*Disclaimer: Fixed Thandiwe Newton’s
name.*
I didn’t
work up more than moderate anticipation for this movie, but I did see it not
long after it came out and enjoyed it well enough. It’s a solid space-heist flick, and it’s fun
to see a Star Wars universe film that
mostly takes place outside the context of the greater saga. Overall, I’d put it as a fine mid-range piece
for the franchise.
Han Solo
may have found his way out of a crime-ridden slum world, but he’s not done with
it yet. He left someone there, and he’s
been scraping and scrambling to make his way back to her. His efforts bring him into the path of a
grizzled crew of thieves/smugglers, and he talks himself into the outfit in the
hopes of making enough to go back, along the way crossing paths with some of
the people, Wookiees, and ships that make him who he is.
The film
takes a long, self-satisfied roll in nostalgia.
There are tons of references here, and I’m sure there are plenty that
went over my casual-Star-Wars-fan
head. Some are every bit as awesome as
they ought to be, while others feel like they’re trying too hard. At the same time, while the movie sometimes
feels overly-beholden to the past, it also makes an effort to do something
different, giving us a new vantage point on the universe and taking it in a
different direction. Like with Rogue One, it’s kind of nice to take a
break from Skywalkers and the Jedi, to play around with different genres on a
smaller scale than the epic stuff of the main series (though I prefer Rogue One.)
Some fine
casting all around. Highlights include,
predictably, Donald Glover’s suave, resplendently-caped Lando, along with
Lando’s strong-minded droid L3-37 (played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.) I also really like Paul Bettany’s strong
baddie performance and Woody Harrelson and Thandiwe Newton as the smugglers Han
meets, although I’m disappointed in the direction the film takes with Newton’s
character. I’m interested in Qi’ra,
Han’s girl-back-home played by Emilia Clarke.
There’s some good potential there, and if they end up making more Solo films, I’d be most interested to
see where she goes.
You’ll
notice that I haven’t mentioned Han yet, which isn’t the best sign. The titular character, for my money, is the
most unsuccessful aspect of the film. I
mostly don’t fault the actor, Alden Ehrenreich, for it – more than just playing
the character, he’s being asked to replicate the charisma of a young Harrison
Ford, which is quite the tall order. But
honestly, the writing doesn’t do him many favors. There are moments where it comes together and
I really like Han, but much of the time, they just don’t sell it for me. You know how writers sometimes signal how to
feel about a character by the dialogue they give others? This film is lousy with lines like that – “I’m starting to like you,” “That was
some impressive flying!”, “The kid’s got spunk,” ad infinitum. It all feels like the movie trying too hard
to make fetch happen, when that’s pretty much the last thing Han Solo should
feel like.
Warnings
Violence,
language, scary moments for kids, suggestiveness, and thematic elements.
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