Solo: A Star Wars Story
- Thread starter Vivek
- Start date
Umm, no, he wasn't. Spielberg met Alden at a mutual friend's bat mitzvah, and introduced him to Coppola and KK.
The Red Letter Media review is out.
Although I like RLM reviews I must say that IMO the guys, as many others probably have, have accumulated an amount of "bitterness" and cynicism that they, too, cannot enjoy a movie anymore. On the other hand, it may have been the bad movies that have actually raised the bar for being able to suspend our disbelief and let us get pulled into a story.
I can take a few dozen westerns from the 1950ies and 60ies that have as corny dialogues as Solo has and enjoy them with childlike fascination and excitement. Granted, I grew older and I know about the corniness, as I do when watching old scifi and horror movies of that era.
Solo is a simple movie. Solo is a stand-alone movie. Solo is a somewhat simple character. That is what I loved about Star Wars, I guess. its simpicity.
The PT complicated things and retconned things that had already happened. But it left the OT kind of intact.
TLJ complicated things for the entire future of the franchise by neglecting the OT.
Rogue One added to the OT story, and if you did not like the movie you can still enjoy the visceral introduction of Vader, i.e. the last ten minutes of the movie.
Solo added not to the overall story but only to the backstory of a character. A character we all hold dear to our fanboy and fangirl hearts, but who in the end is just a sidekick or plot vehicle. So it has no real relevance to the overall Star Wars.
Solo IMO did make the universe a little richer. Just like a Star Trek episode with new, interesting aliens. I guess that is what the movie audience subconsciously sees, too. While Rogue One was part of the Star Wars story, directly tied into the narrative, SOLO is not important. And probably that is what makes it IMO so easy to enjoy as a Star Wars fan, both if only a casual fan or with a huge SWIQ.
Although I like RLM reviews I must say that IMO the guys, as many others probably have, have accumulated an amount of "bitterness" and cynicism that they, too, cannot enjoy a movie anymore. On the other hand, it may have been the bad movies that have actually raised the bar for being able to suspend our disbelief and let us get pulled into a story.
I can take a few dozen westerns from the 1950ies and 60ies that have as corny dialogues as Solo has and enjoy them with childlike fascination and excitement. Granted, I grew older and I know about the corniness, as I do when watching old scifi and horror movies of that era.
Solo is a simple movie. Solo is a stand-alone movie. Solo is a somewhat simple character. That is what I loved about Star Wars, I guess. its simpicity.
The PT complicated things and retconned things that had already happened. But it left the OT kind of intact.
TLJ complicated things for the entire future of the franchise by neglecting the OT.
Rogue One added to the OT story, and if you did not like the movie you can still enjoy the visceral introduction of Vader, i.e. the last ten minutes of the movie.
Solo added not to the overall story but only to the backstory of a character. A character we all hold dear to our fanboy and fangirl hearts, but who in the end is just a sidekick or plot vehicle. So it has no real relevance to the overall Star Wars.
Solo IMO did make the universe a little richer. Just like a Star Trek episode with new, interesting aliens. I guess that is what the movie audience subconsciously sees, too. While Rogue One was part of the Star Wars story, directly tied into the narrative, SOLO is not important. And probably that is what makes it IMO so easy to enjoy as a Star Wars fan, both if only a casual fan or with a huge SWIQ.
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el toro
Sr Member
i should have put quotes around discovered b/c I meant that Coppola put Alden in his first couple of major film roles.
sztriki
Sr Member
Huh? You can't mean that Mike "movies make me want to be dead" Stoklasa along with Jay "I like obscure bizarre and weird movies that nobody knows of" Bauman and Rich "I'm sick of Star Wars" Evans are cynical about movies...:lol
However, it's surprising how positively they responded to Solo (apart from Jay). Mind you I still haven't seen the actual movie so I can't comment on the material, only the review itself. Maybe this weekend if I really don't have anything better to do...
I can't stand watching these guys anymore, because it takes them so long to get to the point. But, from the bit of this video I did manage to sit through, it certainly sounded like one guy loved it, and at least one of the other guys liked it. So why are you saying they can't enjoy movies anymore?
