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Solo: A Star Wars Story — Official Review and Opinions Thread — SPOILERS — Page 25

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Got around to watching it again at home and there is so much more in this story I’d love to see grow and be followed up on.

Still a fun action film. Probably will watch this more than I rewatched either of the ST films or Rogue One.

The Jedi are all but extinct.......
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 (Edited)

I know I’m late to the discussion, and that this post is probably too long, but after waiting for the Redbox release, I wanted to share my thoughts (with spoilers) on the this film.

To be clear, these are just my personal feelings on the film and should have no bearing on your opinion of it. I’m saying what I’m saying merely to express, not to convince.

In my humble opinion, this was just a badly written picture. It’s the first Star Wars film in almost 20 years I have almost completely disliked. Because it’s not just a bad Star Wars movie. It’s a bad movie all the way around. I’m so disappointed, because I have tons of admiration for Ron Howard.

First of all, Han had no character arch. When the character’s survival is guaranteed in an origin story, it leaves nothing interesting about him if he doesn’t change over the course of the plot, since none of the other stakes of that plot will matter in the long run. It would have been far more engaging if he’d started as a straight-laced guy, joining the Empire for misplaced ideological reasons, only to become disillusioned and disaffected, developing into the Han we meet in Ep IV. By contrast, whether or not you enjoyed the prequels, there’s no denying Anakin changes over the course of those three episodes. Han is pretty much the same guy at the beginning of Solo that he is at the beginning of Episode IV, just younger.

The scene where Han meets Chewbacca was covered in crap. Literally. Or at least some aggressively unpleasant looking mud. The whole visual aesthetic seemed to be to cover everything with filth because … well … I guess because they could. And because that seems to be their current approach to reinvention. In essence, take a product, cover it with extraneous junk, then falsely call it something new.

I was very annoyed by Darth Maul’s cameo. Though he was about the best thing in Phantom Menace, and it was a shame that they killed him off, they did kill him off! Any other scenario of him surviving in the TV shows or comics felt like sloppy writing that was trying to have its cake and eat it too. Maul felt pretty pointless in this film anyway, so why have him there? Besides, (again, for me personally) if it isn’t in the feature films, it isn’t part of the “true” story, so for me, Darth Maul should have still been dead.

Another problem is Qi’ra’s re-appearance. Han has no idea where Dryden Vos might be keeping her. Then, without anyone having to figure anything out, poof, there she is on Vos’s yacht. Deux ex machina for sure.

Four words: L…3…3…7.

Uuuggghhh. Where do I start? To the same degree that I liked BB8 in VII or VIII, or K2SO in R1, I disliked L3-37 in Solo. She was such an annoying caricature of everything obnoxious about people concerned with social issues. The well being of an exploited group (droids, in this instance) could have made for an an compelling vignette. Instead, we got a cartoonishly one dimensional social justice warrior. It isn’t that I wouldn’t side with her in the effort to liberate those without voices. It’s that she’s so single mindedly self-righteous. She makes those ideas which could have been compelling laughable, with shallow blither that she attempts to be iconoclastic, but amounts to nothing but cliches.

The alluded Lando / L3-37 thing was also really weird and gross. And then the “Don’t look at me. I can’t perform when you look at me.” robot phallic joke while she was cutting the fence? Unbelievably…STUPENDOUSLY…awful!.

Even if all these problems hadn’t been issues, the script still would have been filled with characters you don’t care about, and thus make the stakes that didn’t matter before end up mattering even less.

Lastly, a minor personal gripe: Han pronouncing the Wookie language (Shyriiwook?). In my own conceptualization of Star Wars, there was reason you never heard Han or Chewbacca speak to the other in the other’s language. It was because though each understood both languages, each was only physiologically capable of pronouncing their own. Having Han vocalize some guttural Wookie utterances undercuts that idea, and it makes me kinda sad.

This just about ties “Phantom Menace” for me for the worst Star Wars film to date among the Numbered Episodes and the Anthology Films. I think it will be the first Star Wars film of which I decline to purchase any physical or digital copy altogether, only spending that little bit of money on the Redbox rental.

Oh, well. At least they got one thing right. Han definitely shoots first. 😄

PS- I thought the visual effects were great. And so on the very, very, very off chance Harmy did any effects work on Solo, I’d also like to make it clear that I had no problems there and that I only took issue with the story concepts and their narrative execution. 😉

The NJVC Custom Bluray Set of Harmy’s Despecialized Editions is available on Mega.

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 (Edited)

solkap said:

The scene where Han meets Chewbacca was covered in crap. Literally. Or at least some aggressively unpleasant looking mud. The whole visual aesthetic seemed to be to cover everything with filth because … well … I guess because they could. And because that seems to be their current approach to reinvention. In essence, take a product, cover it with extraneous junk, then falsely call it something new.

The planet is literally a mudhole bc of all the rain. It is brought up numerous times. They are in an open hole in this place, while it is raining. The poor conditions are to show that Han was sent to one of the worst places he could go (a pointless battlefront full of slaughter that is just an awful place to be) and that the wookiee prisoner is being imprisoned in unliveable conditions and is being fed other prisoners.

Hope that helps.

The Jedi are all but extinct.......
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Again, what is a wookie? 😛

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Where were you in '77?

