The Ringer - Everything You Need to Know About ‘Solo’2018-05-29T14:43:51-04:00http://www.theringer.com/rss/stream/171541192018-05-29T14:43:51-04:002018-05-29T14:43:51-04:00Did ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Work?
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<p>Plus: the ‘Killing Eve’ finale</p> <p id="uyPUjl"><a href="https://art19.com/shows/the-watch/episodes/22262b17-d4ca-42e3-aa8f-e51ca3b0a048">Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald review <em>Solo</em>,</a> the latest installment in the <em>Star Wars</em> universe, and question whether it worked (3:00). Later, they discuss the eighth and final episode of <em>Killing Eve</em> Season 1 and what the future holds for the Phoebe Waller-Bridge brainchild (45:30).</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/2018/5/29/17406200/did-solo-a-star-wars-story-workChris RyanAndy Greenwald2018-05-29T13:47:14-04:002018-05-29T13:47:14-04:00A Brief History of Chewbacca
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<figcaption>Disney/Lucasfilm/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>From ‘A New Hope’ to ‘Solo,’ the relationship between Han and everyone’s favorite man-dog has subtly changed for the better</p> <figure class="e-image">
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<p id="msHr25">“I’m a Mog: half man, half dog. I’m my own best friend.”</p>
<p id="fTBX9x">That’s how Barf, John Candy’s character in the 1987 Mel Brooks comedy <em>Spaceballs</em>, describes himself. Sometimes parody is subtle, but sometimes it’s best performed by simply describing the thing you’re mocking in blunt terms. While the <em>Star Wars </em>films are beautiful and exhilarating pieces of cinema, they do spend a lot of time exploring the question of “What if your pet were also your mechanic?”</p>
<p id="R7hDVq">The pet-mechanic combination shows up all the time in <em>Star Wars</em>. Luke Skywalker flies his X-wing across the galaxy with R2-D2, who’s part beer keg, part Swiss army knife, with the personality of a cat. Occasionally they’ll meet up with the <em>Millennium Falcon</em>, crewed by Han Solo and Chewbacca, who, like Barf, is half man, half dog.</p>
<p id="Tvz7Uk">R2-D2 and Chewbacca became two of the most beloved characters in the series, which is a testament to how intelligently they were crafted, considering neither has ever uttered an intelligible line of dialogue. We hear only half of their conversations, and infer the rest through tone and body language, like the swaths of unsubtitled Russian in <em>The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! </em>R2-D2 and C-3PO have a Bert-and-Ernie-type relationship that serves as comic relief, and both R2 and Chewie served as confessors for Luke and Han, respectively. When they’re alone on Dagobah in <em>The Empire Strikes Back</em>, Luke thinks out loud to R2, but for Han and Chewie, the relationship is deeper.</p>
<div class="c-float-left"><aside id="JPp9WF"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"‘Solo’ Flopped at the Box Office … Now What?","url":"https://www.theringer.com/2018/5/29/17405780/solo-box-office-flop-consequences"},{"title":"The ‘Solo’ Exit Survey","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/28/17396454/solo-exit-survey"},{"title":"Character Study: Did ‘Solo’ Do Right by Lando Calrissian?","url":"https://www.theringer.com/2018/5/28/17399046/lando-calrissian-donald-glover-solo-star-wars-character-study"}]}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="Eqeft2"><em>Solo</em>, the most recent <em>Star Wars</em> film, explores the origins of that relationship. Traditionally, Chewie follows Han around not because he’s Han’s friend and employee but because Han once saved his life, and according to Wookiee tradition, Chewie owes him a life debt. Though Han does save Chewie twice early in the new film — once from Imperial imprisonment, once from falling off a train during a heist — the life debt is never mentioned out loud. Instead, Chewie follows Han because for as naive and disorganized as the young Solo is, there isn’t really a better gig immediately available. Devoid of that backstory, the relationship that Han and Chewie have in <em>A New Hope </em>is one in which Chewie is obligated to Han: employer-employee at best, but perhaps something more akin to servitude or, indeed, pet ownership. But <em>Solo</em> shows a naturally developing friendship; it’s never clear why Chewie lets Han call all the shots, but it is clear that Chewie follows Han out of his own free will, and not out of obligation.</p>
<p id="wp6R4A">Over the seven hours or so of the original trilogy, the Han-Chewie relationship is pretty simple. Han is clearly the leader, but there’s love and respect in both directions. It’s Chewie who arranges the original meeting between Han and Obi-Wan that sends the <em>Falcon </em>to Alderaan, but Han who negotiates the fare and calls the shots when the two gradually become involved with the Rebellion. When Han gets captured, Chewie joins the rescue party, and when Han volunteers for the mission to disable the shield generator on Endor’s moon, he made a point not to assume that Chewie would volunteer for the mission. “Well, it’s gonna be rough, pal,” Han says. “I didn’t want to speak for you.”</p>
<p id="sfFZju">But the humor in that moment is based on the audience’s assumption that Han would never go anywhere without Chewie, and Chewie would never let Han face a dangerous enemy alone. It’s the relationship between hero and sidekick, which is all we need over a three-movie arc in which Chewbacca might be the 10th-most-important character.</p>
<p id="hr7EVH">The original trilogy, for Han and Chewie, is all an extension of a choice they made within moments of appearing in the story: They were supposed to take Obi-Wan, Luke, and the droids from Tatooine to Alderaan. Everything that follows until the destruction of the second Death Star is just the result for Han’s decision to stick around. But 2015’s <em>The Force Awakens</em> follows that relationship long after the Alderaan charter ends, and <em>Solo</em> picks it up long before it begins. In all, we’ve now seen Han and Chewie work together for something like 45 years of in-universe time. The hero-sidekick relationship follows certain beats. Over the course of one job, the relationship between a captain and his first mate might not be distinguishable from the relationship between a man and his dog, if the dog can also fly a spaceship, repair droids, and handle a bowcaster. Over 45 years, though, you can’t help but ask questions about the dog-man’s agency, particularly as Chewbacca exerts his own influence on the story separate from Han’s.</p>
<p id="8RPGKp">Chewbacca had a cameo role in<em> Revenge of the Sith</em>, in which he fights at the Battle of Kashyyyk and helps Yoda escape after Order 66 is issued. After Han’s death in <em>The Force Awakens</em>, Chewie takes Rey to Ahch-To for training with Luke, and there he bonds with the planet’s native porgs (after he kills and barbecues one of them). In <em>Solo</em>, we learn that Chewie is 190 years old when he meets Han, confirming the longevity of Wookiees, which had been hinted at in <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/2/7/16986624/star-wars-benioff-weiss-too-much-expanded-universe">the Expanded Universe</a>.</p>
<p id="aZ3tgd">The EU, a series of Lucasfilm-licensed novels that told the story before, after, and between the first three movies, began in 1991 with <em>Heir to the Empire</em>, and in just a few years the dozens of constituent books had run their course. Over 20 years of in-universe time, the Rebellion had reorganized as the New Republic, retaken Coruscant, and beaten back the remnants of the Empire, including dozens of villains who became famous in their own right among <em>Star Wars </em>fans. Han and Leia had married and had children, and Luke had begun to rebuild the Jedi order. The original story had been completed. So in 1999, a new enemy was created: a species of terrifying and implacable extragalactic invaders called the Yuuzhan Vong, who could not be sensed through the Force.</p>
<p id="iFnnSf">The New Jedi Order series, as it was called, tied together dozens of characters from the films and the various EU book series, lasted 19 novels, and was written by 12 authors from 1999 to 2003. It swept the decks clear, and the way the authors showed their intent was by killing Chewbacca off at the end of the first book.</p>
<p id="VxHjVl">In a post–<em>Game of Thrones</em> world, it’s hard to imagine being shocked by the death of any character we’d once thought untouchable, but Chewbacca’s death was, in fact, shocking. The Yuuzhan Vong had caused a moon to fall down on a planet called Sernpidal, and the <em>Millennium Falcon</em> was aiding with the evacuation. Chewie was able to get Han and Leia’s youngest son, Anakin, onto the ship, but couldn’t get back in time to save himself.</p>
<p id="Jc6Fts">Yet even that heroic and dramatic death blurred the line between man and dog. Was Chewbacca’s act of self-sacrifice nothing more than the same gambit J.K. Rowling opened <em>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows </em>with? That book, the last chapter in one of the few contemporary action-fantasy series to rival the popularity of <em>Star Wars</em>, features the death of Harry’s owl, Hedwig. A beloved character dies to show that this book isn’t messing around, but that character is a pet nonetheless.</p>
<p id="zJhPT2">The <em>Star Wars</em> universe features ape-people, rat-people, and insect-people. Slug-people run crime syndicates and squid-people command fleets of warships. And yet Chewbacca, a dog-person, is given relatively little free will — he just does whatever Han, or whoever he considers to be Han’s proxy at the moment, tells him to.</p>
<p id="U1Tm4B"><em>Solo</em> is the first of the Disney <em>Star Wars</em> films to acknowledge that the humanity, for lack of a better word, of Wookiees and droids is a little ambiguous. The English actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge imbues L3–37, Lando’s droid, with incredible panache. Droids have been heroic, sarcastic, and stubborn throughout the <em>Star Wars</em> films, but L3 is the first to embrace the idea that droids are sentient beings. As L3 turns the coaxium heist on Kessel into a jailbreak, Chewbacca abandons the job briefly to fight for his fellow Wookiees. Chewie abandoning Han in a moment of danger, even for a moment, would’ve been unthinkable later in the relationship. And yet Chewie later chooses to stay with Han rather than flee with his newly liberated Wookiee friends for parts unknown. This is now a relationship, if not of equals, then of choice.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="dL62LA">The more Chewbacca appears in these films going forward, whether it’s Episode IX or other anthology pictures, the more the people behind <em>Star Wars </em>are going to have to grapple with Chewie’s self-determination. As he continues to take part in the story after Han’s death in <em>The Force Awakens</em>, what does he want now that he’s on his own? For the first time in 40 years, Chewbacca is his own man, and for the first time, he’s being written more like a man than a dog.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/29/17405910/star-wars-chewbacca-han-solo-historyMichael Baumann2018-05-29T13:36:37-04:002018-05-29T13:36:37-04:00‘Solo’ Flopped at the Box Office … Now What?
