Originally posted by: mverta
By having Han shoot first, you firmly establish for the audience that he is indeed a shady character on some level. He hangs around in hives of scum and villiany, and shoots people - justified or not. It's like in the old Westerns when guys would blow away each other over card games and think nothing of it. It just lets the audience know that with this guy, ANYTHING could happen. And our heroes (Luke, the droids, Obi-Wan) are hooked up with this guy. Are they going to be safe? Can this guy be trusted? It's an important tension and drama builder.
It also sets up Han Solo's all-important character arc - he goes from self-serving, ruthless smuggler only interested in money, to finding his "heart" and coming back to help Luke in the end. It's only because you're so firmly established in who he is, that his return at the end is a surprise.
By having Han shoot first, you firmly establish for the audience that he is indeed a shady character on some level. He hangs around in hives of scum and villiany, and shoots people - justified or not. It's like in the old Westerns when guys would blow away each other over card games and think nothing of it. It just lets the audience know that with this guy, ANYTHING could happen. And our heroes (Luke, the droids, Obi-Wan) are hooked up with this guy. Are they going to be safe? Can this guy be trusted? It's an important tension and drama builder.
It also sets up Han Solo's all-important character arc - he goes from self-serving, ruthless smuggler only interested in money, to finding his "heart" and coming back to help Luke in the end. It's only because you're so firmly established in who he is, that his return at the end is a surprise.
Yeah, to be truthful, the first time I saw the movie, I remember being very shocked as a little kid by that scene. It was intense. You didn't want Han to die, but you didn't expect a typically-portrayed good guy to shoot under the table either. Killing someone like that seemed immediately wrong, but only somewhat as I knew his life would have been toast otherwise. It gave Han that bad-guy edge, but you still supported him just as much as any of the other good guys despite it, and perhaps even more because of it. When he comes back at the end, that is quite the nifty surprise as you said.
