This film was a very hard sell for me the second I saw the face of the actor playing Han. But I still watched it, and it probably lands at the bottom of Disney's cinematic output for this franchise for me (yes, even below Rise of Skywalker, which was at least engaging and interesting to watch).
My misgivings about the casting weren't assuaged. Alden Ehrenreich sometimes delivers lines like Harrison Ford, but I'm sorry, the lack of physical likeness is too distracting to me. I think for a character as iconic and beloved as Han freaking Solo, the casting needed to be dead-on physically and performance-wise and I don't think either were achieved. Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra kind of bored me, in that she's yet another white brunette female Star Wars lead, and the series' third British one by this point, and her performance was like Felicity Jones' in Rogue One in that I felt anybody could have done it and someone else probably could have fit the character's scripted persona better. Donald Glover as Lando was inspired, though, and was fun to watch.
The story of Solo is a mix of things being too complicated and narrative-over-character and too indulgent in fanservice and explaining the origin of things nobody needed answers to.
The plot of the movie simply was not exciting to me and focused too much on criminal heists and double-crosses, such that gang politics and convoluted confusing dealings took over the film in lieu of character arcs and depth. I feel like we don't get a good enough picture of how Han's experiences informed his morals, and they're all right there! The characters don't make me care about the plot, and the plot doesn't make me care about the characters. Also, two of them die one sequence after their introduction for no reason at all. The most memorable character arc in the film is the bizarre droid activist who is Lando's companion, and about whom the film can't decide to take seriously or not. It's an awkward and uncomfortable characterization that feels like it's trying to say something cruel, and it's the one that stands out the most.
As for backstory, some things are good. We see Han on Corellia, we see him meeting Chewie and Lando and getting the Falcon...but also, we get unneeded explanations. The film features the Kessel Run, which was originally characterized as a swindler's tall tale and would have been fine as such. We learn why Han's last name is Solo as if the Star Wars universe was not linguistically weird enough for that name to be plausible as his birth name. We learn the origin of his dice, and there's even an explanation for why the Millennium Falcon has a gap between its prongs, and??? Who cares???
There's just not a lot recommending this film, in my opinion. The plot isn't fun or meaningful and the performances aren't largely engaging enough to stay for. The production messes obviously harmed it and I get why the anthologies got paused and shifted to TV series in its wake.
Here's some money...maybe don't see this Star War.
This film was a very hard sell for me the second I saw the face of the actor playing Han. But I still watched it, and it probably lands at the bottom of Disney's cinematic output for this franchise for me (yes, even below Rise of Skywalker, which was at least engaging and interesting to watch).
My misgivings about the casting weren't assuaged. Alden Ehrenreich sometimes delivers lines like Harrison Ford, but I'm sorry, the lack of physical likeness is too distracting to me. I think for a character as iconic and beloved as Han freaking Solo, the casting needed to be dead-on physically and performance-wise and I don't think either were achieved. Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra kind of bored me, in that she's yet another white brunette female Star Wars lead, and the series' third British one by this point, and her performance was like Felicity Jones' in Rogue One in that I felt anybody could have done it and someone else probably could have fit the character's scripted persona better. Donald Glover as Lando was inspired, though, and was fun to watch.
The story of Solo is a mix of things being too complicated and narrative-over-character and too indulgent in fanservice and explaining the origin of things nobody needed answers to.
The plot of the movie simply was not exciting to me and focused too much on criminal heists and double-crosses, such that gang politics and convoluted confusing dealings took over the film in lieu of character arcs and depth. I feel like we don't get a good enough picture of how Han's experiences informed his morals, and they're all right there! The characters don't make me care about the plot, and the plot doesn't make me care about the characters. Also, two of them die one sequence after their introduction for no reason at all. The most memorable character arc in the film is the bizarre droid activist who is Lando's companion, and about whom the film can't decide to take seriously or not. It's an awkward and uncomfortable characterization that feels like it's trying to say something cruel, and it's the one that stands out the most.
As for backstory, some things are good. We see Han on Corellia, we see him meeting Chewie and Lando and getting the Falcon...but also, we get unneeded explanations. The film features the Kessel Run, which was originally characterized as a swindler's tall tale and would have been fine as such. We learn why Han's last name is Solo as if the Star Wars universe was not linguistically weird enough for that name to be plausible as his birth name. We learn the origin of his dice, and there's even an explanation for why the Millennium Falcon has a gap between its prongs, and??? Who cares???
There's just not a lot recommending this film, in my opinion. The plot isn't fun or meaningful and the performances aren't largely engaging enough to stay for. The production messes obviously harmed it and I get why the anthologies got paused and shifted to TV series in its wake.