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<figcaption>Getty Images/Lucasfilm/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>The spinoff’s relative failure won’t cause Disney and Lucasfilm to completely change their approach, but they will need to reconsider how they make ‘Star Wars’ movies, and when they release them</p> <p id="2Skc34">For the first time, the <em>Star Wars</em> franchise doesn’t feel invincible. <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story</em> had a <a href="http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4402&p=.htm">dismal opening weekend</a> over the Memorial Day holiday, grossing $83.3 million domestically over the three-day period, and just north of $100 million for the full four days. The film didn’t fare any better overseas, sputtering at $65 million total in every major market except Japan, where <em>Solo</em> won’t open until June 29. </p>
<div class="c-float-left"><aside id="dREgIH"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"The ‘Solo’ Exit Survey","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/28/17396454/solo-exit-survey"},{"title":"Character Study: Did ‘Solo’ Do Right by Lando Calrissian?","url":"https://www.theringer.com/2018/5/28/17399046/lando-calrissian-donald-glover-solo-star-wars-character-study"},{"title":"Why ‘Solo’ Works","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/26/17394684/solo-star-wars-story"},{"title":"Sell Your ‘Solo’: What Happens When a ‘Star Wars’ Story Isn’t Special?","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/25/17393572/solo-star-wars-review-han-lando-donald-glover-alden-ehrenreich-ron-howard"}]}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="d73ZMo">It sounds weird to call a movie that makes over $100 million in its opening weekend a failure, but this is <em>Star Wars</em> we’re talking about: With the exception of 2002’s <em>Attack of the Clones</em>, every <em>Star Wars</em> movie has been the <a href="http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/">highest grossing movie of the year</a> it was released. The expectations are arguably higher than any other franchise in the world, and <em>Solo</em> didn’t just fail to meet them, it failed to come close to breaking even. The film <a href="http://variety.com/2018/film/features/solo-a-star-wars-story-directors-reshoots-ron-howard-1202817841/">reportedly cost north of $250 million</a>, and that might be a conservative estimate considering Ron Howard was brought in well into production to take over directing duties from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who were fired by Lucasfilm over creative differences. There were extensive reshoots—perhaps as much as 85 percent of the film was reconfigured—as well as major changes taking place, such as Paul Bettany stepping in to play the villain role that had originally gone to Michael K. Williams, who had to leave the project because of a scheduling conflict. </p>
<p id="qvOYSW">The extent of <em>Solo</em>’s box-office failure remains to be seen—its stiffest competition before the release of the <em>Jurassic World</em> sequel on June 22 will be <em>Ocean’s 8</em> (out on June 8) and <em>Incredibles 2 </em>(out on June 15)—but Lucasfilm already has a lot to consider. Mainly: Why did this happen, what are the consequences, and what can the studio do to avoid a failure like <em>Solo</em> moving forward? </p>
<h3 id="P95N3E">What Went Wrong for <em>Solo</em> </h3>
<p id="KIlRUd"><strong>The Shaky Production Period: </strong>The issues for <em>Solo</em> began once the production drama and the exit of Lord and Miller came to the fore. It was a shocking development, not only because of the mere fact Lucasfilm took such drastic action, but also that the action seemed to reveal a lack of a coherent strategy on the studio’s part. With films like <em>The Lego Movie</em> and <em>21 Jump Street</em>, Lord and Miller had demonstrated an unmistakable, irreverent, improvisational, and slightly self-aware tone. Lucasfilm should have known that was what it was getting, but reports following the decision to replace Lord and Miller indicated that the studio fired the directors for being themselves—so why were they hired in the first place? (Even stranger, a report from <em>Variety </em>over the weekend revealed that Lord and Miller’s take on <em>Solo</em> featured a <a href="http://variety.com/2018/film/features/solo-a-star-wars-story-directors-reshoots-ron-howard-1202817841/">“gritty, grimy palette”</a> that was too dark for the company’s taste. Now I <em>really</em> want to know what their film would’ve looked like.) </p>
<p id="izitMh">With concern mounting around <em>Solo</em>, and skepticism about Lucasfilm’s ability to universe-build creeping in for the first time, the studio then took the safest route possible by hiring Ron Howard as the movie’s replacement director. Howard is a capable veteran director, but picking him is a choice as inspired as vanilla ice cream—what Lucasfilm ended up doing was quelling production drama with an announcement that, at best, inspired a general shoulder shrug. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hey <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Twitterville?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Twitterville</a> we just wrapped production so here's a special message <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StarWars?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StarWars</a> <a href="https://t.co/8QJqN5BGxr">pic.twitter.com/8QJqN5BGxr</a></p>— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealRonHoward/status/920320502320771073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2017</a>
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<p id="L0YitP">With Howard, mystery and intrigue, for better or worse, was eliminated—fans knew what they were going to get. And they did get it: <em>Solo</em> is an Extremely Ron Howard Movie, coherent and well-paced, but not particularly groundbreaking. As <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/25/17393572/solo-star-wars-review-han-lando-donald-glover-alden-ehrenreich-ron-howard"><em>The Ringe</em>r’s Sean Fennessey pointed out</a>, this helped make <em>Solo</em> an unfortunate <em>Star Wars</em> first: A movie that’s more than competent, but that hardly feels special in the same way previous installments—even the dreaded prequels—have. When <em>Solo </em>was released also majorly contributed to those feelings ...</p>
<p id="6gGdsD"><strong>The Glut of </strong><em><strong>Star Wars</strong></em><strong>: </strong><em>Solo</em> arrived less than six months after <em>The Last Jedi</em>, the shortest window between <em>Star Wars </em>movies we’ve ever had. Seeing <em>Solo</em> stumble so shortly after <em>The Last Jedi </em>earned more than $1 billion at the box office highlights how important it is that <em>Star Wars</em> movies still feel like an event. Even when George Lucas’s lackluster prequels arrived, fans still came in droves because <em>Star Wars</em> movies were happening only once every three years. <em>Rogue One </em>also benefited from a relatively decent gap between releases, as it dropped a full year after <em>The Force Awakens </em>did. That allowed the movie to build off of the latter’s hype, while also ensuring that there was enough of a dead zone to make audiences yearn for more <em>Star Wars</em>.</p>
<p id="Kn6Jx9">Disney and Lucasfilm may have an MCU-level amount of output in mind when it comes to the <em>Star Wars </em>Universe, but if that’s the case, they should be aware that packing the calendar will have an unintended effect of lethargy. </p>
<p id="FT43HT"><strong>The Lack of Stakes: </strong>Though <em>Solo</em> isn’t the first <em>Star Wars</em> movie to undergo extensive reshoots since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012—<em>Rogue One</em> had <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-rogue-one-writer-tony-gilroy-opens-up-reshoots-1100060">similar reshoots</a> after the studio replaced Gareth Edwards with Tony Gilroy—it’s the first <em>Star Wars</em> movie that doesn’t have the built-in cosmic stakes that define the rest of the franchise. Whereas <em>Rogue One</em> dealt with crucial events preceding <em>A New Hope</em> and featured multiple run-ins with the Empire, the Death Star, and Darth friggin’ Vader, <em>Solo</em> is best described as a heist film. A few lines of dialogue toward the end of the film try to put more importance on what happens in <em>Solo</em> but, for better or worse, the movie is expressly low-scale. </p>
<p id="1vFAS7">The audience also knows exactly how Han Solo’s story ends, which stunts their ability to invest in the events of <em>Solo </em>in any meaningful way. Aside from a <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/25/17390062/solo-ending-cameo-star-wars">shocking cameo</a>, the biggest reveals in <em>Solo</em> are how the smuggler met Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian—hardly “stealing the Death Star plans” or “training under enigmatic Jedi Master Luke Skywalker” levels of importance in the <em>Star Wars</em> universe. <em>Star Wars</em> went small, and got smaller returns in the process. </p>
<h3 id="AuAa84">The Consequences of <em>Solo</em>’s Failure </h3>
<p id="5FAYYJ"><strong>The </strong><em><strong>Star Wars</strong></em><strong> Universe’s Future Slate: </strong>The tepid reaction to <em>Solo</em> doesn’t necessarily indicate <em>Star Wars</em> fatigue. At least that’s what Lucasfilm will be hoping, as it’s already announced plans to extend the <em>Star Wars</em> universe to a level that could soon rival Marvel’s output. In the coming decade, we’re getting <em>Episode IX</em>, a Boba Fett spinoff, a (probable) Obi-Wan movie, a Rian Johnson–helmed trilogy, a different trilogy from <em>Game of Thrones</em> showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and a live-action series from Jon Favreau. <em>Solo</em>’s Alden Ehrenreich, meanwhile, has implied that he’s signed on for <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a19991800/solo-a-star-wars-story-han-solo-movie-sequels-alden-ehrenreich/">at least two more <em>Star Wars</em> movies</a>, and <em>Solo </em>ends in such a way that the story could be continued. <em>Solo</em>’s weak box-office return won’t slow down the production machine; however, it may alter how the studios make these movies, and when they release them. </p>
