Post by SnoBorderZero on Jun 5, 2018 17:19:46 GMT -5
Without trying to wade too much into hyperbole and sound the trumpets on the notion that there's Star Wars fatigue occurring as why the latest film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, has failed to catch on the way every other film has, Disney has really disappointed here. In my opinion, since they've launched their four billion dollar investment with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, each subsequent film has gone down slightly in quality each time. With how much of a gold mine they now operate, owning the most coveted franchise in movies, it's been astounding at the level of safe, uninteresting fare they've pumped out since, with the exception of the most polarizing Star Wars yet with The Last Jedi. There's been a disappointing leaning on the familiar, whether it be characters, plots, planets, villains, that has proved to be largely unsuccessful in establishing any real traction pertaining to the new. Other than a few exceptions here and there, what we've been delivered outside of piling on George Lucas' original creations has been derivative and even worse, forgettable. While I have my criticisms, I'll note that I thought Force Awakens was a lot of fun even if familiar, that Rogue One was also a lot of fun but leaned too heavily on A New Hope callbacks and supplied no interesting new characters, and The Last Jedi while being highly flawed did try new things even if not all of them panned out. I've liked all of these entries to an extent, but the latest Star Wars film is not only far and away the worst yet of Disney's output, but seems to confirm my greatest fear that Disney not only doesn't have anything new or interesting to bring to Star Wars but is content to keep dipping into unnecessary nostalgia and origin stories as a substitute. Solo is a dismal misfire of a movie, one with a plot as by the numbers as can be, no footing in the tonal balance of comedy and action, and what ultimately boils down to a dull checklist of making sure we cover all the burning questions you had about Han Solo with anticlimactic results. There's a shocking lack of originality that shrouds Solo, and it's clear quickly into the film that Ron Howard was not the right person to tackle the comedic banter Phil Lord and Chris Miller were initially brought in to handle. It's a good thing that Solo has struggled at the box office (comparatively), as it might be the jolt that Disney needs to stop sleepwalking through this franchise.
We begin on the planet Corellia, a slum planet largely controlled by slavers though also bearing an Imperial presence. Here we meet Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), who is one of these slaves and is looking to get himself and his love interest Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) off the planet and to a life of freedom. Han has stolen a material called coaxium, and he intends to use to barter their way onto a ship and away from this life. While undergoing that escape, Qi'ra is apprehended, and Han vows to return to Corellia to save her before running off and joining the Imperial forces. We're treated to Han fighting on a battlefield that feels like if Paths of Glory mixed with the futuristic warfare of the Terminator films, where he latches onto a small gang of thieves led by Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and escapes the Imperial army in order to help Beckett pull off a heist. Before doing this, Han meets his pal Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) while trapped in confinement in one of many awkward scenes attempting to shoehorn Han's origins into this somewhat of a heist film. With Chewie in tow, Han and Beckett attempt to steal a shipment of coaxium, but are thwarted by a group of marauders and must go to the crime boss Beckett is working for (Paul Bettany) and inform him of the bad news. While there, Han runs into Qi'ra in possibly the clumsiest scene of the film, and during their reunion it's revealed that she now works for the Crimson Dawn syndicate. Han of course believes there's only good in her, and vows again to rescue her from this life. Her boss, Dryden Vos, agrees not to kill Han and company if they can secure coaxium from the planet Kessel, and he wants Qi'ra to accompany them.
While there are plenty of twists and turns along the way, mostly the several red herring moments that occur, this is essentially the plot and what it has to offer. And that's fine, because I don't think the intention of Solo was ever to expand the Star Wars universe and was to be more of a fun and fleeting adventure, but the stakes don't feel impactful here and as a result neither does all of the double crossing that happens in nearly every scene. There's nothing substantial occurring in this film other than providing contrived showings of how Han got his name (which was awful), how Han met Chewbacca (not much better), how he met Lando (Donald Glover's Billy Dee Williams imitation was the best part of the film), and how he got the Millennium Falcon (not as cool as you'd hope). None of it really feels organically woven into the story, nor do any of these situations represent much in the creativity department. It's kind of shocking that Lawrence Kasdan and his son, Jonathan Kasdan, teamed up to write such a plodding and through the motions screenplay, but very little will come as a surprise watching Solo. It hits all of the predictable story beats, making the numerous reversals by characters bear little impact since you can see their double cross coming a mile away. It also executes all of this with a surprising lack of fun. The charisma is certainly there from the leads, who are doing their best to brighten up the meager dialogue, but the situations they're placed in feel too familiar and without anything innovative being done to solve these problems. I felt like we seldom got to see Han use his intuition to get out of tight spots, and the extent of creativity is little more than outshooting everyone else. It works somewhat as individual scenes, but when pieced together as a whole the production feels repetitive and unwilling to branch off into something more interesting. Aside from Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, Han Solo is the flagship character of this franchise, and when you look back on how insignificant his origin story has turned out to be, the whole film just reeks of being a half-assed cash grab.