I cannot treat Solo (or any Star Wars film) as some random B-movie western. I love the characters (Han, Chewie, Lando), and I know what rich and fertile storytelling ground there is to work with in making a movie about these characters in the days and years BBY. So to see it botched so thoroughly, from casting to lighting to story to dialogue, deeply saddens me.
Simple is as simple does. But just because something is simple, does not mean it is good. Star Wars was simple and good. Solo is simple and bad.
Who cares if the movie was important to the Skywalker saga or not? Solo was a vast wasted opportunity, to take a few characters we all love, and make a really great film with them. But the filmmakers at LFL/Disney suffer from a deadly combination: they have low SWIQs, and are driven by their SJWism.
It's a terrible shame.
The Wook
cayman shen
Master Member
sztriki
Sr Member
Well here's the thing though I don't really think there is a lot to work with. The characters are all great as they were in the OT, and were as rich as they could be or needed to be for those movies. That's it. As you said before, they're archetypes, not supercomplex character studies. It's three movies and that's it, they all had their arcs and their developments done during those movies and not too much else can be churned out of that unless you:
1. Repeat the same old same old
2. Try to reinvent them which usually ends pretty badly or give a full on explanation why they became the exact people we met in their first movie appearance which again usually ends badly.
One of the biggest issues I have with ROTJ is that Princess Leia, Han, Lando pretty much all have their character stories at the end in ESB, so there's not much left to do with them in ROTJ, they're pretty static. Figuratively AND literally, Leia and Han stand next to a bunker door for the entire third act and Lando sits in a cockpit yelling stuff to a camera...
Again I haven't seen this movie yet, but I really really wasn't interested in a Han Solo movie at all when it was announced. As Mike said in the HitB episode, if this came out as Johnny Swashbuckler and Space Friends it probably would have gone down better with audiences as opposed to having half of the SW fandom at red alert fearing that Han Solo's character will be destroyed. I bet you that not a massive amount of people knew the Guardians of the Galaxy comics, yet they managed to establish their characters and the movie was a big success (even if I considered it pretty average).
He's a cherub on Earth and his laughter should be bottled as cancer cure. :lol
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Hovito loincloth
Well-Known Member
If you want a decent Solo movie just watch Firefly again for all your scoundrel with a heart of gold needs.
Toadmeister
Sr Member
Yeah, Firefly did it right. Just that one season was gold.
Wish Lucasfilm would take that model and apply it in the SW universe. Don't forget to include a Companion
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Mr Webber
Master Member
It warms my heart every time I hear it.
joshvanrad
Sr Member
Firefly was trash and Joss Whedon is a hack.
Flame on.
Flame on.
One man's poison is another man's meat.
I can't stand the way he cackles at everything Mike says.
To sum up their Solo review: We still hate Rogue One, because it wasn't the kind of movie we wanted it to be.
sztriki
Sr Member
Ah here we go with this argument again...at least Rouge1luvr is not here anymore...
Because they are IMO overanalyzing them. But that comes with the trade, I guess. I love most of their other reviews, though.
If we look closely at it, Han Solo is nothing else than a B-Movie character. We are not looking at character driven storys but at action driven storys. I say that expecting more out of a movie about Han Solo than an action adventure is overthinking things.
Han Solo= our childhood hero= as many backstorys as fans out there= expections cannot be met. NO version would have been good enough.
I say that is the main difference between the Saga movies and the main saga. The importance or lack thereof for the main (!) saga. No significance means more freedom. More freedom for me as a fan to like stuff and more freedom for the writers.
Speaking of freedom. Okay, the Solo movie was bad in your opinion. BUT now you can probably enjoy other movies coming out after that movie. A strange logic, maybe, but since we can still insert our own origin story by simply omitting SOLO from our personal canon, we can look at any other new adventure as something similar to one of the older novels, which I liked very much as a teen.
C´mon m´man, in the end its just a movie. I have learned that the hard way with TLJ and let go of a part of my seriousness about Star Wars. And that is what may have contributed to me liking Solo. I like Solo as much as I like Rebels, quite a bit more than TCW and a lot more than TLJ.
Solo is not a perfect movie, and it may not be a perfect Star Wars movie, but even if it is perceived as kind of "conservative", it is IMO closer to the original SW than any of the other movies, including the PT.
