4 hours ago, Aaron Foss said:

I really enjoyed the film.

The cast overall was really quite good. Glover was amazing.

Seeing the friendship between Han and Chewbacca grow was great, and I absolutely bought in to their scenes.

I loved L3, and I absolutely, vehemently disagree with the read that she was written as some kind of joke or takedown of activism. L3 finally pushed against the widespread in-universe acceptance of the slavery of sapient artificial life forms. The commentary has been there since A New Hope , obviously, but this was the first time (in a mainstream film) that the issue was directly addressed. I read Lando's exasperation with her raising the issue as being because it interfered with his business, not because everyone thought she was silly.

I also loved that we finally got to see not just how Han got the Falcon , but how the Falcon got her heart. The fact that in Empire , the Falcon 's navigation computer points out Bespin? That's not a coincidence - L3 wanted to see Lando again.

All the wonderful little details that were nods to classic Han/Lando Legends material and all the little references were delightful. Seeing Warwick Davis among Nest's crew was great.

Maul's scene was interesting, but would have been substantially better without the saber. Maul (as played by Sam Witwer) has been terrifying, clever, and deeply scary at times. He didn't need to force pull the saber into frame and ignite it to be scary.

While I agree that Qi'ra crossing Han in the end was well within expectations, I felt that the script and acting did a capable job of making me believe that Qi'ra didn't know she was going to do it until Voss was dead. I don't think she planned what was going to happen in that room, but at that inflection point, she saw the chance she had and she made her choice.

I love Rebels Maul so much. The hunched-over, aged, creaking "Old Master" who kinda makes you believe he's going to actually turn Ezra (and certainly came closer than Vader or Palp ever did with Luke). Maul in solo was... fine. I'm only a little let down because Rebels exceeded my expectations so much with Maul. I was kinda surprised to see that Sam Witwer was still the voice actor in Solo.

L3 was fun. I loved the payoff to her scene with Qi'ra. At the time, it kinda plays like "oh, here's crazy old L3, going on again" but then the way Donald Glover plays Lando when she's shot... I mean, he did say "everything you've heard about me is true."

In total, I really enjoyed span of time in the theater. It helped going in not expecting much. With The Force Awakens, I was so stressed that it'd be bad that I couldn't enjoy it as much my first watching. I'm not 100% sure how I'll think about Solo going forward. With TFA, and more so with TLJ, I've loved them move and more each time I see them. The in-set lighting in TFA always amazes me. Every Stormtrooper's blaster has little lights on it. All the railings. JJA did a nearly impossible task in creating a Star Wars sequel that, while perhaps not as high-ceiling as one might hope, had such a solid floor. With TLJ, there are all sorts of swirls in the plot which just open seeing it again (Yoda: there is no wisdom in that tree the girl Rey doesn't already possess). Mark Hamill's performance was perhaps the best of any actor in any SW film to date (Glover is probably close). Were the creatures as good as TFA (or Solo)? No. Was it a bit frustrating that Rian Johnson kinda had character development take a step back from TFA so that their two steps forward here would have that much more impact? A little bit. But each time I've watched the movie I've loved it more. That kinda hasn't happened with Rogue One. It nailed the tone, look, and feel; the cast was great. But as time has passed, it's easier to see how hollow so much of the plot feels. Still pretty good, but I don't rank it too high. My guess is that Solo will hold on more over time, but time will tell.

//

Nitpick: with all the name dropping, they don't mention Black Sun once? Maybe the point is to get nerds to think "oh, Crimson Dawn works for Black Sun, so the reveal will be Xizor."

Solid movie overall. Too many foreseeable double-crossings in the end. The timing was a bit off. L3 was annoying. Otherwise a very fine movie.

My new ranking (note that 4 and 5 constantly exchange places)

4 - 5 - R1 - 6 - Solo - 7 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 8

5 - 4 - 8 - 7 - 6 - Solo - 3 - 1 - 2 - R1

On 5/31/2018 at 5:16 AM, Odanan said:

That's not the same Emon (which in EU was a human).

Also, I heard someone being called "Pure Sabacc" inside Proxima's compound.

Ok thanx for the clarification. I also heard someone say “pure sabacc”, but I think it was just kids playing the sabacc game

I saw Solo a couple of times opening weekend. The first at the Drive In and the second in a nearly empty theatre.

I thought the movie was and it's subtle bits of fan service and references were fun to chuckle at and point out. While the movie had a bleak atmosphere I found the tone to be somewhat light but not to the extent of a your mom joke or slapstick that took me right out The Last Jedi.

