No, I went in with an open mind, since I liked R1. I didn't like it because of what it was. I wouldn't have minded the minutia so much if it had worked as a movie.

I felt Han's character didn't have any emotional arc, he acted the same confident way the entire movie. The structure was odd, no establishing scenes in the beginning just straight to car chase. Clark's character showing up again that way was too coincidental. The Kessel Run sequence was very visually cluttered and it wasn't Han's skill that allowed him to achieve his feat but rather luck and hacky teamwork; the third act lost a lot of tension with the reveal that the intimidating swoop gang who murdered the likeable ape-alien pilot are actually just a bunch of angsty teenage orphans. I did like the spaceport sequence, and the acting was great all around.

I do feel Disney will get better at making these spinoff movies over time. I believe their fundamental mistake with all these SW movies has been that they rushed into making a cinematic universe with no clear vision. Just focus all your resources into making one movie at a time. "All his life has he looked away, to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was! What he was doing!"

I agreed with 90% of the red letter media review. Especially the bit about the cinematography. It was pretty bad. I felt like I was watching a 2d movie through 3d glasses. It just seemed really really dim.


I really enjoyed it but I would love to see the Lord and Miller version. Just to see the difference.

fig96 said:

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Really good stuff.

One more interesting comment from him, especially relative to some comments on this thread:

in response to

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Exactly. This is exactly what I was saying about how this played out in the film. Unfortunately, these types things play out in public - on both sides - to the point that the context of what happens on screen becomes completely skewed. But this is the zeitgeist in our time, I guess.

I wish writers would let the audience come to whatever conclusion they come to instead of needing to spell it out.
Chances are, someone's is going to have an issue with the answer so why answer it to begin with?

Lando\Donald Danny Glover\Childish Gambino doesn't really answer questions when asked about the meaning of his music videos. This lets the viewer come to their own conclusion.

Ag Since 83 said:

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Danny Glover? I mean, Empire came out 38 years ago. I guess Lando is getting too old for this ****

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lol... my favorite Danny Glover quote!

Thank you, John Williams.

True, Han has always had luck, but I wish he had a bit more control of the outcome. For me that makes for more thrilling action scenes. Kinda like when Lando is flying in the interior of second Death Star - there's a lot of luck, but also a ton of skill involved. It's that tension between the two that makes the sequence great.

So everyone is expecting a direct tie in to the Kenobi and Fett films, but I think the next Solo film could produce some interesting tie ins to some of the R1 crew. Granted we wouldn't be able to see them all together but I am guessing Solo 2 would still be pre R1 timeline so we could maybe get a look at Jyn on the run from the Empire or Baze and Chirrut as the Guardians of the Whills. Might be a good way to explain Han's knowledge of the force, and maybe touch on his lack of faith in it during ANH.

You're welcome, everyone.

Duncan Idaho said:

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BrownCoat said:

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So everyone is expecting a direct tie in to the Kenobi and Fett films, but I think the next Solo film could produce some interesting tie ins to some of the R1 crew. Granted we wouldn't be able to see them all together but I am guessing Solo 2 would still be pre R1 timeline so we could maybe get a look at Jyn on the run from the Empire or Baze and Chirrut as the Guardians of the Whills. Might be a good way to explain Han's knowledge of the force, and maybe touch on his lack of faith in it during ANH.

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I swear I have no idea why this universe needs hyperspace. The way everyone bumps into each other, the entire universe feels about as big as college station over the Christmas break.

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You're not wrong, but that is also every movie ever.

Even the weekday box office is looking really weak. $7.3M on Tuesday, which is obviously way down from all Star Wars movies, but it's even below Logan, which was the closest comparison I could find with a very similar opening weekend. That one did $8.6M on its first Tuesday. Justice League did $10M.

Honestly, this one is gonna struggle to break $500M worldwide.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Honestly, this one is gonna struggle to break $500M worldwide.

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So what is the actual fallout going to be here?

Hard to say, really.

Probably much smaller budgets, and preferably not shooting movies twice.

Zombie Jon Snow said:

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^^ I agree with what Ulrich said too

i don't think we could have seen 2 different movies but it seems as though we did....

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I felt Han's character didn't have any emotional arc, he acted the same confident way the entire movie.

