Graphic Novelty²

I walked into Solo unsure of how I would feel about it, considering my recent Star Wars movie experience was excruciating.  I was frankly quite devastated at how the preceding The Last Jedi played out, especially in regards to Luke Skywalker’s portrayal. But I never felt the emotional tie to Han Solo, as he was known for his scoundrel swagger, and I’ve never been a fan of the bad boy trope. So I went into Solo with no expectations- I didn’t really care if his character was crucified. The movie proved to be solid. Not great…not bad…just good.

Rather than going into a full review of the movie, which you can find on dozens of other sites, I will address a few issues and then move into nine character studies.

*An issue going into any prequel is that you know the main characters survive in a future timeline. As such when Han, Chewie and Lando were in dangerous situations, I knew it was the new secondary characters that would bite the dust. To throw in a Star Trek joke- you knew who the redshirts were.

*I saw this movie with my husband and daughter, and afterwards we all agreed that the movie felt like a run of the mill sci-fi action movie, with a few Star Wars references thrown in. The movie showcased some new planets and none of them had the Star Wars vibe. I spotted a few Stormtroopers in the beginning plus there were a few ships such as TIE fighters that were iconic, but these new worlds just didn’t feel like what we have seen in the other movies.

Alden did a fair job of creating a young Han Solo. He had the unenviable job of following in Harrison Ford’s footsteps, but he tried to capture Han’s charm, without being a caricature of the original. I had hoped for more background to his past and there was a brief mention of his father, but no explanation as to how to came to be alone. I liked the explanation of his last name when he was applying to get off planet but then there was a big time jump and we didn’t see him get kicked out of pilot school. At times he came off as cocky vs suave, but as he is a younger man here, the suaveness will come in time.

Joonas Suotamo played Chewbacca- why is his name not on this poster like all the other actor and actresses names are? Is this yet another example of Chewie being treated more as a pet than a humanoid alien? While I appreciated the origin story of how he and Han met, it still didn’t go far enough in explaining why Chewie has given Han such intense loyalty. Now that Star Wars Holiday Special is canon (Disney put one of the characters from the special into the official book From A Certain Point Of View) we know he has a family back on his home planet. Why would he leave them for Han Solo? Loved what he did when he saw other Wookies on one of the missions!

Donald Glover WAS Lando! He ably portrayed this charming gambler with plenty of charisma. Seemingly only out for himself,  he showed enough compassion for viewers to know that he will be able to make the leap from selfish to selfless in future movies.  His banter with Alden was authentic and he wore his capes with aplomb!

I was happy to see Star Wars include a woman of color in a main role! With natural hair! She was tough as nails, but had the classic heart of gold. Can’t say too much more about her with out spoilers, but I wish her role had been larger.

Gotta have a spunky droid, and L3-37 does not disappoint! Voiced by a woman, this robot was a social justice warrior (especially for droid rights) who implied she had a crush on Lando. My question is: why does an unseen actress get billing on a poster when Chewbacca’s does not? L3-37 is very woke and should fight for his name inclusion as one of her many causes!

I’ve been a big fan of Woody Harrelson for years, but I had a hard time seeing past the actor for this role. He has played grizzled world weary characters in too many roles, and Beckett was cut from the same cloth. All the double and triple crosses in the end reinforced my feeling that it wasn’t a Star Wars film but an action heist  movie.

Qi’Ra was Han’s love interest, so right away we knew things would not go well for her. Her fate at the end wasn’t exactly what I expected, and leaves open a possibility of another prequel movie to explain what happens to her and a certain other memorable Star Wars character. She played her femme-fatale role well, and you almost forget that her appealing character would soon enough be cast aside for Princess Leia.

Ugh- a a wise cracking four armed monkey pilot. Enough said.

Paul Bettany did a good job playing slimy villain Dryden. I was able to forget he recently played the superhero The Vision in the Avengers movies. His cultured voice belayed the fact that he was a crime lord that would betray you as soon as you turned your back.

*****

Will I be back if they put out another Han Solo prequel? As of now- I wouldn’t spend the money to see it in the theatre but might once out in DVD. Solo was fine- so in essence I am damning this movie with faint praise. It is Star Wars: Episode IX that I will save my passion for and how they handle the plot lines going forward.

-Nancy