While the moviegoing community was mourning half the Avengers in the wake ofInfinity War’s bombshell ending (and forking out cash for a seventh or eighth viewing),Solo: A Star Wars Story– the fourth big-screen effort in Disney’s pre-Mandalorianattempts to spearhead a successful post-George LucasStar Warsfranchise – came and went without attracting much attention or praise.Solois a fine movie with some interesting set pieces and enough escapist spectacle to warrantanother trip to a galaxy far, far away, but it ultimately fails to justify its existence. If it wasn’t a Han Solo origin movie, it would be an agreeable blockbuster with a likable, roguish lead. Being Han’s origin story is its downfall, because this stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder didn’t need an origin story.
Sadly, the most notable thing aboutSolo: A Star Wars Storyis that it was the first major tentpole release in theStar Warsfranchise tobomb at the box office. Due to the many reshoots imposed by Disney,Soloballooned into one of the most expensive movies ever made with a $300 million budget and an estimated $500 million break-even point. At the end of its theatrical run,Solowas more than $100 million away from that break-even point. This box office failure has been attributed to a number of factors, namely “Star Warsfatigue” since it arrived just five months after the historically polarizingThe Last Jedi. Plus, it didn’t help that Disney didn’t start the marketing campaign until just three months before the release, meaning a lot of casual moviegoers didn’t even know there was a Han Solo origin movie playing in theaters when there was a Han Solo origin movie playing in theaters.
RELATED:Star Wars: Have You Heard The Tragedy Of Solo: A Star Wars Story?
Ultimately,Solofailed because it didn’t need to exist. The majority of moviegoers who were aware ofSolo’s release had an active interest inStar Wars, and noStar Warsfans were clamoring for Han’s backstory, becausethe Han Solo characterworks much better without an origin story. There’s nothing wrong with a little mystery; it makes for stronger stories.
Han’s introduction in the shadiest corner booth of Mos Eisley Cantina in the original 1977Star Warsmovie already tells us everything we need to know about the character. He’s an intergalactic pirate and smuggler who’s only interested in money; his best friend (and, seemingly, only acquaintance in the galaxy) isa Wookiee named Chewbacca; and he’s the captain of the Millennium Falcon, the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. He’s worked with a bunch of gangsters, only ever looking out for himself, and he’s rubbed some of them the wrong way and owes money to one in particular, who happens to be the most notorious crime boss on Tatooine. That’s all the backstory that viewers need to know to understand who Han is and follow his arc up toReturn of the Jedi’s triumphant finale.
We don’t need to know how he met Chewie or the circumstances under which heacquired the Falcon. After 40 years of ravenous fandom, all those answers were bound to disappoint anyway. None of it is necessary to Han’s actual story, which is his transformation from being a self-centered renegade with no stake in the Galactic Civil War into one of the heroes of the Rebellion surrounded by friends he cares about. We definitely didn’t need to know that the Kessel Run has a couple of dangerous shortcuts, so Han’s parsec line is actually accurate to it being a unit of distance. That’s the second climactic action sequence in aStar Warsblockbuster that Disney has dedicated to clearing up a little inconsistency from a throwaway line in the original movie (afterRogue One’s explanation of how the air shaft on the top of the Death Star was intentionally sabotaged by the architect).
It would be fun to visit the parallel universe in which Phil Lord and Christopher Miller got to directSoloas they intended (and Colin Trevorrow got to directEpisode IXas he intended) to see how these movies would’ve worked out without studio interference. Lord and Miller werefired fromSoloin the middle of filmingas Lucasfilm got cold feet about theirGuardians of the Galaxy-esque comedic tone, but they were the only reason a lot of fans had hope forSolo. They made both21 Jump StreetandThe Lego Movie, two movies nobody thought they needed that turned out to be huge hits because Lord and Miller took an outside-the-box approach. They could’ve knockedSoloout of the park.
Lord and Miller werereplaced by Ron Howard, who completed it more in line with what Lucasfilm was looking for: a safe bet (seemingly). But since shooting was already underway on a completely different version of the movie, this led to major tonal inconsistencies. The final product is oddly miserable for aStar Warsmovie, with somber characters and drab color-grading. Howard dialed down the colors on the footage that was shot when the movie was supposed to be a comedy, but the scenes weren’t lit for that palette, so it’s sometimes difficult to even make out what’s happening in all the gloominess.
This movie wasn’t doomed to fail. Even if there’s no replacing Harrison Ford as Han Solo (another big issue this movie faced), Alden Ehrenreich did a great job of playing Han without imitating Ford. There was a way to make a Han Solo movie work with a visionary director focusing on what works about the character. ButSolofeels painfully generic when it should’ve been utterly unique. This movie had the potential to lean into the Weird West aesthetic of Tatooine with a roguish gunslinger protagonist. Young Han Solo is the perfect antihero for a space western.Solowas touted as a space western in its marketing, but aside from the train robbery sequence and the climactic gunfight, it doesn’t feel much like a western; it’s just a bland studio tentpole designed by committee to please everyone.
If Han’s origins had actually strengthened his character in the way thatAnakin’s tragic downfall in the prequelsretroactively strengthened Vader’s scenes, then it would be a different story. ButSolois a disappointment as Han’s origin story, because it’s more of an origin story for his stuff – his jacket, his dice, his ship, his last name – than his actual character. The beats of a hero’s journey are stuffed into Han’s arc inSolo, but he’s about to meet Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi and go on the most eye-opening adventure of his life, so all those beats are coming later anyway.
The original trilogy already acted as a hero’s journey arc for Han, so cramming one in just before he headed to Tatooine to work with Jabba feels disingenuous. He has the same revelations about his selfishness and the need to fight for a worthy cause inSolothat he’ll have a few weeks laterwhen he returns to help Luke blow up the Death Star.
