Goods Smuggled in a Plain Package
The young Han Solo film has had a long and tortured trip to the big screen. Way back before the 2012 sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, George Lucas hired Lawrence Kasdan—co-writer of The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark—to write a film about a young Solo, but when Star Wars: The Force Awakens ran into script issues, J.J. Abrams pulled Kasdan onto that film to hammer out a screenplay months before production. Once The Force Awakens was released, Kasdan returned to his original task, and enlisted his filmmaker son, Jonathan, as a co-writer. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy hired directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, best known for The Lego Movie and the Jump Street films, and they cast Alden Ehrenreich as the smuggler to be. Four and a half months into principal photography, Lord and Miller were dismissed for creative differences that included deviating too much from the script. Ron Howard was brought in, about 70% of the film was re-shot, and it now arrives in theaters just in time for the 41st anniversary of the original Star Wars.
None of this will be particularly relevant to whether or not you like Solo: A Star Wars Story, but I think, as this film faces an uphill battle with fans and critics alike, it's worth noting just how much care was taken with this project. Lawrence Kasdan, who has written more movies featuring Han Solo than anyone, felt that a story was worth telling, as did, it seems, George Lucas; perhaps more impressively, when the film seemed to be headed south, Kathleen Kennedy didn't just approach any hired gun to drag the movie across the finish line; and Ron Howard felt there was something compelling enough in this story to drop all of his own projects for 11 months and dive into the film with a minuscule amount of preparation. A lot can be said about whether or not proper decisions were made that led to an eleventh hour director change, but the effort put into trying to make it all work is at least a testament to the fact that Kennedy and the folks at Lucasfilm aren't willing to shrug-off a movie. They want to do right by the franchise and its fans.
The good news about Ron Howard and the Kasdans' Solo is that it's a fun film that doesn't trample on Harrison Ford's performances as Solo, and in some cases adds depth to them. The bad news is that the movie is too weightless at times, with darker ideas and emotions living on the edge of the film rather than at its center. Solo was always pitched as a space western with a dash of heist thrown in, but it's also set in some nasty corners of the galaxy, and Han and his compatriots face some tough realities that are underdeveloped.
The film begins with a teenage Han living a very Dickensian life alongside Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke). Together they dream of getting off their industrial home world and jetting across the galaxy in a ship of their own. Things don't exactly work out, and when they find each other again years later, Qi'ra is entangled in a crime syndicate and Han is working with a seasoned thief who owes Qi'ra's boss. Her life in the intervening years is meant to be mysterious, but the supposed hardships she's endured are barely hinted at; it's her background and allegiance to her boss that complicate any romance with Han, but whatever emotional scars she bears are hidden, making her a frustrating enigma. Given that Han and Qi'ra grew up together, her character lacking development shortchanges Han's arc in Solo. He's not drastically different from the Han Solo we are already know when the film begins, but this movie is essentially the story of how Han found his place as a wandering smuggler alongside Chewbacca, so I at least expected Qi'ra to play a larger role in Han choosing the life we see him living in the original film.
Despite these dramatic shortcomings, Solo is still packed with enough punch and panache to make it an engaging popcorn flick. The cast is wholly excellent, led by Ehrenreich with the perfect mix of Harrison Ford-isms and his own organic take on the character. This Han is not quite as arrogant, and his swagger isn't quite as confident, but that's the whole point. Donald Glover fits the part of Lando Calrissian like, well, a glove, oozing charm in the same rakish way a young Billy Dee Williams would if he could time travel back before his original performance in The Empire Strikes Back, and he has excellent chemistry with scene-stealer Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Lando's co-pilot droid L3-37. Rounding out the cast are Clarke (who does a fine job in the role), Woody Harrelson as Han's thieving mentor, Thandie Newton as a fellow thief, Paul Bettany as the crime boss, and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca. Despite being a film that features the birth of Han and Chewie's friendship, their relationship also feels like it could have used more, or at least more of Chewie's own backstory. When Han meets him, he's in dire straits that imply a sad life that might inform his decision to gallivant with a smuggler for years to come, but their pairing is nonetheless fun, as it always is in Star Wars.
The action set pieces aren't as fluid as those in past Star Wars entries, but they are sometimes unique for this franchise. In a sequence that feels ripped right out of a western like Lawrence Kasdan's own Silverado, we're given a heist on a speeding train. Even when the camera placement isn't always inspired, cinematographer Bradford Young delivers the most beautifully grimy Star Wars film yet. Every frame is filled with some kind of grit, smoke or haze, giving the whole movie an extremely down to earth vibe that suits this criminal underworld-set adventure.
When all is said and done, the story behind the making of Solo: A Star Wars Story is more compelling than the film itself, but it still does its titular hero justice. We get a few groan-inducing prequel-y moments; answers to questions no one asked—I didn't need to know why Solo is Han's last name—but the fun of the whole enterprise is too much to deny. Ron Howard and the Kasdans haven't made a perfect Han Solo movie, but they have made one that excites me about the prospect of getting Ehrenreich's Han, Glover's Lando, and the rest back for a another adventure; preferably one with a bit more bite.
P.S. Here are a few other thoughts I had on how Solo fleshes out some elements in another Kasdan-scripted Star Wars film:
Lawrence Kasdan uses the older version of Han he co-wrote with J.J. Abrams in The Force Awakens as a touch point for the character's origins. In that film, Han is impressed by Rey's knowledge of the Millennium Falcon, and is moved to offer her a job as his second mate. It's not just because she knows the ship and can understand Chewie; it's because he knows what it's like to come from nowhere and walk an uncertain path. Han doesn't know she grew up in indentured servitude like he did, but a few knowing glances tell us that Han can sense something along those lines from her. She's in denial that her family will one day come back and rescue her from her junk-heap of a planet; he knows from experience that won't happen, and wants to give her a chance at something better. There's nothing lacking in his dynamic with Rey in The Force Awakens, but seeing Han's own rough beginnings in Solo deepens those scenes he shares with her.