I enjoyed all of the characters except L337. The droid revolution just went too far for me. Perhaps if we had seen something of Lando's and L337's past exploits to establish L337's shenanigans it would have sat better with me. As it was, it felt out of place for something that seemingly was the apex of that character's arc as she exclaims "I found my true purpose" only to be reduced to a PC peripheral moments later.

I though Glover's Lando was excellent. Ehrenreich's mannerisms were on point for Han but his voice is so different that he is not as convincing as Glover. I think he did a fine job with the character, however.

The Beckett character was very much Woody Harrelson, which was a plus for me but might not be for other folks. I wanted to know more about Dryden Voss and I am interested in knowing what becomes of Qi'ra in the future.

Like others have mentioned, I also did not like the focus on Han's dice. The pass off from Han to Qi'ra at the landing bay on Correlia felt like a cheap knock off of that "I make my own luck" scene from the Dark Knight series.

One of the things I felt was missing was a more explicit display of how Chewie vowed hist Life Debt to Han. Han "saved" Chewie on Mimban, then prevent Chewie from being crushed by a rock as the train passed by, and finally, "aided" Chewie in freeing some Wookie slaves from Kessel. But, we never got the declaration.

Although the movie calls itself a standalone, I enjoy some of the interconnectivities to the other films. Specifically the ones tied to the cloud riders group. I liked how we got to see Warrick Davis reprise his role from The Phantom Menace and how one of the Two Tubes brothers was in the group, who later shows up as a high ranking member of Saw's renegades.

In the end, the movie was fun and the most interesting parts about it are decidedly not Han Solo.

One little funny for the end. On the second viewing, during the scene where Dryden Vos is sarcastically reviewing the cargo that Han brought him, I could not help but think that he was holding an oversized bottle of the Voss brand water.

Ah, rankings.

OT: 6/5/4

PT: (best of CW tv eps)/1/3/2/(weaker CW eps)/Clone Wars CGI movie [never saw Tartakovsky's Clone Wars cartoon]

Disney: 8/7/(best of Rebels eps)/Solo/(weaker Rebels eps))/R1

Roughly, OT ~ Disney >>>>> PT.

24 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

Ah, rankings.

OT: 6/5/4

PT: (best of CW tv eps)/1/3/2/(weaker CW eps)/Clone Wars CGI movie [ never saw Tartakovsky's Clone Wars cartoon]

Disney: 8/7/(best of Rebels eps)/Solo/(weaker Rebels eps))/R1

Roughly, OT ~ Disney >>>>> PT.

How can you not? It's literally on youtube.

4-5-R1-solo-6-8-3-2-1-7

1 hour ago, Commander Kaine said:

How can you not? It's literally on youtube.

Just haven't yet.

That reminds me, though, of the time, say... around the time of Wave 11, when I bought my first TIE Fighter expansion. I had two from a core set and Sabine's, but not until wave 11 did I have a Howlrunner. But I bought it at a casual day at one of the FLGS, and all the local TO could say to me "How can you live?"

Okay, if we are ranking them again, I would say:

5-8-7-4-6-R1-Solo-3-1-2

11 hours ago, Ginbox said:

O  ne little funny for the end. On the se  cond viewing, d  uring  the scene where Dryden   Vos is sarcastically reviewing t  he carg  o that Han brought him, I could not help but think that he was holding an oversized bottle of the Voss brand water.   

   

Finally some product placement in SW that doesn’t involve hued milk.

6-5-R1-4-Solo-1-3-2-7-8

13 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

Nitpick: with all the name dropping, they don't mention Black Sun once? Maybe the point is to get nerds to think "oh, Crimson Dawn works for Black Sun, so the reveal will be Xizor."

Oh man, didn’t think of it at the time, but I almost wish they HAD done that. Having Xizor as canon again would open up a sweet SotE-esque movie. Probably not a literal Shadowscopy, but something retaining the plot of Xizor working to supplant Vader.

Hilarious that some people are complaining about L3’s ‘politics’ when this is literally a series about rebelling against oppression.

I thought it was a good film; it surprised me. I thought parts could have been better, but the cringe factor was way down from TLJ.

Any performance woes will be the fault of the previous film I think.

L3 was just getting annoying, but she was only in the movie for a little bit. Anymore and she’d be worth complaining about.

4,5,8,7,6,S,R,3,2,....................1

9 hours ago, Sbloom141 said:

Hilarious that some people are complaining about L3’s ‘politics’ when this is literally a series about rebelling against oppression.

