Re: Solo: A Star Wars Story (May 25th, 2018)
Somehow I forgot that this movie also showed us that Han will shoot first
Lordy.
One thing I realized early in watching Solo, but has been more obvious to me after watching is that the Han from the first Star Wars movie is much more of a self interested bad ass than the one we see in Solo. The return at the end of the film to save Luke was surprising. But after watching Solo, it is 100% predictable. He truly is an altruistic person above all else, who always does the right thing. So, that's one other thing I guess the filmmakers felt that they needed to remind us of, since we had seen it before. Or maybe they just wanted to show us beyond any doubt, over and over that he's a likable character we should care about. But in either case, it doesn't do a good job of establishing who this guy is when we first see him IMO.
If you're trying to find excuses for the filmmakers here, I guess you could say that the way he gets betrayed at the end helps to inform the cynical character we see in Star Wars, but. . .his line toward Harrelson's character about predicting his betrayal is counter to that. Han already expects betrayal, but seems gleeful about it when it happens? Instead of a bit sad and disappointed? And he still is acting altruistically, giving the space fuel to the little Mad Max kids. I guess he does make sense if you think of this guy as the same character we see in Return of the Jedi, but. . .Woody Harrelson is more like Han in this movie than Han is.
Makes sense.
Right now I've got it fourth as well but with a slightly different line-up.
1. ESB
2. SW
3. RO (better villains and third act than Solo)
4. Solo (better heroes and first/second acts than RO)
5. ROTJ
6. TLJ
7. TFA
8. TPM (which just got a major boost from Solo)
9. ROTS
10. AOTC
Hmm, my current list is like this:
1) Star Wars
2) Empire
3) Return of the Jedi
4) Force Awakens
5) Last Jedi/Rogue One
6) Solo
7) Prequels
I don't think I'll see anything below number 4 on my list again anytime in the foreseeable future, if at all. And I've only seen Force Awakens 2 times I think, because I saw it with my daughter.
I think Last Jedi did swerve the audience too much just for the sake of swerving the audience, and as time goes on I think I care less and less for it. But at least it had some original ideas.