<p id="ejU5Rf">After dropping <em>Solo </em>a scant five months after <em>The Last Jedi</em>, Lucasfilm may conclude that it’s better off releasing only one <em>Star Wars </em>film a year. This would ensure that the product maintains its value as a precious commodity, therefore guaranteeing audience interest and general mass hype.</p>
<p id="xRdzHl">But, Lucasfilm may alternatively stay committed to its strategy of flooding the market. If that’s the case, it’ll have to find another way to make each release feel special. One way to shake things up is by continuing to build out a roster of new characters that the next generation of <em>Star Wars</em> fans can fall in love with. Han Solo is dead, Luke Skywalker is a Force Ghost, and with the death of Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia won’t reappear in <em>Episode IX</em>. Instead of mining the past for stories, as Lucasfilm did with Young Han Solo, the future of the franchise could be entrusted to Rey, Poe Dameron, and other characters yet to be introduced in future films. </p>
<p id="0RsZN2"><strong>A Change in Creative Strategy: </strong>Lord and Miller (as well as <em>Rogue One</em>’s Edwards) were relatively inexperienced directors who didn’t meet the studio’s initial expectations, and Lucasfilm has clearly already adjusted its strategy when it comes to hiring young directors. Case in point: Colin Trevorrow was slated to direct <em>Episode IX</em>, but after whatever happened with Trevorrow’s <em>The Book of Henry</em>, Lucasfilm opted to part ways with him and place the trilogy’s final installment in the surer hands of <em>The Force Awakens</em> director J.J. Abrams. </p>
<p id="65FkcR">The Trevorrow swap is the smart choice (seriously, <em>try</em> to watch <em>The Book of Henry</em> and get back to me), and it’s become obvious that some major studio experience is necessary to carry a <em>Star Wars </em>production. But the lack of excitement surrounding <em>Solo </em>suggests that Lucasfilm needs to find a middle ground here, one between the complete unknown and the completely boring. It needs to find more Rian Johnsons, who can inject the franchise with fresh perspectives, unapologetic storytelling, and unique aesthetic flare, but who can also successfully navigate the politics and expectations that come with making a <em>Star Wars</em> movie. To its credit, Lucasfilm might already be enacting this kind of strategy: <em>Logan</em>’s James Mangold has been tapped to write and direct the Boba Fett spinoff. It’s a step in the right direction, and hopes will be high that Mangold can inject the upcoming <em>Star Wars</em> story with emotion and profundity, as he did to the X-Men franchise with <em>Logan</em>. </p>
<p id="qrcUUQ">There’s still a very tangible fear that <em>Star Wars</em> and all its impending projects could <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2017/12/14/16776102/star-wars-the-last-jedi-franchise-saturation-concerns">oversaturate the market</a>. But Lucasfilm can take lessons on franchise-building from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has dominated the box office for the better part of a decade. Marvel can afford to release movies within months of each other because, after building a solid foundation (which <em>Star Wars </em>already has), it experiments with brand-new characters and different genres—a spy thriller (<em>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</em>) is a far cry from intergalactic high jinks (<em>Guardians of the Galaxy</em>) or a Shakespearean, afrofuturist epic (<em>Black Panther</em>). Combining the auteurist vision of talented young directors with fresh, varied stories and <em>just</em> enough studio oversight could be the balance to the Force that <em>Star Wars</em> needs as it continues to expand. </p>
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<p class="c-end-para" id="DjabGN">With the right execution going forward, <em>Solo</em> could be a minor stumble toward larger franchise dominance for Disney-led <em>Star Wars</em>—as 2008’s <em>The Incredible Hulk </em>was for a still-young MCU. But Lucasfilm might want to take a few notes from Kylo Ren, and let the past die to ensure its future. Otherwise, Han Solo won’t be the only one who has a bad feeling in the <em>Star Wars</em> universe.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2018/5/29/17405780/solo-box-office-flop-consequencesMiles Surrey2018-05-29T05:40:02-04:002018-05-29T05:40:02-04:00What’s Streaming: Neo-Westerns to Check Out After ‘Solo’
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mVOxM13_5uHJzAbA0hTlzOjn8pg=/87x0:2754x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59879271/nayman_streaming_solo_Disney_Getty_ringer.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Disney/Getty Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The latest ‘Star Wars’ story is only the latest to remix the tropes of the American Western. Check out some of these variations on the Western theme from the Coen Brothers, Kelly Reichardt, and Martin Scorsese.</p> <p id="DOwNTv">The phrase “Actually, [insert movie here] is a Western” has become a bit of an internet punch line since <em>Logan </em>director James Mangold insisted to anyone who would listen that his Wolverine swan song was indebted to epics like <em>Shane—</em>which is sort of obvious, since the characters in the film literally sit around watching <em>Shane. </em>I’ll buy that <em>Logan, </em>which was shot in the desert and has a scene set in a farmhouse,<em> </em>is “actually a Western” sooner than Mangold’s subsequent claim that what he’d really made was an <a href="https://theplaylist.net/james-mangold-logan-ozu-20180212/">“Ozu film with mutants</a>” (although if that quote got younger Marvel fans to seek out <em>Tokyo Story</em>,<em> </em>it’s all good). </p>
<p id="iQGiJb">I’m also pretty sure that the new <em>Star Wars </em>prequel <em>Solo </em>is actually a Western, as coscreenwriter Lawrence Kasdan has directed two Westerns (<em>Silverado </em>and <em>Wyatt Earp) </em>and knows the genre as well as anybody. If he <a href="https://www.starwars.com/news/solo-lawrence-and-jonathan-kasdan-interview">says that’s what he was going for</a>, who are we to argue? But there’s a clear and present danger here: Any and all new releases looking for cinephile credibility will be likened to Westerns. Is <em>Ocean’s 8 </em>actually a Western? Is <em>Hereditary </em>actually a Western? Is <em>Damsel </em>actually a Western? (Scratch that, it is.) With this in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to come up with a list of some actual “actually, it’s a Western” candidates, all of which are—as usual—available for streaming right now. </p>
<h3 id="zZYBp1">
<em>Assault on Precinct 13</em> (Showtime)</h3>
<div id="XZYjlz"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fq7gbWhy_9E?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="ScA1hj">The first draft of the screenplay for <em>Assault on Precinct 13 </em>was credited to one “John T. Chance”—a pseudonym chosen by writer-director John Carpenter for reasons that ran far deeper than his initials. As a film student at USC, Carpenter had displayed his love for Westerns by writing the charming 23-minute short <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpGgJ7v_KUI"><em>The Resurrection of Broncho Billy</em></a><em>, </em>about a modern city mouse who dreams of life on the old frontier. A few years later, he adopted the moniker of John Wayne’s character in <em>Rio Bravo </em>to honor a genre that had spent the early part of the 1970s on a decline. It’s become commonplace to call <em>Assault </em>a remake of <em>Rio Bravo, </em>which isn’t quite right. It’s more accurate to say that Carpenter’s thriller takes the climax of Howard Hawks’s classic and extends it for the duration of an entire movie. In <em>Rio Bravo, </em>there’s an hour of laconic drawling and knockabout clowning (and a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ssbgThljU">Ricky Nelson musical number</a>) before Sheriff Chance and his men retreat to the local jail to fend off a siege by a band of cutthroat outlaws. Carpenter’s version wastes no time shifting the action to a decommissioned South L.A. police station, where Austin Stoker’s Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (his first name is another Duke nod, to <em>The Searchers’ </em>Ethan Edwards) has to rely on a skeleton crew to repel a vicious crew of gangbangers. The biggest difference between the two films is that where Hawks focuses on the affection and camaraderie between his holed-up heroes—especially the frayed relationship between sturdy Sheriff Chance and his shaky deputy, Dude (Dean Martin)—Carpenter keeps his characters and dialogue strictly functional; he doesn’t let us get attached, and it’s just as well, because the filmmaking is too ruthless to permit much in the way of emotion. (The silencers favored by the bad guys are like a symbol of Carpenter’s viciously minimalist M.O.) </p>
<p id="GLOY5E">Shot on a shoestring and packed with brutal, unrepentant violence—including a scene of child murder so gratuitous that the MPAA threatened the distributor with an X-rating—<em>Assault on Precinct 13 </em>was reviled upon its release as exploitative trash and then reevaluated after the massive success of <em>Halloween. </em>Forty-two years later, it stands as perhaps the starkest illustration of its creator’s gifts for staging and sustaining on-screen carnage. </p>
<aside id="gQFniS"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Why ‘Solo’ Works","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/26/17394684/solo-star-wars-story"},{"title":"The ‘Solo’ Exit Survey","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/28/17396454/solo-exit-survey"}]}'></div></aside><h3 id="ehbWNE">
