Solo: A Star Wars Story (Ron Howard 2018)

[Arpy 4,145]

Guys, guys...

... we just have to wait till 2019 until people begin to see The Last Jedi wasn't bad by any stretch. 

 

I really think people put far too much stock in these films. It's abysmal to see all this negativity over a fucking Star Wars film.

[A24 4,326]

37 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

 

All I’ll say is, his hair looks weird. 

 

Worse than that, he lacks the charisma of a young Harrison Ford.

 

Not my Han Solo!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

#notmyhansolo

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

His eyes are weird.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

His hair's all funny.

[Chen G. 3,944]

1 hour ago, Arpy said:

we just have to wait till 2019 until people begin to see The Last Jedi wasn't bad by any stretch. 

 

Oh come on, I’m tired of people framing others dislike of the film as if it was stemming from a lack of perspective, and within a few years we’ll bow our heads in shame and hail The Last Jedi as the master of all masterworks.

 

That’s not the case. The film has serious issues with pacing and while it won’t feel as overbearing on the smallscreen, it’s never not going to be an issue.

[mstrox 6,647]

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

His hair looks like they took the look of his hair in the original movie and amped it up. But he just looks like a surfer/skater guy.

[1977 1,743]

14 hours ago, Chen G. said:

I don’t mind anything he does, except his attempt at Kylo’s life which is a bit out of character, and for no discernible reason, oh and the blue milk. Otherwise, it’s great stuff. The movie’s issues lie elsewhere.

 

So you're okay with the super cheesy lightsabre over the shoulder toss?

[TSMefford 1,509]

4 hours ago, Chen G. said:

 

Oh come on, I’m tired of people framing others dislike of the film as if it was stemming from a lack of perspective, and within a few years we’ll bow our heads in shame and hail The Last Jedi as the master of all masterworks.

 

That’s not the case. The film has serious issues with pacing and while it won’t feel as overbearing on the smallscreen, it’s never not going to be an issue.

 

Why does this mentality exist now a days? Why does "The Last Jedi wasn't bad by any stretch."  have imply that he thinks it to be a master of all masterworks? I don't mean to lash out at you specifically, because it not just you that says stuff like this. It's everywhere now.

 

For the record, I agree with you on the films issues. In fact, I'd take it a step further and say almost all the new characters have completely messed up motivations, traits, and conflicts versus where they were when we left off from TFA. But it doesn't have to be a master of all masterworks for someone to say it "wasn't bad by any stretch". People keep jumping to extremes on films (really EVERYTHING) these days, no wonder no one can just have fun at the damn movies now.

 

It's Star Wars, none of them are masters of all masterworks, and none of them are meant to be. At some point a movie is just a movie. Does it have problems? Yes. But so do all the other ones in some form and in varying degrees. Despite me not liking many aspects of Last Jedi, I still had a good time, and I've seen far worse films. That doesn't give it a pass, but it doesn't stop me from just enjoying it for what it is, appreciating some legitimately badass moments, and also appreciating far better films when they come around.

[Holko 9,499]

2 minutes ago, TSMefford said:

 

Why does this mentality exist now a days? Why does "The Last Jedi wasn't bad by any stretch."  have imply that he thinks it to be a master of all masterworks?

 

Because the Internet can only accept two opinions about any topic, not just movies: either it's the worst thing mankind has ever created, or the most perfect masterpiece of all time.

2 minutes ago, TSMefford said:

At some point a movie is just a movie. Does it have problems? Yes. But so do all the other ones in some form and in varying degrees. Despite me not liking many aspects of Last Jedi, I still had a good time, and I've seen far worse films. That doesn't give it a pass, but it doesn't stop me from just enjoying it for what it is

 

This!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

So what's worse, The Last Jedi or Independence Day Resurgence?

[Balahkay 627]

When is Solo supposed to take place? Five years before Star Wars?  In some shots, this actor doesn't look much younger than Ford did back in 77.  Granted, Ford looked older than his age back in the day.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

People also had deeper voices back then too. Ever notice people like Chris Pine and Chris Pratt have these juvenile voices like their balls just dropped?

