Solo User Reviews/Reactions for Solo: A Star Wars Story

I loved it, didn't see it in theater, watched it three times so far.
Even got a lil misty eyed when L3 was destroyed.

Did the Anthology Marathon on Friday, those are two good movies. Thanks Disney!

 

So I finally got to watching Solo this weekend. I'd missed seeing it at the cinema for a number of reasons... the main one being that I was still buzzing from The Last Jedi, and as much as I love Star Wars generally, I don't want to be oversaturated with 'product'. I've no other issues with KK or Disney or whatever, but please, don't try and release a new Star Wars film every six months. Plus, I didn't really get down with Rogue One, and to be honest the Solo trailer didn't fill me with optimism. 'You can't replace Harrison' and so on...

But so, it's out on iTunes now. I need to be able to say I've seen this at least, so it wouldn't hurt to get a rental. So how about this? I thought it was pretty bloody good, and actually now I do wish I had been to see it on the big screen. Duh. To start with, Ehrenreich was really good as Solo. I appreciate that he didn't do an impression of Harrison and just went with playing Han as a character, as he would have been. Spot on. The overall story was what it needed to be too - big dumb action fun all the way, with plenty of humour and enough peril and emotion to keep it from being too dumb. To be honest I didn't buy Clarke quite so much, but she was okay, and I'm still not sure how I feel about L3. I'm quite a fan of Waller-Bridge via Fleabag so it was hard to dissaccociate a bit. Overall though I thought she worked well with Glover and that's the main point. I probably don't need to say much about Lando. Pretty much a perfect version that takes nothing away from Williams, who I'm very much looking forward to seeing back for IX. I'm glad that Harrelson was in it so much, and sad that Newton bought it so early on... On the whole then I've no problems with the cast or story generally. Naturally there's a lot of scope for further adventures here, and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more of Enfys Nest and her gang (great to see Warwick Davis!). On that note though, I don't know how I feel about the return of Darth Maul. I'm fond of Ray Park to be honest, so I'm pleased he got another shot at the role, but I'm not sure we always need references to familiar characters like that. Maybe it would have been nice to have a completely new evil boss character instead? But anyway... considering all the production problems and my disappointment with Rogue One I'm really pleased this came together so well. I'm sad that it was seen as a bit of a failure, at least box office wise, but hopefully everyone who missed out at its original released - like me - does get to make up for it via home releases.

 

I can’t fathom the discipline it requires to NOT see a Star Wars film in the cinema and wait five months for its home release. Almost admirable, in a way.

 

@Bor Mullet I can't even fathom the discipline required to watch a SW movie only once in cinema.

 

I would not judge anyone on that basis, I mean, it was too close and we all agree.

I completely understand fans who decided not to watch it on theaters. I sometimes buy great wine and keep it stored for a special moment, so why not wait to watch a movie when you are ready for it, not when it was released? With bluray and streaming, we get the home release very soon anyways.

It pleases me to hear that more fans are liking Solo. The actors put in a great effort and delivered a solid acting.

 

I was going to wait longer... I had planned to wait until December. But it happened to be one of the in-flight movies being offered on a recent business trip, so I watched it. It doesn't require much discipline when the movie is released so soon after the previous one. Also, although I ended up enjoying Solo quite a bit, Han Solo's backstory isn't a story I'd ever really spent much time wondering about. ROTS, on the other hand, was a movie I felt I needed to see during its opening month because I'd been curious about Obi-Wan Vs. Vader since 1977.

Another way to look at the discipline question: Those who saw it in May have to endure a longer wait until the next SW movie. My plan to wait until December was partly to keep myself on a 12-month schedule between films

 

I never thought of that and now that I consider about it... you are right !

Are you going to watch it on streaming or physical media as well? I find so tough to watch a movie during a flight, there is so much noise and distractions, and the screens have a very poor quality compared to smartphones or TVs...

 

I'll probably end up borrowing it from the library one day. That's what I ended up doing with the all the previous films.

But watching it on the plane probably had fewer distractions than I'd have anywhere else. When I watch something at home, I'm always wondering if I should be doing something else with my time. On the plane, though, there was nothing else I could be doing, so that wasn't a factor-- I felt completely guilt-free about spending two hours watching a SW movie. And since I was listening through earphones, I didn't get the usual distractions that I get in the movie theater (people talking, babies crying, etc.) The only downside was that the screen was really small, but at least the picture was very clear. I heard a lot of people complaining that the images were too dark at the theater, and that wasn't an issue on the airplane's screen.

 

This was put up yesterday:

I originally put it in the criticism thread, since it also includes a list of problems they have with the movie, including the overused and inaccurate, "Nobody wanted this movie". I certainly did, and I really liked what I got.

