Han Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

[Tjm86]

I have to be honest, I've not yet seen it since I've been a bit disappointed with aspects of the new films.  Not bitter just not blown away.  Then again the same was true of the prequel trilogy so that might be some of it.

I get what Funt is driving at on one level.  It's like the old argument that books are always better because they have better pictures.  Then again, we're talking about what was originally a visual medium.  I've not read much Star Wars novelisation but those that I've read have never really captured my imagination in the way that other writers have.  Comic versions have been more successful for me although that might be more because of reading them back in the day.

I know that some of the Marvel SW stuff hasn't aged particularly well (Hoojibs?) but there were a number of stand out issues and with respect to Han, issue 50 (The Crimson Forever) has stood the test of time well.  It demonstrated an understanding of the character that perhaps is lacking elsewhere.  I would certainly offer it up as an argument against the quality of our imagination as superior.

Mind you, I might have misunderstood Funt's argument here.  Is it more that in this particular case it failed to meet up rather than a more general statement?

[TordelBack]

To try to tell a single story to wrap up every line of dialogue that'd hinted at his past just feels reductive. You could have ignored all that and made it expansive.

Very true, but they did do a fair bit to open it up as well - in addition to all the predictable pedestrian elements you allude to,  I was fully expecting Jabba, Boba Fett, Tatooine and Kashyyyk; instead I got Q'Ira, Beckett, Val,  Rio,  Enfys Nest and Robo-Maul, Mimban, Vandor and Savareen. As usual with these things,  it's that new stuff I enjoyed most, but I have to accept that these prequel films are pitched squarely at nostalgic fans and existing IP exploitation (cue utterly gratuitous Star Destroyer and TIE fighter chase - don't the crime syndicates have (new) spaceships of their own?).

While Solo is far from a masterpiece it's way more entertaining and involving than it had any right to be, and a far better stab at Young Han than I could have imagined.

[Professor Bear]

I just liked the experience of enjoying a new Star Wars film.  What I could actually see of it, that is.

[Dr Feeley Good]

I enjoyed it a lot more the second time, at home rather than in Imax..

[Funt Solo]

There's no denying that your central point is true,  but doesn't it also apply to everything after the original Star Wars?  Jabba,  Darth Vader's nature,  the Emperor,  Luke becoming a Jedi... Should they ALL have been left to our imaginations? There's certainly a good argument for that, but I'm very glad we got more on-screen adventures - and Solo definitely falls into that category.

For all that it was totally unnecessary,  Solo was very good fun, and did you really have a better mental version of those card games,  or the Han&Chewie meet-cute ("We make secret battle of pretend")? I don't think I did.

First off: I did quite enjoy Solo, and made a rare trip to the cinema to see it (because Star Wars).

The idea of a hinted at past being best left in the viewers' imagination is not my saying that my mental version would be better than what the movie company came up with.  It's that the unknown wins out over the known.  In a horror movie, the fear of the unknown is worse than any actual monster.  I'm suggesting that the cool of the Kessel Run (as spoken of as a past feat) is ultimately better than any actual Kessel Run.

I see what you mean that if I run too far with that logic I get to a place where there's no point in telling any stories ever: but I don't believe that.  Jabba, Darth Vader's nature and so on: those were things that happened as we moved forward through the story to its conclusion (rather than things hinted at to provide a sense of history).

Someone's probably already pointed out that Lando's robot love is reminiscent of Lobster Random.

[Colin YNWA]

I enjoyed it a lot more the second time, at home rather than in Imax..

NECRO - this could have gone in the last movie I watched thread but felt best to keep it in context here... of and I didn't see it at an Imax first time, but otherwise with Dr Feeley Good on this. Finally watched it at home. I started it a while ago with the kids, but they drifted and we only got through the first hour... this says something about Star Wars not really being an event anymore for kids, who are given too much of a good thing maybe BUT that's a converation for another time.

Anyway so I watched myself over the last couple of nights and really enjoyed it. I found I was much more able to ignore the needless nods to lines of dialogue from the past. So it didn't need to be the Kessel Run for example, it was just a cool space chase, so let it go. Some key elements were bound, meeting Lando and Chewie but I'm cool with that.

Once I'd done that I relaxed and realised it just feels like a really fun Star Wars movie with all the right Star Wars bits in. Its just a fun space adventure.

Its inspired me to watch all the new movies again with fresh eyes... though whether I'll be able to bring myself to watch 'Force Awakens' again - maybe when I've watched the rest and I'm in a good Star Wars place I'll try again.

But yeah to the positive, really like Solo now, its no classic but really has a place in the Star Wars world.

[wedgeski]

I could live without that whole opening section, whch really super-duper felt like it was added in re-shoots (was it?). As soon as Han finds his way onto the Imperial battleground, meets Chewie and the gang, and tries to rob that train, things pick up immensely. Kessel I find kind of hard to believe; some more thought into how a small group could infiltrate one of the most notorious prisons in the galaxy would not have gone amiss.

And from there it's kind of a slow burn into mediocrity. Not awful, and having picked it up in a blu-ray bargain bin I'm okay with it on my shelf. I would like to be able to say more about a high-budget origin story for one of the best characters in sci-fi (by which I *almost* mean Chewbacca).

[shaolin_monkey]

I still love it.

I picked up the 3D version, and while it’s not the best 3D in the world it does really help with the murkiness of the film. It’s easier to pick things out when they’re not flat, if you know what I mean.