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

I always mix up Chris Pine with Chris Hemsworth.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

4 minutes ago, Denise Bryson said:

People also had deeper voices back then too. Ever notice people like Chris Pine and Chris Pratt have these juvenile voices like their balls just dropped?

No?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Smoking deepened everyone's voices in the past.

[Chen G. 3,944]

2 hours ago, TSMefford said:

Why does this mentality exist now a days? Why does "The Last Jedi wasn't bad by any stretch."  have imply that he thinks it to be a master of all masterworks? I don't mean to lash out at you specifically, because it not just you that says stuff like this. It's everywhere now.

 

You're very right. I was just exaggerating my position to make a point. For the record, this mindset of "The Last Jedi is great, and you'll all realize it within a few years" and pointing to other films (Empire Strikes Back not being the least of them) where the critical consensus shifted similarly - that mindset is very much prevalent among apologists of this film.

 

I, too, liked the movie reasonably well.

 

2 hours ago, JTWfan77 said:

So you're okay with the super cheesy lightsabre over the shoulder toss?

 

Luke was always going to be portrayed as disillusioned with his heritage and the Jedi, so the joke feeds into the theme of the work. I do think if he dropped it in front of himself, at his feet, rather than behind himself, it might have more gravitas, but as it is its really a nitpick - not something that speaks to the film as a whole.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

It's why Bette had a sultry, sexy voice.

[1977 1,743]

12 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Luke was always going to be portrayed as disillusioned with his heritage and the Jedi, so the joke feeds into the theme of the work. I do think if he dropped it in front of himself, at his feet, rather than behind himself, it might have more gravitas, but as it is its really a nitpick - not something that speaks to the film as a whole.

 

Disillusionment I can handle, but being so disrespectful just seems so out of character. A simple "I don't need this anymore" as he handed it back to Rey would have achieved the same outcome without the cheap shot in the name of being subversive and audacious (by RJ I mean).

 

27 minutes ago, someonefun124 said:

When is Solo supposed to take place? Five years before Star Wars?  In some shots, this actor doesn't look much younger than Ford did back in 77.  Granted, Ford looked older than his age back in the day.

 

I think it's set ten years before ANH. At least that's what I've read. The Falcon interior needs to get from pristine (trailer) to gungy (ANH) so probably would need ten years for that.

 

[Chen G. 3,944]

Since its a comedic beat, its bound to be much more subjective than a dramatic beat. To me, it works well enough. This film has so-much tongue-in-cheek humor that its not out-of-character in terms of the film.

 

Really, the only thing I accept as being out of character is his contemplating of killing Kylo, since he was so bent on saving Vader in times of far greater adversity for himself. And even that took some thinking to grasp.

 

Luke's story was effective to me, and I even found it somewhat moving near the end.

[Holko 9,499]

 

Quote

Really, the only thing I accept as being out of character is his contemplating of killing Kylo, since he was so bent on saving Vader in times of far greater adversity for himself.

 

Spoiler

I didn't think it was contemplating at all. We find out in the last iteration of the flashbacks that it was a moment of pure instinct. I think I remember Luke reeling back, being afraid when Rey almost succumbed to the Dark Side on the first lesson. When he looked into Vader back in the day, he saw some good in him. When he looked into Ben, he saw utter darkness, and he reeled back, igniting his lightsaber in instinct because he was so scared. He would've turned it off after a few seconds, realising what he almost did, but Ben woke up to the noise and misinterpreted the event, causing his last step in fully succumbing to the Dark Side.

 

It's kind of a take on Luke standing above Vader, ready to strike him down, remember that? Overtaken by instinct and love for his sister, he is ready to kill the father he saw good in, but after a few seconds, he realises it's not the correct way and turns his sabre off.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

41 minutes ago, Denise Bryson said:

So what's worse, The Last Jedi or Independence Day Resurgence?

