Some people never gave Solo a chance. Re-casting the character of Han Solo (albeit a younger version) was risky enough but then there was the troubled production history of the film which saw its original directors, Chris Miller and Phil Lord, unceremoniously fired by Disney executives and replaced by workhorse industry veteran Ron Howard.
It's true that to this day when watching Solo there's always a sneaking suspicion that you're watching a compromised film. It's impossible not to be at least a little bit curious what kind of film the bright and funny Miller and Lord (whose excellent work on The Lego Movie was a breakthrough) would have turned out.
Still, I think Solo has always gotten a bit of a bad rap. It actually made a lot of money at the box office, although it was considered an under-performance by the studio -- which considering the ballooning budget and reshoots may be totally valid. But the film is not without its fans. In fact, in this period of Star Wars backlash culture, it's one of the few titles that has its share of ardent defenders.
For me, it's no classic -- it's flaws are too glaring and self-evident -- but I do think it was a promising start to what could have been a fun series of adventure films. Alden Ehrenreich's performance as Solo sort of reminded me of an actor's debut as James Bond. They don't own the role from frame one -- with the notable exception of Sean Connery -- they grow into it over the course of one or more films. By the end of Solo, Ehrenreich had begun to approximate a bit of Harrison Ford's swagger and I think it would have been neat to track that beloved character's evolution and perhaps his on-again off-again friendship with Lando Calrissian, played with a lot of joy by Donald Glover.
The movie also hinted at an expanded universe -- one that brought back one of the few intriguing characters from the woeful prequels -- Darth Maul. Now there's still a chance that this thread can and will be explored in the upcoming Kenobi miniseries on Disney Plus, but it's a shame that at least on the big screen it appears that this timeline is for the moment shut off.
The grimy aesthetic of the movie certainly influenced the popular Mandolorian television series -- even if the cinematography is too muddy for my taste at times. It had a great villain in Paul Bettany, it's a real shame they killed him off -- although no one is ever really dead in Star Wars. Still, the movie does have a tendency to prematurely kill off people who capture our interest, like Thandie Newton, who deserved a lot more screen time.
I think then and now the greatest flaw for me in the film (besides the silly implication that Lando and his droid L3 were engaged in some kind of sexual relationship) was the Emilia Clarke character. It wasn't the performance so much as how she is written. Her romance with Han is never really established or credible. Sure, they kiss a lot but there doesn't seem to be a lot of chemistry beyond that. We never really get a sense of who she is, other than that she has some secrets and for much of the film's running time she does little more than grin at Han in an almost maternalistic way.
In the last act's major reveal she finally gets to show some depth and intrigue but by then it's already too late. I only wish that if this relationship was supposed to be the driving force and heart of the movie that it was invested with more care. The Han Solo-Princess Leia romance is actually very quickly established (and by modern standards a bit too pushy) but it felt earned because the characters had always had a certain attractive banter and rat-a-tat repartee that sold you on them as a couple. Clarke and Ehrenreich have none of that. He is simply earnest and she is simply in awe.
But in a series of films, who knows. Perhaps this could have been fleshed out and illuminated. Unfortunately, now, we may never know.
But what I do know is Solo is a perfectly fun time at the movies. It conjures up nostalgia for the best elements of the original trilogy while developing some nice rhythms all its own and most importantly it does nothing to detract from the Star Wars brand.
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