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I don’t know if this has already been mentioned in past pages but before the release of solo I though that it would be like Rogue one (open and closed in one film) but the fact that they leave it on a cliffhanger obviously is for money making purposes but aside from that could be leading onto the Kenobi movie rumoured to come out. I’m still pondering on whether they will be linked, I just don’t see how that cliffhanger really helped the “story” side of the new releases. This is a bit of a step out and I recently returned to OT after a bit of a break so im a bit rusty.

Ah 77, my favourite year even if i wasn’t alive

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I don’t see how the end of the movie is a cliffhanger? It sets up a sequel, but we can put two and two together what happens between the end of the movie and A New Hope.

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Watched SOLO tonight after seeing a few times during its theatrical run. I was incredibly bored and ended up shutting it off during the droid revolution bit. I’m usually not one to shut movies off midway, but really didn’t want to sit through another hour.

I really wanted to like this movie, but the strange pacing and bad acting really makes it hard. One dud out of four ain’t bad though.

“That said, there is nothing wrong with mocking prequel lovers and belittling their bad taste.” - Alderaan, 2017

MGGA (Make GOUT Great Again):
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Return-of-the-GOUT-Preservation-and-Restoration/id/55707

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TV’s Frink said:

JawsTDS said:

bad acting

From whom?

This is just my opinion, but I thought Ehrenreich and Glover’s performances were weak. Ehrenreich tries too hard, and Glover doesn’t try enough, and comes off like a Lando impersonator.

“That said, there is nothing wrong with mocking prequel lovers and belittling their bad taste.” - Alderaan, 2017

MGGA (Make GOUT Great Again):
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Return-of-the-GOUT-Preservation-and-Restoration/id/55707

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 (Edited)

Hardcore Legend said:

The planet is literally a mudhole bc of all the rain. It is brought up numerous times. They are in an open hole in this place, while it is raining. The poor conditions are to show that Han was sent to one of the worst places he could go (a pointless battlefront full of slaughter that is just an awful place to be) and that the wookiee prisoner is being imprisoned in unliveable conditions and is being fed other prisoners.

Hope that helps.

My objection to the aesthetics of the muddy scene weren’t because I thought it didn’t fit or didn’t make sense. I just really disliked it. Although I hope my rational is relatable, my previous post was meant to be more of a “fan-boy rant” than a “coherent review”. I promise I’m not attempting to change anyone’s minds. 😉

The NJVC Custom Bluray Set of Harmy’s Despecialized Editions is available on Mega.

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snooker said:

I don’t see how the end of the movie is a cliffhanger? It sets up a sequel, but we can put two and two together what happens between the end of the movie and A New Hope.

I understand where you’re coming from that it sets up for a new hope but the amount of loose threads in this-Darth maul etc clears the path way for a sequel.One could say that they don’t need tying up because they are quite minor compared to others but given the nature star wars as a whole i think that they might make a sequel. Because it is not entirely a cliff hangar it does not need one so that it is why i don’t entirely expect them to make a new one.

Ah 77, my favourite year even if i wasn’t alive

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Zak fett said:

Darth maul

I get annoyed every time I read that.

I really liked most everything except for that part.

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Cheaper than hiring a dominatrix to whip you, I guess? 😛

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Where were you in '77?

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Random but back to the whole limit of two per customer thing at Walmart, I just noticed Antman and the wasp is like that too so it’s not a solo specific thing

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I really wanted to like this movie and there were a lot of fun sequences, but frankly I had a hard time making out details with this low light level cinematography. Everything was just … murky.

I looked for someone to complain to at the cinema but was told the manager called in sick that day. There was literally no else there except the acne team at the concession stand. These days you buy your ticket at a console and the projection booths are automated. I asked where I might find the guy who programs the projector and was met by a puzzled unfocused gaze much like my viewing experience.

I have read there was a lot of projection problems with Solo due to sloppy practices at many of these automated cinemas. For example, see

https://www.indiewire.com/2018/05/solo-star-a-wars-story-theatre-projection-problems-bradford-young-1201969989/

Nearly five months have passed since I saw Solo. Enough time that perhaps I can look at it again fresh if I buy the blu-ray. Clearly, there will be no plot surprises for me but perhaps the Falcon can fly me away again. And we should enjoy the Falcon as much as we can 'cause they may blow it up in Episode IX.

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I don’t think it was projection issues, or if there were, it was because the color timing itself was murky and muddy and low contrast. The Blu-Ray looks like crap (at least, I thought it did).

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I think the blu-ray looks gorgeous, but Young obviously took an approach with the cinematography that won’t please everyone. One of the times I saw it in the theaters the projection was indeed shit. Projection problems are pretty common and not exclusive to this film, but the nature of how this was shot led to projection problems being far more obvious and frustrating than for most films.

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DominicCobb said:

the nature of how this was shot led to projection problems being far more obvious and frustrating than for most films.

Yep, that’s pretty much what I was trying to get at. You worded it much more clearly. 😃

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ChainsawAsh said:

DominicCobb said:

the nature of how this was shot led to projection problems being far more obvious and frustrating than for most films.

Yep, that’s pretty much what I was trying to get at. You worded it much more clearly. 😃

The more you know.

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This will be the first Star Wars movie I’m not buying. I thought it was reasonably entertaining, but forgettable when I saw it in the theatre. TLJ, the subsequent controversy, and Solo really made me skeptical about the franchise’s future. Star Wars isn’t special anymore, and the prospect of a never ending supply of films, strongly permeated by a sense of dejá vu isn’t very appealing to me. I can only view Solo as the first in a long line of mediocre, low stakes cash grabs thriving mostly on nostalgia and eye candy, and I’m not jumping on that bandwagon.