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No arc? He had young love, lost it, was searching for it again he had motivation and was doing whatever it took in a harsh environment. As for being confident the entire time most people I know are born that way and always were that way they don't become cocky arrogant SOBs. I knew cocky kids who are cocky still. but it's not like he didn't learn lessons those were plainly shown - he overstepped his bounds a time or two and was nearly killed as a result. He also learned from Beckett not to trust anyone and people are predictable.

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The structure was odd, no establishing scenes in the beginning just straight to car chase.

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The speeder chase was the establishing scene and admittedly not my favorite thing in the movie - it established the movie was an adventure, chase, etc. and introduced a world on the way and a brazen cocky anti hero of sorts. I'd compare it to Raiders of the Lost Ark actually... no establishing scenes just in the jungle stealing an artifact and running for his life and barely escaping. thats some standard elements for a film of this type really why that would be a surprise is beyond me.

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Clark's character showing up again that way was too coincidental.

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A little sure, it was also a nice little surprise except the previews gave it away. But it fed into her character actually as it was obvious she was not really there by choice and she had been through a lot. I like a mysterious woman with a dark background thats what it gave us. I never thought he would find her back on Corellia pining away for his return. she has a better story for being under some bad gangster.

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The Kessel Run sequence was very visually cluttered and it wasn't Han's skill that allowed him to achieve his feat but rather luck and hacky teamwork;

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It was chaotic for sure but that was kinda the point. And it was luck maybe but that sorta defines Han Solo... he is willing to do it when nobody else is and take the ultimate risks (never tell me the odds)....I thought it fit perfectly and made sense as to why he is the only one to do it 12 parsecs and why the distance is the issue (not the time). I think it was perfect.

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The third act lost a lot of tension with the reveal that the intimidating swoop gang who murdered the likeable ape-alien pilot are actually just a bunch of angsty teenage orphans

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ONE teenager actually and she's 19. The same age Han is supposed to be so.....yeah. Warwick Davis is like 50, the other marauders including the one from Rogue One are also older. It wasn't some teen gang. Thats silly. and it was a good twist actually that they were not nemesis... also the fact that the plot played into the funding of the original Rebellion is great. I did not experience this loss of tension.

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I did like the spaceport sequence, and the acting was great all around.

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PS we don't need spoiler tags - it was decided. If you are on the Solo thread after release but before you've seen it well.. thats on you. the main SW thread is spoiler free territory though.

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You're right in that Han learned some lessons at the end, but to me it felt a bit tacked on. Sure stuff happened to him, but he didn't seem to change his behavior accordingly. When Kira flies away, I instinctively thought Han would display some emotion - this was a big moment - but he just looks stoically up at the sky. And then in the next scene he's back to his chipper self. I thought this would be the first step to Han becoming like he is in ANH, like how he's cynical about causes, and has a dark streak with shooting Greedo point blank. Yes, he did shoot Beckett, but that scene and the Kira one didn't seem to register on a deeper emotional level - like he didn't understand the true reality of what happened. But as you said, it may be because he's still young at 19. However if they're going to stretch his emotional development out over three movies, that's not a lot to explore within each movie, because Solo as a character isn't that complicated to begin with. But we'll just have to see where Solo 2 goes I guess.

True, Raiders did have an action start, but they didn't jump into the boulder scene. That opening had great pacing, so it had little characterization moments between Indy and the guides, with slowly escalating tension that climaxed with Indy running from the boulder. I didn't mind the speeder chase (I actually thought the stormtrooper traffic cop was cool) but just wanted a little bit of set up beforehand. Maybe have establishing shots of the city, which would set the tone and overall feeling. Then have a bonding scene between Kira and Han, rather than the rushed hallway one. All that wouldn't take too long, and then have Han go into the underground crime meeting.

I agree Kira is a better character because of where she is. Just wanted a little bit more escalation to the revelation is all, not the sudden way they did it. Like have Han think he sees someone familiar at a distance with the scar guy... then she slowly turns around and it's revealed to Kira! Uh oh! What's she doing here?! Lol kinda like that

I get they want spectacle with the Kessel Run, but they didn't balance that out with a good contrasting color choice. In the Star Wars comic Dark Empire II, Han goes through a dangerous nebula to escape Fett - the artist colored the nebula a bright yellow, so it contrasted well against the silver body and blue afterburner of the Falcon. It was crisp and the action was visually very readable. (Quick nit pick, the Star Destoyer getting sucked down would've been cooler than the poor squid thing... I felt bad for it.) And yes Han is reckless with testing his luck, but having a character viscerally effect their surroundings is better, like his piloting in the asteroid belt demonstrated.

