Solo: A Star Wars Story



It took the allure of going to Nando's to get me to see Solo: A Star Wars Story.

So, it's only taken Disney 3 years to run Star Wars completely into the ground. Solo represents Disney's second attempt (after the thoroughly dull Rogue One) to prove that this franchise can work on the same level as its much-touted, and highly successful, inter-connected Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, Solo has been plagued by bad press from the very beginning of its inception. With Phil Lord and Chris Miller (of Lego Movie fame) originally attached to direct the film prospects looked good for a time, but then Lucasfilm fired them well into production due to that old problem of "creative differences" and hired the ultimate journeyman/by-the-books-filmmaker, Ron Howard, to reshoot some 70% of the film. With other rumours spiralling (including the hiring of an acting coach to help the young performers), the lack of advertising that failed to sell the premise, the divisive reaction to The Last Jedi (note: I still think it's great) and the general over-saturation of the brand, I can't say I'm surprised that this is the first Star Wars film to bomb at the box-office. But what is the actual film like?

Solo picks up with the titular character as a young man trapped on the shipbuilding world of Corellia. Han hatches a plan to escape with his lover Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) from their life of petty crime (Bruce Springsteen style) through a convoluted scheme to steal a sample of a highly volatile, and precious, star-ship fuel called coaxium in exchange for passage on an outgoing transport. The plan goes horribly wrong and Qi'ra is captured by the authorities before she is able to board with Han. The young smuggler vows to return as a pilot and signs up with the Empire in order to fufill this dream; the long term goal being returning to Corellia to find and rescue Qi'ra. From here, we follow Han's trials and tribulations over the intervening years, first as a foot soldier for the Empire, then his plan to desert the army (with a little help from a newly befriended Wookiee named Chewbacca), to finally helping out a crew of smugglers, lead by the illusive Beckett (Woody Harrelson) who eventually takes Han under his wing.



Solo has a very shaky beginning that threatens its overall premises but manages to turn it around a fun second half



The problem is that this first half is a complete and utter mess tonally, thematically and as part of the overall film. Characters and plot lines that appear in the first half have little to no baring or consequence on the second half and I suspect that this is where most of the efforts of the re-shoots came from - to make it into the all-encompassing Solo prequel that Lucasfilm assumed the audience wanted and to throw in more fan service. There are some real groaners in here, such as why Han calls Chewbacca "Chewie" and why Han's last name is Solo. Because we've always wondered that. Basically, every possible thread from the original films about this character that could be expanded on is in the film is and some just land horribly. Alden Ehrenreich has the unenviable job of trying to emulate a young Harrison Ford and it's certainly a valiant effort on his part. It does lack some of Ford's rogueish charm but Ehrenreich has enough charisma to lead the film effectively.

When Han and company meet ruthless crime boss Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany) to gain their assignment to steal unrefined coaxium from the spice mines of Kessel and rush it across space through the now infamous run to a refining facility before the highly combustible stuff explodes, the film overall picks up. I suspect that this was the original version of the film's "lock-in" (i.e. the moment when the characters get their "assignment" for the duration of the film and traditionally occurs early in a narrative) however, in the Howard version, this comes well over an hour into the film and much of the damage has already been done. The surprise re-introduction of a character from the opening also really helps to shake up the status quo in what could have been a fairly tired and sexist trope.

Solo has an energised cast, largely helped by spirited performances from Ehrenreich, Glover, Clarke and Harrison



With the disastrous first half out of the way, all of a sudden Solo picks up the pace and becomes a fun, zippy (albeit basic) adventure film that revels in the Western influences that often go unappreciated in the wider discourse surrounding Star Wars. I was shocked to find myself coming round to the film, though only just about. With double and triple crosses, a fun set up for the famous Kessel run, well constructed action sequences, good character moments and an effective third act, Solo just about makes the landing. I also like how it moves into a morally ambigious area as the true nature of Vox's intent for the coaxium is revealed. Much of the fan service from the first half is dropped and I think I honestly would have preferred it if this second half was just expanded into a full film - just as I suspect was the original intent. "An Adventure with a young Han Solo" sounds more appealing to me as opposed to, as I said earlier, an all-encompassing tale about this character's life finishing up (in terms of his character arc) where A New Hope picks up. From this point onwards, the cast's acting chops really shine through, in particular Donald Glover as a young Lando. The only really lamentable aspect in the second half is a sassy robot side-kick, who can't help but feel like an odd reaction to some fan's (ah hum) accusations of Disney injecting "SJW" politics into Star Wars (I can't put enough commas around that hateful term).

Solo: A Star Wars Story is a big hot mess that suffers largely from a disastrous first half that ends up becoming the fun space opera Western it always should have been. When the film begins proper, Solo manages to be a lively time with some quite surprising twists and turns on the way towards its shockingly good small scale finale. I think there's a great film in Solo but the pacing and tonal issues severely damage the overall product, even as its prospects begin to shine. Overall, the cast do a good job at bringing energy to the story and I do give props to Ehrenreich for doing perhaps the most unenviable acting job imaginable - recreating the iconic and swaggering performance of Harrison Ford. The thing is, I think your mileage with Solo will depend on how interested you are in the lore and backstories of this universe. Even though I love the characters and (most) of the films, I'm not particularly bothered about the lore side (I prefer the "this is one part of a wider story that we don't get to see" approach) but I can admit that Solo ultimately becomes a good ol' time. Just.

If anything, it's certainly the best Star Wars prequel.



That said, it is funny to think that, that despite the rage from a certain (minor) part of the Star Wars fanbase who are very vocal in their hatred of the inclusion of """SJW""" politics into Star Wars, that the one that stars the ultimate white male power fantasy is the one that has bombed at the box-office .... go figure.