Solo Complaints/Criticisms of Solo

I didn't see a thread with this specific title, so I thought I'd make one. Overall I thought Solo was very good. However, there are some specific things I think we can all nitpick about.

Anyways, I didn't like how much of a blatant copy the pilot in Tobias' crew is to the racoon character in Guardians of the Galaxy. Don't get me wrong, the character itself was great, lovable, and felt like a part of the team. Which is obviously why he was there, because after seeing the success of the GOTG racoon character and how much it resonates with audiences, I guess Lucasfilm decided they wanted a character like that of their own. So again, it isn't the character itself that I didn't like. I just didn't like how it was so blatantly identical to the GOTG character.

Also, I wish Woody Harrelson would stop with that double gunslinger thing he does. It took me out of the movie for a minute because it just made me think of his character from Zombieland. Save it for Zombieland 2, not Solo.

 

Val dying. Thandie Newton deserved better (and "black character dies" isn't a good trope especially when SOLO cast is mostly white)

 

Maybe the stakes could have been higher... but maybe this was the idea all along.

Maybe Qi'ra could have had more chemistry with Han... but maybe this makes Leia more special.

One weak point is the music score. I guess this one is going to be a common ground for criticism. I will not say the music score did any harm to the movie, but it could have made it better.

Some may say that Solo being just "good" is a weak point, that Star Wars should always be epic. I was ready for a smaller scale movie, so I am ok with that.

So the positives outweight the negatives for me, and I left the theater feeling happy and entertained. For some this will be too little, and I understand.

 

Loved the movie. I have 3 small criticisms.

1. The music was not up to the Star Wars standard.
2. The movie was a bit too fast paced for my liking. Now, this is a complaint I have about modern films in general. They move from action set piece to action set piece. I need some more time to breathe and take in character moments, feel the relationships they have rather than telling me through quick exposition.
3. The timeline seems crunched. This happens in X-Men first class. They seemed to want to get the characters to where we know them at the end of the movie. In X-Men, we were given he impression that Charles and Eric were long time friends, but the movie condenses it to a long weekend. Solo seems to do the same; though, Solo has more wiggle room here. I get the impression that Han, Chewie and Lando, go a long way back. The ending of Solo has Han going to work for Jabba. That means he only knew Chewie and Lando for one adventure? Now, this is easily fixed if we assume Han works for Jabba long term. That gives him time to have a deeper relationship to Chewie and Lando, because they can have adventures during a long term smuggling stint for Jabba. (So this is a tiny tiny, tiny, maybe not even a real complaint)

 

L3-37 was garbage..
I lost interest in story about half way threw a bit.
Alden did a great job but just isn't Han for me..
The movie as a whole wasn't to ambitious..

 

Can we just keep everything in one review thread this time? I really don’t like the segregation of positive and negative reviews. Creates unhealthy tribalism when we’re in need of fan unity.

 

I didn't see a space where you could also include the more narrowly specific critiques, criticisms, and complaints. Overall reviews are one thing. This is more for specific things one might want to discuss that don't necesarily fit in in an overall review. Say if you liked the movie overall but had specific things you wanted to discuss that you did not like about it, here is the place.

 

EDIT: Someone talked better than me about this issue https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/solo-star-wars-val-death-thandie-newton/

 

- Characters introduced (and died) too quickly (and without enough development) for me to care about (monkey pilot, Thandie)
- Emilia Clarke was miscast and looks out of place. (Looked too beautiful/clean for most of the film, which stood out considering we're meant to be gritty here! Clearly she didnt get the memo). Also looks too similar to Daisy/Natalie/Carrie and embodies the generic star wars brown eye/hair physical 'type'.
- Silly 'droid rights' and 'droid rebellion' subplot was unnecessary
- Silly and convoluted lando/droid romance(??) (From Both POV: The druid scene talking Qi'ra about landos presumed feelings was awful, then Landos scene holding the dying droid was laughable)
- Movie feels rushed and just darts (at a high pace) from A to B. ("Look its Cthulu - now ...look again! Theres a gravity well")
- Film was a little too gritty/dark with no real palette cleansers to freshen things up now and then I wanted a couple scenes where the script took us somewhere with a breath of visual vibrancy and kick. (like the gravity well)
- I got bored of the 'whos going to double cross who' plot point constantly being thrown around.

