Solo Is Solo the first Star Wars movie with a single plot?

As far as I can think, every Star Wars movie until now has had at least two different parallel plots through all or at least parts of the movie (usually the final battle).

ANH:
- Droids, Luke, Ben, Han.
- Leia, Vader, Tarkin.
ESB:
- Han, Leia, Vader, Lando.
- Luke, Yoda.
ROTJ:
- Han, Leia, Wicket
- Luke, Vader, Emperor
- Space Battle
TPM:
- Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Maul
- Padme, Theed Palace
- Gungans
- Anakin, R2
AOTC:
- Anakin, Padme
- Obi-Wan, Jango.
ROTS:
- Anakin, Palpatine
- Obi-Wan, Grievous
TFA:
- Han, Rey, Kylo on Starkiller
- Resistance attack
TLJ:
- Rey, Luke
- Resistance vs First Order
- Finn and Rose (ugh)
R1:
- Jyn group on Scarif
- Rebel fleet

But not with Solo. We are following Han journey from the beginning to the end. And I think the movie was better for it. Alden was so great as Han, he clearly made the character his own, and I would love to see more of his Han.

 

So are you suggesting that because there was only a single plot in Solo, it was better than every other SW movie to date; even those from the OT?

 

Did I say that? I don't recall me saying that.

I meant to say that for this particular story, for this particular character and setting, it was probably better not to have parallel plots running through the movie.

 

Well the movie was about Han Solo. Chances are the Boba Fett movie will follow him from beginning to end too. If Rogue One was supposed to be about Jyn, then they'd have only followed her around (and maybe those associated with her). Same could be said for the proposed Obi-Wan movie. The animated series Rebels followed the Ghost Crew from launch date to season finale. Unlike TCW, there wasn't a single episode where you didn't see at least one of the Ghost Crew members involved.

 

Now this post has me thinking... Solo's main plot never fractures off on a parallel subplot like Empire or Clones, that's for sure, and it never cuts back and forth to follow action elsewhere like other SW movies. Now that I think of it, though... if there is anything resembling a b-plot is Solo, it's Han's pursuit of the Millennium Falcon and how it relates to his bromance with Chewie. I mean, Han doesn't technically need the Falcon itself to achieve his dream of escaping his circumstances as a Corellian "scum rat" and flying around the stars. He can use almost any ship for that. Getting the Falcon does, however, seem to fulfill Han's "inner journey", which typically relates to a b-plot. ***SPOILER*** Han mentions to Lando (very briefly) that his dad used to build Corellian ships. At one point, Han also tells Tobias that Chewie had either mentioned having no "tribe or family." To this Tobias asks "what's the difference?" Han's inner journey in Solo is to find a new family, or "people" (t0 quote the Imperial recruiting officer), which he initially hopes to achieve with Q'ira. Failing to achieve that, he gains a new "tribe" with his new crew of criminals, which ultimately becomes only Chewie. All this connects to the Falcon--a Corellian freighter, in that Han not only finally achieves some kind of closure with his missing father (his real "family") who used to build Corellian ships, but he also attains "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy" which will obviously help him in future criminal escapades. Solo has resolved the b-plot and found his "people", or "tribe".***SPOILER*** I dunno. Ha. It's barely in there, but the story of Solo isn't really over until Han gets the Falcon.

 

So in a nutshell; the whole point of Solo is to show how Han acquired the Falcon?

 

How Han acquired the Falcon and became life buds with Chewie. Like Han tells Chewie when he boards the Falcon in TFA, "Chewie, we're home."

 

But if it was supposed to be all about Han, Chewie, and the Falcon; why bother throwing in the side characters - including Qi'ra, Beckett, and Enfys Nest?

 

The "real" story of a movie involves the "b-plot" because it involves the protagonist's inner journey, what he or she needs as opposed to wants, if you will. At least according to the Hero's Journey story formula. Han's pursuit of the coaxium is a plot device that allows Han to achieve the main goal of the a-plot." Plot A is also considered the "external goal" or even "false goal." The external goal provides the movie with the plot's main hook, in this case it's the Kessel Run heist. Han's external goal involves getting rich off the Kessel Run heist so that he can then get his own ship, fly back to Corellia and sail away with Q'ira. Han's inner journey, which doesn't surface until later in the movie, involves his need to find his "people." When the more naive Han fails to find a nice, peaceful life among the stars with Q'ira, a more hardened and cynical version of himself finds his sense of family with Chewie, his criminal tribe.

Val serves to foreshadow Han's criminal life with Q'ira. Beckett also plays into the b-plot in that it's Tobias's betrayal of Han that provides the crisis of Han's decision to continue behaving like the naive family-minded Han or the wiser, sadder tribal Han who learns to shoot first.

 

This is correct. Though there's one small break from the Han Solo POV and that's when Weazel goes to Enfys to tell her he's attached a homing beacon to the Falcon. Though, of course, that's still wrapped up in the same plot.

