Solo: NOT A Star Wars Review!
Nope. Not a review, because I am one of the many who decided to not go see this movie in the Cinemas; Lucasfilm won't get my money anymore because of what they've done with the greatest movie franchise of all times. At least it was the greatest before the Marvell Cinematic Universe officially started ten years ago with the first Iron Man, and before Disney started ruining it...
Solo: A Star Wars Story. source: Wikimedia Commons
I hesitated to write this post, for two very obvious reasons: 1) I didn't see the film, so I haven't got anything meaningful to say about it's story, acting or production values, and 2) talking about Star Wars movies has become a rather touchy subject since Disney have taken over from George Lucas. In articles, blogs and vlogs on YouTube there's as much as a division and animosity in the "fandom" as there was between DC and Marvell fans.
The reasons why I will still say what I got to say are also simple really. For one, I got almost 40 years experience with Star Wars and have been a fan since I first saw Princess Leia's ship flee from Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin near Luke's home planet of Tatooine. That was in 1978, so it has been 40 years already... Also I am a fantasy and science fiction lover since that very day. Harrison Ford went on to become a Hollywood legend with other classics like the Indiana Jones movies and another all-time favorite of mine, Blade Runner.
What I'm going to try to do here is share with you what has changed with my favorite Space Opera since it's inventor, George Lucas sold the rights to Disney, and hope it will explain why I'm one of the many fans that is angry enough at Disney to boycot Solo: A Star Wars Adventure. I don't care if the movie is good or bad (can't be good, mediocre at best) or if Alden Ehrenreich portraits an even better Solo than Ford ever did. I just don't care anymore because Disney has proven they don't care about the story, the characters or the fans who've been supporting Star Wars since it's conception. This is why I have already seen a ton of spoiler reviews; there's nothing to be spoiled anymore, Disney killed the franchise already.
Episode IV: A New Hope opening scene
To be fair though: those reviews I read and saw are 50-50 in their judgement: it's not a great movie but it does seem to be enjoyable for a good percentage of people that did go see it in the cinema. Even reviewers who I know well and who's opinions I hold in high regard come to this conclusion generally. But they also agree largely on the fact that Disney continues to be oblivious about what Star Wars is all about and keeps ruining our beloved hero's.
The short explanation about why so many fans are so disappointed with Star Wars since episode VII, The Force Awakens, is this: everything that's built up in the first six episodes is thrown overboard, including the character development of our favorite heros Luke, Han and Leia. It's as if the first six films never existed. Disney completely ruined everything that's set up in those and they went as far as to openly admitting to that by the repeated message in Rian Johnson's monstrosity of a film The Last Jedi: "Let the past die, kill it if you have to". And Disney clearly thought they had to.
I keep saying Disney, but I really mean Lucasfilm and more specifically the captain of that sinking ship, Kathleen Kennedy; don't be fooled by all the great movies that bare her name, she's only a producer, she's good at raising money and connecting people, she's not involved in the creative process of them. Because Disney also holds the Marvell Cinematic Universe and those movies keep surprising me and heaps of fans with the quality of the movies they put out.
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back original trailer
But like I said: the killing started with episode VII, The Force Awakens. At the end of episode VI, Return of the Jedi the rebels had won. The Emperor was dead. Darth Vader was dead. The second Death Star was no more. And all our heroes had lived through years of character building adventures, they had grown into heroes. Luke started as a simple Moisture farmer and after years of training started by Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda became the last Jedi. Leia was the female protagonist who slowly grew to like and then fall in love with Han Solo. He started as an utterly egotistical thief that didn't believe in the Jedi and became a hero who cares for his friends who he's even willing to die for.
It took three movies, six even if you include the prequel episodes one through three, to evolve the characters to what they should have been at the start of The Force Awakens. And Lucasfilm ruined it all in one paragraph of the famous opening scroll where we read that the rebels are now "The Resistance" and that they are on the run from The Empire that's now suddenly called "The First Order" and Luke Skywalker has disappeared... Wait, what?? It has only been 30 years since the resounding victory in Return of the Jedi, and the Evil Ones have already taken back power? And Luke, who we have come to know as someone who always comes to his friends rescue isn't even here to help fight the Dark Side? Right from the very first seconds something doesn't feel right and it only got worse from there.
Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi modern trailer
Since there's a ton of content on this subject already, I'll just briefly mention some things that are just plain wrong, some of which didn't get the attention they deserved. Starting with the new Luke, Darth and Emperor: Ray, Kylo Ren (or Ben Solo if you wish) and Snoke. Ray is a major disappointment, simply because she has no character development whatsoever. This is of course because she is a total Mary Sue; she is perfect right from the get go and is able within minutes to wield force powers she didn't even know existed. She can fly and repair any ship without ever having flown before, in The Last Jedi she can swim when she lived on a desert planet her whole life, and she is immediately loved for no reason by all main characters she meets. She doesn't have to work or fight for anything and is able to defeat Kylo Ren, who is trained by both Luke Skywalker and leader Snoke for years, at the end of the very first movie of the new Disney trilogy. This could be forgiven if we got an explanation for all this in the sequel, but all that managed to do is double down on her Mary Sue-ness.
Kylo Ren, or Ben Solo, fails majestically as the main antagonist; he comes across as a spoiled kid that has a tantrum each time things don't go his way. The first scene was okay; he stopped a laser-beam in mid-air, an impressive feat of Force-control not seen before. But he also immediately proves to be not so smart by killing the only person that had seen the map to Luke Skywalkers hideout. And minutes later he has his first tantrum, so he fails to be scary or intimidating like Darth Vader was. Darth always looked like he was in control, Kylo is good at losing it.
