People only see fan service when they want to.
I actually agree with Mala about all the references that seemed fan servicey to me. But those things didn’t make it a bad film. It was a fun ride for the most part. But I certainly liked all the other recent star wars films more.
I’d say this film had considerably more fan service than Rogue One, though what there was tended to be integrated better (save that red guy, which is worse than anything in RO).
cough, cough
CGI Grand Moff Tarkin & CGI Princess Leia
Edited my post to clarify that I thought the fan service was mostly handled better in Solo, not Rogue One.
I would like to clarify my post too.
I wrote: And thank god no distracting fan service like Rogue One.
What i meant: The writers/producers/directors could have shoved in lots of recognizable stuff (= fan service elements) which is unnecessary for the story they told, like:
The Emperor
Darth Vader
Grand Moff Tarkin
Princess Leia
Death Star
Tatooine
Young Luke Skywalker
Mynocks
Alderaan
AT-ATs
Jedi
Blue milk
Jabba the Hutt
Jabbas the Palace
Rancor
Sarlacc Pit
Dropping-Jabbas-cargo plot point
Boba Fett
Slave One
Coruscant
Talking about the Force
Leading-into-A-New-Hope-Cantina-Scene-at-the-End
etc.
They could have done it - injecting lots of unnecessary star wars stuff - but they didn’t do it. Granted, they mention some of the stuff, but more importantly they did not show them. The present fan service elements were subtle enough for me. They did not distract from the story like in Rogue One.
I stand by my thesis: SOLO is a far superior ‘Star Wars Story’ movie than Rogue One.
Rogue One does not work on its own. It’s a cinematographic parasite that adheres between Episode III & IV. SOLO on the other hand works on its own. A person who never saw a single STAR WARS movie could watch SOLO without any previous knowledge. More so, there is a high possibility that this person falls in love with the universe and would like to see more of it - like A NEW HOPE. Becketts crew is a likeable bunch of scoundrels. The death of every crew member was touching in it’s own way - especially Rios and L3’s death were heart breaking.