Note: Here's where the spoilers begin.
"Let me give you some advice: assume everyone will betray you, and you will never be disappointed."
- Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), Solo: A Star Wars Story
Having been established as a movie star, Ford was reluctant to reprise his role of Han Solo for Return of the Jedi. He had already played characters with more depth like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rick Deckard in Blade Runner and even got an Academy Award nomination as the Amish-protecting city cop John Book from Peter Weir’s Witness. The cliffhanger ending to The Empire Strikes Back left Solo frozen in carbonite and as far as Ford was concerned, he could stay there. “He’s got no mama, he’s got no papa, he’s got no future.” However, Lucas’ thinking prevailed and Ford was defrosted. His clear and utter contempt for the material (“Well, why don’t you use your divine influence and get us out of this?”) is evident but remains entertaining. For decades after Jedi, Ford’s career would continue to rise but he made an effort to steer clear of science-fiction (with few exceptions like Ender’s Game and Cowboys and Aliens).
In 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm Ltd. and set into motion production on the long-awaited sequel trilogy. While it was assumed that Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher would be more than willing to join the cast, many felt that Harrison Ford would be the lone holdout. Then, head of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy hired J.J. Abrams to direct The Force Awakens; while it is true that she was looking for him to revitalize the franchise the same way he did Star Trek, one might see an ulterior motive. In the early years of Abrams’ career, he wrote a screenplay entitled Regarding Henry, which was made into a movie starring Ford and directed by Mike Nichols. In fact, Abrams was given a cameo role as a pizza boy delivering to Ford’s character in the film. Hiring a familiar face from the past who just so happened to have a major career boost may have turned the tides for Ford’s participation with one major stipulation: Han Solo had to die by the end of the film.
Naturally, with Han Solo being killed by his own son, Disney had to find a way to lighten up the franchise. They began looking into spin-off films that would be released in the intervening years between saga films. One of the first ideas to come up was the origin story of Han Solo, to be written by long-time Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan and his son, Jon. To bring their concept to life, Kathleen Kennedy hired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Their body of work was nothing but comedies – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the Jump Street films and The LEGO Movie. Over and over again, they had managed to take ideas that were skeptical at best and ridiculous at worst and turn them into box office gold. It was hoped that by giving them a higher budget than they were used to would allow them to take their abilities to greater heights. Almost immediately, Kennedy and the directors were at odds with each other. Coming from an improvisational background, they would often film scenes with multiple takes, each with a different delivery from the actors so there would be a wealth of options for the editing room. Kennedy was expecting more from them and Kasdan was said to be immensely displeased. Lord and Miller were themselves not used to this amount of pressure from a studio. As talking points began to break down, the end was near. Lucasfilm publicly announced that Lord and Miller were no longer involved with the project and a search for a new director would soon begin.
Enter Ron Howard, the Academy Award-winning director of such beloved films as Splash, Cocoon and A Beautiful Mind as well as less-regarded films like The Grinch, The Dilemma and In the Heart of the Sea. His Lucasfilm bonafides included having starred in George Lucas’ Modesto cruising comedy-drama American Graffiti as well as directing the fantasy adventure Willow. It has also been confirmed that Howard was among the first names on Lucas’ mind to direct The Phantom Menace before infamously taking on the job himself. Kennedy needed a name that was reliable and could work fast to undo the “damage” done to the Kasdans’ script. Howard, having never done an outer-space adventure film before, was intrigued and took the job. Bringing the cast back together for reshoots was no doubt a nerve-racking achievement, but from all accounts Howard had the time of his life and took to the world of Star Wars like a duck to water.
All his life, young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) has dreamed of a life where he can fly amongst the stars and be the captain of his own ship. After being forcibly separated from the love of his life, Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke), Han joins the Imperial infantry looking to become a pilot but is instead placed on the front lines. There, he meets a group of undercover criminals led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and bumps into a Wookiee that becomes a life-long friend Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). Together, they go on a heist set by a crime lord named Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), who promises death if they fail to live up to his expectations. On the way, the crew finds a famous smuggler named Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) with just the ship they need, the Millennium Falcon. But as Han soon discovers, everyone has secrets they hide and few can be trusted.