If they wanted to have the swoop gang to be Rebels, then why set them up as the Hell's Angels? They brutally attacked Beckett and co. - I'm not sure Rebels would use outright antagonistic violence like that. If they were designed differently I'd buy the twist more.

I did like a lot of the aspects of the movie, I didn't outright hate it at all, but admittedly my frustration with what went wrong may have caused my first post to be a bit too heated. If it appeared that way, my bad.

Render said:

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You're right in that Han learned some lessons at the end, but to me it felt a bit tacked on. Sure stuff happened to him, but he didn't seem to change his behavior accordingly. When Kira flies away, I instinctively thought Han would display some emotion - this was a big moment - but he just looks stoically up at the sky. And then in the next scene he's back to his chipper self. I thought this would be the first step to Han becoming like he is in ANH, like how he's cynical about causes, and has a dark streak with shooting Greedo point blank. Yes, he did shoot Beckett, but that scene and the Kira one didn't seem to register on a deeper emotional level - like he didn't understand the true reality of what happened. But as you said, it may be because he's still young at 19. However if they're going to stretch his emotional development out over three movies, that's not a lot to explore within each movie, because Solo as a character isn't that complicated to begin with. But we'll just have to see where Solo 2 goes I guess.

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most people don't have 1 defining moment in life that is the nexus of their personal development. so, we don't need Han to become as completely cynical at that moment as he is later in life after he's done a bunch of deals with a bunch bad dudes. been screwed over on money, shot at, etc. we can all infer that happens based on what we know about him later.

BrownCoat said:

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So everyone is expecting a direct tie in to the Kenobi and Fett films, but I think the next Solo film could produce some interesting tie ins to some of the R1 crew. Granted we wouldn't be able to see them all together but I am guessing Solo 2 would still be pre R1 timeline so we could maybe get a look at Jyn on the run from the Empire or Baze and Chirrut as the Guardians of the Whills. Might be a good way to explain Han's knowledge of the force, and maybe touch on his lack of faith in it during ANH.

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I'd love to see them explore Baze and Chirrut and some of the offshoot factions that believe or don't believe in the Force.

Be really interesting to see how those outside the direct circle we know about perceive things.

Render said:

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If they wanted to have the swoop gang be rebels, then why set up then up as the Hell's Angels? They brutally attacked Beckett and co. - I'm not sure Rebels would use outright antagonistic violence like that. If they were designed differently I'd buy the twist more.

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Not all Rebels are nice people... some are extreme. This was a theme in Rogue One. With Cassian shooting the informant but also with Saw Guerrera. Saw is a rebel fighting the empire but they fought them in a more aggressive manner... hell, they bombed a market area with civilians in Rogue One.

Even one of the group in Solo is also in Saw Guerrera's group in Rogue One, which definitely fits.

I agree, cataclymist events don't usually happen (unless you're the Joker with one bad day...) but I felt a foreshadowing hint in the actor's acting would have been good. Also, I didn't know they were making other Solo movies before I saw the movie, so my expectation that they'd really develop his character may have been misplaced.

Render said:

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Which person did you agree with most? Mike was 50/50, Jay was pretty negative, and Rich loved it. Me personally, Jay echoed my sentiments.

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I was somewhere close to the fat man with the Angelic laughter view if he wasn't "tone deaf" to the how bad cinematography was. If they wouldnt have mentioned how bad it was, I would have just thought it was my theater and that I am going blind.

I saw it this afternoon. It was a good movie but I didn't go in with very high expectations, so I wasn't at all disappointed. Explains how Chewy and Han met and Landau and some of the other things that you learn about him in the very first Star Wars. I don't understand all the hate for it but I guess some of the Star Wars geeks just can't deal with it. But I thought it was good.

or did you mean Landeaux Calrissian, his Cajun cousin?

SeattleAgJr said:

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or did you mean Landeaux Calrissian, his Cajun cousin?

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Lando. I used text talk and it spelled it like that and I didn't correct it.