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Solo: A Star Wars Story

A little trepidation escorted us into screen 6 at Morley's Event cinemas for a morning showing of Solo: A Star Wars Story. This was mainly down to the grizzles I'd been hearing about on-set troubles and mis-casting and stuff like that. Also Ron Howard had been hired to 'fire-fight' the film into shape and finish on time. Safe pair of hands is old Ronnie but not the edgiest. To possibly perpetuate a rumour, it appears the previous directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller (of Lego Movie and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs fame), couldn't quite handle such a behemoth as Solo. No matter, as this turned out to be perhaps my third favourite Ron Howard film (not counting the ones he's acted in, like The Music Man), after Frost/Nixon and Willow.

A specific concern of the grizzlers seemed to be the casting of Alden Ehrenreich as the young Han Solo, first seen getting in and out of trouble on the industrial planet of Corellia. Rest easy, he's fine in this. Of course, he's no Ford but he handles his tasks with charm and vulnerability. He even pulls off a Ford-ish wink as he tries to mollify Emilia Clarke's Qi'ra.

The main theme of Solo is trust and its counterpoint, betrayal. These aren't played as heavy-handedly as they might have been under the tutelage of, say, Denis Villeneuve or early Scorsese. Woody Harrelson's smuggler mentor Beckett tells Han to "trust no-one" but most of us will be safe in the knowledge that the future will be fine for Han until....well, let's leave it at that. An enduring trust that's shown here in its embryonic form is the meeting of Han and Chewie. Let's face it, this is what most people came to see and it doesn't disappoint. Considered a deserter, Han is thrown into a muddy pit with 'the beast', conjuring up memories of the trapdoor to the Rancor in Jabba's palace. Luckily, Han can speak a bit of Wookiee and so it begins.

Regarding the timeline - this seems to take place 10-12 years before A New Hope and a few years after the end of Revenge of the Sith so presumably Vader is knocking around somewhere. Though that would make Vader roughly the same age as Solo in A New Hope. Hmmm. This all feeds in to another issue. Oddly, (Darth) Maul is head of crime syndicate, Crimson Dawn but he got split asunder in The Phantom Menace by Renton. Survived he seems to have.

Some other lovely touches include Han telling Chewie, "I've got a really good feeling about this" while attempting the Kessel run. Chewie ripping off a guard's arms on the mining planet of Kessel (starting point of said famous run). The slow, steady birth of the rebellion in the form of Enfys Nest and her raiders. And most interestingly (and subtly) Han shooting Beckett - FIRST!

Ultimately, I can't really understand why some people have taken against this film. It's harmless fun, exciting and occasionally endearing. MWRGHMRRAAWW. That's yes.

See also:

The Coen Brothers' Hail Caeser (2016), mainly for a scene between Alden Ehrenreich and Ralph Fiennes. And the aforementioned Ron Howard films, Willow (1988) and Frost/Nixon (2008).

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