Han Solo: A Spoilerrific Star Wars Review

[Sharpnel]

I haven't seen it yet and it seems like many people haven't either. The movie for a Star Wars is a flop so far....it's only been 3 days. Its funny how a movie can make $50 million dollars profit and still be a flop.

It can also be a flop if it does not meet or exceed projected earnings.

[MadCapellan]

My understanding is that it cost an estimated $300 million dollars to make, so anything less than that is a loss. It's estimated 105 million this weekend isn't bad, but it's going to struggle to squeak in to breaking even as its run continues.

[Sharpnel]

That's US/Canada only and doesn't factor in the other 95% of the planet. It will easily make the 300 million when it is all said and done.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Don't forget the costs associated with marketing and subsidiaries as well; typically a movie has to make back twice its budget to break even.

I don't believe it's really been revealed how he got his initial prosthetics, but they were pretty weird...

See attached.

[HobbesHurlbut]

That's US/Canada only and doesn't factor in the other 95% of the planet. It will easily make the 300 million when it is all said and done.

Didn't it got dropped quickly in China?
Edited: Found an article about it.

The “Star Wars” franchise bucks the trend of blockbusters seeing two-thirds or more in foreign results, and international results were even more tepid. With nearly 90 percent of the world open, the initial foreign take was only $63 million. China will open to a pathetic $10 million, which will be most of its run. So if domestic comes in at $225 million (a likely total), the worldwide total isn’t likely to be much over $400 million.

This is against an estimated budget of $400 million, covering both production and marketing.

[Luciora]

Now, now, now, now once upon a time out in space
Mad jedi lost his damn mind out in space
Maulless, kidnap a dame, nothin' less
Now I must put his behind to the test (Can you feel me?)

See attached.

[Fat Guy]

He did go insane for a while...but it's been said he used his rage at his defeat to empower himself with the Dark Side of the force to keep himself alive long enough to get his prosthetic pelvis and legs...

Yes, it's ben mentioned elsewhere that his hatred of Kenobi fueling the dark side allowed him to survive.

Ironically, it was the very same thing keeping Anakin alive long enough for Palpatine to find him.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

I had no idea Emilia Clarke was in the movie, and hell I didn't even recognize it was her throughout the entire sequence set on Corellia.  Too little exposure to her acting outside of GoT/in her natural hair color I guess.  So obviously I'm no Khaleesi Fanboi, but I still thought she was one of the stronger elements of the movie.  I too was pretty sure her character had to die before the conclusion of the movie (or else why would Han Solo still be Solo later on?).  Despite knowing she was disposable, I think I had more emotional investment in following her story than any of the others'.  To the writers' credit: while it was totally predictable Han and Qi'ra wouldn't be involved anymore by the end of the film, they didn't go with either of the obvious routes: being killed by a baddie to tease/enrage/motivate Han or being killed by a soul-torn Han because of some betrayal.  Her staying loyal to the cartel wasn't totally surprising, but staying loyal AND not betraying Han was a pleasantly surprising twist.  I was entertained by that storyline both from the actors' performance as well as the writers'.

The twist that the Mad Max style space-gas pirates turned out to be the nascent rebellion was a fun reveal for me as well.  Of course Han wouldn't join the Rebellion as he starts ANH as a Hutt affiliated smuggler... but it was nice to not spend the whole movie pretending to wonder "will he or won't he" join them.  (Was more fun spending the movie wondering how Han and Qi'ra would be broken up for good.. and as I opined they didn't disappoint)

During the opening "scrawl" we learned that Han was working for some "Lady Proxima".  I was hoping that we'd find out she was something other than some sexy Black Widow type.  I wasn't disappointed :D   Plus it felt like a meta callout acknowledging Han's future involvement with the Hutts.  He's worked for horrible *things* before, why not a giant slug!

Say what you will about the "A Star Wars Movie" spinoff brand, but they're giving us way better Droid characters than the Skywalker saga movies are.  Was also a very neat touch to see why the Falcon is actually such a unique/special ship thanks to L-3's "transcendence".  And it gives a very fun extra facet to Lando's attachment to the Falcon.  It's very fun to imagine L-3 being not so delusional about Lando's affection for "her".

