i saved this for last of the star wars movies cuz i hate han solo but honestly,,, he's a lil cute here..... (also lando could get it)

Saw in Theaters with Matt.

[7.6/10] *Solo* has the scruffy confidence to be its own movie. Of the ten *Star Wars* films, it’s the only so far not to tie directly into the events of the main saga. That alone makes it interesting and laudable as the first real cinematic step of *Star Wars* ceasing to be a film series and starting to be a “cinematic universe.” Which isn’t to say the film isn’t closely connected to its predecessors. *Solo* reveals how Han and Chewbacca first became a team. It features the first meeting between its title character in Lando Calrissian. It even shows how Han ended up with the Millenium Falcon. And that’s setting aside references to a “gangster on Tatooine” and hints of a growing rebellion and familiar characters popping up in unexpected places. Make no mistake -- the film is certainly interested in reminding its viewers where all these characters will be in ten years time. But it’s also good enough not to be about that. *Solo* is part-heist flick and part coming-of-age film. It’s more interested in Han’s big adventure in this movie and how he gets to be the sarcastic smuggler we meet in *A New Hope* than it is in how he fits into the broader *Star Wars* Universe, to the film’s benefit. The promise of these “Star Wars stories” is that they can use the diverse, elaborate world that George Lucas and his collaborators created to spin all kinds of yarns untethered to the concerns of the Skywalker family. *Solo* still anchors its story on familiar faces, but tells its own tale, and comes out the better for it. The big problem with *Solo* is that it has two modes: (a.) irreverent action/adventure flick filled with colorful characters and (b.) semi-serious interrogation of What Han Solo Is™, and it’s much more entertaining and effective at the former than the latter. The script, penned by *Empire Strikes Back* scribe Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jonathan, does a superb job at introducing all these figures, old and new, and then letting them bounce off on another in the confines of a rickety old ship and a job pulled at various rough-and-tumble locales. But it falters when trying to use that setup to get at its title character’s true nature. The film’s thesis on that front is a solid one -- that he is unavoidably rough around the edges, and wants to be “bad,” but deep down he’s good. That is, after all, his essential arc in the Original Trilogy, where a seemingly good-for-nothing smuggler is revealed to have a heart of gold and sympathies to the cause of the Rebellion, or at least his friends. *Solo* retraces that arc a bit, and weakens Han’s progression in the saga films a little in the course of that, but the Kasdans *get* Han: the talk that’s bigger than his paydirt, the cocksure improvisational confidence, and the innate goodness that peaks through his rough-hewn if charming exterior which he’ll deny to the end. The film just does a much better job of showing us those qualities through Han’s actions and attitude than in having various other characters ham-fistedly comment on it and wax rhapsodic about who he’s been and who he’ll be. The best parts work, as they must, thanks to Alden Ehrenreich, who takes over the role originated by Harrison Ford in 1977’s *A New Hope*. Following in those iconic footsteps is a tall order, but Ehrenreich makes it work. He doesn't stoop to doing an impression of Ford, short of a few conspicuous mannerisms, but still manages to capture the character’s rakish charm and overconfident, anything goes spirit. Yes, it’s a little hard to grok that this guy becomes 70s era Harrison Ford in ten years, but Ehrenreich absolutely works as Young Han, and the movie wouldn’t work at all without that. The other characters that populate the film vary a bit more, but are largely fun and entertaining. Woody Harrelson’s turn as Beckett sees him filling the weathered good ol’ boy niche he’s carved out for years now. Emilia Clarke does fine as Qi'ra, who manages to be a little bit more than just Han’s love interest, but only a little. Donald Glover’s charisma carries the day as he inhabits Young Lando, but occasionally he comes across like Glover doing his best Lando impersonation than a fully convincing character (though his chemistry with Ehrenreich sparkles over that nicely). And there’s plenty of other fun, if seemingly disposable side characters, like Paul Bettany’s genteel but menacing villain, Dryden Vos, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a delightfully irrepressible droid revolutionary named L3. Even relative newcomer Joonas Suotamo brings character beyond the fur to Chewbacca, alongside *Star Wars* sound designer Ben Burtt’s traditional groans and growls. When *Solo* deploys these characters well, it’s a hell of an action-filled romp. Seeing Han’s *Oliver Twist*-esque origins blossom into his up-and-down efforts to live on the fringes of both the law and the galaxy are fun and thrilling. The movie takes the viewer to new, scrappier corners of the galaxy, packing the frame with wild new creatures and settings that help make *Star Wars* feel big and diverse again. Han’s goals and wants are clear; his compatriots are well-if-quickly sketched, and the set pieces are nicely chaotic and spontaneous, as befits the way any plan involving Solo should shake out. The pacing is off here and there, and certain action sequences extend to the point of exhaustion (likely a casualty of the hand off from the nixed boundary-pushers Phil Lord & Christopher Miller to steady hand Ron Howard). But the core setting of the film -- a band of well-traveled and wannabe outlaws does a job with pitfalls and smart remarks -- works like gangbusters. Then, the final act hits, and the film stops being fun and starts being serious. There’s double-crosses on double-crosses, heavily sign-posted character-defining choices, and cliché, ponderous statements about who Han is supposed to be or can’t be or might have been that one time (we’re not really sure). *Solo*, like its protagonist, has its heart in the right place here. It’s laudable to try to turn this adventure into something revealing about one of the franchise’s biggest characters and not just an empty-calorie escapade. But the film can’t support the weight of that introspection (not to mention all of that clunky extrospection) and becomes bogged down when trying to unravel both its less-compelling plot threads and its character study in one big convoluted finale. But one thing is for sure. This movie is not about the Skywalkers. Despite an eyebrow-raising tie-in, it is not about the broader Star Wars Universe. It’s about Han Solo, and It is, for the first time, a genuinely independent Star Wars story. For most of its run time, *Solo* is a standalone (if franchise-winking) adventure from the days when Han was still cutting his teeth as a smuggler and outlaw. The film has its problems when it departs from that, but still shows the benefits, and the fun, of Star Wars movies that follow the lead of Solo himself and aim to go it alone.

