Solo [Official Info] Emilia Clarke (Qi'ra) in Solo

I have never seen Game Of Thrones,but the only movie i have ever seen Clarke in was Terminator:Genisys.That film is in general regarded as a train wreck which resulted in several sequels being cancelled.I seem to remember an interview recently with Clarke posted on Den of Geek where she said she was glad that film flopped as it meant she wouldnt have to do sequels.Those kind of comments came across as very childish and ungrateful to me.She was given a starring role in huge franchise movie and now shes glad she doesnt have to do sequels? Any up and coming actress would be glad for the work ( and the paycheque ) surely?

My point is now that Clarke is in a similar situation with Solo ( Huge franchise movie,high potential of sequels ) is she now going to say in a few years time shes glad Solo flopped so she wont have to do follow ups?

Regarding her performance as Qira,i thought she was...fine.The character wasnt exactly a stretch for any actress.I thought she was just...there.

 

No worries. I know what you were saying. Was just making an observation.

 

I like Emilia in GOT and felt she did a great job opposite Sam Claflin in Me Before You. I haven't seen any of her other films.

 

Weighing in with my meaningless opinions including Qi'ra and the SOLO film.

I liked it.

 

Your opinion is not meaningless at all. It literally means you liked it.

 

I would say that Emilia Clarke was my favorite aspect of this film. I like her in anything she does.

 

Agreed. I don't at all understand some of the criticisms of her performance. To each their own, of course. I just don't understand it.

 

Yah I think the best thing she does is entirely silent and the turn (character & lighting!) when Han leaves, great stuff.

 

She was utterly unremarkable and added nothing to the movie or lore of Han Solo besides hype up Ray Park appearing in more movies.

Very disappointing, sadly.

 

That sounds a little hyperbolic. But to each their own, I guess.

In any case, I thought she was very good. Especially at playing a woman who’s outgrown an old friend/ flame, but awkwardly meets that person again. Those first few scenes between her and Han on Dryden’s ship were so well-acted by Emilia and Alden. Straight out of a high school reunion. Genuinely human and believable.

 

This article on her is good:
http://eleven-thirtyeight.com/2018/06/qiras-choice-a-play-on-the-femme-fatale-archetype/

I agree her character is an update to the femme fatale, and I think she is the most complex character in the movie.

Also the femme fatale is less gendered in that in older stories she's trapped in a world of powerful dangerous men with few rights by virtue of being a woman, which makes the story punishing her at the end all the more terrible. But in Solo many of the characters are ensnared by crime syndicates whether male or female, and crime syndicates don't seem to be some Star Wars version of the patriarchy to me. Starting with Proxima in charge shot that down.

It's also amusing that Beckett is the one warning Han about the femme fatale all the time when he is the far more untrustworthy of the two of them. He poses the threat to Han. He is everything he warns against.

One thing the article didn't mention was how Qi'ra agrees with helping Enfys Nest. She is ruthless but she also isn't. Han knows the part of her that isn't (the good) while Vos knows the part of her that is (the bad). Ultimately Qi'ra tries to save the good when she can, and if she could get to the top of the syndicate she would make it less evil than it currently is probably.

 

Waiting for her to get a streaming show.

 

I thought her position was laid out fairly clearly.
She has limited choices. As a slave of Crimson Dawn... an influential slave, but she certainly isn't free.... she either succeeds or dies. I think it was suggested in a very roundabout way that she had the choice of remaining a sex-slave or stepping up into "management".

She is always a "good person" but she does what she needs to do.

A rather tough, adult, non-fairytale, character for a Star Wars movie.

 

After reading the film novelization I still don't see her as having been a sex slave. I don't watch SW movies and immediately interject extreme sexual themes or trauma.

The book explains that after Han got away and Moloch took her back to Proxima, Proxima was so angry she sold Qi'ra to a slave dealer. From there she went into a very bad situation (no further explanation is given) that Dryden Vos got her out of. When she first got to Vos's organization she attempted to escape many times and in the process killed several of his men. Vos decided that if she was that good at killing with little to no training, he was going to give her an opportunity so he trained her to kill. She explains in detail about one of her combat trials where she was forced to fight without the use of sight several times until she passed. She also talks about her first test of loyalty, her first assigned kill.

