This is for sure another Star
Wars story, but that doesn’t necessarily make it another Star Wars movie. Except in this case, it’s
probably a good thing. It’s the previously unseen backstory of Han Solo: the
galaxy’s most notorious smuggler and eventually a war hero.
He’s none of those things when Solo starts. Alden Ehrenreich takes up the mantle as a young Han
who is on the cusp of buying freedom for himself and his girlfriend Kira (Emilia
Clarke) after a lifetime of forced servitude on the scrap heap planet of
Corellia. As these things go, Han gets out; his lady does not. With no
connections and no credits to his name, Han sees his best option in drafting
himself into the Imperial Army to become the best pilot in the galaxy and return
for his childhood sweetheart. (Why does everyone want to go back to Jakku, etc.)
From there, the plot kicks in with some familiar origin
story beats. Why Han flies so well. How Han met Chewie. Han and the Falcon. The
callbacks are strong with this one. The Force isn’t, though, and that is, to me, a mark up for this movie. Old Han Solo still holds the record for best line in Star Wars history when he ogles Finn, flabbergasted,
in Episode VII and exclaims, “That’s not how the Force works!” Han (Harrison)
is a guy who just genuinely does not
give a single shit about Space Wizard Magic and by that logic, neither should
this movie.
And so, it’s not really a Space Opera so much as a Space
Pirate adventure. There are a lot of pirates in this movie. Saving talk about the more
familiar ones for later, we are very, very
quickly introduced to a band of new and colorful – if underdeveloped –
characters unique to the Solo Cinematic
Universe.
Emilia Clarke, as mentioned above, is the female lead. Her character gets something approaching real development in the final minutes, but before then is given nothing to do outside of making mooneyes at her male counterpart, holding a blaster and cosplaying as a Space Targaryen. That’s not to say she played it this way; just to say it’s what the movie wanted her to do. As for much of the cast, the material is below what she’s capable of.
Then you have Paul Bettany, on break from getting bopped by
Thanos to play Generic Disney Villain
No. 1107. He does his best here, but what can one do with a script that
only asks you to bare your incisors and stab random toadies with your Halo 2 melee weapon? Not much, bro.
The most interesting and engaging character here is the smuggler Beckett, played by the great Woody Harrelson. He introduces Han to the outlaw life and has an easy chemistry with his own team of thieves and the rest of the cast. Sadly, there just isn’t enough real estate in the break-neck pace of the First Act to feel any resonance when their ill-fated “One Last Job” goes sideways.
Alden Ehrenreich helps a bit with that. Calling the
performance workman-like sounds a bit like feint praise but I actually mean
well. It’s clear he worked very hard to mirror Harrison Ford’s ticks and mannerisms
from the original films and he has his own natural charisma that he brings to
the role. I personally like how much his take on Han emphasizes his actual best talent: the best bullshitter
in the galaxy.
Still though, he wasn’t as good at Han as Donald Glover was
at Lando Calrissian. If he had been, we might just be looking at a four-star
movie. His Billy Dee Williams impression is spot-on and for regular viewers of
the TV series Atlanta, indicative of
his range as an actor. I won’t let you get too excited, though. To say Donald
Glover stars in this movie is generous, since Lando doesn’t make his appearance
until around the Third Act and, like Kira, doesn’t get much to do except be himself – in Spaaaaace!
It’s a problem I see in several medium, but especially in
movies. Giving a character a few lines of relevant exposition doesn’t always
equal proper development. And letting them swing a weapon around or kill a few
bad guys (or the Bad Guy) doesn’t
necessarily give them agency. If you want us to care – if you want them to
matter – you need to give them more than busy work. Beckett is a character that
influenced Han’s outlook heavily before and after the events of the film. On
his own, he advanced the plot in a meaningful way that got our protagonists
where they needed to go. Even Chewbacca was given a significant scene of introspection, in a matter of
moments without any spoken dialogue!
I’ve seen this movie described in some reviews as a Wikipedia
(or Wookiepedia) page on film. Credit for that probably goes to director Ron
Howard, who deserves the title of “workman” as much as anyone on this cast and
crew. He’s a very solid and safe director and it shows in how this movie is
shot. The performances are all good to excellent but the movie is saved from
being forgettable only by a double-swerve in the last twenty minutes that make
you think “Oh, it is that kind of-
ooooh! Alright, fair point movie.” With a good enough eye, you’ll see it
coming, but good execution is key here.
Without spoiling anything, I really like the way the main
conflict wraps up. It was never going to be a true Hero’s Journey for Han, but
he at least comes away from his adventure a bit sharper, and a much better
scoundrel than he was when he started.
On a stray note: I’m a fan of the new way these Star Wars epics are being structured. That
is, with a soft “Fourth Act” to ratchet up the stakes after what you thought was the climax. The last twenty-five
minutes of Solo got around to the
Space Pirate romp that was constantly threatening to come out. I just wish it
hadn’t taken so long to get there. (Shout-outs to Episode VIII.)
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