I agree, I really have a hard time understanding these 'boycott Kathleen Kennedy, bycott Star Wars!' views that are so upset that politics are being brought into Star Wars...


Star Wars has always been a deeply political film, when we take "politics" to mean issues about the relationships between peoples, especially those issues concerned with power, access, and opportunity. The entire point of the Original Trilogy was to tell a very simple and entertaining story about "Good vs. Evil" (which I think gives it so much of its timelessness, as it is refreshing in our modern era where everything is gritty, morally gray, ambiguously nihilistic, and every hero is a bit flawed while every villain somewhat relatable). This was, much like Tolkien's Post-War LotR , Lucas' commentary against Facism and Oppression (and to some degree in both LotR and SW also a commentary against Industrialized Capitalism: Nature versus Exploitation: Ents vs Saruman's factories, Ewoks vs the mechanical Empire). There is no diversity in the Empire; it is (at least in the OT) all white human men (women don't get added to the Empire's ranks until the mid-90s through external sources, and just recently on screen with characters like Phasma and Pryce. People of Color are still exceptionally rare in the Empire/FO, especially on screen). The Empire eschews difference and weaponizes fear to oppress and control, literally destroying the last vestige of democracy at the opening of A New Hope , since the Death Star (a WMD not unlike our own Nuclear Option) now gives them full oppressive power. Jabba, the other villain of the OT, uses sentient beings (be they humans, aliens, or droids) as slaves and as torture-objects to satisfy his own sadistic ends.



The Rebel Alliance, however, welcomes diversity. Aliens serve alongside humans (sometimes even in positions of authority, like Admiral Ackbar), women share the command with men (e.g. Leia and Mothma), and droids serve without restraining bolts (think about it, L3's stuff isn't out of nowhere -- Luke spends a portion of ANH removing R2's restraining bolt put on by the Jawas, and Jabba's droid torturer makes use of them as well -- most people just slaps bolts on droids and never think twice about it). In fact, actual politics prevented Lucas from making the OT even more diverse. Sila Kott (Red 3, the A-Wing) in RotJ was played by a woman but then ultimately her voice was dubbed with a man's. There are deleted scenes from RotJ with two other female pilots that were not included into the final cut of the film ("Momma A-Wing, Dorvio Bold) because, allegedly, RotJ would have been flirting with being given a higher rating (PG13) from the MPAA if women would have been shown serving and dying in combat roles, at a time in the US when women could not serve in the actual military in the same capacities as men. So, Sila got dubbed as a male voice and the other females in the Alliance's combat corps were dropped from the film (but note that you can still see women pilots and commandoes sitting in Home One's briefing room, just not ultimately in the combat scenes).


There is very little fiction that is apolitical , but to act like Star Wars never has been or never should be politicized is pretty naive.

1 hour ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

There is very little fiction that is apolitical , but to act like Star Wars never has been or never should be politicized is pretty naive.

Indeed. It's almost like it's not actually "politics" that is making these angry children mad, but something else. If only we could figure out what that is...

4 hours ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

*snip*

Excellent précis there! Bravo.

1 minute ago, BlodVargarna said:

But you don’t believe in fairness right?

No, but I liked Solo

I'm not a racist, or sexist or anything. I don't like stupid people, and I don't think we should let them exist.

Anyone complaining about L3 being annoying must have totally forgotten about a certain gold-colored fussbudget of a droid that’s been around since 77. Tell me honestly that 3PO isn’t annoying as can be if you knew nothing of him. Creepio indeed.

6 hours ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

I agree, I really have a hard time understanding these 'boycott Kathleen Kennedy, bycott Star Wars!' views that are so upset that politics are being brought into Star Wars...


Star Wars has always been a deeply political film, when we take "politics" to mean issues about the relationships between peoples, especially those issues concerned with power, access, and opportunity. The entire point of the Original Trilogy was to tell a very simple and entertaining story about "Good vs. Evil" (which I think gives it so much of its timelessness, as it is refreshing in our modern era where everything is gritty, morally gray, ambiguously nihilistic, and every hero is a bit flawed while every villain somewhat relatable). This was, much like Tolkien's Post-War LotR , Lucas' commentary against Facism and Oppression (and to some degree in both LotR and SW also a commentary against Industrialized Capitalism: Nature versus Exploitation: Ents vs Saruman's factories, Ewoks vs the mechanical Empire). There is no diversity in the Empire; it is (at least in the OT) all white human men (women don't get added to the Empire's ranks until the mid-90s through external sources, and just recently on screen with characters like Phasma and Pryce. People of Color are still exceptionally rare in the Empire/FO, especially on screen). The Empire eschews difference and weaponizes fear to oppress and control, literally destroying the last vestige of democracy at the opening of A New Hope , since the Death Star (a WMD not unlike our own Nuclear Option) now gives them full oppressive power. Jabba, the other villain of the OT, uses sentient beings (be they humans, aliens, or droids) as slaves and as torture-objects to satisfy his own sadistic ends.