<em>Blood Simple</em> (FilmStruck)</h3>
<div id="UZT9YS"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TFzPVLdGtAg?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="vdatK3">The Coen brothers’ next release is the Netflix original series <em>The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, </em>a six-part saga shot in the Nebraska Panhandle and New Mexico. The titular character is a singing cowboy played by Tim Blake Nelson. With <em>No Country for Old Men, True Grit, </em>and Alden Ehrenreich’s character in <em>Hail, Caesar! </em>(another singing cowboy), Joel and Ethan have frequently mined Western tropes and iconography. You can trace this fascination back further, to the tumbling tumbleweed that opens <em>The Big Lebowski, </em>or go straight to their 1984 debut, <em>Blood Simple. </em></p>
<p id="jVJ7LE">Right out of the gate, the Coens could create instantly iconic characters, and M. Emmet Walsh’s villainous private detective Visser is like a walking sight gag: In a sun-baked Texan thriller, the baddest guy around is the one wearing the (off-) white 10-gallon hat. In plot terms, the Coens’ debut is a ’40s-style neo-noir in modern dress, filled with duplicity and double-crosses, symbolized by whirling ceiling fans that seem to be circulating bad vibes between the people onscreen. But the neon-cowboy kitsch of the bar owned by vengeful cuckolded Marty (Dan Hedaya) and the long horizon lines of the surrounding landscapes outside nod to a different lineage—and so does Walsh’s performance, which luxuriates in the kind of scumbag-outlaw arrogance that Sam Peckinpah perfected in <em>Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. </em></p>
<p id="828mi8">Visser is a study in greed and grift who delights in pitting his victims against each other, and he’s the only one of the Coens’ monsters who doesn’t have a dogged cop on his trail. Where both <em>Fargo </em>and <em>No Country For Old Men </em>were styled as meditations on good versus evil (with good represented by the cops played by Frances McDormand and Tommy Lee Jones), <em>Blood Simple </em>is a film without heroes: Its<em> </em>West is truly wild. </p>
<h3 id="Or3ljv">
<em>Certain Women</em> (Showtime)</h3>
<div id="d6xinq"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1_Lznehy2-s?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="UAhZTm">Kelly Reichardt is the reigning regionalist of American cinema: Since <em>Old Joy, </em>she’s mapped the physical and psychological geography of the Pacific Northwest with a mixture of visual and thematic precision and a curiosity steeped in local culture and customs. The only pure Western that Reichardt has made is 2010’s excellent <em>Meek’s Cutoff, </em>which returns to the primal scene of the Oregon trail to meditate on manifest destiny; its woebegone wagon trainers are lost in America before it’s been fully discovered. That film’s allusions to classic Westerns are myriad, but Reichardt’s other movies with Michelle Williams can also stake a claim. The drifter-comes-to-town setup of <em>Wendy and Lucy </em>and the rural-urban dichotomy of <em>Certain Women </em>both trade smartly on genre tropes. </p>
<p id="4UUgIi">The latter is a triptych involving three female characters trapped in differently retrograde roles; the final episode concerns a lonely Native American ranch hand (Lily Gladstone) who becomes infatuated with a night-school instructor (Kristen Stewart) and strikes up a friendship riven with unrequited love. In the film’s most beautiful and suggestive sequence, Gladstone surprises Stewart with a night-time horseback ride that brings old-fashioned chivalry into the present tense while also flipping around the scenario’s masculine imagery and ideology until it signifies something 180 degrees from its source material. It’s absurd and gorgeous and deeply melancholy. </p>
<h3 id="CGCKNt">
<em>Tampopo</em> (FilmStruck)</h3>
<div id="UoRAkv"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LURg2doYGjo?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="b7v6IJ">Sold to U.S. audiences as the first “ramen Western”—i.e., as a more exotic variation on the “Spaghetti Westerns” churned out in Italy in the 1960s—Juzo Itami’s 1987 film is consistently playful as it riffs on pop-cultural cliché´s East and West. Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki) is a Clint Eastwood–style wanderer, bent not on violence nor vengeance but the search for a perfect noodle restaurant. In the opening scene, he and his similarly terse sidekick, Gan (Ken Watanabe), descend on a dilapidated ramen joint and decide to help its owner, the widowed Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto), elevate her menu by any means necessary. Goro’s initial verdict that Tampopo’s noodles are “sincere but lack character” is a tough-guy koan worthy of Leone, but Itami isn’t interested in machismo. Tampopo’s gentle self-sufficiency and innovation are the true signifiers of heroism, while the film’s (lovable) villain is a flamboyant Japanese gangster whose Yakuza-style arrogance is roundly mocked. </p>
<p id="Vp7Bem">Itami uses the basic building blocks of the Western—namely the tough outsider trying to protect a fragile outpost of civilization—as the foundation for an episodic, borderline experimental comedy that considers various kinds of pleasure (communal, artistic, gastronomical, sexual) and arrives at the conclusion that all are worthwhile and worth pursuing. It’s all completely sweet natured, staged with a detached, deadpan mastery that owes debts to a different tradition (many critics invoked the comedies of the French master Jacques Tati), and yet plays as wildly original. </p>
<h3 id="u4ZYLF">
<em>Taxi Driver</em> (Hulu)</h3>
<div id="OpOchO"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cujiHDeqnHY?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="jKa1Rl">It’s been said many times that Paul Schrader’s script for <em>Taxi Driver </em>was written under the sign of <em>The Searchers, </em>the canonical 1956 John Ford Western about a man questing to rescue his kidnapped niece from a band of Comanche. Schrader reimagined John Wayne’s pained, alienated Civil War vet Ethan Edwards as the disturbed ex-Marine Travis Bickle and Natalie Wood’s Debbie as teenage prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster). By transferring the harsh, obsessive psychology of Ford’s classic to an urban context, he and director Martin Scorsese simultaneously honored film history while rewriting it with their own signature. At this point, I don’t need to go through what’s classic and enduring about <em>Taxi Driver </em>(which has itself been reworked twice already this year, in Lynne Ramsay’s <em>You Were Never Really Here </em>and Schrader’s own <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/20/17373504/first-reformed-ethan-hawke-review"><em>First Reformed</em></a><em>), </em>but I’ve always found it fascinating how Schrader reversed the terms of Ford’s ending.</p>
<div id="YnDR7v"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 75.0019%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GXUz-Nntyks?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p class="c-end-para" id="7tbiRB">The final, devastating point of <em>The Searchers </em>is that Ethan’s heroism is laced with a cruelty incompatible with the extended family he’s ostensibly helping. He carries Debbie home, but he can’t go inside (resulting in one of the most famous, visually eloquent final shots of all time). In <em>Taxi Driver, </em>Travis proves his devotion to Iris by shooting up the apartment of her pimp, Sport (Harvey Keitel), a crazed gesture that turns him not into a pariah but a media star. Where Ford’s masterpiece tried to separate its deeply flawed hero from a civilization that simultaneously required and abhorred his presence, Scorsese and Schrader hinted at the chilling compatibility between Travis’s narcissistic savior complex and a celebrity culture fascinated by freak-of-the-week types. </p>
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https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/29/17403836/streaming-movies-westerns-solo-star-warsAdam Nayman2018-05-28T07:30:01-04:002018-05-28T07:30:01-04:00The ‘Solo’ Exit Survey
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gGiy-HWS5wrd4LO_YpsXFWY6300=/167x0:2834x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59871761/solo_exit_disney_ringer.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Disney/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Talking Alden Ehrenreich, capes, Donald Glover, equal rights for droids, and THAT cameo at the end</p> <p id="C8piW6"><em>After months of waiting and countless stories about a disastrous production period—and even a couple fired directors—</em>Solo<em>, the latest “</em>Star Wars<em> Story,” hit theaters this weekend. There’s plenty about this Han Solo origin story to discuss—from Donald Glover’s performance as Lando Calrissian to a surprising last-minute cameo—so let’s not waste any more time.</em></p>
<h3 id="wDlGQZ">1. What is your tweet-length review of <em>Solo</em>?</h3>
<p id="ptr9Qq"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/sean-fennessey"><strong>Sean Fennessey</strong></a><strong>: </strong>Walked into a <em>Star Wars</em> movie and found myself watching an <em>Indiana Jones</em> movie.</p>
<p id="c4RSx5"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/ben-lindbergh"><strong>Ben Lindbergh</strong></a><strong>: </strong>The lowest-stakes <em>Star Wars </em>movie is also the saga’s most pleasant surprise.</p>
<p id="3JTqeJ"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/andrew-gruttadaro"><strong>Andrew Gruttadaro</strong></a><strong>: </strong>Could’ve used like 25 percent more Bettany (<a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/23/17382136/paul-bettany-solo-infinity-wars">this is basically my mantra</a>), but hey, this really wasn’t that bad!</p>