Vos calls her his "Top Lieutenant" which to me indicates she had more worth to him than some sexual plaything. Is there a possible physical relationship? Yes. She does touch him, on her own, in a familiar way. She was his weaknesses as shown during the fight at the end where she kills him. This may be what Michael K Williams was talking about with the love triangle. She still had feelings for Han while knowing or suspecting her boss had feelings for her. (Although I did honestly wonder whether she really, truly did love Han or did she just latch onto him while living under Proxima's protection thinking he'd help her get out. I also questioned her motives more after reading some passages in the book) She did shy away from Vos' touch and from the book I guessed it had to do with his temper and beatings.

Her facial expressions and covering of her Crimson Dawn brand during the scene on Savareen when Enfys tells the story about Crimson Dawn coming and cutting out tongues made me wonder if she was there. Did she take part in that due to her skills with physical violence? Or was she just embarrassed for Han to know she was part of that syndicate? She does tell Han that he wouldn't look at her the same way if he knew the things she had done, which most definitely include murder and torture for her boss.

 

I don't think the movie showed Qi'ra to be a sex slave. Star Wars has shown characters more like that before, like the Twilek dancer in ROTJ that is meant to evoke that image. Oops I had a post on ignore, and haven't read the novelization, so if it says so then it is so.

Anyway, it sounds like she's not a sex slave of Vos, which is how I perceived that as well. I didn't see them as sexually involved.

 

See, I don't even watch ROTJ and imagine Jabba having sex with Oola. It's just not something that goes through my head.

 

Ron Howard in an interview said that Qi'Ra's act of betraying Han at the end was one of self-sacrifice as she doesn't rat Han out to Maul. I ... sorta believe that. But she also didn't admit to killing Vos herself, which I don't think Maul would have cared that much. But it is pretty cold to just ditch Han like that so I don't think it's entirely just love. I think living in a role where she "didn't" get out did open her more to betraying people she cared about. And she'll probably be more powerful being 2nd in command next to Maul. But she ain't exactly setting herself up for a life of goodness, she's going to have to kill people running Crimson Dawn. Unless Maul didn't just bump her off first out of spite.

 

I found her a good character.

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Her acting was serviceable, but below all the other main actors of this film.

 

That's a triumph, to me. Whenever I watch a movie with Emilia Clarke, my expectations are so low that if she manages to be "serviceable" I'm already super satisfied.

 

Qi'ra isn't a hero character so she doesn't behave like one. If she ran Crimson Dawn it would still be a bad organization, though it might be less bad. For me, the curiosity is that since I suspect Sidious is the one Maul is reporting to (unless I've forgotten or don't know something?) her course upward has a dead end, even if she can survive Maul. But as her character is firstly a survivor, she is the sort of character who may survive against the odds. And it's because she is firstly a survivor that she isn't a hero really because she is quite self-serving and willing to do what it takes to survive. But on the other side of that she isn't a completely cold and ruthless person. She does want to save Han and I believe she does want to help Enfys, and she does feel ashamed about the things she has done to survive (but that doesn't mean she will stop doing such things).

I suspect Maul knows she killed Vos but he's a Sith so this may be perceived as a sign of strength (if #2 can defeat #1, they should be #1). Anyway the Force aside which can afford Maul um "insight," her story is just really convenient. She alone survived? I mean that's always a suspicious story.

Anyway, Qi'ra might be an anti-hero or anti-villain (if they are somehow different), which means she has more flaws that she has fallen to than the hero characters. Heroes overcome their flaws; villains fall to theirs. Qi'ra is a bit in the middle like an anti-hero or anti-villain.

 

Exactly. "Survivor" characters are, by definition, not heroes. At least not philosophically. But that doesn't mean they don't have agency.

 

Sith like a bit of killing your master at taking over. It's kind of a tradition with them.

So yeah, Maul may know, and is cool with it. Shows Qi'ra has a bit of initiative.

 

(Too late for an edit.)

A common trope in movies is the Holdo Sacrifice. Someone stays behind to do the thing that saves everyone else, and gives their life in the process. Push the button to set off the nuke that destroys the comet etc.

Qi'ra does more than that.
She gives her Soul to save Han.
She gives herself over completely to the bad guys so that her love can escape.

A bit Galen Erso-ish of a choice.