An excellent example of a completely unnecessary missed opportunity. Obviously great production value and budget, pretty good filmmaking and an engaging plot made this watch a much more positive experience than I expected, and I found myself liking it much more than I did the first time. It successfully pulls off a space-western vibe and overall positive acting performances left me immersed and enjoying my semi-obligated rewatch. However, two major flaws prevent this film from being anything greater.
1. The incessant reverse engineered/ callback style storytelling. It feels like whoever was writing this felt the need to explain every single thing we know about Han Solo’s life into this one movie. It’s fan service that no one asked for, and that no one enjoyed. There was so much crammed into the movie in ways so unnatural that it was almost painful to watch. While the points that were directly met through the plot worked well and were exactly what I would have expected from an origin story (Kessell Run, meeting Lando Calrissian) there were an unbelievable amount of ridiculous moments. Let’s count.
1. His name (because people can’t have names normally)
2. Meeting Chewbacca (good)
3. Nicknaming him Chewie (terrible)
4. His dice charms (are we fr)
5. Kessel Run in 12 parsecs (mostly good)
6. Being the best pilot in the galaxy (he said it 1000 times without ever flying)
7. Meeting Lando (good)
8. Getting the millennium falcon (total afterthought and felt out of place)
9. Gearing up to meet Jabba the Hutt (because his entire life takes place in 2 hours)
2. The other issue is Han Solo himself. The acting itself was not bad, but whoever I was watching during this movie was not Han Solo. Honestly, in order to enjoy this movie to the max, you just have to pretend you’re watching someone else. His cockiness is massively overemphasized, leaving him unjustifiably arrogant, boastful, and naive instead of the jaded and overly self-assured Han we know. The OT’s Han Solo isn’t really swaggering and boastful, he’s much more defensive and totally sure of himself and his way of doing things, which presents with a certain arrogance. This portrayal of Han Solo is a total misreading of the character, and one that hurts to watch. I can see the argument that this is meant to be a young Han (because it is) and he grows from this version to the new one, but I have a hard time seeing it. It’s hard to see this over-eager and naive boy turn into the skeptical and cynical smuggler we see later, but maybe it’s a natural progression and I’m just missing it.
With all that being said, I can’t help but think this movie could have been great is they either:
A) Fixed everything about it that has to do with Han Solo (feels doable with how avoidable the mistakes were)
Or
B) Had just made it an original story with new characters, although I can see this being difficult to sell from a marketing perspective.
Nonetheless, it was still a fun watch and I would easily recommend it to any Star Wars fan, although you might enjoy it even more if you aren’t a fan.
6/10, good fun.
An excellent example of a completely unnecessary missed opportunity. Obviously great production value and budget, pretty good filmmaking and an engaging plot made this watch a much more positive experience than I expected, and I found myself liking it much more than I did the first time. It successfully pulls off a space-western vibe and overall positive acting performances left me immersed and enjoying my semi-obligated rewatch. However, two major flaws prevent this film from being anything greater.
1. The incessant reverse engineered/ callback style storytelling. It feels like whoever was writing this felt the need to explain every single thing we know about Han Solo’s life into this one movie. It’s fan service that no one asked for, and that no one enjoyed. There was so much crammed into the movie in ways so unnatural that it was almost painful to watch. While the points that were directly met through the plot worked well and were exactly what I would have expected from an origin story (Kessell Run, meeting Lando Calrissian) there were an unbelievable amount of ridiculous moments. Let’s count.
1. His name (because people can’t have names normally)
2. Meeting Chewbacca (good)
3. Nicknaming him Chewie (terrible)
4. His dice charms (are we fr)
5. Kessel Run in 12 parsecs (mostly good)
6. Being the best pilot in the galaxy (he said it 1000 times without ever flying)
7. Meeting Lando (good)
8. Getting the millennium falcon (total afterthought and felt out of place)
9. Gearing up to meet Jabba the Hutt (because his entire life takes place in 2 hours)
2. The other issue is Han Solo himself. The acting itself was not bad, but whoever I was watching during this movie was not Han Solo. Honestly, in order to enjoy this movie to the max, you just have to pretend you’re watching someone else. His cockiness is massively overemphasized, leaving him unjustifiably arrogant, boastful, and naive instead of the jaded and overly self-assured Han we know. The OT’s Han Solo isn’t really swaggering and boastful, he’s much more defensive and totally sure of himself and his way of doing things, which presents with a certain arrogance. This portrayal of Han Solo is a total misreading of the character, and one that hurts to watch. I can see the argument that this is meant to be a young Han (because it is) and he grows from this version to the new one, but I have a hard time seeing it. It’s hard to see this over-eager and naive boy turn into the skeptical and cynical smuggler we see later, but maybe it’s a natural progression and I’m just missing it.
With all that being said, I can’t help but think this movie could have been great is they either:
A) Fixed everything about it that has to do with Han Solo (feels doable with how avoidable the mistakes were)
Or
B) Had just made it an original story with new characters, although I can see this being difficult to sell from a marketing perspective.
Nonetheless, it was still a fun watch and I would easily recommend it to any Star Wars fan, although you might enjoy it even more if you aren’t a fan.
6/10, good fun.
5
