Solo was phenomenal.

"DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!" (daft-ryosuke)
05/27/2018 at 21:16 • Filed to: None

It feels so great to see a Star Wars movie show off the same amount of charisma and charm that made the originals so great. With this and Rogue One, the anthology movies are really leaving the sequel trilogy in the dust.

Alden Ehrenreich is great as Solo, he’s obviously done a lot of work studying the mannerisms of Harrison Ford and it really pays off. Donald Glover is a splitting image of Lando. The story is a solid old-fashioned heist movie with some decent ties to the rest of the saga. It’s just loads of great fun.

Even if you had difficulties with The Last Jedi, I recommend giving Solo a try, you may be pleasantly surprised.

DISCUSSION (14)

random001 > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/27/2018 at 21:28

I’m apparently in the minority. I really like Solo, but I didn’t think it was phenomenal. I don’t know. Like I said, I really liked it, but I wasn’t blown away by it. Except for Lando. And his cape room. I now want a cape room.

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/27/2018 at 21:28

this an excellent opinion that I fully support

bob and john > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/27/2018 at 21:31

I liked it. I liked the Last jedi too, so eh.

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/27/2018 at 21:49

I was on the fence about it as most Youtube and other online reviewers gave mixed reviews. We have no plans tomorow so might check it out as several oppos have liked it

For Sweden > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/27/2018 at 22:02

Han: I love you Qi’ra

Leia: exists

Han: I gotta go

TheRealBicycleBuck > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/27/2018 at 22:12

We just got back from watching it. I wasn’t terribly impressed. There were plot holes/devices big enough to drive the Millennium Falcon through. It was all so... disappointing.

ttyymmnn > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/27/2018 at 22:24

Enjoyable, but still not up to Rogue One. Some good twists, a great cameo at the end that leaves an opening for future movies. And I can watch Emilia Clarke all day long.

AntiSpeed > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/27/2018 at 23:39

Wait, isn’t Star Wars supposed to be a Christmas movie now?

Derpwagon > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/28/2018 at 00:55

It was alright.

Captain of the Enterprise > random001
05/28/2018 at 06:03

I’m in the same boat, I thought it was good but not great.

aquila121 > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/28/2018 at 14:09

Glad you enjoyed it. I just got finished with a showing, and my take is more mixed bag—though I certainly find it better overall than the recycling of plot beats for episodes VII and VIII.

I’ll give you that the lead emulated Harrison Ford well in the cocky/humorous moments for his character, but I found the serious/perilous moments didn’t always come across as well for me. Admittedly, I think it’d be near-impossible to fill shoes for a character as beloved as Han Solo, and yet (despite my similar reservations about Lando being played in this movie) Donald Glover was more successful at capturing the charisma of the role he filled.

Spoilers below:

You’ve been warned.

I loved Woody Harrelson in the movie, and that he didn’t redeem himself by the end. Part of my problem with Han by the close of the movie was that his progression from self-serving scrapper to scoundrel who’ll do the right thing in the end cheapens that character growth in “A New Hope”—now it’s just a repeat of the same choice presented here in “Solo” (to aid the beginnings of the Rebellion, even). But Beckett had his principles, he stuck to them, and Harrelson delivered; it was all acted beautifully. I just wish he went down without the tired trope of last words. But I was ecstatic that Han shot first.

I was unimpressed by the design of the Millennium Falcon, it just looked like a guitar pick in space. However, the Sabacc game (and rematch) were well done scenes that fit in with the elements of the extended universe that I became aware of growing up—nice touch. Same with integrating L3's databanks into the ship. And I’ll forgive the visual changes to the Falcon since they resolved the ship’s design by the final scene.

In other news, I say Paul Bettany did fine as a villain, but I found the dialogue he was given to smack a little too heavily of something more fitting with the Marvel universe. And though I’m not educated in the nuance of film, I had a nagging sense that Ron Howard’s choices of direction (mostly in some camerawork and shot composition) somehow falls into the “show don’t tell” criticism in writing. We didn’t need a shot of Han’s face the first time the jump to hyperspace is made—the audience is meant to feel that themselves by looking out the cockpit. It’s a Star Wars movie, as long as the effects are done right (and they were) we don’t need to be told through a character’s expression that this is a wonderful spectacle, we feel it ourselves. I had the same love-it-or-hate-it moments in equal measure with the dialogue: some one-liners felt out of place, like they were written as part of an unrelated generic action movie and somehow shoehorned into the script. There were a few that had me rolling, though, so it’s not all bad.

Lastly, can we just stop with the “look at the alien singer in our homage to the Mos Eisley cantina” stuff? It didn’t work in the special edition rehash of “Return of the Jedi,” it doesn’t work here. The Star Wars universe works best when you have a diverse population of non-humans and they’re treated as an ordinary part of life, no matter the planet—no “hey look that guys has fours arms” or other expository dialogue necessary. But I did appreciate the Rodian, Gonk droid, and astromech that I saw—it’s nice to just have those footholds of established lore in the universe there, and trust the fans to see them. Also, I did not see the Darth Maul cameo coming at all, and surprisingly I enjoyed it. Something I never thought I’d say about much of anything that relates to the prequels.

Solid overall, but I’m in agreement with ttyymmnn that out of all the Disney-backed Star Wars efforts, “Rogue One” struck a few more positive chords with me, despite its own flaws.

coqui70 > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
05/28/2018 at 20:31

They should have gone darker ... I always felt that Han had a deep secret from his past. Also a missed opportunity with Qi’ra - she could have been tortured and come back from the past as a vengeful cyborg hell-bent on making Han pay for leaving her behind. Instead they gave us the safe PG version.

I liked Rogue One because the heroes die in the end ... much more satisfying.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > aquila121
05/29/2018 at 09:27

“his progression from self-serving scrapper to scoundrel who’ll do the right thing in the end cheapens that character growth in “A New Hope”

My thoughts exactly!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn
05/29/2018 at 09:29

Holy crap... I just realized she’s Daenerys!