<p id="mMdVw1"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/amanda-dobbins"><strong>Amanda Dobbins</strong></a><strong>: </strong>Not the worst!</p>
<p id="myg1tH"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/justin-charity"><strong>Justin Charity</strong></a><strong>: </strong>It was the worst <em>Star Wars</em> movie since <em>Attack of the Clones</em>.</p>
<p id="3j9hMW"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/david-shoemaker"><strong>David Shoemaker</strong></a><strong>: </strong>I cannot imagine a better pilot for a new series on Disney’s OTT network.</p>
<p id="eoO5Sl"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/kate-halliwell"><strong>Kate Halliwell</strong></a><strong>: </strong>I’ve disliked other <em>Star Wars</em> movies more (prequels, hello), but I’ve never been this <em>bored</em> by a <em>Star Wars</em> movie.</p>
<p id="U0SRfZ"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/miles-surrey"><strong>Miles Surrey</strong></a><strong>: </strong><em>Rogue One</em> exists to explain <em>A New Hope</em>’s biggest plot hole (the Death Star’s catastrophic weakness via exhaust port) and now <em>Solo</em> is doing the same for the Kessel Run. These movies are fun, but can we get a spinoff whose primary objective <em>isn’t</em> amending George Lucas’s script? </p>
<h3 id="ZGm7yq">2. What was the best moment of the movie?</h3>
<p id="alVwSf"><strong>Shoemaker: </strong>The loot train attack.</p>
<p id="1E2Oxk"><strong>Dobbins: </strong>I have basically spent my whole life training to <em>not</em> type the following words, but: I thought the Kessel Run (??) was pretty fun? It’s the moment when the movie turns from bizarre zombie remake to credible heist blockbuster with a hint of romance. Also I think Alden gets at least two genuine jokes in?</p>
<p id="ClVDHF"><strong>Fennessey: </strong>The Coaxium cargo-train heist, one of the most coherent, engaging action movie sequences of the past 10 years.</p>
<p id="fhkQ3C"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>This exchange:</p>
<blockquote>
<p id="CnFIh8"><strong>Lando:</strong> Need anything?</p>
<p id="RvuGQ9"><strong>L3:</strong> Equal rights?</p>
</blockquote>
<p id="8UX7Pa">Their relationship was beautiful.</p>
<p id="oVoULL"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>L3 freeing her first droid. Removing restraining bolts from every droid would probably bring ruin to the galactic economy and devastate countless sentient species, but it’s always nice to see someone discover their vocation. </p>
<p id="gB1vAh"><strong>Halliwell: </strong>The droid rebellion was like the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lokKpSrNqDA">“rogue robots”</a> scene from<em> Wall-E </em>on steroids, and I loved every minute. Stomp on those controls, little droid guy! Be free!</p>
<p id="LdN3LU"><strong>Surrey: </strong>Not a particular moment for me, just the vibe: <em>Solo</em> exists in the <em>Star Wars</em> universe without dealing with the Force, a Death Star, or (for the most part) the Empire. If we’re going to keep getting <em>Star Wars</em> movies every year until the end of time, I want a couple of them to deal with things like sleazy smugglers and daring space heists instead of the cosmic struggle between the dark side and the light. </p>
<p id="v8Oz5z"><strong>Charity: </strong>The musical swells during the listless, incomprehensible train heist.</p>
<h3 id="lLaNqp">3. What was your least favorite part of the film?</h3>
<p id="zOd6cd"><strong>Charity: </strong>The listless, incomprehensible train heist.</p>
<p id="7bnKt3"><strong>Shoemaker: </strong>To learn that Han’s proudest moment came 10 years before <em>A New Hope</em> and that he did nothing worth bragging about afterward.</p>
<p id="OYXx4o"><strong>Surrey: </strong>That Chewie was not only imprisoned by the Empire, but <em>ate people </em>for their entertainment!</p>
<p id="pip8nv"><strong>Fennessey: </strong>Everything on Corellia, home of shifting story tones and dimly lit chase scenes.</p>
<p id="t6Dysf"><strong>Dobbins: </strong>The first half of the movie is tough in general, but I would say the low point is “Alden Ehrenreich emoting next to some Imperial storage units while making a totally implausible escape.”</p>
<p id="94iLKF"><strong>Halliwell: </strong>The first half hour was a slog, and I genuinely thought there was an issue with our projector in that opening underground scene. Did everything have to be <em>so</em> blue? Granted, I was probably overthinking the color grading because I was already super bored.</p>
<p id="nHBfhf"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>The opening sequence on Corellia—my <em>lord </em>did that drag. Just because a setting is supposed to be drab doesn’t mean it can’t be interesting.</p>
<p id="yx0zt8"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>The hint that Han may have unwittingly supplied seed money to the rebellion felt to me like a transparent attempt to assign greater significance to a smaller-scale stand-alone story than it needed or deserved.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OlXoLExZgPOwswawj9peNxbl90U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11430533/hanchewieHS_293302_Rsm.jpg">
<cite>Jonathan Olley /Lucasfilm Ltd.</cite>
</figure>
<h3 id="IM7YWB">4. Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo—did he pull it off?</h3>
<p id="SsIeRM"><strong>Fennessey: </strong>He seems like a nice person. </p>
<p id="ciq6UH"><strong>Charity: </strong>Yes. A thankless role, and the writers gave him really sour lines to deliver—“What’s your name? Chewbacca? I’m gonna have to come up with a nickname to call you.”—but he really does nail the vibe, assuming the mission was for Ehrenreich to channel the Han Solo of <em>A New Hope</em>.</p>
<p id="0rhiqQ"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>Kid, don’t get cocky, but yes, Alden defied the doubters and made the alleged acting coach that he <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/04/alden-ehrenreich-han-solo-interview-acting-rumors">may or may not have had</a> look good. I don’t think he could have made the character iconic on his own, but he didn’t fumble the handoff from Ford. </p>
<p id="gph7WJ"><strong>Halliwell: </strong>Alden was one of the few parts of this movie that really worked for me. He was given an impossible task, and he came as close as anyone could.</p>
<p id="kHP0Or"><strong>Shoemaker: </strong>He wasn’t Harrison Ford, but who is? (Besides Harrison Ford, I mean.) I think he was fine, and as far as I’m concerned that’s a big compliment.</p>
<p id="xwuwUM"><strong>Surrey: </strong>He was pretty good, and that’s more than enough for me after all the rumored production drama. Going in, I figured Alden and Emilia Clarke, who’s never really impressed me in <em>Game of Thrones</em> (sorry!), would be the weak links, but they more than held their own.</p>
<p id="XcvmmA"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>Did they film <em>Solo </em>in order? Because I felt like you could tell that he grew more confident in the role as the movie progressed.</p>
<p id="LwDY5Z"><strong>Dobbins: </strong>I have been among the most skeptical Alden watchers, on the basis of a) literally every single report about this movie and b) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95AsSOK5-jE">this video of young actors</a> reciting the garden party speech from <em>Clueless</em>. Han Solo is a character that relies entirely on charisma—he’s the cool guy in a galaxy of nerds—and Ehrenreich is more of a mumbly handsome guy. (The whole <em>Hail Caesar!</em> character is a gag on Ehrenreich being a handsome but truly mumbly guy!) That said, there were a few moments in this movie where you could see an actual movie star peeking out: some Chewie banter, every single makeout scene with Qi’ra, the action run to save Lando and L3. (Ehrenreich: surprisingly good action star!) It’s not enough to save the movie, but what I’m trying to say here, as delicately and respectfully as possible, is that by the end, I was convinced that this Han Solo had a fulfilling offscreen sex life. So in that sense: He passed.</p>
<h3 id="pInlxq">5. Who was the MVP of <em>Solo</em>?</h3>
<p id="9LrJTt"><strong>Halliwell: </strong>The space capes really carried this movie.</p>
<p id="7fNU5W"><strong>Surrey: </strong>Donald Glover and Woody Harrelson’s facial hair.</p>
<p id="nhjgwH"><strong>Fennessey: </strong>Director of photography Bradford Young, a genius working on planets <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/">near </a>and far.</p>
<p id="A7nCIX"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>It wouldn’t have worked without Alden doing a passable Han (which had the highest degree of difficulty), but L3-37 may have made the movie.</p>
<p id="1gU443"><strong>Dobbins: </strong>Emilia Clarke is 40 times better in this movie than she has ever been as Khaleesi, come fight me. (Honorable mention: Paul Bettany.)</p>
<p id="yyFMgr"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>The easy answer is Donald Glover, who looked great in a galactic Hawaiian shirt, and who’s clearly been working on his Billy Dee Williams impression for decades. (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pK5HmuCMBM">Colt 45</a> should have Donald make ads for them.) The harder answer is Woody Harrelson, who was having a really good time as Tobias Beckett, and who gave the movie its only edge.</p>
<p id="nS6DeZ"><strong>Shoemaker: </strong>[<em>ducks</em>] Alden Ehrenreich. Runner-up: Paul Bettany.</p>
<p id="AYEulI"><strong>Charity: </strong>Darth Maul—still phantom menacing people after all these years.</p>
<h3 id="gDygRs">6. Now that you know how Han Solo got his name, how do you feel?</h3>
<p id="YisUUg"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>I cared about most other things in this movie more than I cared about how Han got his surname. Chewie’s never needed one!</p>
<p id="DQwY5Q"><strong>Dobbins:</strong></p>
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<p id="pRhY2d"><strong>Fennessey: </strong>Fine? I don’t think it ever occurred to me to wonder about the origin of his name. That it was answered underlines some of the curious lack of necessity around the whole project.</p>