Another issue for why the story never clicks points largely to an overwhelming issue Disney has failed on time after time, and that's regarding a lack of interesting new characters. Solo though doubles down on that issue and not only provides forgettable characters (like Beckett and Qi'ra) but downright obnoxious characters. I haven't cringed at a Star Wars film this much since Attack of the Clones, and Solo is an embarrassing example of how to not sketch out supporting characters. There are two egregious ones here, starting with Rio Durant (Jon Favreau), a multi-armed alien pilot for Beckett's crew. Durant spews one bad one-liner after another, none of which land, in-between spouting off bad travelogue exposition about Wookies and whatnot. To say that he was annoying and insignificant is an understatement, and at least he doesn't factor into much of the running time. Even worse is social justice warrior droid L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who is a blatant characterization of an angry feminist, delivering lines that made this liberal cringe considerably. Not only do these characters bring absolutely nothing of significance to the table, but they're ingratiating wastes of time at what the filmmakers are hoping the audience will identify with as funny and charming. Not helping anything is possibly the largest issue of all that plagues Solo aside from the screenplay, that being Ron Howard's direction. I personally found it to be a complete mess. Howard never is able to get the tone down, and as a result the film is clunky in attempting to transition between its comedic and darker, film heist minded intentions. Most of the comedy feels really dated, with Howard relying on really corny one-liners, obvious reaction shots, and stale jokes that feel very forced. I don't know if Lord and Miller had directed the film that it would be much better, but their expertise in comedy certainly couldn't have hurt. Howard is certainly an accomplished filmmaker with many great credits to his name, but if you're looking for any form of aesthetic or signature stamp on Solo, you're not apt to find it anywhere. Howard, much like the screenplay and production company he's catering to, feels to be on autopilot here, merely there to check off the boxes and dutifully hand in his assignment. And to an extent that's not fair, as he had to step into a production he wasn't apart of initially, and so how much creative control did he have the ability to exert? Still, I'm not going to let him completely off the hook for not at least grasping ahold of the tone here, which is an absolute mess. I found myself laughing at the movie's numerous contrived scenarios and downright stupid moments far more than I did laugh with the film.
I could forgive this fleeting film for being a breezy adventure if there was some life injected into the final product, but unfortunately despite moments here and there, Solo never gains its footing and barely works as a comedy or action film. It's a deadly mix of complacency comprised of a formulaic script, contrived scenes of Han's origins, forgettable and downright annoying supporting characters, and a lack of stakes at play that made for a very disappointing viewing experience for me. Solo isn't just dwelling on nostalgia to form its mediocrity, it's content with it, pulling out one ridiculous attempt to grab the audience into believing this is worth our time after another (all of which culminates in perhaps the worst cameo in franchise history near the end). There are certain films that come up short because of one reason or another, but have a definite tone that they've nailed and I can applaud the filmmakers for making this world believable and interesting. Solo is a disastrous misfire because that tone is never established. The comedy is too stale to work as a funny outing and the darker implications the story proposes are never reached. We're left with a hammy origin story that truly serves no purpose or needed insight into the character and hardly even accomplishes offering simplistic matinee escapism.
5/10
We begin on the planet Corellia, a slum planet largely controlled by slavers though also bearing an Imperial presence. Here we meet Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), who is one of these slaves and is looking to get himself and his love interest Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) off the planet and to a life of freedom. Han has stolen a material called coaxium, and he intends to use to barter their way onto a ship and away from this life. While undergoing that escape, Qi'ra is apprehended, and Han vows to return to Corellia to save her before running off and joining the Imperial forces. We're treated to Han fighting on a battlefield that feels like if Paths of Glory mixed with the futuristic warfare of the Terminator films, where he latches onto a small gang of thieves led by Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and escapes the Imperial army in order to help Beckett pull off a heist. Before doing this, Han meets his pal Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) while trapped in confinement in one of many awkward scenes attempting to shoehorn Han's origins into this somewhat of a heist film. With Chewie in tow, Han and Beckett attempt to steal a shipment of coaxium, but are thwarted by a group of marauders and must go to the crime boss Beckett is working for (Paul Bettany) and inform him of the bad news. While there, Han runs into Qi'ra in possibly the clumsiest scene of the film, and during their reunion it's revealed that she now works for the Crimson Dawn syndicate. Han of course believes there's only good in her, and vows again to rescue her from this life. Her boss, Dryden Vos, agrees not to kill Han and company if they can secure coaxium from the planet Kessel, and he wants Qi'ra to accompany them.