 

I'm not sure anything's worse than ID:R.

[John 2,032]

15 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Really, the only thing I accept as being out of character is his contemplating of killing Kylo, since he was so bent on saving Vader in times of far greater adversity for himself.

 

It's not out of character at all. It's keeping with the same hot-headedness he demonstrated on Dagobah in Empire Strikes Back, when he tries to lop off Vader's face and sees his own staring back at him, and in Return of the Jedi, when he brutally lashes out at his father, after keeping his cool for so long earlier. Luke has always been a very conflicted character.

 

And Luke's intentions weren't to walk in on Ben in his hut and just slaughter him that night; he was searching his nephew's feelings. He just decided to do it when Ben was asleep because that would give him the clearest picture. Sure, it's a bit of a breach of privacy, but Luke was afraid of Ben's potential. He merely wanted to know what was in his heart, and what his future would be. Yes, he definitely could've handled the situation better, but that's the point. In his hubris, he thought he could take matters into his own hands. When he realized his mistake, it left him with shame and consequence.

 

It was never his intent to kill Ben when he entered the hut; I honestly doubt he even considered the possibility beforehand.

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Just now, Philippe Roaché said:

 

I'm not sure anything's worse than ID:R.

 

It really was friggin amateur hour, that piece of crap.

[Chen G. 3,944]

9 minutes ago, JohnSolo said:

It's not out of character at all. It's keeping with the same hot-headedness he demonstrated on Dagobah in Empire Strikes Back, when he tries to lop off Vader's face and sees his own staring back at him, and in Return of the Jedi, when he brutally lashes out at his father, after keeping his cool for so long earlier.

 

That's after:

• A long struggle against Vader
• Vader having chopped off his arm
• Vader having killed his mentor
• Vader taunting him about his new-found sister
• Luke being distraught at learning his friends are walking into a trap
• After having Yoda and Ben egg him to kill Vader
• Seeing no other choice for the survival of the rebellion

 

Not any one of these hardships are present in the time of Luke's restablishment of the Jedi order. Even if we are to believe that The First Order already existed at the time, I bet the conflict in the galaxy hadn't escalated to what it is during the time of this new trilogy, or else Luke wouldn't have had the time to go school a bunch of younglings. Also, with Ben, Luke had to answer to his own sister and best friend as far as mistreating him went, which he didn't have to do with Vader.

 

Ultimately, the universe serves the narrative, not the other way around. Its the filmmaker's job to shape a narrative that won't require us to go too much into the "lore" and of the universe in order to justify what's happening on-screen. If we have to do that, we're already out of the moment of the film.

[Holko 9,499]

5 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

with Ben, Luke had to answer to his own sister and best friend as far as mistreating him went, which he didn't have to do with Vader.

 

You're really overthinking (or misinterpreting) this.

 

Quote

I didn't think it was contemplating at all. We find out in the last iteration of the flashbacks that it was a moment of pure instinct.

 

[Chen G. 3,944]

Its true that it didn't occur to me on first viewing, but I think its an issue that will sneak up on a lot of viewers after several rewatches.

 

Since Luke is very moody and brooding throughout the majority of this film, when we flash back to his training of Ben, we apply the same mindset to the younger Luke, where really its the aftermath of that incident that was the onset of Luke's demeanor in that film. If he was given a reason (in the script) to be that conflicted before that time, it would have been more palatable, to me.

 

Admittedly, its really not a big issue. The Canto Bight stuff, however, is.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Everyone overthinks SW. They're popcorn space movies for young boys.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

3 minutes ago, Philippe Roaché said:

Everyone overthinks SW. They're popcorn space movies for young boys.

 

Now that it's Disney, it's for little girls.

[Chen G. 3,944]

I think its fair to say that they "grew in the telling" and became more than that, by now.