<p id="w7IiwD"><strong>Surrey: </strong>… Some things are better left unsaid.</p>
<p id="j7PcHt"><strong>Charity: </strong>I don’t even mind the explanation, but I cannot forgive how shamelessly awful the acting is in the scene where the explanation is given.</p>
<p id="3rjJha"><strong>Halliwell: </strong>I don’t really care about it from an origin standpoint, but now I understand why Ben Solo was so pissed at his parents. His mom’s last name is Skywalker, but he gets stuck with Solo just because some Imperial officer was feeling clever? And then Leia, Han, and Rey refuse to use <em>his </em>made-up name? Maybe antiquated patriarchal naming conventions are what really drove Ben/Kylo to the dark side.</p>
<p id="02hm9C"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>Let’s pretend this never happened.</p>
<h3 id="tYUkt4">7. This movie’s production was tumultuous, with fired directors, reshoots, and rumored acting coaches. Do you think that had an effect on the final product, or was all of the chatter overblown?</h3>
<p id="gjn3g1"><strong>Shoemaker: </strong>The start of the film definitely felt like patchwork, but if I hadn’t heard all the rumors, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed.</p>
<p id="SZq3Aw"><strong>Fennessey: </strong>Any flaws the movie might have are baked into the conception, not the execution. <em>Solo </em>is competently made and will bring people happiness. It’s just not urgent enough to transcend that.</p>
<p id="FHrWiJ"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>The movie isn’t nearly as bad as all of the stories would lead you to believe. But the movie is pretty bereft of verve and artistic vision, and I feel like that’s a result of Disney bringing in an extremely straightforward director as a course correction.</p>
<p id="uIw7d7"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>It definitely had an effect, but I don’t know whether it had a <em>harmful</em> effect. The chatter was probably blown out of proportion in the sense that I’m happy with how the movie turned out, but I do wish I could see what the Lord and Miller movie would’ve looked like.</p>
<p id="ChJK0I"><strong>Dobbins: </strong>I like drama, so I had fun trying to figure out which scenes were Lord and Miller (the opening set piece? the weird octopus monster?) and which were reshoots (everything inside the ships?). That I could tell is perhaps the real answer to the question.</p>
<p id="KXnau9"><strong>Surrey: </strong>You’ll notice it a bit on the seams—there’s lots of close-up shots, which were probably a cost-saving measure for reshoots. But it’s surprisingly streamlined—if someone went into the movie with no knowledge of the production drama, they wouldn’t second-guess it. Still, it’s a shame: We’ll never know how the guys behind <em>The LEGO Movie</em> and <em>21 Jump Street</em> would’ve tackled a<em> Star Wars </em>movie. </p>
<p id="w97ZxK"><strong>Halliwell: </strong>You could absolutely tell that it was stitched together. And did Donald Glover adopt an accent in one scene and then abandon it completely? This is what ADR is for!</p>
<p id="uiFcWn"><strong>Charity: </strong>The many calamitous reports about the production of <em>Solo</em> seem to have debased everyone’s expectations for the movie so thoroughly and dramatically that the “chatter” will inevitably seem “overblown” if only because the movie doesn’t show microphones crashing onto Ehrenreich’s head. But the story’s a mess. Worse yet, it’s boring.</p>
<h3 id="PAuDHG">8. So … <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/25/17390062/solo-ending-cameo-star-wars">Darth Maul is alive</a>? Talk about that.</h3>
<p id="WnctNu"><strong>Fennessey: </strong>I guess? It’s not good when your final-act twist is more confusing than it is exciting.</p>
<p id="jtfJrQ"><strong>Charity: </strong>I don’t know. I don’t think Ron Howard knows either.</p>
<p id="6TEU6G"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>I hate to break this to everyone who just discovered that Darth Maul survived <em>The Phantom Menace</em>, but … Darth Maul doesn’t die until a little later in the timeline, in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no4SxdIIDBE">another duel with Obi-Wan</a>. (I know, not confusing at all.) Sorry to subject you to this eMaultional roller coaster, but it sort of serves you right for not <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/3/5/17082886/star-wars-rebels-series-finale-disney-franchise-success">watching <em>Star Wars Rebels</em></a> before.</p>
<p id="LDtDpA"><strong>Shoemaker: </strong>So, according to <em>Star Wars Rebels</em> lore, he got cut in half and his bottom half was replaced with robot spider legs. No complaints there. But it was a weird gambit to have your big surprise be something that isn’t a surprise to the part of the audience that <em>should</em> be excited about it and completely befuddling to the rest.</p>
<p id="QIVGAo"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>I appreciated his turn as the guy-in-movies-who-literally-says-plot-developments-out-loud.</p>
<p id="R4EHP7"><strong>Halliwell: </strong>I have mixed feelings. Darth Maul is cool, but I think I’d be more excited about this franchise if it continued to tell stories largely unrelated to the Jedi.</p>
<p id="owEZiz"><strong>Surrey: </strong>It’s <em>definitely</em> surprising, but I couldn’t stop thinking about him whipping out his infamous double-bladed lightsaber. He was basically having a Skype conference call with a subordinate, and for no reason in particular was like, “Let me just stand up mid-call and take out my lightsaber before hanging up.” Strange, and kind of rude—Crimson Dawn’s Glassdoor rating will suffer for this! </p>
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<h3 id="Rm4Tgb">9. Should there be a <em>Solo</em> sequel?</h3>
<p id="z3OplP"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>I wasn’t sure that there should be a <em>Solo</em>, and I’m now very glad that there is. On the surface, a <em>Solo </em>sequel sounds similarly inessential, but I like the core cast, and there’s space for the story to grow. I wouldn’t mind seeing what a single director—preferably one not named Ron Howard—could do.</p>
<p id="VXLCKV"><strong>Halliwell: </strong>I absolutely think a sequel would be better in every way than this one, but I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it if the franchise ended here.</p>
<p id="qBxezJ"><strong>Surrey: </strong>We <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a19991800/solo-a-star-wars-story-han-solo-movie-sequels-alden-ehrenreich/">might not have a choice</a>! But if it means more Darth Maul and explaining what the hell happened to Qi’ra (death, probably), it’s not the worst idea in the world. <em>Star Wars</em> has done much, <em>much</em> worse. </p>
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<p id="NaTfU0"><strong>Fennessey: </strong>Yes, but it should be a <em>Scarface</em>-like rise to power for Qi’ra.</p>
<p id="8dsqOv"><strong>Charity: </strong>No—in general, I think singularly character-obsessive <em>Star Wars </em>movies are a bad idea. My reasons for this skepticism are the <em>Star Wars </em>prequels about Anakin Skywalker and now, also, <em>Solo</em>.</p>
<p id="gY6Bks"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>No. First of all, it seemed like the time gap between the end of this movie and Han and Chewie bumping into Luke on Tatooine was pretty small. Second of all, I super do not need to see Alden Ehrenreich and Emilia Clarke reignite their nonexistent chemistry.</p>
<p id="9evF02"><strong>Shoemaker: </strong>Yes … on TV.</p>
<p id="hWT0tz"><strong>Dobbins: </strong>“Let go of the ‘should,’ accept the ‘will,’ and peace you shall find.” —Amanda Dobbins and Yoda</p>
<h3 id="FT6Sd8">10. Alternatively, Lucasfilm has announced a slew of other character-driven spinoffs. If you had the choice, what would be your ideal character-director pairing?</h3>
<p id="1GjgMQ"><strong>Surrey: </strong>Princess Leia during her formative years on Alderaan, directed by Greta Gerwig. Give us <em>Lady Bird: A Star Wars Story</em>!</p>
<p id="mXiaBc"><strong>Halliwell: </strong>It’s high time we get a <em>Star Wars</em> movie focused on a nonhuman character, and <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ahsoka_Tano">Ahsoka Tano</a> would be a fun choice. I’m not sure how <em>Clone Wars </em>canon would fit into the current movie landscape, but give the movie to Karyn Kusama and I’d be in no matter what.</p>
<p id="cBu09u"><strong>Shoemaker: </strong>Either Greedo by Andrew Dominik or Chewbacca by Brad Bird.</p>
<p id="Kl4cJo"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>I’m not sure I can do better than “<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-boba-fett-movie-is-happening-james-mangold-direct-1113273"><em>Logan</em>, but Boba Fett</a>,” but what about Wes Anderson meets the <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Master_Codebreaker">Master Codebreaker</a>?</p>
<p id="TwBcnP"><strong>Dobbins: </strong>Hear me out: Emilia Clarke, as James Bond, directed by Sam Mendes. It will be just like a <em>Star Wars</em> movie, except not in space.</p>
<p id="h3lQOR"><strong>Fennessey: </strong><em>Blue Light</em>: the story of<strong> </strong><a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Aayla_Secura">Aayla Secura</a>, the Clone Wars, and the history of the Jedi order, directed by Kathryn Bigelow.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="uGrAY8"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>Not a movie, but a series: a six-episode season of <em>Chef’s Table </em>dedicated to the cuisine on Dryden Vos’s ship. Those oyster things looked delicious! </p>
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https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/28/17396454/solo-exit-surveyThe Ringer Staff2018-05-28T07:00:02-04:002018-05-28T07:00:02-04:00Character Study: Did ‘Solo’ Do Right by Lando Calrissian?