Another interesting thing I got from Solo is that it's educated me really on what the "A Star Wars Story" brand apparently is: generic movies set within the Star Wars universe.  Rogue One was a gritty war movie.  That happened to be set in Star Wars.  Solo is a heist movie.  Set within the Star Wars universe.   Primary mission isn't to expand the Star Wars canon but simply capitalize upon it.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  A few callouts to the Skywalker Saga movies are to be expected, but honestly it'd get pretty tiring if every dang movie was meant to provide new perspectives on the Skywalker Saga.

On the flipside, I don't know what the hell happened with that 4 armed pilot character thing.  Something about it triggered me, uncanny valley like but clearly not that as it didn't appear to be human-like.  If I had to put a finger on it, the voice was a total mismatch for the appearance.  At any rate his only redeeming value for the movie was being killed off in short order rather than becoming the next Jar-Jar.

I would have rather seen the whole "12 Parsecs" thing remain the domain of nerds arguing with each other about what it meant.  I didn't groan at the relevation of how Han got the "Solo" surname, but a HUGE part of the movie was devoted to that stupid line from ANH and that was a loser for me.  Didn't need any of that aspect.  So much of the headscratching about the rules regarding the macguffin are there just for this gymnastic effort... "Why does the fuel become unstable after you remove it from this magical room?  Why can't you replicate the qualities of that room elsewhere?" is only there because due to this awkwardness in describing why Han measured the Kessel Run in parsecs That One Time.   Screw it... call the line in ANH Han testing some backwater rubes to see if they even knew what a Parsec was and it's all an improved story than the canon.


All in all I enjoyed it but didn't love it.  My yardstick is "would I pay to go see it AGAIN in a theater?" and in this case, no.  I don't regret the money I spent to see it, but certainly wouldn't pay again to see it.

[iamfanboy]

Another interesting thing I got from Solo is that it's educated me really on what the "A Star Wars Story" brand apparently is: generic movies set within the Star Wars universe.  Rogue One was a gritty war movie.  That happened to be set in Star Wars.  Solo is a heist movie.  Set within the Star Wars universe.   Primary mission isn't to expand the Star Wars canon but simply capitalize upon it.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  A few callouts to the Skywalker Saga movies are to be expected, but honestly it'd get pretty tiring if every dang movie was meant to provide new perspectives on the Skywalker Saga.

I saw this coming a while ago. But that does mean that we'll get more interesting stories. Maybe Kenobi is going to be a film noir set in Mos Eisley?

All in all I enjoyed it but didn't love it.  My yardstick is "would I pay to go see it AGAIN in a theater?" and in this case, no.  I don't regret the money I spent to see it, but certainly wouldn't pay again to see it.

Y'know, this about sums it up for me. I was willing to see Rogue One again. Maybe in a week or two I'll go see Deadpool 2 again. But Solo?

I don't regret seeing it. There were moments that were genuinely exciting and moments that were genuinely funny and the ending twist - that Emilia Clarke's character stayed in the syndicate but let Han go - was honestly both surprising and perfectly in character.

However, I wouldn't pay to see it again.

It was better than the prequels - not that it's a high bar! - and, I think, better than The Last Jedi. That still puts it in the bottom half of Star Wars movies, but it's not a BAD movie like the prequels are.

[pheonixstorm]

I haven't seen it yet and it seems like many people haven't either. The movie for a Star Wars is a flop so far....it's only been 3 days. Its funny how a movie can make $50 million dollars profit and still be a flop.

It hasn't made any profit. In fact, it would need to make over 300 million to do so. From what I could find on wikipedia the budget for the film was around 250-300 million and would need to make about 500 million to break even. So far opening weekend IMDB reports 84.8m gross.

[HobbesHurlbut]

It hasn't made any profit. In fact, it would need to make over 300 million to do so. From what I could find on wikipedia the budget for the film was around 250-300 million and would need to make about 500 million to break even. So far opening weekend IMDB reports 84.8m gross.

Is that including the marketing budget?

[pheonixstorm]

The way it sounded it was just for the films production and did not include any marketing. Kinda hard to know exactly what is in that 300m amount. There are A LOT of people hired for movies. Main cast, extras, lighting, etc and all of them have to be paid. Considering that a large portion of the movie had to be redone from what I've heard probably added a lot to the cost.