The Rebel Alliance, however, welcomes diversity. Aliens serve alongside humans (sometimes even in positions of authority, like Admiral Ackbar), women share the command with men (e.g. Leia and Mothma), and droids serve without restraining bolts (think about it, L3's stuff isn't out of nowhere -- Luke spends a portion of ANH removing R2's restraining bolt put on by the Jawas, and Jabba's droid torturer makes use of them as well -- most people just slaps bolts on droids and never think twice about it). In fact, actual politics prevented Lucas from making the OT even more diverse. Sila Kott (Red 3, the A-Wing) in RotJ was played by a woman but then ultimately her voice was dubbed with a man's. There are deleted scenes from RotJ with two other female pilots that were not included into the final cut of the film ("Momma A-Wing, Dorvio Bold) because, allegedly, RotJ would have been flirting with being given a higher rating (PG13) from the MPAA if women would have been shown serving and dying in combat roles, at a time in the US when women could not serve in the actual military in the same capacities as men. So, Sila got dubbed as a male voice and the other females in the Alliance's combat corps were dropped from the film (but note that you can still see women pilots and commandoes sitting in Home One's briefing room, just not ultimately in the combat scenes).


There is very little fiction that is apolitical , but to act like Star Wars never has been or never should be politicized is pretty naive.

Christ Almighty what a great post.

Seriously. I can't like this post enough.

A+ to you dude.

6 hours ago, Commander Kaine said:

Well, there is only so many times you can hear white males are terrible, before you start freaking out on everything remotely related to fairness.

So the answer is instead to become a GamerGator / Incel / Sad Puppy / White Nationalist / Idiot who thinks they are fighting some kind of grand injustice that Star Wars as a franchise is inflicting up on them? Scream bloody murder about the "SJWs", "Agendas", and "identity politics"? Blame everyone else rather than work to fix a broken system?

Go ahead and have a seat.

It's hard not to compare TLJ and Solo, simply because they were released relatively close together. Solo kind of ended up being a palate cleanser of sorts, and a very satisfying one at that. Especially considering that TLJ left such a bad taste in a lot of our mouths. So how did TLJ leave a bad taste and how did Solo cleanse our palate?
TLJ has been talked to death and I won't beat that dead horse any further. I will only point out two things, the story structure was very different from any Star Wars story previous, and the actions of some of the characters, especially Luke and Leia, we're very out place from what we know and love about them. In both cases it was a result of substance being sacrificed for style.
Solo on the other hand, had style because of its substance. Everybody loves a good heist movie with a cool rogue that you either want to be or be with (bomchickawahwah). And this one was undeniably set in the Star Wars universe and told in the Star Wars way. The simplest way for my to say it is, Solo felt like Star Wars whereas TLJ felt like Battlestar Galactica.
Solo's characters were spot on too. This was a younger, inexperienced Han who hadn't yet been jaded, and a reckless Lando before he became responsible. The rest of the characters fit perfectly as well and every single one was given depth and heart by great acting. I think this was easy for them because again, everyone loves a good heist movie with rogues that have hearts of gold.
To sum up, TLJ didn't feel right on many levels and this problem was magnified by it being part of the main Star Wars storyline. Solo didn't have that pressure so it was able to focus on being a Star Wars story without having to have a galaxy saving plot. A plot by the way, that was tight and flowed well from one piece to the next, with a great payoff that showed it was part of the greater storyline, all told by characters we were familiar and comfortable with and who didn't need to stray out of expectations to tell that story.
And because of all that, we were able to settle in and simply enjoy the ride, on the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy no less. I could go on and on, listing all the cool parts of the movie but I would just end up writing the script. Han Solo has always been my favorite character and this film managed to tell a great, original story while staying true to everything that we already knew about him. I really did love this movie and I can't wait to see it again.

2 minutes ago, DXCrazytrain said:

The   simplest way for my to say it is, Solo felt like Star Wars whereas TLJ felt like Battlestar Galactica. 

Weird, since Battlestar Galactica was created to feel like Star Wars.