Star Wars rewatch wrapping up With Solo. This one has the distinction of being the first one I didn’t see in the theaters since Empire (not that I really had a choice as I was only one at the time).

Not sure why. Maybe I was just tired of the theatre with all the Marvel stuff?

Anyway, I saw it once when it came out on video but wasn’t paying much attention because baby. I don’t remember much but it being unnecessarily long.

I do like Ehrenreich. He’s charming and funny, which is good, but it’s hard not to compare him to Ford.

The thermal detonator scene is a great callback and is funny in its own right.

This is a lot of chase scene for only 10 minutes in.

The stormtroopers and the dice and everything connect us back to the main universe, but the tone feels really different here. Halfway between an old WWII escape movie and a Guy Ritchie romp. It’s fun, but doesn’t feel like Star Wars.

Naming him Solo because he’s alone is one of those box checky moments that doesn’t really solve anything we needed to know and isn’t as funny as it thinks it is. It’s trying to be cute but is just irritating.

I guess I had forgotten he had gotten himself conscripted into the Empire. He gets out of it quick, but it’s still really dark.

This section also really feels like an old war movie... only with worse lighting. Idk. It feels like this thing needs to start multiple times?

Translating Wookie seems like it’s violating a solid convention, which wouldn’t be annoying if it weren’t also unnecessary?

Though the escape is fun and I like Suotamo’s acting.

Harrelson is kind of the bridge here that brings this thing into the low-magic mercenary world and away from the fantasy space-wizard world.

“You’re gonna need a nickname...”

Why do we keep spending time explaining things that don’t need to be explained?

Really low-tech; we’re robbing a space train.

Which is fun. One of the better action scenes so far.

I just don’t understand why nothing is ever fully lit?

I know it sounds like I’m really down on this thing and I’m not — it’s a lot better that AOC, that’s for sure — but there are lot of choices that just make no sense to me.

Wait, Ron Howard? That feels like a really weird choice for Star Wars.

I guess that sort of thing is why I find this one a little missable. It’s the characters we know and the world we know (sort of), but in spirit it’s just another action movie.

Why are the women all weird and mutilated? This thing has some misogynistic undertones.

And overtones, with the plot of him trying to win back this girl he can’t trust because bros before hoes or whatever... sort of thing we’ve seen a hundred times before, but come on: it’s 2018.

Ehrenreich is really good in moments when he gets to be just natural and funny, but this script just doesn’t give him a lot of room to breathe.

Bettany is pretty intense here and brings it back on focus a bit. I like him a lot.

The structure of this thing, though... we’ve already had two loosely related adventures and now we’re finally on to the main plot. Still introducing major characters. I kind of think it wants to be a mini-series?

Glover is great. Charming, sexy, arrogant and classy... he kind of out-Solos Solo.

But they work well together.

Omg Glover and Harrelson are even better here. Is there a Beckett/Lando ship? I’m team Landett for sure.

Okay L3-37 (come on, really?) is where I think they jumped the shark with the whole snarky droid thing but Waller-Bridge is HILARIOUS.

With this crew and this meandering plot structure, it feels a lot like they saw how GotG worked for Marvel and wanted to do something similar with Star Wars characters?

The difference being we expect Marvel movies to be all over the map with tone and stakes, and Star Wars movies to be almost exclusively about blowing up space Nazis.

But with the Skywalker Saga wrapping up, I can see how they want to expand out.

Does Lando only have one infiltration outfit?

Nvm I guess I’m just jealous he still fits in his.

I do kind of love how we’re just scoundrels making a buck but we accidentally start a while rebellion along the way.

“I get it, guys, it’s dangerous.”

Now that I brought up GotG, I struggle to see this Han as much more than an off-brand Starlord.

*oh, I guess that was Beckett in Lando’s suit?

If they end up sharing clothes that bodes well for Landett.

Is it bad that I care more about the droid than the two characters that died on the first mission?

Is it bad that it took me this long to realize they did a Kill the Black Person in the First Act trope way back there?

I guess the “Kessel Run in 12 parsecs” thing kind of does need to be explained, but idk. Even that feels a bit forced.

The patter and such on the Falcon is a whole lot of fun. This is a great team for an action movie. But Han still feels a lot like Starlord, and I can’t shake it now.

Wait, in all those years they never replaced the escape pod? Okay...

The Falcon going from pristine to as beaten up as we know it in a single mission feels really off, the same way Palpatine’s lightning making him all old and wrinkled in Revenge of the Sith. There’s this desperate need to lampshade everything as if we don’t know how time works.

Every time I think we’re done with this movie there’s another act. TFA and TLJ are each about 15 minutes longer but it sure doesn’t feel like.

“She’s a serious threat!”

*removes helmet*

“Oh wait, no she’s a girl nvm”

If TPM is the racistest Star Wars this is the sexistest.

Bettany is really creepy here but I don’t think this climax would work without his intensity.

And the way Harrelson undercuts him is so satisfying. I love Harrelson.

Still not she’s sure about Enrenreich. He holds his own when he needs to but he just seems overshadowed by the ensemble.

Clarke is engaging but I just don’t like this character. She’s the paranoid trope of the devious woman in every Phil Dick novel. And the Sith tie-in is just... weird.

Hey, Han shot first. I guess that’s something.

The same way this had like three false beginnings, it takes a long while to end.

He kind of comes in to Ford’s cocky handsomeness by the end. I would look forward to seeing him do more of these.

Something about this movie feels of a bygone era. But not in a Star Wars way, more a traditional macho action movie way. I like it, but I don’t think I would watch it if it weren’t for the Star Wars label. Same as Rogue One, really.