I don't know of any film that has listed a breakdown of how much each section cost (Labor, props, cgi, marketing, etc) but would love to see such a list. Usually about all you can find it the films production budget.

You can read up on it here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solo:_A_Star_Wars_Story#Reception
and 3rd paragraph here
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/05/29/us/ap-us-film-box-office-solo-sputters.html

[RunandFindOut]

And if they did, it would be fraudulent and falsified.  Movie studios were after all the source of the "Hollywood Accounting" trope, and have actually been damned careful to give up and settle if it looked like anybody could actually show how rampantly the industry cooks its books and was willing to drag it all out in the open in court.

[roosterboy]

Great flick. Much, much better than that total snoozefest Rogue One.

Three things I was dissatisfied with, two small and one massive.

1. Emilia Clarke’s acting.While she wasn’t as bad as I feared, that’s not really saying much. She didn’t stink up the screen, but I prefer more than a lack of incompetence from lead actors.

2. I would have liked a line from Han to the effect of “What’s a life debt?” or something like that at some point, maybe as they flew away at the end. Or maybe have Han overhear Chewie say something as he parted from that Wookiee on Kessel and ask about it as they ran inside the Falcon. As it is, I just didn’t get any indication why Han just assumed Chewie would stay with him.

3. ****** Maul. It’s bad enough the lamest character from the Prequels actually survived his death by bisection, but at least I can ignore the cartoons. And I just don’t see the point anyway. Most of the audience will be all “Hey, it’s that guy! Wait, didn’t he die? I don’t understand.” And I doubt they’re going to follow up his story in the movies, so what’s the point? The head of the Crimson Dawn could have been literally anybody and they chose the dumbest possible answer. Okay, maybe second dumbest; if Yoda had been used instead, that would have been the dumbest.

Apart from that, most fun I’ve had at a Star Wars movie since... oh, probably 1983.

[iamfanboy]

3. ****** Maul. It’s bad enough the lamest character from the Prequels actually survived his death by bisection, but at least I can ignore the cartoons. And I just don’t see the point anyway. Most of the audience will be all “Hey, it’s that guy! Wait, didn’t he die? I don’t understand.” And I doubt they’re going to follow up his story in the movies, so what’s the point? The head of the Crimson Dawn could have been literally anybody and they chose the dumbest possible answer. Okay, maybe second dumbest; if Yoda had been used instead, that would have been the dumbest.

Maul the lamest? Behind Jar Jar? Behind that "Me so ronery" alien in charge of the trade federation? Behind that stupid pod-racing lizard-monkey 'rival'? Behind that deathsticks salesman? Behind a four-armed alien who owned a 50's diner? Behind "A guy just trying to make his way in the world" Jango Fett, a supposedly skilled bounty hunter who charged into melee with a precognitive maniac armed with a laser sword? Behind...

You get the point. There were a LOT of stupid characters in the prequels, of which Darth Maul ranks somewhere in the middle. At least he's not overtly racist, a blatant cash-in on fanboys, or just plain stupid. All you can say about him being stupid is his silly devil design.

And unlike SOME stupid characters (Jar Jar) his character was redeemed and explored in a much more interesting fashion during The Clone Wars cartoon. I'm especially fond of his running battles with Obi-Wan, and the epic confrontation between him and Palpatine... wow.

And then when he showed up in Rebels and casually works into conversation, "Your passions give you STRENGTH, and through strength you gain POWER. You can see it, and feel it. You must break your chains..." I about fainted.


The reason I liked his appearance is because it tied in to The Clone Wars, and explained what Maul was doing between TCW and Rebels. And let's face it, half the damn movie was fanservice to people who know entirely too much about the series which is totally obscure to someone who's only seen the movie. Falcon won in a sabacc game? The Maw near Kessel? Han being in the Academy?

[roosterboy]

Maul the lamest?

You heard me.

[pheonixstorm]

*snip* Falcon won in a sabacc game? The Maw near Kessel? Han being in the Academy?

The first and last of those are well know from the original movies. Not sure about the Maw... I only remember it from the Star Wars books as a reference to something else. Don't recall which book though.

[marauder648]

I saw it a few days ago and genuinely enjoyed it, it wasn't AMAZEBALLS!!! but it was enjoyable none the less, I honestly don't see what the big hoo-har is about it, other than it more being a backlash against TLJ.

