Solo: A Star Wars Story

I've long been fascinated with the observance of film characters as they go about their current paces, heads filled with memories of past experiences.  Where have they been? What have they seen? What has shaped who they are?  I do this with real life folks as well, of course, but today I'm focusing on the STAR WARS universe.  The prequels documented the earlier life exploits of Annakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and others.  It was fun to watch Episodes 4 - 6 again, knowing what many of the characters had been through.  I like to believe their body language and their faces tell a story, their eyes unavoidably elucidating an eventful past.  Good actors working with richly drawn characterizations can convey such (even under colorful costumes or a Darth Vader mask).

Han Solo was always one of the more interesting and mysterious of the bunch.  An ace pilot but also essentially a common thief and smuggler.  Egotistical, brash, opportunistic.  Despite these flaws, a caring individual, a hero.  We never really learned what made him tick in the four STAR WARS movies in which he appeared.  When it was announced that this character would get his own spin off film, I had mixed feelings.  The mystery surrounding Han was always part of his appeal.  The mystique was appropriate to this rogue of a guy, forever talking his way out of debts to murderous crime lords and always looking over his shoulder.  Surely his earlier years were filled with larceny, time spent in dank back alleys of his home planet, Corellia.

This summer's SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY answers questions that may or may not have been nagging you.  Like how Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) got his name.   We meet him as a twenty-something scavenger, running from criminals, just as we would expect.  He has a girlfriend/partner in crime named Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) and with her tries to escape their depressing shipbuilding planet.  They've acquired some very coveted fuel called Coaxium - their ticket away (and quite integral to much of this film's plotting).  Things do not goes as planned, and the lovers are separated, but surely they will meet again.   We learn how Solo became such a skilled pilot, even though he was kicked out of the Imperial Flight Academy.  How he becomes involved with a gang of thieves led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), and most importantly, how he meets his Wookie pal Chewbacca.

Han Solo's backstory is not what I would've expected.  I pictured vignettes of his teenage years, pulling small time jobs and erecting the foundation of his morally shaky point of view.  Maybe a comparatively uneventful (free of spectacular f/x laden scrapes, at least) narrative.

This movie, directed by Ron Howard after original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were ousted for deviating too much from the screenplay (penned by Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan, the latter of whom is no stranger to the world of STAR WARS), tells a much lighter tale than I think would be befitting for such a rascal.  In light of the more recent, darker, more nihilistic STAR WARS films, I was hoping for a grittier take, though with Howard at the helm...I guess I should've known better.  But, admirably he does not make the film a comedy, which is reportedly what Lord and Miller attempted.  Despite some really awkward attempts at humor (mainly involving the droid L3-37) that don't work, SOLO maintains a cool, even tone, fairly serious but not forboding.  The Kasdans' script does not fashion a nasty tale by any means, rather one that champions teamwork and empathy over greed and self centered-ness, yet with some realistic plot outcomes (about how Life, filled with untrustworthy scoundrels, can be a real B I T C H sometimes).  Maybe things that did indeed shape the cynical outlaw we've known and loved since 1977.

Fine, but in this film Solo is drawn too much as an idealist.  I didn't really buy that.  I would think this streetwise orphan would've already been sufficiently hardened.  That maybe any notion of love would've already been squinted at with suspicion.  In any event, Ehrenreich does a decent job, and works in some Harrison Fordisms quite nicely.  The cast is good, including Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian (though what is up with him and that droid?).

Where SOLO really delivers? The action scenes.  The heist of Coaxium from a train on the planet Vandor is a real piece of showmanship, a set piece that reminded me of something out of the INDIANA JONES movies.  Delirious fun.  Kudos to Howard; he should direct more movies with these kinds of moments.  It may be a bit of a shot at a filmmaker who has long since explored subjects that should've made classic films, but his workmanlike approach, solid as it is, is best suited for popcorn.  And SOLO is purely that.  If you can let go of the seductive but self serious STAR WARS mythos, you should have a fine time with this movie.

P.S. - Yes, Chewbacca gets lots of screen time, lots to do.  His relationship with Han is nicely rendered. 

P.P.S - I was not elated with Bradford Young's often murky photography, but it isn't as unsightly as that of many fantasy adventures of recent times.