[6.1/10] When I wrote my initial review of *Solo: A Star Wars Story* after seeing it in theaters, I said the film was very enjoyable when it was a standalone, character-filled romp, and dull when it tried to be a grand statement about Who Han Solo Is™. I stand by that assessment. There’s moments where *Solo* is irreverent and fun, and manages the “madcap scoundrels bluffing their way through a heist” routine with charm and aplomb. But on rewatch, the balance between that and the painful rumination about who Han’s going to be in ten years time is way off. That’s the weird thing about this movie -- its title character doesn't really have an arc. I guess Han goes from being a wannabe outlaw to a...somewhat more competent outlaw? I suppose he’s learned that he can’t trust people, even mentors and friends...except for the fact that he still trusts Chewie, and Enfys Nest, and others. I guess he’s supposed to learn to be underhanded and resourceful, but he’s trying to pull cons and trick people from literally the moment we meet him. The Han we see at the beginning of *Solo* isn’t meaningfully different from the one we meet in the middle of *A New Hope*. That wouldn’t be a problem if this were just another adventure. There’s plenty of things Han could learn, about himself or others or about the galaxy that don’t have to do with whether or not he’s a roguish smuggler. If *Solo* had just been about Han, Chewie, Lando, and some new faces going on a caper, it could totally work (and it kind of did). Instead, so much of the film’s oxygen is taken up by having to make some grand declaration of what kind of person Han is, without really developing him at all. What’s worse than that lack of development is that the movie is just so damn self-serious about it all. My natural inclination is to blame that on showing comic sprites like Lord & Miller the door and bringing in the competent but pedestrian Ron Howard to land the ship. But whether it’s Howard’s fault, or the script’s fault, or a lot of people’s fault, this movie is way too severe for such an irreverent character, and it makes the jokey interludes, pleasant though they may be, feel tonally out of place. But the element of the film most out of place is Tobias Beckett. It struck me on rewatch that he is completely extraneous as a character, and the film would be better off without him. The idea is that he’s there for Han to model himself after in some way, so that Han can be a new version of the same guy with a heart of gold. But (a.) it’s pretty boring to have one of the most distinctive and original characters from the first *Star Wars* movie retconned into being a vague approximation of another character and (b.) Beckett doesn't really do much beyond spout dull, unnecessarily portentous life lessons. There’s nothing he brings to the table that couldn’t be fulfilled by Qi’ra or just figured out through Han’s own experiences and choices rather than have his hand held by Woody Harrelson’s increasingly tired good ol’ boy shtick. What’s crazy, and what holds an otherwise rickety film together, is how well so many of the characters work. On rewatch, I still appreciate the job Alden Ehrenreich did, capturing Ford’s take on the character in spirit without resorting to an imitation. Donald Glover’s Lando still veers more toward the former, but his natural charisma carries the day. Regardless of the controversy, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s L3-37 is a delight. And despite basically only having two scenes that were, if my understanding is correct, reshot for the film, Paul Bettany makes one hell of an impression as a “look what you made me do” crime boss. That’s the hardest part! It’s the thing that all but doomed the *Star Wars* prequels. And yet, despite managing to not only conjure some likable and intriguing characters, but managing to recast some beloved actors and make it work, *Solo* suffers from a similar sort of overexplain-y prequelitis. It strains credulity that everything noteworthy about Han basically happened in, what, a day? Maybe a week? He meets Chewie. He meets