Snoke was built up to be the real scare; in episode VII he is briefly, but effectively introduced as the all powerful wielder of the Dark Side of the Force, in charge of the First Order and mentor to Kylo Ren. But in episode VIII he's killed off in a most unsatisfying manner; while saying and having proven that he sees everything that goes on in Kylo's mind, he fails to see or sense that his apprentice is turning the light-saber that lies right next to him to strike him down with it. This was the last movie I saw in cinema and this is the scene that did it for me. There's nothing left anymore to be excited about. There's no good hero and there's certainly no effective bad guy left.
Episode VII: The Force Awakens official trailer
It's clear in my mind that Lucasfilm had to get rid of the old cast: Luke, Han and Leia had to make place for their successors and had to die, or the new heroes would always stand in their shadows. This is perfectly understandable, also because the original cast won't get any younger and Carrie Fisher is already gone (which makes it even harder to understand why she survived getting blown into the vacuum of space in the last film). Also it is no problem that our new main protagonist is female, but employees of Lucasfilm in their public communications keep saying that I am against women, a male chauvinist just because Rey is overpowered and simply a badly written character. And I must have something against minorities to because I hold the same low regard for the characters of Finn and Poe. The way Lucasfilm and Disney have responded to fan reactions is also a big part of why so many fans are fed up. For me though, just the poor quality of the writing is enough to make me strongly dislike these films.
So getting rid of the old heroes and cast is not a problem and even necessary. It is the way in which the people at Lucasfilm have decided to get rid of them that hurts the story and the fans. Han Solo is back to where he started: a smuggling scoundrel who thinks about himself only, he even left his wife and son to pick back up his old thieving ways. There's no explanation on why he decided to do so, so the first three movies never happened. Leia is back to where she started, commanding a small rebel force, sorry the resistance, with no explanation why she's not part of a new democratic Senate of the New Republic with a vast army. And Luke? Luke is a coward, hiding from the battle on a small island, not even willing to teach a new generation of Jedi or go to his best friend's rescue. His character was totally murdered dead when it's made clear he even wanted to kill his nephew, the child of his best friend and sister, because he saw the Dark Side in him. Luke, the hero that even stood up against the Emperor and his father, Darth Vader, refusing to give up on Darth because he was sure there was some light left in him. This Luke would never ever have even considered doing something bad to Ben Solo.
Episode VIII: The Last Jedi official trailer
Lucasfilm didn't simply get rid of the old cast; they utterly murdered their characters, probably just so the new heroes could shine even brighter. Well that little plan failed miserably because now the new heroes are at the top of the food chain in the Star Wars universe without having earned a shred of that position. They are bland, colorless figures in a boring story with characters that go nowhere. For us to fall in love with a hero he or she has to encounter obstacles, must suffer some loss or adversity and overcome that, to be believable. Rey has none of that, where Luke had that in spades. To fear an antagonist he or she must be in control and must strike fear in the hearts of the audience; Kylo and Hux are both comical side-notes at best and have none of the menacing presence Vader had. There's nothing left to look forward to.
Then there's what they did to the Force; apparently being a Jedi now means being able to lift rocks and do mind-tricks. There's no need for training or study; even some small boy at the end of The Last Jedi was able to force-pull a broom for God's sake. Also they ruined Lukes heroic destruction of the first Death Star with Rogue One by making the designer the real heroe because Jyn Erso's father deliberately built in, with great danger to his own and his family's lifes, the design-weakness Luke and the rebels exploit.
Solo: A Star Wars Story official trailer
And now we have Solo: A Star Wars Story, and I don't care anymore. From what I heard and read, Solo is the good guy in this story. A lovable character that tries to do the "right thing" all the time... Which would be the next great mistake if true: Han Solo started of as the opposite of that in A New Hope. But who cares. Kathleen Kennedy, Rian Johnson and Jar Jar Abrams surely don't. So I don't either. Maybe I'll watch it when it comes out for rent on Blue-Ray. Maybe.
It also seems that the new Solo movie suffers from a bad opening weekend with disappointing ticket sales.
Update (May 28): Solo: A Star Wars Story’s four-day weekend numbers are pretty grim. The movie brought in $103 million domestically, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That’s less than analysts’ predictions last week, which estimated the movie would gross anywhere between $130 and $140 million.
Solo also underperformed overseas. The film pulled in $168 million globally, which is far less than analysts’ expectations. Solo was expected to produce $300 million internationally. To compare, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Lucasfilm’s first stand-alone spinoff anthology film, made $155 million domestically when it first opened in December 2016.
source: Polygon
A lot of this will be explained as production troubles with a changing of directors when 80% of the movie already done. Also Ehrenreichs performance will be talked about a lot as well as perceived SJW messaging through Lando's imagined pan-sexualism... I don't think those are the main reasons. I think a lot of fans think just like me and are just too disappointed with what Lucasfilm has done to the story and characters we loved. Kennedy has openly stated that she wanted to attract a new audience, mainly female. She has gone as far as to state that girls just can't identify with Luke Skywalker or Han Solo and she wanted to do something about that. And she could have if only Ray was a good and well written character. If she had any character at all.
This rant is not ment as a review or an attempt to change anyone's mind about the films. I just needed to get this of my chest and I hope you can use this as just another perspective to be integrated in your own, in any way you deem useful. I am not really angry, just majorly disappointed by the killing of some of my childhood examples and heroes, so I hope you can forgive an old man's public grieving ;-)
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Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.