 | ** Enfys Nest is a rather petite young teenage girl wearing a heavy suit of armor with a cape and a presumably-uncomfortable helmet, so naturally she's dying of thirst. The moment her standoff with Han and his crew has been disarmed, the first thing she does is exhaustedly take the helmet off and [[INeedAFreakingDrink go for a drink.]] |
| 463 | * TemptingFate: "Stick to the plan. Do ''not'' improvise." That pretty much guarantees that somebody's gonna improvise. |
| 464 | * ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: L3's death is especially brutal as she's torn apart by heavy blaster fire, and is bisected when Lando tries to carry her mortally wounded body back to the ship. |
| 465 | * ThisIsGonnaSuck: When Enfys Nest's crew shows up at the TrainJob, Beckett is more annoyed than panicked, mostly because he was certain that they wouldn't be there. |
| 466 | --> '''Beckett:''' Dammit! I'm never gonna hear the end of it! |
| 467 | * TimeShiftedActor: Creator/HarrisonFord and Creator/BillyDeeWilliams being a fair bit too old to play younger versions of Han and Lando (Williams in particular had some health problems by TheNewTens), the characters are respectively played by Creator/AldenEhrenreich and [[Music/ChildishGambino Donald Glover]]. Interestingly, Ehrenreich and Glover's respective ages are consistent with the respective ages of Ford and Williams for the time frame the movie is meant to take place in. |
| 468 | * TheEndingChangesEverything: Qi'ra's last scene reveals that Dryden was secretly working for ''Maul'' the whole time. The Crimson Dawn isn't just any random criminal organization - it's Maul's (apparently successful) attempt to rebuild [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars the Shadow Collective.]] |
| 469 | * TookALevelInBadass: Weazel went from a common thug jeering at Anakin's podracing skills to a rocket launcher-toting enforcer for Enfys Nest and thus a commando for the nascent Rebellion. |
| 470 | * TrackTrouble: Part of the TrainJob involves blowing up a railway bridge, sending much of the train falling into a canyon while they save the part with the coaxium. |
| 471 | * TragicKeepsake: Turns out Han's dice, which were already this in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' due to Han's death, were this for Han himself since he lost them with Qi'ra, got them back when they encountered each other again, and ends up hanging them in the ''Falcon'''s cockpit after she leaves him for good. |
| 472 | * TrailersAlwaysLie: |
| 473 | ** The trailers feature Beckett telling Han that a "big shot gangster" is putting together a crew for a job, implying that the gangster is Dryden and the job is the Conveyex heist. The "big shot gangster" is actually implied to be ''Jabba'', the job is a SequelHook, and the offer is made near the end of the film, right before the climax, as Beckett's way of explaining his declining to join Han's scheme to scam Dryden. |
| 474 | ** A scene in the trailers suggests that Han will engage in a QuickDraw duel with a bunch of marauders. They actually end up talking things out. |
| 475 | * TrainJob: Beckett and his crew execute a heist on the aforementioned CoolTrain -- or, at least, they try until Enfys Nest and the Cloud-Riders crash the party, turning it into a TraintopBattle. The result: Val and Rio are killed and the coaxium is destroyed. |
| 476 | * TrashTheSet: We meet the ''Millennium Falcon'' as a pristine young beauty, a souped up ship that Lando has dumped a lot of time and money into. The movie turns her into the Falcon we met in ''A New Hope''. |
| 477 | * TrojanPrisoner: Han and Chewie pass as prisoners/slaves to get into the mines of Kessel and steal coaxium there. |
| 478 | * TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: As part of her disguise to infiltrate a coaxium mine on Kessel, Qi'ra provides an extremely long title to the guards. It goes on for so long that they look at each other as if waiting for her to finish. |
| 479 | * UnspokenPlanGuarantee: |
| 480 | ** The details of the TrainJob are thoroughly discussed the day before it goes down. It ends up going ''way'' south, with Val and Rio killed and the coaxium lost. |
| 481 | ** The final scene is centered around a ''double'' subversion of this. First, Han tells Beckett a plan to help the Cloud-Riders, get Dryden on-side to pay them, and get away, which we don't hear. Beckett says it's too risky, and pretends to leave to find his fortune elsewhere. Then, when Han, Qi'ra, and Chewie try the plan anyway, Beckett reveals himself as having spilled that unspoken plan to Dryden Vos... only for it to be revealed there was another unspoken plan the trio made after he left, operating under the assumption Beckett would betray them. This plan ends up working. |