Lando. He does the Kessel Run. He flies the Millennium Falcon for the first time. He wins the Millennium Falcon from Lando in a card game. He shoots first. He makes plans to do a job for a “big gangster on Tatooine.” He...gets his blaster? It’s not quite to the level of “Anakin built C-3P0 and the Clone Wars were basically fought by an army of Boba Fetts” but holy cow is it corny and contrived that every significant development in Han’s life that’s relevant to the Original Trilogy happened during the short timeframe of this film. (And don’t get me started on those damn dice. I barely even remembered them from *A New Hope*, and now they’re some uber-important symbol for Han? What a weird, lionization of a random prop.) Apart from those broader issues, some of the nuts and bolts problems in the film stand out more on a second look. For one thing, *Solo* looks much uglier than I remembered. I enjoy the grimy muck of the galaxy’s underbelly, and maybe something’s just lost in the translation to the small screen, but at times, between the color pallette and the lighting, the film is just downright unpleasant to look at. And the direction is just as uninspired, with so many of the action sequences going overlong and turning into one big mush of different, not particularly exciting shots that can’t hold your attention. The film’s also considerably more boring the second time around. Maybe on a first watch, when you don't know for sure where the movie is going, there’s more excitement and anticipation for what might be happening next. But when you know the plot, the pacing seems way off, the acts feel lopsided, and more and more parts of the film feel like extraneous material that doesn't tell the audience anything or move *Solo* closer to its intended point, but rather just marks time with more hard-to-follow CGI hash. Even focusing on that is to set all the minor points in this one that are downright odd. The Enfys Nest reveal is confusing at best, where the fact that the antagonist is a fresh-faced young woman is supposed to be a shock in a franchise where Yoda taught us not to judge potential allies and enemies based on appearance. I still like L3, but drawing attention to *Star Wars* “Are droids slaves?” problem feels like a bad idea for escapist fantasy whose world was never built or intended to be able to withstand such scrutiny. And Val and Rio, Becket’s original running buddies, are all but devoid of personality despite great performers in tow, and go from introduction to untimely death too quickly for the audience to give a damn. Their existence also immediately undermines Becket’s “don’t trust anybody” message that...Han seems to eventually disregard anyway? That’s the weird thing about *Solo: A Star Wars Story*. In a movie so devoted to trying to explain the mindset and trajectory and psychology of a major franchise character, he doesn't really learn or grow very much. And the need to fit every action and detail of this adventure into something we know about Han from later in the timeline hamstrings every choice Howard and the Kasdans and the whole creative team makes. Honestly, Lucasfilm would have been better off making a Dash Rendar movie, something that replicates the rakish rhythms of Han Solo’s outskirts-of-the-galaxy existence without all the baggage that comes from three of cinema’s most iconic films and one of the modern era’s highest grossing movies ever. There’s a good movie lurking somewhere within *Solo*, about enjoyable, rough-around-the-edges characters getting out of a tight spot with humor and guile. But it’s too deeply wrapped in self-serious armchair psychology and Original Trilogy leftovers to vindicate that. The second time around, this “Star Wars Story” goes from being a fun romp dragged down by some unduly overdramatic navel-gazing, to a heap of unnecessary and unsuccessful attempts to explain a character the audience already knows, occasionally livened by a glimpse of the lighter, nimbler, more irreverent film that could have been.

It's okay...

Great adventure and VFX. It was fun! ❤ L3. Solid **7.5/10**