 

Wow that article makes it sound really awful, but also kind of typical for the SW habit of writing women as sort of irrelevant/to serve a man’s story. I’ll be curious to see how I interpret his reaction, but her dying just so he can complete a job? Yeah that’s on par with Jyn’s mom sacrificing herself for exactly nothing, abandoning her child in the process.

 

Grace Randolph had a better idea for that scene which I thought wouldve worked better. Basically when Imperial asks if hes travelling with anyone or "Han who?", Han replies "I fly Solo". Then Imperial then says something like, "Ok, if you're going to be a smart ass - Han... Solo it is then".

Whereby Han essentially gives himself the name, instead of the imperials giving it to him and him apparently accepting it.

 

- Death of Quay Tolsite.
- Not enough Pykes.
- Not enough scenes with the Pykes.
- All main characters are humans. Boring.
- "smexy jokes" - the cringe is real.

 

for me the color pallette and lighting are my biggest complaint. It was hard for me to even tell what was going on in some scenes. The hues of grey, yellow, and dark blues are likely meant to convey a feeling of oppressiveness and probably even hopelessness and probably make you feel like you are watching something old and aged.

It just didn't work for me though. Again, it's an artistic decision and I can respect that, but it just kind of hurt my eyes in the theater.

 

Val dying. She was FANTASTIC, but way too brief.

Other than that - it was too long. It should have been the longest SW movie, at about 5 hours!

I freaking loved every minute of it.

 

I can't believe Han calmed Chewie down by shouting "Martha!"

 

I also don't like how that ridiculous L3 droid is part of all time SW lore now for being the map system embedded in the Falcon.

Touching on those heart strings I suppose.

 

1) I can't think of a single unforgettable quote.

2) The line "I hate you" / "I know" was childish and annoying.

3) Connected to 2) , every second it seemed they were trying to tell the audience " do you remember that moment in the OT ?? "

4) the music was not inspiring

5) Emilia Clarke

 

The way Solo got his name - why they had to show it? And the look of the movie in some scenes, surprisingly because I liked it in the promos. For a light movie such an Han adventure I would have preferred sometimes lighter colors. Too gritty, sometimes I couldn't see well enough the faces of the characters.

 

1) Lady Proxima's design and voice. I'm 99% sure it was an homage to the iconic Meg Mucklebones from Legend (1985), but I don't think it was the right choice here. I mean, how did a creature like that even amass such power/wealth/muscle?

2) Maybe I'm just a trusting fool who loves Woody Harrelson too much, but I found his betrayal to be a bit of a cheat. My brain says it makes sense. My heart says Beckett was a better man than that.

3) Mixed on Solo not being his real name. I groaned when I heard that Bob Iger "misquote" was legit, but the actual execution was clever and salvaged it. I'm assuming it means that he either doesn't want his father's surname (it's clear they had issues) or he doesn't want to give the Empire his real name (being a fugitive). I appreciate the symbolism of the moment and it's not a big deal, but Kasdan flew a little too close to the sun there.

 

I actually think the film would've played much better if we stuck with Beckett, Val and Rio for the whole film, rather than killing Val and Rio off and creating a new crew mid-stream. In that context, Lando and L3 could have been introduced at the very end in a coda, setting the stage for the next adventure. They tried to cram too much of Han's background into one film.

 

Regarding fan service...

The River Phoenix opening of Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade is easily the worst ever "fan service" offender in history -- everything that defines Indy happens to him in the span of a 10 minute adventure. That's where he got his fear of snakes! That's why he uses a whip! That's how he got his chin scar! That's where he got his famous fedora! It's all so unnecessary and stupid when you think about it...

...Yet everyone loves it. And so do I. Anyway, the fan service in Solo didn't bother me at all beyond the Solo surname, which I'm ambivalent about. I actually enjoyed some easy crowd-pleasing moments after a subversive installment like TLJ. I like SW giving me different tones and takes. I didn't even like Rogue One, but I'm glad they at least tried something a little grimmer.

 

On the contrary I really liked the way Han got his Last Name. It was really a surprise that the empire gave him that name.

 

Val's death is the one thing that sorta didn't work for me. Not that she died but the way she died. They gave her the generic selfless sacrifice death and I don't think it really fits the character. I would have much rather the bomb be timed or something and she gets shot off the bridge by the viper droids. Just minor nitpick though.

 

Yeah, the Solo surname thing was a little weird... but on the positive side, we are kept wondering what his real surname is.