Just when Disney thought their Lucasfilm acquisition had guaranteed them a $1 billion-grossing blockbuster every year and shareholders were having a field day, Star Wars projects.
While Solo was a fun enough trip into a galaxy far, far away, it was a movie with plenty of flaws. A Han Solo origin story was always going to have a tough job pleasing long-time Star Wars fans.
Right: Fun Tone
If nothing else, Solo is a riveting intergalactic adventure that re-immerses Star Wars fans in the galaxy far, far away that George Lucas first introduced them to in 1977.
While fans use grandiose like “Shakespearean” when referring to the Star Wars saga, the movies are escapism above all, and in the hands of replacement director Ron Howard, Solo is pure escapism.
Wrong: Unnecessary Backstories
Rather than showing fans how Han became the man he is at the beginning of the original trilogy, Solo shows how he got his jacket and his dice and his last name. The scene in which the Imperial officer gives Han his iconic surname is mind-numbingly ridiculous and completely unnecessary.
Instead of exploring the origin of Han’s cynical personality, Solo just explores the origin of his material possessions. The story of how Han won the Falcon from Lando is the only one we actually needed to know.
Right: Fast Pace
The result of Solo’s stilted production process and many reshoots meant that editor Pietro Scalia had plenty of material to work with in the cutting room.
Pulling together scenes from the first attempt at production and scenes from the second, Scalia was able to cut together a movie with an enjoyably fast pace. No scene drags on or lingers for too long.
Wrong: Instantly Forgettable Villain
While Paul Bettany’s a great actor, but he was given a one-dimensional role. The villain’s name was Dryden Vos, but even viewers on their way out of the theater would’ve been hard-pressed to it.
In Solo’s reshoots, the character was retooled from a half-mountain lion, half-human played by Michael K. Williams — which sounds awesome — into a generic scarred humanoid played by Bettany.
Right: Memorable Set Pieces
Any summer blockbuster worth its salt has a couple of memorable set pieces, and Solo didn’t disappoint on that front. For starters, the train robbery sequence plants the movie’s feet firmly in “space western” territory where it belongs.
The Kessel Run sequence may have just been added to plaster over the parsec plot hole from more than 40 years earlier, but it was spectacular enough to excuse that intention.
Wrong: Disingenuous To Han’s Character
When we first met Han in Mos Eisley Cantina, he was a pirate and a scoundrel who only looked out for himself and only cared about money. In order for Solo to have a traditional protagonist, young Han in that movie is completely disingenuous to who Han was at that point in the Star Wars timeline.
He’s already pretty heroic, negating the need for his triumphant change of heart during the attack on the Death Star, and he goes on and on about wanting to be a pilot, which never seemed that important to him before.
Right: Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian
Like Ewan McGregor, a fellow Star Wars actor who nailed a younger portrayal of an iconic actor, Donald Glover honored the legacy of Lando Calrissian and the way Billy Dee Williams played him, while also bringing his own unique energy to the part.
With any luck, Disney will allow Glover to reprise his role as Lando in a more substantial project, like his own movie or a Disney+ series, where he can really shine.
Wrong: Clinging To The Original Trilogy
For their first two “Anthology” movies, Disney made a movie that covered up the Death Star thermal exhaust port plot hole (reportedly considering a Mos Eisley Spaceport movie.
The Mouse House spent the first few years of its Star Wars era desperately clinging to the original trilogy, relying on nostalgia instead of bringing new ideas to the table. That’s where Solo suffers — it’s full of Easter eggs for the sake of Easter eggs.
Right: Qi’ra’s Betrayal
Emilia Clarke did a great job of playing Solo’s love interest Qi’ra as a suspicious femme fatale whose allegiances never seem to lie exactly where she says they do.
The twist ending in which Chewie comforting him after the betrayal was a heartwarming moment, too.
Wrong: Firing Phil Lord And Christopher Miller
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were originally set to direct Solo: A Star Wars Story, but left the movie midway through production. It was initially reported that the duo left due to creative differences, but it was later revealed that Kathleen Kennedy fired them because their vision was too overtly comedic. So they were replaced by Ron Howard, who filled in the blanks for Lucasfilm as a director-for-hire.
The result is a movie that’s wildly disted. The many reshoots are painfully obvious. Having helmed 21 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie, two movies no one wanted to see that turned out great, Lord and Miller probably could’ve made a heck of a Han Solo movie.