But as long as TheWook does not leave the RPF over this, all is good
Because they are IMO overanalyzing them. But that comes with the trade, I guess. I love most of their other reviews, though.
If we look closely at it, Han Solo is nothing else than a B-Movie character. We are not looking at character driven storys but at action driven storys. I say that expecting more out of a movie about Han Solo than an action adventure is overthinking things.
Han Solo= our childhood hero= as many backstorys as fans out there= expections cannot be met. NO version would have been good enough.
I say that is the main difference between the Saga movies and the main saga. The importance or lack thereof for the main (!) saga. No significance means more freedom. More freedom for me as a fan to like stuff and more freedom for the writers.
Speaking of freedom. Okay, the Solo movie was bad in your opinion. BUT now you can probably enjoy other movies coming out after that movie. A strange logic, maybe, but since we can still insert our own origin story by simply omitting SOLO from our personal canon, we can look at any other new adventure as something similar to one of the older novels, which I liked very much as a teen.
C´mon m´man, in the end its just a movie. I have learned that the hard way with TLJ and let go of a part of my seriousness about Star Wars. And that is what may have contributed to me liking Solo. I like Solo as much as I like Rebels, quite a bit more than TCW and a lot more than TLJ.
Solo is not a perfect movie, and it may not be a perfect Star Wars movie, but even if it is perceived as kind of "conservative", it is IMO closer to the original SW than any of the other movies, including the PT.
But as long as TheWook does not leave the RPF over this, all is good
DFN, I disagree with virtually everything you wrote, so I was reluctant to "Like" your post...until I read the last line. :lol
Perhaps some of the tolerance you show to those you disagree with, will rub off on other members (cough.. @cayman shen...cough) who challenge my very participation here. One can hope.
The Wook
The growing emptiness of the Star Wars universe
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-growing-emptiness-of-the-star-wars-universe
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-growing-emptiness-of-the-star-wars-universe
Jagjaguwar
Sr Member
Saw it twice: thought it was just ok. Least exciting of any of the Disney films, IMO. Wasn’t that interested in the prospect of a Solo origin story going in, so it’s about what I expected. Nothing that bothered me as much as the worst bits from Last Jedi (Luke’s throwaway lightsaber gag, Mom jokes, etc), but also the “highs” weren’t as high.
Several reviews I’ve read subsequently touched on an idea I can agree with: Solo seems to answer a lot of questions that no one was asking. I did love how Chewie was introduced, and thought Glover’s portrayal of Lando stole the spotlight for much of the film. He was great, and I honestly could not care less about whatever gender-related outrage some fans want to indulge in. Felt pretty indifferent about Ehrenreich’s Han. Not as bad as feared, but definitely not great.
Loved the jab at Lucas revisionism regarding “who shot first?” Drew applause both times I saw it.
In essence I would’ve liked for them to have spent more time on Corellia at the beginning doing something (as we’ve not seen it previously on film), and more time with Han as an Imperial (on the ground and as a pilot) would have been nice.
Probably many reasons why it’s not doing great in the box office. But I don’t think it’s as terrible as many apparently do (opinions are always that, opinions.) I’d be more interested in a continuation of the story, from Han’s perspective or someone else’s. I can say that I’m no longer dreading the larger gap between Solo and the next film. Most people seem ready for a break.
Several reviews I’ve read subsequently touched on an idea I can agree with: Solo seems to answer a lot of questions that no one was asking. I did love how Chewie was introduced, and thought Glover’s portrayal of Lando stole the spotlight for much of the film. He was great, and I honestly could not care less about whatever gender-related outrage some fans want to indulge in. Felt pretty indifferent about Ehrenreich’s Han. Not as bad as feared, but definitely not great.
Loved the jab at Lucas revisionism regarding “who shot first?” Drew applause both times I saw it.
In essence I would’ve liked for them to have spent more time on Corellia at the beginning doing something (as we’ve not seen it previously on film), and more time with Han as an Imperial (on the ground and as a pilot) would have been nice.
Probably many reasons why it’s not doing great in the box office. But I don’t think it’s as terrible as many apparently do (opinions are always that, opinions.) I’d be more interested in a continuation of the story, from Han’s perspective or someone else’s. I can say that I’m no longer dreading the larger gap between Solo and the next film. Most people seem ready for a break.
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