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Gl9D8L1Xq-rcDuqtLZZs44139kE=/154x0:2821x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59871825/Lando_Lucasfilm_Ringer.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Lucasfilm/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>Donald Glover portrays one of the most well-known but mysterious figures in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. But Ron Howard’s new movie gives us a little more than we needed.</p> <p id="xdxpqa">In <em>The Empire Strikes Back</em> — which premiered in May 1980 — Lando Calrissian introduces himself by upstaging his fellow smuggler Han Solo, punking his old friend with a ready fist and then flirting with Han’s future ex-wife, the Princess Leia Organa. In <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story</em>, released on Friday, the rivalrous upstaging continues — on screen and in the press. Alden Ehrenreich stars as Han Solo, but Donald Glover has starred all throughout the publicity campaign, with so many stills lingering on his character, the space captain Lando Calrissian. Thus, <em>Solo</em> is a singular character backstory that has somehow made room for two <em>Star Wars</em> characters from the original trilogy: the titular Han and the dashing Lando. Given Donald Glover’s rising star, which now outshines the rest of the cast, Lando seems to have overtaken Han in the intrigue markets. The film’s co-writer, Jonathan Kasdan, has stoked interest in Lando’s sexual identity, and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has, at turns, indulged and discouraged reports of a Lando origins movie in the works. With the release of <em>Solo</em>, Lando’s stock is at an all-time high, exceeding even that of Han.</p>
<p id="u0inyT">Glover’s star turn notwithstanding, so much of the excitement surrounding Lando owes to Billy Dee Williams’s original take on Calrissian, the mayor of Cloud City, and, yes, the first black man in <em>Star Wars</em>. In <em>Empire</em>, Lando was a new, enigmatic figure; a friendly face and a helpful hand who reveals himself to be a compromised agent, working with Darth Vader to capture Luke Skywalker. A peaceful player in a cruel galaxy, Lando proves to be as pragmatic and treacherous as galactic tyranny requires. He’s achieved a much loftier station than Han, and he trumps him in so many respects. Han Solo is a gorgeous gunslinger with an edge, and yet Lando Calrissian is prettier, darker, and far more mysterious. Indeed, his backstory begs for elaboration, though the following <em>Star Wars</em> episode, <em>Return of the Jedi</em>, oversimplifies him: Lando plays a bit part in Luke’s plot to rescue Han from Jabba’s palace, and then he leads the Rebel Alliance’s victorious bombing run against the second Death Star. By the end of the original <em>Star Wars </em>trilogy, Lando is the main cast’s one unresolved enigma.</p>
<p id="x2z4qp">In <em>Solo</em>, Donald Glover plays the younger, hungrier Lando, a shady captain whom Han first encounters at a crowded sabacc table. Lando’s debut scene is a hasty mash-up of all his topline qualities — gambling, womanizing, underworld intrigue, and that smirk. In general, <em>Solo</em> exploits character tropes and series nostalgia to a fault. As Han, Ehrenreich channels Solo through a series of quips, smirks, and physical postures, all studious callbacks to Harrison Ford’s screen presence in the original trilogy. Likewise, Glover isn’t playing a character that belongs to him so much as he’s impersonating a character who clearly belongs to someone else: Glover triples down on every trope that Lando’s few <em>Empire</em> scenes even vaguely suggest, like the smuggler’s love of gambling, menswear, and sex. In <em>Solo</em>, Lando is young and vain. His unrelenting frivolity is the one youthful touch that distinguishes the Lando of <em>Solo</em> from the Lando of <em>Empire</em>, the younger man a dandy with no substantial commitments or concerns. In <em>Solo</em>, Han is driven by so many great pangs of altruism that a <em>Star Wars</em> fan should begin to wonder whether Ron Howard has ever even seen <em>A New Hope</em>, which introduces Han Solo as a hungry fuckboy. But Lando is true, if also a bit crude. In <em>Solo</em>, Lando hasn’t a care in the galaxy.</p>
<p id="lDqlvn"><em>Solo</em> complicates Lando in seemingly unintentional ways. He accompanies a droid, L3-37, an expert navigator and also an agitator for droid civil rights. The movie posits some manner of intimacy between Lando and L3, the cantankerous droid worrying that her owner has grown too fond of her; that said, L3’s longing tone at one point suggests she indeed loves him. L3’s discussion of her and Lando’s romantic potential is a bit of a joke, but it also serves the movie’s broader ruminations on droid autonomy. It’s an odd political theme for <em>Solo</em> to introduce, considering that none of the (chronologically) subsequent <em>Star Wars</em> movies bear it out, not even in Lando’s microcosm, Cloud City. Seemingly, L3 makes no lasting impression on Lando or the later events in these movies. It is as if <em>Solo</em> — a $250 million Lucasfilm movie — is dutiful fanfiction, but not canon.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="2r5HmS">For all the interest in Lando that the <em>Solo </em>hype machine has stoked, the movie itself undermines his mythology to a degree that should serve as a warning about the other <em>Star Wars </em>character features — including that Lando solo movie — that Lucasfilm is reportedly developing. In <em>Solo</em>, <em>Star Wars</em> fans finally sees Lando losing the <em>Millennium Falcon</em> to Han in that fateful round of sabacc, but then they’re still left wondering who, exactly, this guy is, and what manner of livelihood, exactly, brought Lando to the table to begin with. <em>Solo</em> answers few crucial questions about Lando in particular, and yet the movie does manage to generally ruin Lando’s mystique. Previously, he was a mysterious double agent who led a dark and complicated life. Now, he’s just some horny loungewear enthusiast whose gambling habit is no more or less enigmatic than Drake’s interest in Fortnite. Han Solo was never really a mystery — he was a young, ambitious smuggler who fell into an armed resistance movement. Simple enough. Lando is an oversexed hypebeast who becomes a mayor and then a general. The less we know about the stranger — fateful turns in Lando’s backstory, perhaps — the better.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2018/5/28/17399046/lando-calrissian-donald-glover-solo-star-wars-character-studyJustin Charity2018-05-26T07:00:01-04:002018-05-26T07:00:01-04:00Why ‘Solo’ Works
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<figcaption>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>A constant supply of ‘Star Wars’<em> </em>requires an occasional double between dingers. Here’s how the low-stakes origin story of Han Solo makes clean contact.</p> <figure class="e-image">
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<p id="otbWJC">I’ve seen seven <em>Star Wars </em>movies on opening night, and not until <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story </em>was I witness to a theater where silence greeted the Lucasfilm logo and the “Long, long ago.” Even the audience for <em>Episode III</em>, fresh off the pain of the first two prequels, mustered a stronger response, however Pavlovian. Back in 2005, that fandom felt performative, like the dutiful donning of a rally cap when one’s team is trailing by five runs, but still there were whistles, woo-hoos, and claps, which made the atmosphere feel festive. <em>Hey, we’re seeing a </em>Star Wars<em> movie</em>, the noise seemed to say. <em>How often will we get to do that?</em></p>
<p id="mwG1vu">Very often, as it turns out: <em>Solo </em>is the fourth <em>Star Wars</em> movie in 3.5 years, a pace destined to inspire some <em>Star Wars </em>fatigue. With <em>The Last Jedi</em> only five months behind us, <em>Episode IX</em> scheduled for next December, a <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tv/2017/11/9/16631316/star-wars-rian-johnson-triology-tv-show">new trilogy</a> and <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/3/8/17097676/jon-favreau-directing-star-wars-tv-series">TV show</a> on the horizon, and the prospect of <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-boba-fett-movie-is-happening-james-mangold-direct-1113273">more spinoffs</a> confirmed hours before <em>Solo</em>’s first screenings, the specter of <em>Star Wars </em>saturation has graduated from <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2017/12/14/16776102/star-wars-the-last-jedi-franchise-saturation-concerns">thinkpiece</a> <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/2/7/16986624/star-wars-benioff-weiss-too-much-expanded-universe">material</a> to tangible results: <em>Solo </em>looks destined for the <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/box-office-preview-solo-headed-lowest-opening-disney-star-wars-movies-1114228">lowest</a> box office figures of Disney’s <em>Star Wars </em>stewardship, albeit still big enough to break records set by lower-profile franchises.</p>
<p id="NWyDrz">Of course, that crackle in the crowd was missing not only because the supply of <em>Star Wars </em>has gained ground on audience demand, but also because concerns about quality dogged the production. This was the silence of low expectations, driven by a director change, extensive reshoots, <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/5/22/17378082/alden-ehrenreich-solo-star-wars-timeline">rumors of incompetence</a> surrounding its central role, a late promotional rollout, and an early Rotten Tomatoes score that sat sub–<em>Revenge of the Sith</em>. Even aside from its seemingly troubled production, <em>Solo </em>was saddled with the millstone of a story that didn’t necessarily need to be told. Prequels tend to be plagued by predictability and a related lack of suspense, and the prospect of watching one hero’s journey to a predetermined end point was a tough sell, especially so soon after seeing the same hero <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJDMlBJartI">die</a> like we once thought Darth Maul <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHqdESArkqU">did</a>.</p>
<p id="gKls9z">By the end of <em>Solo</em>’s lengthy run time, though, the formerly taciturn audience applauded — and, inwardly, so did I. (I always feel sort of silly making sounds at a screen.) With the caveat that I left the <em>last</em> <em>Stars Wars </em>title to feature <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0661917/">Ray Park</a> playing Maul thinking that the movie was better than it was — in my defense, I was 12, and that <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2017/12/star-wars-phantom-menace-lightsaber-fight.html">lightsaber battle</a> was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy0ylOts1tI">wizard</a> — I was pleasantly surprised. <em>Solo </em>doesn’t soil the series’ legacy, besmirch an iconic character, or snap Disney’s <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/3/19/17138522/disney-black-panther-wrinkle-in-time-avengers-infinity-war-coco">undefeated streak</a>. It’s a great time at the movies, and that it doesn’t aspire to be much more than that marks it as a letdown for the franchise only if we pretend that <em>Star Wars </em>stopped<em> </em>after <em>Empire Strikes Back</em>. We may not <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2017/12/7/16746084/best-films-2017-essay-get-out-wonder-woman-the-post"><em>need</em></a><em> Solo</em>, but we should be happy to have it.</p>