While I think that Solo was much better than Rogue One, I still would have preferred to have seen Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's comedy version to the one audiences got. I would very much still like to hear their side of the story and I am sure due to non-disclosure agreements, they will not be saying much until years from now. Though I am sure they would have added a lot of lowbrow humor to the film, they also would have captured the heart and made the idea wholly worthwhile. In fact, their improvisations might have made the film that much more memorable, ala Harrison Ford's contributions to Star Wars. On the final film, they are credited as executive producers. Currently, they are said to be developing the sci-fi movie Artemis, from the author of The Martian and if that film is any indication, I am sure Lord and Miller will be bringing their creative sense of humor to this new production. All in all, there had to be have been some other way to have settled differences between the directors and Lucasfilm. Maybe assigning them to another project or allowing them the ability to create something all on their own. But now and forever, Solo will have the distinction of having started out with two directors and finishing out with one. Very few memorable movies can say that is a plus.
But to talk about the movie audiences *did* get, Solo is a fine adventure film. It has a lot more fun action set-pieces than the other Disney Star Wars films have, aside from Force Awakens. The big elephant in the room is Alden Ehrenreich and his performance of Han. When he was first announced all I knew him from was the Coen Brothers' Hail, Caesar (a movie that I believe suffered from misleading advertising). While he certainly *can* act, he can not act as Han Solo. I just do not see any of what would eventually become Harrison Ford in his scenes. On the other hand, Donald Glover captured exactly what one expects from Lando Calrissian; "an ol' smoothie". Woody Harrelson does good work as Han's mentor but the fact that he does eventually betray Han is unfortunately totally predictable; though he does bring to mind another character from another Lucasfilm production - the curiously named "Fedora" from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ("You lost today, kid. But it doesn't mean you have to like it."). Emilia Clarke is, of course, stunning as ever but does not offer much outside of being Han's love interest. Paul Bettany's crime boss is supposed to be ruthless and menacing, but I do not find him to be so. This is a decent cast, but they are just not allowed to take risks or do anything out of the ordinary.
There is a surprise cameo in the film and while I was thinking it was going to be Jabba the Hutt (maybe even a pracical puppet like Yoda from Last Jedi), but it turned out to be Darth Maul from The Phantom Menace. That is pretty cool, but I imagine pretty confusing to people that have not followed Lucasfilm's animated series(es) "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels" who find out that Darth Maul did indeed survive his slice in half via Obi-Wan Kenobi and now has robot legs. I appreciate that Ray Park was brought back to reprise his role though he is once again dubbed over. So now the first question to ask is why is Lucasfilm bringing back Darth Maul to live-action? Are they setting up a new trilogy of films where Han will eventually take on Maul before he gets to the Mos Eisley Cantina? Will this lead into the long-rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi movie with Ewan McGregor? Maul is certainly a character that can be added to and I am curious to see what he does next.
Fact 1: No one involved with Rogue One ever said this. This is a parody post.
Fact 2: To quote Perry White from Batman v. Superman, "Other breaking news, water... wet."
The fans who got upset with The Last Jedi will most likely find things to get upset over with Solo, but really, if these movies bug you that much - get over yourselves. Seriously. Go find something else to bide your time with. If you are actually going to boycott something, boycott something that actually matters. This is escapism, pure and simple. I have movies that I hate for certain - Vacation (2015) and Ghostbusters: Answer the Call among them. I can, without resorting to violence or anger, reason out why these movies do not work as movies and why the damage the franchises involve with. These other boycotts are just evil, political manipulations of entertainment. It is disgusting and deplorable and it sickens me to have to write about it. I will not discuss this further, so do not bother commenting about it.
Solo: A Star Wars Story - Ron Howard's version, anyway - is a perfectly serviceable Star Wars movie. It has all the humor and thrills that one expects out of this series, but the parts do not add up to the sum of a full movie. The Lord and Miller version will most likely never see the light of day and if that is the case, so be it. I would certainly hope that Lucasfilm learned from their mistakes and will now consciously work with filmmakers every step of the way so that miscommunication will be a thing of the past. It is essentially a film used for a theme park ride (ala "Star Tours") that got a theatrical release; not bad, but leaves you wanting something with more depth.
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