First impressions of Solo: A Star Wars Story. An improvised review in which I will share my initial thoughts and opinions on the story, characters and more from the new Star Wars movie!
The Article and video contain a few very minor spoilers. Nothing that would ruin your experience of watching the movie for the first time after you have read it. All images are taken from the trailers
I’ve seen the movie once so far and wanted to get this post out for you before I go and see it a second and third time (which will probably be enough for me). I’ve split the article in a few sections, each describing with a few words a different aspect of the movie and my thoughts on it.
The Story of Solo
If I must describe the story of Solo with one word, it would be “unexpected”. It starts casual at first. I expected a casual side-story set in the Star Wars universe that will show us how Han got the Falcon from Lando.
The story gets quite deep by the end, though. As we meet more and more side and main characters, things start to unfold a more serious and engaging plot that what I thought the movie would allow for.
There’s one big plot, but it incorporates in itself several mini stories. Let’s take the Kessel run as an example. We’ve heard jokes about this event in many novels, comic books and even in the old Trilogy (where it was started, of course).
Now in Solo we’ve got a chance to not simply learn the details of how it happened, but get involved in the action itself.
The story is not without ist holes and weird moments. The movie starts with the promised dark atmosphere and environment, but by the end the “Light” dominates – typically for a Disney movie.
The first minutes of the movie show us a dark and very different world – Corellia under the heavy rule of the Empire. These, in my opinion, are the most interesting moments for me personally.
Almost like with Rogue One, the Lghtsabers and the Jedi vs Sith had no involvement here and this is probably what made the movie for me feel so different (in a good way). I love the eternal Light vs Dark fight, but Rogue One and now Solo were good movies, if not for something else, then simply for showing us the Star Wars universe from its other side.
The characters in this movie
Again, just like with the storyline, we get more than we expect from the characters involved in Solo. I don’t mean just more in numbers (yes, there are a lot of memorable characters in this one), but their own stories are also worth exploring further.
The first one I will mention is the one and only character I disliked – L3! Whatever Kathleen Kennedy (or whoever else’s idea this was) decided to put this female self-created droid with her weird demands and ideals for the Droid Rights, it was out-of-place. Yes, her visions were involved in the story and to some extend even crucial to the outcome of some events, but I would still prefer not having to endure the presence of L3. With the minimal screen time she was given, she could not make me like her.
Other than that, there were some very interesting tie-ins from the expanded universe of the new Disney canon. I cannot go into details here, because if I do, I will spoil the best surprise for you. Let’s just say that you would NOT expect to see one very special character being a part of Solo: A Star Wars Story!
The jokes during the interactions between all of the characters were well crafted and implemented. Nothing too blatant or annoying. This time around droids were not involved in the funny moments. Well, except for a couple of L3’s lines, which we’ve already heard from the trailers. They did not sound and feel funny to me.
I personally felt the villains somewhat weak and undeveloped. The “bad guys” needed some more attention. A lot more, actually. I can understand that because of all the action in the movie, it would have been hard or impossible to insert some more backstories of the villains, but maybe this was Disney’s plan from the beginning. Now there will be all sorts of novels, comic books and encyclopedias to fill in the gaps and tell us the stories that were missing in the movie.
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Qi’ra’s character was probably the one that surprised me the most. She is totally not what I expected from her and her role. Well made character. Again, slightly undeveloped, probably due to the lack of enough screen time. If I tell you more, I might dip into spoilers and that would not be good. Let me just say that she’s full of surprises and does grow significantly in the course of the film.
New Han, new Falcon for the old fans
Han’s different, ok! That was visible already from the trailers. No arguments here. There are a few moments that scream HAN SOLO, but I expect they were intentionally put there by Ron Howard. The rest of the time Han is simply Han and not yet the legendary smuggler we all love. That’s not a bad thing, though. I have never seen Alden’s acting and I thought he played well. He was natural and casual – typical Han behavior. He was also passionate and… if you are looking for something to distinguish Han from Han Solo – the romantic smile and feelings in this movie were somewhat weird to see. Though, when I look at it from a different angle – as in not watching Han Solo, but some teenager kid – things fall almost perfectly into place.
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The relationship between Han and Chewie is so well presented, I’ve never had so much fun watching this duo on screen. The wookiee was shown in its more wild and animal nature, which I absolutely loved! As promised, we get to see how the two meet with each other for the first time. It all happens on its own – nothing is forced and we get to see how their relationship grows with each interaction and action they take.
The Falcon… ah the Falcon! Why everybody hated the “new” look of the ship? The movie actually points out the very reason for this escape pod to be there and it does have a vital role to play in the story too. I too was shocked when I saw the new look of the Corellian Freighter for the first time, but quickly started digging for information and found the explanation way before the movie released (thanks to a few LEGO Falcon reviews). The ship’s interior is also very different. You can almost smell the new materials from the cinema screen.
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The moment Han and Chewie take control of the Falcon for the first time – this is one of the greatest moments in the movie. The music here was absolutely amazing. Oh… since I mentioned music…
Visuals and Soundtrack
The music was so strange and out of place in some scenes. The soundtrack felt more like designed for a children’s Disney movie and not for a Star Wars project. I get that it needs to be different, but in so many cases it just didn’t feel like a Star Wars soundtrack to me.
And I didn’t like that fact. Epic Star Wars music is awesome, but epic Disney music is not. That’s what the Star Wars junkie in me wanted to scream in the movie theater quite a few times.
The visuals? Well, it’s a Star Wars movie and unlike with the music backgrounds, here everything was perfect. Each scene showed an incredible attention to the smallest detail.
The way most of the side and filler characters were portrayed, it reminded me of the Old Trilogy and brought that warm feeling I get each time I re-watch the classics before all the Digital re-work Lucas has done.
Some of the alien creatures almost felt like they are puppets and I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that was the case after I get to see the Behind the Scenes materials from the Blu-ray in a few months.
Was Solo A Star Wars Story worth the wait and hype
For me, every Star Wars movie is worth watching. There are some exceptions that I could not make myself enjoy as much as I wanted too – I’m looking at you, Clone Wars and Rebels, but they too brought important canon stories to the Star Wars universe, so I appreciate that.
The Solo: A Star Wars Story was an interesting movie and I am glad to have seen it. I strongly recommend you go do that too if you are an old Star Wars fan. I don’t think that all the hate towards the new and different Han is deserved and if you go with a clear mind, you will absolutely enjoy the experience.
Plus, that one surprising and unexpected appearance (not Warwick’s :P) will make you appreciate how deep the movie is involved with many other events in the Star Wars universe. Much deeper than I expected. Probably much deeper than you would expect, even after having read this blog post from me :)
There were quite a few references and easter eggs, but I’ll leave that for another post. I need to see it a couple more times and make sure I catch as many of them as possible before I sit down and offer you this next blog post.