[Son of Kerenski]

Kylo Ren reviews Solo.

https://youtu.be/n_lU_GRsZbM

[MadCapellan]

.....a blatant cash-in on fanboys.....

That's exactly what he is though - the Boba Fett of Ep I. Both are cool looking jobbers sent by the main villains to hunt down the heroes. Both have barely a handful of lines of dialogue. Both get no character in the films & die ignoble deaths. Both were revived in expanded fiction due to an onslaught of fanboys going on & on about how amazeballs they were, when in reality all the did was fight the heroes briefly, then die like a chump. It's cool if you like what he was made to be later - I like Fett - but they're essentially the same nobody jobbers in the films.

[marauder648]

That's exactly what he is though - the Boba Fett of Ep I. Both are cool looking jobbers sent by the main villains to hunt down the heroes. Both have barely a handful of lines of dialogue. Both get no character in the films & die ignoble deaths. Both were revived in expanded fiction due to an onslaught of fanboys going on & on about how amazeballs they were, when in reality all the did was fight the heroes briefly, then die like a chump. It's cool if you like what he was made to be later - I like Fett - but they're essentially the same nobody jobbers in the films.

See also Captain Phasma.  Seriously, in the build up to TFA there was a HUGE media thing about how awesome she was and how big and bad and stuff she was.

And then when the fans saw this (myself included)





We loved this nameless Stormtrooper FAR more than Phasma.  And as you said, Phasma died a jobber after doing basically bugger all despite all the hype about her and its the same with folks like Fett etc.

[Kentares]

Saw this last wednesday and... love it... almost like I loved Rogue One. Both light years (or parsecs if you wish) better than that crap called TFA and TLJ.

Edit = and having Emilia Clark was a bonus  :drool:

[Skyth]

Maul actually showed his chops a couple times.  Comparing him to Fett in the movies is not justified.

[HobbesHurlbut]

Maul actually showed his chops a couple times.  Comparing him to Fett in the movies is not justified.

Well yeah, beyond the Movies, he got air time in TCW and Rebels which Fett never did (canonically).

[MadCapellan]

Well yeah, beyond the Movies, he got air time in TCW and Rebels which Fett never did (canonically).

Acrobatics aside, his dialogue & impact on the story are no more substantial. I don't consider his swordfights with old Qui-Gon prior to being chopped in half by a padawan any more impressive than Fett's figuring out Solo's escape gambit in Empire & engaging in a running gun battle with Leia & Lando before clumsily being knocked into a hungry giant antlion. Trade a lightsaber for a blaster & they're practically the same character.

[IAMCLANWOLF]

Finally viewed this one last pm. I thought it was great. Much better than Rogue One/Last Jedi. It wasn't trying to be universe-altering. Or mind-numbingly stupid. Great stuff. Going in the collection for sure.

[HobbesHurlbut]

Correction: Boba Fett did get air time in TCW, but as a kid starting out.

[roosterboy]

Maul was cool for just a few seconds in TPM, and that was really all about the entire scene, not just him. It's that one during his fight with Qui-Gonn, where they get separated by a barrier and have to wait for it to go away. In those few seconds, you get such a sense of who the three people involved are from the way they comport themselves during the enforced break in their fight. Obi-Wan, youthful and impatient, eager to join the fight. Qui-Gonn, older, more poised and centered, taking a knee to meditate in a brief moment of peace. And then Maul, pacing and fuming, frustrated that his prey is out of his reach, ready to pounce as soon as he is able, resembling nothing so much as a ****** caged tiger. This may very well be the best scene in the entire movie. And then...

It's over and the guy is back to being the lamest pile of suck to ever grace a Star Wars movie.

[marauder648]

In the final part of the movie when Kaleesi said goodbye to Solo, was anyone else expecting the Mandalorian armour in the background's head to turn as the door closed?  I really was expecting her to die, and when I saw the Mandalorian armour in the background that KEPT BEING FOCUSED ON and was in many shots I was like "waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit a minute!" 

But then she survived and buggered off and I was also pleasantly surprised at this too.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Haven't seen it.  Will say, Enfys Nest's outfit and helmet is awesome.