<aside id="AZBMCz"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Han Solo’s First Flight","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/24/17389734/han-solo-novels-prequels-brian-daley"}]}'></div></aside><p id="A2miCv">As much as <em>Solo </em>relies on (and delivers) staples of the saga — endearing droids, fast ships, familiar music cues, and hell, Han, Chewie, and Lando — it also strays from the formula. In <em>Solo</em>, the stakes are lower and the conflicts are smaller than ever before. The dominant government isn’t close to collapse, and Han spends more time fighting <em>for</em> the Empire than he does destabilizing it. <em>Solo </em>doesn’t drag us through Anakin’s ponderous descent into Darthhood, the Emperor’s undercover coup, or even the emotional agony of Jyn and Cassian’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm3CKZDIKCc">doomed mission</a> to Scarif. This time, we <em>know </em>nothing too terrible will befall the familiar faces, and no Sith Lords or <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Snoke">mysterious Supreme Leaders</a> will win. That might be a bug in the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2017/12/16/16783782/star-wars-the-last-jedi-hope-a-hard-sell">brooding</a> series proper, but it’s part of the side project’s appeal. <em>Solo </em>is the amuse-bouche before the next Skywalker-centric meal.</p>
<p id="lRzsNn"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/2016/12/19/16044402/movies-rogue-one-star-wars-anthology-label-4889c48d13a1">Like</a> <em>Rogue One</em>, <em>Solo </em>isn’t <em>truly </em>a stand-alone <em>Star Wars </em>film: It’s wreathed in connective tissue that ties it to three trilogies. But although it’s riddled with references to every era of <em>Star Wars</em> and built on the backs of borrowed characters, it’s more self-contained than any of the previous films.<em> Rogue One </em>was initially conceived (and sometimes described) as a heist movie, but it was also a <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2016/12/16/16044944/star-wars-rogue-one-review-d9ab4f86452d">war movie</a> about the rebellion. <em>Solo</em> actually commits to the bit. <em>Here</em> there be heists: In one riveting sequence, Han and his crew steal a section from the <em>Snowpiercer</em> train; later, they sneak into (and shoot their way out of) Kessel’s famous mines. The movie has almost as much <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/news/film/2018-05-24/theres-a-secret-indiana-jones-easter-egg-in-solo-a-star-wars-story/"><em>Indy</em> DNA</a> as it does <em>Star Wars</em>; it’s what <em>Return of the Jedi </em>would have looked like if that film were only about breaking out of Jabba’s palace (except much more exciting than that). <em>Solo </em>is pulse-pounding stuff: I went into the movie worn out and worried that I’d have to <em>Clockwork Orange</em> myself to stay conscious, and I came out wide awake. “Doesn’t cause unconsciousness” is a low bar to clear, but <em>Solo </em>leaps over it, consistently engrossing despite its seemingly snooze-inducing stakes.</p>
<p id="4qggzJ">Whether by design or as a byproduct of its patchwork past, <em>Solo</em>’s genre is as fluid as Lando’s libido: It’s part Western, part caper, and part comedy, featuring trench warfare one moment and a romance scene the next. There’s enough Lord and Miller left over to enliven the journey, and enough Ron Howard polish to keep the careening ride on course. Amid all the expected story beats about Han finding his ship, his blaster, and his best friend, <em>Solo </em>is, at times, specifically, wonderfully weird in a way that resembles a <em>Robot Chicken </em>parody: Han and Chewie — who, in his temporary rancor role, appears to add humans to the diet that he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSwnnmU7lyE">supplements with porgs</a> — share a shower; L3–37, a self-actualized abolitionist droid, suffers from performance anxiety; the Empire uses the formerly non-diegetic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCFm50yYQhg">John Williams march</a> as a recruitment tool; Lando keeps a cape closet. With one or two exceptions — such as Jon Favreau’s Rio Durant crowing about mynock roasts on Ardennia during a tense action scene — the dialogue lands and the jokes provoke regular grins.</p>
<p id="siqAVt">As with the rest of the recent <em>Star Wars </em>oeuvre, <em>Solo</em>’s stylistically and demographically diverse casting is a strength. Donald Glover’s Lando earns his own spinoff, although the best thing about Glover’s arrival midway through the film turns out to be Phoebe Waller-Bridge as his sometime-sexbot sidekick, who steals scenes like <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/K-2SO">K-2SO</a>. Emilia Clarke shows more range as triple-crossing Qi’ra than she’s ever allowed to as a conquering queen, and while Woody Harrelson’s Beckett exists almost solely to teach Han a lesson, his veteran presence rounds out the ensemble. There’s depth on the bench, from Paul Bettany’s space-Scarface to the two minutes of Thandie Newton that precede her sacrifice. And after all the hubbub — and a few hesitant, touch-and-go scenes in the slums of Corellia — Alden Ehrenreich rises to the starring role. His Han feels less like an impression of Ford than Glover’s Lando does of Billy Dee, and while the young smuggler doesn’t have the same swagger that he displays later on, we wouldn’t expect him to at 19 or 22. Ehrenreich convinces us that Beckett and Qi’ra cause Han’s hard-bitten exterior, although in light of Han’s adolescence of indentured, dirt-streaked servitude to a glorified <a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/f/fb/DianogaEye-ANH.png/revision/latest?cb=20130306020139">dianoga</a>, bereft of or estranged from his family to the point that he doesn’t have a surname, it’s hard to see him as a glass-half-full guy to begin with.</p>
<p id="rYh8ia"><em>Solo </em>is a film that probably plays differently depending on one’s familiarity with non-big-screen <em>Star Wars</em>, in part because it boasts a surprisingly high-level Easter egg game. Its callbacks (or callforwards) go beyond Bossk and the helmet that Lando wears in <em>Jedi</em> as his guise as a guard; advanced <em>Star Wars </em>scholars will catch shout-outs to more obscure bounty hunter <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Aurra_Sing">Aurra Sing</a>, early “Legends” works like <a href="http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/star-wars/270955/how-solo-a-star-wars-story-connects-to-splinter-of-the-minds-eye"><em>Splinter of the Mind’s Eye</em></a><em> </em>and <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lando_Calrissian_Adventures"><em>The Lando Calrissian Adventures</em></a><em>, </em>an <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Valahorn">instrument from <em>Galaxies</em></a>, and even <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ter%C3%A4s_K%C3%A4si/Legends">Teräs Käsi</a>, which once formed the basis of a <a href="https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/star-wars-masters-of-teras-kasi-review/1900-2549721/">bad game</a>. On a more macro level, much of Han’s origin story, which would have been unfamiliar to movie-viewers before now — including his street-rat phase on Corellia, his military service, his rescue of his sidekick from slavery, his betrayal by an early love, and his sabacc battle with Lando — mirrors the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/24/17389734/han-solo-novels-prequels-brian-daley">decanonized</a> <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Han_Solo_Trilogy">accounts</a> that once appeared in print. That means there’s less to learn here, but it’s satisfying for readers to see old stories onscreen.</p>
<p id="TzZvIa">If <em>Solo </em>falters, it’s in stretching too far for significance. <em>Solo </em>is the first <em>Star Wars </em>movie without C-3PO and R2-D2, and it’s <em>almost</em> the first one without lightsabers or the use of the force, which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEuA5Y_Cc88#t=0m30s">presumably</a> surrounds and penetrates the scenery but otherwise keeps to itself. The film loses the latter distinction with the surprise appearance of Maul, another development whose reception depends on the audience’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8uDQuWlnww#t=1m13s">point of view</a>. For fans who watched Maul mature into a complex character on <em>The Clone Wars </em>and <em>Rebels</em> (<a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/3/5/17082886/star-wars-rebels-series-finale-disney-franchise-success">RIP</a>) before getting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no4SxdIIDBE">killed by Kenobi</a> for real, the character’s reappearance isn’t unwelcome. For anyone who (reasonably) assumed that Maul’s part in the plot ended when Obi-Wan sliced him in half, though, the reveal is likely confusing.</p>
<aside id="ooe5bV"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"What the End of ‘Solo’ Might Mean for the Future of ‘Star Wars’ Stories","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/25/17390062/solo-ending-cameo-star-wars"}]}'></div></aside><p id="xC2Qb7">Whatever one thinks of the “<a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Zabrak">Zabrak</a> back” cameo, the implication that Han helped fund the rebellion by giving the MacGuffin to <a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/the-rebel-girl-in-solo-could-be-one-of-the-most-debated-characters-in-all-of-star-wars-9082947">Enfys Nest</a> feels like fan service too far: <em>Solo </em>would have held up without that tenuous tie-in. Similarly, both the mentions of Jabba and Qi’ra’s “You’re the good guy” seem somewhat premature from a timeline perspective, given that <em>Solo</em>’s events evidently unfold a <a href="https://screenrant.com/solo-movie-star-wars-timeline-han-age/">decade</a> before <em>Episode IV</em>, when we’re supposed to believe that Han still sees himself as a mercenary. If Han really sets out to see the Tatooine crime lord immediately, he must have been about to qualify for a Huttese pension plan by the time Jabba put a price on his head.</p>
<p id="d9pIde">These strike me as minor quibbles, but the movie’s lack of ambition will be a stumbling block for some. Last year, when I discussed <em>Star Wars </em>saturation with Dan Madsen, longtime leader of the Lucasfilm Fan Club, he sounded a cautionary note. “If they keep making great <em>Star Wars</em> movies, then things will be OK,” Madsen said. “But if they start making mediocre <em>Star Wars</em> movies — and god forbid, bad <em>Star Wars</em> movies — then I think the ‘every year’ kind of thing is going to become passé, and people will start saying, ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s another <em>Star Wars</em> movie.’”</p>
<p id="qT6ayy">This may be the movie that <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/25/17393572/solo-star-wars-review-han-lando-donald-glover-alden-ehrenreich-ron-howard">makes many people say that</a>.<em> Solo </em>isn’t the best <em>Star Wars </em>movie, or even the best <em>Disney</em> <em>Star Wars </em>movie, but I’d argue that the studio didn’t design<em> </em>it to be. A constant supply of <em>Star Wars </em>requires an occasional double between dingers. At this level of lucrativeness, the key is that Disney never strike out, and although this swing wasn’t smooth, the company made contact. <em>Solo</em>’s blockbuster burden is heavy, but as “a <em>Star Wars </em>story,” it succeeds: Han shoots first, and most of us go home happy.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/26/17394684/solo-star-wars-storyBen Lindbergh2018-05-25T09:30:38-04:002018-05-25T09:30:38-04:00Ringer Pop Quiz: Han Solo
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<p>Ringer staffers show off their ‘Star Wars’ knowledge</p> <p id="W68uLq">In celebration of the new <em>Star Wars</em> movie, <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story</em>, we quizzed various <em>Ringer</em> staffers on how well they know the character Han Solo.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/25/17393732/ringer-pop-quiz-han-solo-star-warsThe Ringer Staff