 

I'm certainly not a huge fan, but I think great, mature Star Wars films are not an impossibility - Empire Strikes Back is very much that. The Last Jedi could have been that, too, but wasn't. And I think that line of thought is what drives a lot of people into dissappointment from this film.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

5 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

If he was given a reason (in the script) to be that conflicted before that time, it would have been more palatable, to me.

 

Of course he was conflicted before that time, because he had already sensed the darkness in Ben.

[Chen G. 3,944]

So we are told, not shown...

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

You are indeed told in the movie.

[Chen G. 3,944]

But movies are about showing. Its a visual medium!

 

Otherwise, why not do away will all the live action and simply have the crawl tell the entire film and call it a night?

[Holko 9,499]

Why have an extended flashback sequence in an already overly long movie to show something you can tell in one sentence?

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

Exactly.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Star Wars has never been about telling things like that. It should function like a silent film with the visuals and music.

[Chen G. 3,944]

I bet you're right, and that stuff was shot but than they decided to summarize it by telling it, seeing how long the movie was getting.

 

I would have, in a heartbeat, taken the entire Canto Bight sequence out of the film, in favor of just that: telling the story of Luke and Ben Solo cinematically, and not have it telegraphed to the audience.

[Holko 9,499]

I felt what they showed was about the correct amount that was relevant to the actual plot. If anything, it was too much, but that's more because by the third time we flashed back to the exact same scene, I felt it got a bit ridiculous.

[1977 1,743]

New pics and details from EW:

 

http://ew.com/movies/2018/02/07/solo...tory-ew-cover/

[Chen G. 3,944]

I actually like that they flashed back to the same moment and showed the exact same development happen in subtly different ways. Its a good example of the good old line: "many of the truths we cling to depend on our point of view."

[Koray Savas 2,251]

You guys wanna take The Last Jedi spoiler discussion to a thread dedicated for it?

 

Thanks. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

You haven't seen it either?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

As soon as I heard the movie was bad, I didn't care anymore. I've read every spoiler now, so you might as well say I've seen it by proxy.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Yeah. I watched the RLM review and you could tell they were pretty disgusted with it. Then again, I never really liked TFA and they seemed to love it.

[A24 4,326]

Predictions:

 

Old generation: Not my Han Solo! He's irreplaceable!

New generation: Hmm, I never liked Harrison Ford but this new Han Solo is great!

[A. A. Ron 1,740]

15 hours ago, Denise Bryson said:

But is it "simple contrarianism" if a high proportion of viewers have reported similar grievances with the film? Obviously the film has a lot of crippling problems that have upset a lot of people because a. they care about these movies a lot, and b. these problems could have been avoided.

 

What I was trying to say is that chalking up all the positive reception to mere "brand loyalty" is just as bad as categorizing all the negative reviews as "simple contrarianism." It's not that simple.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

6 minutes ago, Philippe Roaché said:

Yeah. I watched the RLM review and you could tell they were pretty disgusted with it. Then again, I never really liked TFA and they seemed to love it.

 

Actually their review seemed to lean positive enough, they almost convinced me to go see it. But ultimately I stayed home watching Twin Peaks instead.

[Chen G. 3,944]

What's interesting is that they try to make the Empire's presence be felt very heavily in this film, so that it does tie into the larger conflict in the galaxy.

 

What little we know of Han's past certainly doesn't negate that: He talked about running into Imperial ships, and his ship even has a brief cameo in Revenge of the Sith. Still, for the most part, his "world" as seen in the films, with Jabba and Boba, seems to exist on its own plane. That's part of his character: that he is thrust into this conflict, only to be pulled back into his own world by the end of Empire Strikes Back, and again before the beginning of The Force Awakens. We'll see how organically the two worlds conform in this film.

 

I think part of why people feel this film is redundant, is that being a shady smuggler has a lot to do with being mysterious, so putting the character's backstory to film will undo some of that, certainly for new audiences if they watch this film prior to watching the original Star Wars. There is something to be said for leaving certain things to the imagination of the audience.