The name “Han Solo” stirs up the warm and fuzzies for several Star Wars fanatics. When a stand alone film concerning the iconic scoundrel’s origins was announced, there were some who had mixed feelings. Solo: A Star Wars Story’s troubled production, in which original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were replaced by Ron Howard, only added to fan trepidation.
So how is the final product?
Solo is as conflicted as its young title character. On one hand, it’s fun movie that will make any die hard Star Wars fan smile from ear to ear as it fires every nostalgic bullet it has. The movie also shows just how much writer Lawrence Kasden truly loves and understands Han Solo, adding depth to the character.
On the other hand, Solo’s story feels confined, careening towards the Kessel Run of legend and leaving character development and logic behind. There are some brilliant moments here, but that brilliance is often let down by some borderline groan-worthy choices that rely too heavily on nostalgia. And it’s a terrible waste as everyone, from the charismatic cast to the filmmakers, does a great job creating likable, fun characters in a vivid world. This isn’t a terrible movie, but it ultimately falters under the impenetrable legend that is Han Solo.
“I Have a Good Feeling About This.”
We follow the young Han Solo (Ehrenreich) from the slums of Corellia to the pilot’s seat of the Millennium Falcon as he tries to start his scoundreling career. Along the way, he finds a mentor in Beckett (Harrelson), a “frenemy” in Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), and his trusted future co-pilot and friend, Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). His plans are thrown for a loop when old flame Qi’Ra (Emilia Clarke) shows up during his first big job and he begins to question his true self.
Solo’s best quality can be summed up in one word: Fun. From an incredibly likable main cast to a flawed but exciting caper/Western story, the film does its best to give the die hard Star Wars (And summer blockbuster) fan everything they could want. Want to see blaster fights? Check. Want some quippy dialogue? It’s got that too. Do you want the Millennium Falcon to soar through asteroid fields? This flick has you covered. None of the set pieces are groundbreaking, but they are fun.
The main cast is great as well. Alden Ehrenreich isn’t Harrison Ford, but he doesn’t need to be. There are traces of the legendary Han Solo here as we see the beginnings of that overabundant bravado that got the character in so much trouble in the Original Trilogy. It’s much more youthful in Solo though, with Ehrenreich’s natural charisma shining through. He does get a chance to create a little bit of his own version of Solo, but it’s never too different, for better or worse. It’s a performance that anchors the film in more ways than one…More on that later.
Donald Glover’s performance is much more than a brilliant impression of Billy Dee Williams. He is magnetic as Lando, not only recreating the character, but also adding his own touch…more so than Ehrenreich. His performance is probably the most fun of all the characters. Emilia Clarke is the most pleasant surprise of the main cast. As Solo’s long lost first love Qi’Ra, she is both charming and mysterious, a strange but compelling version of a sci-fi femme fatale. And she has good chemistry with Ehrenreich. Woody Harrelson is as reliable as he always is as the veteran smuggler Beckett, Solo’s reluctant mentor.
Chewbacca has some great moments as well, with Joonas Suotamo ably filling Peter Mayhew’s shoes…or paws. But that’s where the great performances end. We have the likes of Paul Bettany as crime boss Dryden Vos and Thandie Newton as Val, Beckett’s partner and lover. Both roles basically amount to nothing or are glorified cameos. Droid L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) has some fun moments, but again, we never get to know it.
And that’s one of the biggest issues with Solo. The characters are fun, but one note. We know exactly where this story is going, so the film never stops to really develop them. So when characters make surprising decisions, they either come out of nowhere (In the bad way), or we see it coming a mile away. This is the origin of a legend, nothing more, nothing less.
That’s why Solo could never be more than just an average experience.
A Long Shadow
Let’s get back to Ehrenreich’s performance, and Han Solo in general. In many ways, his performance is limited by what came before. Yes, he looks different. He sounds different. That’s an issue in of itself, but Ehrenreich isn’t allowed to be a different type of character. He is a younger version of Solo, and that should have been a chance to play him differently. But he really isn’t…in fact, we don’t see how he becomes the Solo we come to love in the original Star Wars movies. This is surprising, since this film takes place only ten years before A New Hope.
That’s not to say the movie doesn’t try. Writers Jonathan and Lawrence Kasden show us where that conflict between Solo’s need to be a self-centered scoundrel and the good guy he eventually becomes. There is a scene late in Solo that suggests that he has always had that good heart. It’s a small, but brilliant moment that should have been the heart of the film. Instead, we get answers to questions we either never asked or didn’t want the answers to.
Look at the Kessel Run. Harrison Ford’s Han Solo bragged about the Falcon completing that run in record time. Was he full of it? The events of A New Hope, where Han’s bravado either got him into hot water or carried him to glory, left that up to the viewer. Without spoiling it, Solo tackles the event and the truth is somewhere in between.
However, the answer wouldn’t satisfy some fans. And honestly, we didn’t really need the answers. There is something appealing about the mystery in some Star Wars characters’ backgrounds. That is part of the appeal of Han Solo’s past…there’s mystery to it.
There is a difference between this “Star Wars Story” and the first one, Rogue One. That film felt different from the rest of the Star Wars universe because it showed a dark underbelly to the Rebellion. In other words, it took a chance. The most compelling aspect to this movie is a cameo at the end that has nothing to do with Han Solo, introducing an interesting thread for future stories. And honestly, that’s a little tragic.
Nostalgia Instead of Originality
In general, the recent Star Wars movies have relied on nostalgia. That isn’t always a bad thing. All filmmakers wear their influences on their sleeves. Cinephiles have movies that mean the world to them and influence their viewing habits. If nostalgia is done right, it can lead to a great movie, which was the case with The Force Awakens.
While Solo is a fun movie worth seeing, it is also the worst case scenario in terms of nostalgic movie making. It relies too heavily on those warm and fuzzies instead of original story telling.
SCORE: 7 OUT OF 10