With The Rise Of Skywalker on the way in December I decided to do retrospectives on each of the films. I am going in the order of the story which means we’re continuing on with Solo : A Star Wars Story. This film came out in 2018. This is the first of the spin offs in order of the story but it actually came out after Rogue One, which we’ll be covering tomorrow. I personally loved Solo but I’m still iffy on if it was really a necessary film. That’s something I’ll be covering in today’s top 3 list so be sure to check that out at the end of the article.
The movie starts off with an exciting chase scene and it shows a lot of Corellia. I’ve always assumed this was roughly 6-9 years after Revenge Of The Sith based on everything that happens in the film. Of course there is a discussion based on how does Alden Ehrenreich do as Han Solo and I personally think he does a great job. I love how he flies by the seat of his pants in this film and half the time, it doesn’t work for him. He attempts to be smooth and he does have a few moments but you begin to realize that Han in this film is someone who just does what he can with what he has and I love that about him. After he escapes Lady Proxima and gets chased by her bodyguards, he and Qi-ra get separated at the terminal to leave the planet. Qi-ra is played by Emilia Clarke and I think she’s a great character but we’ll get to her a bit more later. Han joins the imperial academy just to get away. I loved that Han basically detests the empire immediately but has to go with them without another way off of the planet.
I would’ve preferred seeing Han as a pilot but they pull a “3 Years Later” on us and so we lose all of that. It’s annoying but it gets the story told. When he gets to his first major battle, he basically just fights to survive but he makes it known that he’s not just another mindless trooper. He doesn’t really want to follow orders. It’s not really explained why he doesn’t have any Stormtrooper armor on, which is kinda weird to me. I know there’s probably something about rank involved or something but it’s still kinda weird and isn’t explained in the film. He’s eventually put in to be executed and gets tossed in with a Wookiee, Yup that Wookiee. Him and Chewbacca hatch a plan to escape by faking a fight and I love this interaction because it shows how Smart both of them really are. Chewbacca being captured is the first hint we get about the Wookiee’s being taken into captivity following the rise of the empire. It’d been covered in different books and things like that but it was never done within the films and I was glad they finally included in the films because the Wookiees are one of my favorite species in the Star Wars universe.
We get to see a scene of Beckett and his crew and we get to learn a bit more about them. I like them but you don’t really learn a enough about them before they get killed in the next scene. Beckett’s technically the only character who really matters of the group and that’s why he survives. The train heist is pretty exciting especially when Enfys Nest shows up. Enfys is a character the actually surprised me and I love the music that accompanies them when they show up. It’s probably my favorite of the ones not written by John Williams. The heist goes off the rails(Literally! Ha!) and Han chooses to let the shipment go to save Beckett and Chewbacca and because they lost the shipment, they have to go make a deal with Dryden Voss and attempt to figure out a solution where they don’t end up getting killed.
Dryden Vos is such a great villain. Paul Bettany plays him with charisma and charm and yet, there’s never a moment where he comes off cartoonish to me. He’s very menacing and no, it’s not just because he has weird glowing scars although that definitely doesn’t hurt. I do love seeing the weird lounge party they attend while waiting for Dryden to make his appearance. Qi-ra shows up and reveals to Han that she works for Vos. One of my favorite aspects of Qi-ra is how she’s a pure survivor. She’ll do anything and everything she can to get ahead and that’s what makes her both interesting and dangerous. Vos is very creepy with her and it just galls Han to no end obviously. While making the deal with Dryden, they realize that they’re going to need to pull another heist only this one is nearly impossible cause they’ll have to get the Coaxium they need and get it off the planet and refined at another planet before it explodes.
We’re now approaching my favorite part of this entire film. Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. Glover is incredible in this role, he’s smooth, quick witted and he even says “Han” the wrong way. It’s perfect. “Everything you’ve heard about me is true.” is one of my favorite lines in the entire series. Lando and Han keep one-upping each other the entire time and really the entire Sabacc sequence is wonderful, it’s tense and hilarious at the same time. Lando wins the match by hiding cards but fortunately he likes Qi-ra and agrees to fly the group to Kessel for the heist.
L3-37 is the next character we meet and she’s very interesting to me. She’s a droid who constantly fights for Droid Rights. I’ve found it incredibly interesting how much they focused on moral standards in these films. We’ll get to it more in the other post Disney Star Wars Films. L3 even fights a man who is running the Droid Fighting Pits. It’s a great scene but unfortunately it’s over quickly because Lando tells her that it’s time to go. L3 doesn’t get enough screen time in my opinion but there’s a reason I’m ok with it that we’ll get to in a bit. Her and Lando keep berating each other the entire time which is pretty funny. Then, we finally see it : The Millennium Falcon. It’s beautiful as it always is and I love seeing Han in the ship. He’s like a kid, his eyes light up when they take off into hyperspace and Ehrenreich nails it. On the ship, Han and Qi-ra get a moment alone together until Beckett interrupts them and reminds him that Qi-ra is owned by Crimson Dawn and that she can’t be trusted. This is where we get to see Han as the bright eyed young Pilot. It’s a spark that we don’t see at the beginning of A New Hope but we definitely get it back by the end of Return of The Jedi.
