Solo: A Star Wars Story, Review
Yes, spoilers
Han definitely shot first this time. I hope that’s not a spoiler but if you should go to see Solo: A Star Wars Story to discover the context.
Solo: A Star Wars Story starts with a variation on the famous Star Wars crawl, and then throws us right into the action, as Han (Alden Ehrenreich) and the love of his life Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) try to escape Corellia, their home planet, which is the Empire’s shipyard. They get separated and it takes three years for them to find each other again and they’re in very different places in their lives. Han may find himself on the edge of society not quite an outlaw, but Qi’ra has survived and by the time of their reconciliation she has done things that are unmentioned but it’s quite clear she’s not the girl Han once knew. She’s the second in command of the Crimson Dawn an organized crime syndicate. Along with outlaw Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) Han devises a scheme to lift some raw coaxium, fuel for all spaceships. They obtain the services of Lando Calrissian and his ship the Millennium Falcon, and make the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs. Along the way they meet up with wanna-be rebels and get the coaxium to the Crimson Dawn.
In reviewing Solo: A Star Wars Story phrases like ‘action packed’ will be mentioned quite frequently, and they’re right the action starts right away and only has a few breaks to catch your breath or move the plot along a bit, before another action scene. While that keeps the pace of the movie moving along, the characters suffer a bit especially Han and Qi’ra. They don’t seem to have a lot of chemistry between them especially for lovers who are separated by circumstance and are pining after each other for three years. But we don’t feel their pain or longing of lost love because their story and relationship is squeezed in during a speeder chase, and other scenes aren’t able to make up that gap and convince us. Their story is supposed to be one of love and betrayal and we have to believe them because the characters say it, but don’t make us feel it.
Alden Ehrenreich has the look of mischievousness needed for Han, but he doesn’t have all the pacing down and it’s a bit of stretch seeing him age into the Han we see in a New Hope. This is made for in Donald Glover’s portrayal of Lando Calrissian, he has enough inflections in his voice to invoke Billy Dee Williams but adds his own style to make the role his own and give us his own idea of Lando Calrissian. The plot itself has enough crosses and double-crosses to keep you guessing, and a lot of surprises are added by screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and The Force Awakens) and son Jonathon Kasdan.
There are some moments of nostalgia in the movie, the Millennium Falcon looks brand spanking new even though it seems to have had a previous owner than Lando, and it has the Star Wars equivalent of a boot on it when we first see it. Once our heroes have hijacked the Falcon there’s the surge of emotion when Han and Chewie take control of the Millennium Falcon for the first time, or in scenes where they’re walking through the ship and you see where Obi-Wan will be sitting when he’s training Luke in the use of a light-saber, and Chewbaca playing the chess-like game seems built to elicit the scene in the scene in a New Hope with Chewie playing R2, or a bit of a joke when John Williams’ Imperial March is sampled in a recruiting ad for the Empire. These moments may be added because Solo isn’t generating the passion that’s in the other movies. Director Ron Howard, despite his history with George Lucas, goes back to a pre-Star Wars world. Howard is an above average director, Star Wars may not be a genre he’s suited for, it seems out of step with other Howard movies that have his distinctive touch.
One thing that did occur to me while watching the film is that Chewbaca was with Yoda at the battle of Kysshk and then falls in with Han Solo who just happens to join with Obi-Wan and Luke, that can’t be a coincidence. Is the universe that small? Ideas come to mind such as is it Chewie’s job to steer Han to being at the right place at the right time to become the hero he was destined to? Is the force directing Chewbaca? There’s some ideas I hope someone can explore. One other thing came to mind, in the Star Wars universe, does being an outlaw automatically make you a rebel?
Solo: A Star Wars Story isn’t a one-off movie that fills in a puzzle piece in a trilogy’s story like Rogue One did, but there’s plenty of seeds, and loose ends for a sequel. From where Solo ends it’s hard to extrapolate how on the time line events are going to add up to get all the characters in place to show up in A New Hope. As the movie was wrapping up I was kind of disappointed because I wanted to know what happens next with those loose ends and how they will fit it all together. It’s well worth your time to see Solo: A Star Wars Story and try to figure out those loose ends.