 

I was mostly disappointed in the Solo story - because there is not enough (barely any) advancement of the Larger Star Wars Story Arc (LSWSA). If we use a hypothetical point system, with points being awarded for STORY elements, with the idea that 100 points are needed for a decent movie, what this movie offers is:
A) 10 points for how Han met Chewie. No more than that, because, while interesting to a point, how Han met Chewie is not all that important to the overall LSWSA, it really just doesn't matter. It could have been any of 100 ways, without meaning anything in the LSWSA.
B) 5 points for How Han met Lando. Again. Not all that important. And could have any of 100 ways.
C) 5 point for how Han "won" the Millennium Falcon. Not all that important. We knew he won it, the details are mildly fun.
D) 5 points for introducing Darth Mall, at the end. But, clearly that was to stage a sequel, which probably won't happen, since the first one did poorly financially. Seems they got greedy, trying to split not-enough-content-for-one-movie into two movies. Maybe there could have been enough STORY to make one movie here. Hard to say, maybe we will never know. The rest is just another action flick, with (not another, OMG, just kill me now) chase scene or few, and shoot-out or few. 95% of the poor-excuse for a plot could have been any sy-fy movie, with any name,and any characters.

That leaves us with 25 Points total. Way short of what a Star Wars movie needs, to be a Star Wars movie. I suspect this movie would have worked better as a completely separate (not part of Star Wars) story. Then, it might have stood up on it's own, without carrying the burden of high expectations because of the Star Wars name. So, all in all, there just isn't enough STAR WARS STORY line, to matter. It carries the Star Wars name, but that isn't enough.

Hollywood in general, with Disney leading the way, has forgotten that the STORY is the MOST IMPORTANT part of a movie. In 1977 we were all enthralled with the STORY. It was INTERESTING. It was THOUGHT PROVOKING. We were ENGAGED. We ANTICIPATED the sequels. Episodes 4, 5, and 6, told a STORY, that held together. Episodes 1, 2, and 3 advanced the story some, but suffered from being aimed at 12 year olds. This was the beginning of the disappointment. For me,episode 7 was a complete-and-total, no-doubt-about-it WASTE, because it was a total rip-off of episode 4, and didn't offer ANY (zip, zero, zilch) content to the LSWSA. Episode 8, was fair. Of the 4 Disney offerings, I thought Rogue One was head-and-shoulders the best. And, I wouldn't say it was a all that great, just, relatively speaking, the best of this bunch.

I personally wonder about the aborted version of the SOLO film. I would have liked to see it, actually (with the 20-20 hind-sight of not finding the version that made it to market worthwhile). If I ran a movie company (ha ha ha, yes, I know, a ridiculous thought) I might have released both versions. Let people compare and react. Find out which "style" (or what-ever changed) worked best. I think people would have seen both versions, effectively doubling the box-office, without all that much more cost (I imagine. I heard it was 90% done) to put them out, and promote them.

I want to see STORY. I want PLOT. Action, cute dialog, and special effects don't make a movie, they are mechanisms which enables a movie tells a story. No (or not enough) story = no movie. Hollywood, will you ever learn?

Just my 2 cents worth.
The opinions expressed were thought of the person who gave them. Keep what you like, and forget the rest.
David

 

Just when I thought fan nonsense couldn’t get any more nonsensical, the LSWSA and its point system arrives.

 

It's very telling that you didn't mention characters here.

 

SOLO:ASWS was a Mandelbrot Set for me. Magnification and patience, and very small gems will emerge. I can see how others do not see.

 

It would have a sequel, but after that poor Box Office, we will never know. It would be something about Maul / Qi'ra / Han. That would be so cool.

 

We’ll get sequels at some point. Either on TV or film. Guaranteed.

 

In a few years Solo will be held in a similar regard to Rogue One. OT now consists of 5 films......

 

Yeah. Solo’s right up there for me. Below Rogue One, but close to it. Love this movie.

 

I didn't realize it was supposed to advance this LSWSA. Wasn't the word stand alone used to describe it? I didn't have any expectations that it was going to connect to R1 or even ANH.

 

I borrowed Solo from my local library and watched it for my second time. My opinion of the movie remains unchanged: I thought the first half was rather boring and a chore to look at since it is so murky. Once Lando shows up, the movie becomes a mildly entertaining popcorn flick.

 

Solo was the first SW movie that I just wasn't interested in seeing. It is also the first SW movie I did not see opening weekend, as I was ready to skip it altogether. I finally saw it in the theater a few weeks after its release after a friend of mine coaxed me after he heard from many co-workers that it was suprisingly good. I still wasn't sold, but finally saw it over July 4th weekend in 2018 to a mostly empty theater. To my shock, I loved it! It was the SW film I had waited for since 1983, as it was just pure fun and didn't take itself seriously. I won't pretend it's a great movie, but I will say it's fun, fun, fun. Everyone has different tastes in what they want from a SW movie after 43 years, so I think it's useless to debate what we like better versus other fans. I really liked Solo and I kind of like that it has a cult fanbase among SW fans. But you can blame fans like me who didn't show up opening weekend, and didn't see it multiple times so the movie's box office ended Standalone Films altogether.

 

I wasn't interested in watching a Star Wars movie after TLJ, but ultimately i watched Solo. Got bored. The End.

 

I never noticed that when Han is playing sabacc, he pretends to have the same ship that they use in Rebels, VCX-100.