While there are plenty of twists and turns along the way, mostly the several red herring moments that occur, this is essentially the plot and what it has to offer. And that's fine, because I don't think the intention of Solo was ever to expand the Star Wars universe and was to be more of a fun and fleeting adventure, but the stakes don't feel impactful here and as a result neither does all of the double crossing that happens in nearly every scene. There's nothing substantial occurring in this film other than providing contrived showings of how Han got his name (which was awful), how Han met Chewbacca (not much better), how he met Lando (Donald Glover's Billy Dee Williams imitation was the best part of the film), and how he got the Millennium Falcon (not as cool as you'd hope). None of it really feels organically woven into the story, nor do any of these situations represent much in the creativity department. It's kind of shocking that Lawrence Kasdan and his son, Jonathan Kasdan, teamed up to write such a plodding and through the motions screenplay, but very little will come as a surprise watching Solo. It hits all of the predictable story beats, making the numerous reversals by characters bear little impact since you can see their double cross coming a mile away. It also executes all of this with a surprising lack of fun. The charisma is certainly there from the leads, who are doing their best to brighten up the meager dialogue, but the situations they're placed in feel too familiar and without anything innovative being done to solve these problems. I felt like we seldom got to see Han use his intuition to get out of tight spots, and the extent of creativity is little more than outshooting everyone else. It works somewhat as individual scenes, but when pieced together as a whole the production feels repetitive and unwilling to branch off into something more interesting. Aside from Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, Han Solo is the flagship character of this franchise, and when you look back on how insignificant his origin story has turned out to be, the whole film just reeks of being a half-assed cash grab.
Another issue for why the story never clicks points largely to an overwhelming issue Disney has failed on time after time, and that's regarding a lack of interesting new characters. Solo though doubles down on that issue and not only provides forgettable characters (like Beckett and Qi'ra) but downright obnoxious characters. I haven't cringed at a Star Wars film this much since Attack of the Clones, and Solo is an embarrassing example of how to not sketch out supporting characters. There are two egregious ones here, starting with Rio Durant (Jon Favreau), a multi-armed alien pilot for Beckett's crew. Durant spews one bad one-liner after another, none of which land, in-between spouting off bad travelogue exposition about Wookies and whatnot. To say that he was annoying and insignificant is an understatement, and at least he doesn't factor into much of the running time. Even worse is social justice warrior droid L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who is a blatant characterization of an angry feminist, delivering lines that made this liberal cringe considerably. Not only do these characters bring absolutely nothing of significance to the table, but they're ingratiating wastes of time at what the filmmakers are hoping the audience will identify with as funny and charming. Not helping anything is possibly the largest issue of all that plagues Solo aside from the screenplay, that being Ron Howard's direction. I personally found it to be a complete mess. Howard never is able to get the tone down, and as a result the film is clunky in attempting to transition between its comedic and darker, film heist minded intentions. Most of the comedy feels really dated, with Howard relying on really corny one-liners, obvious reaction shots, and stale jokes that feel very forced. I don't know if Lord and Miller had directed the film that it would be much better, but their expertise in comedy certainly couldn't have hurt. Howard is certainly an accomplished filmmaker with many great credits to his name, but if you're looking for any form of aesthetic or signature stamp on Solo, you're not apt to find it anywhere. Howard, much like the screenplay and production company he's catering to, feels to be on autopilot here, merely there to check off the boxes and dutifully hand in his assignment. And to an extent that's not fair, as he had to step into a production he wasn't apart of initially, and so how much creative control did he have the ability to exert? Still, I'm not going to let him completely off the hook for not at least grasping ahold of the tone here, which is an absolute mess. I found myself laughing at the movie's numerous contrived scenarios and downright stupid moments far more than I did laugh with the film.
I could forgive this fleeting film for being a breezy adventure if there was some life injected into the final product, but unfortunately despite moments here and there, Solo never gains its footing and barely works as a comedy or action film. It's a deadly mix of complacency comprised of a formulaic script, contrived scenes of Han's origins, forgettable and downright annoying supporting characters, and a lack of stakes at play that made for a very disappointing viewing experience for me. Solo isn't just dwelling on nostalgia to form its mediocrity, it's content with it, pulling out one ridiculous attempt to grab the audience into believing this is worth our time after another (all of which culminates in perhaps the worst cameo in franchise history near the end). There are certain films that come up short because of one reason or another, but have a definite tone that they've nailed and I can applaud the filmmakers for making this world believable and interesting. Solo is a disastrous misfire because that tone is never established. The comedy is too stale to work as a funny outing and the darker implications the story proposes are never reached. We're left with a hammy origin story that truly serves no purpose or needed insight into the character and hardly even accomplishes offering simplistic matinee escapism.
5/10