| 482 | * VillainWorld: Not only does the Empire rule the galaxy, we also see that the Empire sometimes even ''allows'' criminal acts to take place. |
| 483 | * VirtueIsWeakness: At one point Dryden calls Han caring about what happens to Qi'ra a "weak spot" |
| 484 | * WarIsHell: Three years after Han joins the military, he's on a muddy battlefield, confused about the objective and fearing for his life. His commanding officer is blasted by artillery right in front of him. |
| 485 | * WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: The film shows the Kessel spice mines canonically and the first time onscreen. Both organic slaves and droids are used. It's unstated, but probably they use organic slaves because they're cheaper than droids, or can work more easily in the tunnels like the old EU had it. |
| 486 | * WhamShot: |
| 487 | ** The campfire scene has Beckett deconstruct his blaster rifle into a pistol before giving it to Han shows that it is Han Solo's signature DL-44 heavy blaster pistol. |
| 488 | ** At the very end of the movie, it's revealed who Qi'ra is really working for: Maul. This changes perceptions of the actions and words of ''multiple'' characters immediately. |
| 489 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: Han and Qi'ra's conversation before learning the truth behind Enfys Nest and trying to double-cross Dryden implies that for all of Han's grandstanding, she knows all too well that he can never ''really'' be the kind of outlaw he thinks/believes himself to be. As we already know, the Original Trilogy proves her right. Qi'ra on the other hand proves to be more willing to play all sides for herself, though she does help cover for Han when she reports to ''Maul.'' |
| 490 | * WorldOfSnark: Even for ''Star Wars'', this film is filled with lots of characters that have a cynical and facetious outlook on life. Han is a total smartass and L3 appears to be in permanent SarcasmMode, as well as Beckett and Lando. |
| 491 | * WretchedHive: The Control Zone on Corellia is essentially space Detroit. |
| 492 | * {{Wuxia}}: Surprisingly averted; “Solo” is the first Theatrically-Release Canonical Star Wars feature to *not* allude in any explicit way to the definitively Wuxia plot of feuds between spiritual warrior orders (even “Rogue One” alluded to Wuxia Tropes with the Shaolin Monk inspired Chirruit Imwe); instead, it is a homage to the gritty, morally gray SpaghettiWestern of the 1960s Films starring Creator/ClintEastwood. |
| 493 | * XanatosGambit: Han and Chewie pull off a rather brilliant one in the climax. Han tells Beckett about his plan to double-cross Dryden and give the real coaxium to the Cloud-Riders, then kill Vos with a blaster hidden in the coaxium case while he and his guards are distracted, which is pretty smart on its own. On the off chance that Beckett snitches to Vos, Han plans to deliver Dryden the ''real'' coaxium, leaving him defenseless when his guards chase after the fake coaxium with the Cloud-Riders, allowing Han to [[MortonsFork take out Vos while he and his guards are distracted.]] Ultimately, Beckett does indeed betray Han, but still leaves Dryden alone with Han and Qi'ra, which is exactly what Han wants. |
| 494 | * YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Han has aspirations to be a glorious criminal. Qi'ra thinks otherwise. "You're the good guy." Han is shook. |
| 495 | * YouAreInCommandNow: An Imperial officer [[RousingSpeech urges Han and the other troopers to take the ridge for the Empire]], only to get blown to bits. When Beckett appears disguised as an officer, the troopers ask him for orders, much to the amusement of his CaperCrew. Beckett works out more sensible tactics and leads them into battle, and they successfully take the ridge. |
| 496 | * YouHaveFailedMe: Both Lady Proxima and Dryden Vos threaten Han with death if he fails. |
| 497 | * YouNoTakeCandle: How Han's Shyriiwook comes out in the subtitles, almost bordering on MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels or IntentionalEngrishForFunny at points. |
| 498 | * YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: While helping the Imperial invasion of Mimban, Han can't help but correct the officer mentioning the native population resisting as "hostiles." (This gets him in quite a bit of ultimately serendipitous trouble.) |
| 499 | -->'''Han:''' It's ''their'' planet. ''We're'' the hostiles. |
| 500 | ---- |
| 501 | ->''I got a really good feeling about this.'' |
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