The next 20 minutes is a rollercoaster but I love it. When they get down to Kessel, I like that they have basically the same plan that Luke comes up with in the Death Star. It’s not very subtle but it’s still a fun nod. Plus we learn that Qi-ra learned Teras Kasi from Dryden which is pretty awesome that it’s now canon despite the fact that it’s from one of the worst games ever. L3-37 proceeds to create a distraction by setting the droids and the slaves free and causing a revolution. Chewbacca frees another Wookiee slave and they all help Han get the coaxium into the Falcon. Lando starts covering them and there’s a really great but short scene with Lando tossing Han his blaster and then they each turn and start covering everyone else. It’s a really great moment. The next scene is a much more somber one with L3 getting shot while covering the escape. Lando rushes to her but it’s clear that it’s too late for her. He grabs her and holds her as she fades out and her systems fail. It’s a heartbreaking performance by Glover and I really want him to get his own movie because of his ability to play him so smooth one second and so vulnerable the next. Han is piloting the falcon and is being chased by imperials when he says that he needs L3’s navigational computer. Lando plugs her in and she becomes a part of the ship. It’s one of the reasons I was ok with her dying because now she’ll be central in fighting the rebellion and the first order in the rest of the films. Meanwhile, Han’s becoming the pilot we know him to be. Lando tells him that no one can make the Kessel Run in less than 20 parsecs and he simply says : “Watch me.”
The chase is great and I love that this film isn’t afraid to have fun with it’s exciting moments like this. Han’s first real scene of flying is great especially when he spins and hits that tie fighter into the asteroid. Then we finally get to what I think is the coolest moment of the entire film. When they start getting pulled into the maw and have to use the coaxium to power the falcon out of there. It’s just a near perfect moment. Then of course Lando is just incredibly angry at Han due to how messed up the Falcon is. Which he then totally leaves them later.
Qi-Ra talks about how she basically can never be free of Crimson Dawn and she tells Han that he isn’t the outlaw that he thinks he is. He’s the good guy even though he wants to be anything else but that. It’s why he hates the empire and why he allies himself with Enfys Nest when they show up. Enfys reveals herself to be the start of a rebellion and I really enjoy this aspect of the two spin-offs where neither one is all about the Rebel Alliance but more about the different sects being scattered across the galaxy. I like that it wasn’t just something that happened but it was something that was built up. It’s the kind of Origin Story I can get behind.
So Han decides to help Enfys and he tells Beckett the plan. Beckett’s like “Nah, you do your thing.” and then he leaves. Han, Qi-ra and Chewbacca all head to Dryden’s ship with the coaxium and they try to double cross Dryden but naturally it doesn’t work and he already knows about the plan because….Dunh, Dunh DUNNNNNNN!!!!! Yup, Beckett went to Dryden and double crossed them. It’s something I saw coming from a mile away and yet, I don’t understand why they focused so much on the tension of who was behind the door? I mean, we all knew it was Beckett, right? Anyways, Dryden basically reveals that he knew this was going to happen and attacked the nearby village and attempted to steal the real coaxium from Enfys, but wait?!?! It’s empty! Han had already planned on Beckett leaving and wanted Dryden to send out his enforcers so he wouldn’t have to fight through all of them. But the real coaxium was right there in front of them and Beckett decides to steal that and take Chewbacca as a hostage.
Of course, that still leaves Dryden with Qi-ra and Han. Their fight is actually pretty cool because Dryden is a solid fighter and Han in close quarters is always entertaining because he’s the smuggler who’s a good shot, he’s not really the combat expert. I also really like Dryden’s vibroblades that he uses. It’s something else from the lore that they introduced and I think it fits perfectly for his style. Qi-ra picks up an antique sword and pretends to turn on Han but then she kills Dryden. It’s very effective cause you never really know whose side she’s on. Especially when you get to the next scene featuring the most random cameo of the entire series. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Darth Maul as much as the next guy but his inclusion does nothing for the story besides Fan Service. This is exceptionally prevalent when he ignites his lightsaber for no reason at all. It was actually incredibly funny on my second viewing.
Han chases Beckett down and faces him down to save Chewbacca. Beckett starts to talk but Han Shoots him before he can finish what he’s saying. He tells Han that he made the right move cause he would’ve killed him. Beckett dies and Han returns the coaxium to Enfys Nest. Who invites him to join the rebellion, which he of course refuses. What this film lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in charm. I think it’s one of the reasons I like it so much. For example, the actual final scene of this film is Han beating Lando for the Millennium Falcon in a Sabacc Rematch and once again, it’s just such a great and fun scene in a film that’s full of them.
Top 3 Reasons This Film Was Unnecessary
Now, as much as I enjoy this film it’s still largely an unnecessary film. This doesn’t make it bad film by any means and it says something since I couldn’t even come up with 5 reasons anyway. That being said I do feel like there were other areas to explore instead. Let’s go over why.
Loose Plot Threads.
Let’s just face it, Darth Maul and Qi-ra may never be picked up for another film and while I’d be curious to see what they could/would do with that, it’s just not viable to make a film of it. Maybe we’ll see a Disney+ series, that would be pretty awesome.
Other Origins
When it comes right down to it, we just didn’t need Han’s origin. Lando or Chewbacca would’ve been a better origin to explore in my opinion but I understand that Han is such a big character that you’d clearly want to see him on screen but we already know everything you need to know about him from the Original Trilogy. Now you contrast that with the Wookiee Co-Pilot who went from helping Yoda on Kashyyyk in Episode III to the Mos Eisley Cantina in Episode IV, that’s a story I’m intrigued in. Plus, and this might just be my love for Donald Glover, I would love to see a full Lando film. His story is one that we don’t get to visit that much in the original trilogy and I’d love to see more of him.
Where’s The Old Republic Film?
Here’s the main reason that I don’t think this movie should’ve been one of the first ones they chose to do. When Disney took over all things Star Wars, they said that everything in the EU besides The Clone Wars and Rebels were considered “Legends” now and were non-canon. Now, that makes sense for anything post Return Of The Jedi because we’ll obviously be getting those stories in the new films but I never understood why they got rid of the old republic stuff without replacing it? Supposedly we’ll be getting some movies soon but that means that we’ve had 6 years without the Old Republic. I’m excited to see what they do with those but I wish we would’ve gotten them a little sooner.