 

That little scene is actually quite jarring to me. It's not like it messes up the film, but it's still evidence that the journey of this movie wasn't plain sailing. I'm convinced they should have pushed everything back 6 months for rewrites, however it's likely they would have started losing cast members, particularly Emilia I expect, so they had to strive forward.

 

Yah Han literally isn't in 1 scene in the movie that lasts for about 30 seconds, Alden probably never had a day off and had to shoot the movie twice!

 

I think there are subplots in Solo. The film's just structured differently so that the other plots become part of Han's story or other story events are related verbally.

The structure reminds me of an early Seinfeld episode in that respect, back when they didn't have the budget to bounce around from Jerry's plot, to Elaine's, to George's, and to Kramer's. Often, one of those characters would have a plot, but it was just revealed verbally in conversation with Jerry back in his apartment. Somebody would reveal their conflict early in the episode, and then they would come back later and reveal how that conflict was resolved.

Q'ira has her own story -- it's to escape Correlia, gain her freedom, and possibly reunite with Han. We're simply not shown that story. We get an update when Han meets her, it's left a little mysterious, and then things become clearer as the film ends, as in the scene without Han when that secret somebody appears.

Beckett and Val have a storyline-- to steal coaxium and get rich -- we just learn about their goal when Han does, and he becomes part of their story. Their shared goal after that is not to be killed by Dryden, and so they go to steal some more coaxium.

Enfys also has a story line. We just learn what's motivating her at the same time Han does.

A film like this, with betrayals and unexpected team-ups is often written from one character's perspective. That's what preserves the surprises in the film. If we knew Q'ira's storyline before Han learns of it, then we'd be able to predict that she'd leave him. If we knew Enfys's noble motivations, then we'd better be able to predict what Han might do.

In a way the nature of the story Solo tries to tell requires it to be told mostly from Han's perspective.

 

If we're using the multiple plot structure from other movies then:
* Solo becoming the captain of the Falcon and befriending Chewie
*Quira's struggle with serving Vos
*Enfys Nest not actually being a villain but rather a peace seeker hoping to overthrow the Empire and Crime Syndicate
*Lando

Multiple plots. But with this one, they were all very well melded together rather than completely separate adventures or missions. When you consider that, it had better structure. The overall plot of Solo was pretty dark good. But in the context of the SW galaxy as we know it, people didn't feel it had any real tie-in.

 

Doesn't make it a better structure. Just a more streamlined one. It really worked for the film, though. If Howard had a lot to salvage, he did an amazing job of it.

 

It really hadn't occurred to me that SOLO was a movie with a single major plotline; ie. not the usual Star Wars movie where there are other sub plots going on too. But @Kuestmaster, you are right. Sure its an Anthology film about a single character (Han Solo), but traditionally, a sub plot would have been worked into the story as well. SOLO does not have this.

But even though it does only have a single plot unfolding, it still works; not only because it feels "Star Wars'y", but I think also because of the large number of complex character relationships going. In many respects (and maybe because the majority of characters are part of the Star Wars underworld), many of these characters know each other and have had dealings with each other before. This might actually be the first Star Wars where the depth and complexity of the film is in the character relationships rather than in the plotlines. Because my feel from SOLO is that we still get a story with depth and complexity.

And regardless if it had been intended to be so from the point of view of the Kasdan's, SOLO can virtually be used by Lucasfilm as a foundation movie for exploring the Star Wars Underworld. This is what makes SOLO so potentially special. In future Anthology films about a particular Underworld character, the plot focus is on the character in question, but the complexity of the movie comes in the form of the character relationships. And we can have the same characters crossing paths in various situations that will add further depth to their character. Alden's Han, Glover's Lando, Qi'ra, Chewbacca, Maul, Enfys Nest, Saw, Jabba, Boba Fett, Bossk, Dengar, IG-88, Greedo and so on. And allows the introduction of other new characters too. Its like this one massive web of who is related to who, or who has dealings with who. This gives great complexity to the story and makes the GFFA seem like a really big place. There can be ties to the remnants of the Trade Federation, the Imperial Senate, the Empire. So many potentials, so many possibilities.

 

I think the Ewoks movies were each pretty "single-plot".

 

Every scene with Emilia Clarke involves chess at a higher level than what Han is playing. Seeing her make him make moves is fine film. After Dryden hangs her out to dry, to hedge for his own hide, her level of play goes higher than his as well.

 

I don't know if it's the only SW film with one plot, but it's definitely the only SW film where an alien in a jar sings.

 

Very good analysis. I did not notice that but you are right, there are several side stories, but the difference in Solo is that they all revolve around Han.

 

No, it isn't better by definition. In fact, the best TV show ever to hit the small screen had a half dozen sub-plots going at once, perhaps more at times (GOT). It will be interesting to see if they do that with SW (D&D).