Spoiler Review: 'Solo: A Star Wars Story'

After years of rumours, actor hunting, and behind the scenes problems, Solo: A Star Wars Story finally hit cinemas worldwide last week. The only question is... did it live up to expectations? If you don’t want the big points of the film ruined for you before you go to see it, turn back now! Although the chances of you turning back at this point are probably like... hey, no, I’ll never tell you the odds. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. No, seriously, consider this your warning to remain spoiler free.

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You were warned!!!

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Okay, HOPEFULLY, you’ve seen the Han Solo spin-off film if you are reading this! I’m hoping you don’t feel you wasted your money, because I didn’t. I will be honest, the promotional material for the film (including the trailers, and I’m a sucker for trailers) didn’t grab me and I felt this was going to be the first Star Wars film to truly let me down. It didn’t. Within the first half an hour, I knew I had been wrong.

The story follows a younger version of the Han we know, played by the capable Alden Ehrenreich, a decade before we meet Harrison Ford’s original version in A New Hope. Over the course of the plot we discover Han’s origins as a pilot and a smuggler, also seeing how the people around him that he meets shape him into a wreckless scoundrel.

The film opens with a young Han and his partner in crime/love of yester-year, Qi’ra, played by the beautiful Emelia Clarke, attempting to escape from the rough planet of Corellia, with hopes and dreams of flying amongst the stars without being controlled by anyone. As expected, the plan goes to fodder and Qi’ra is captured whilst Han is given no choice but to improvise and join the Empire as a soldier to avoid also being captured. At that moment of enrolling, and being asked to provide a family name, Han simply states he is alone, prompting the famous surname of Solo to be born. A lazy way to bring it in if you ask me. Even the Imperial Officer who spoke the lines looked like he knew the line was shit.

From there on out, the adventure begins. Han meets characters famous in Star Wars lore, namely Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian, played by Joonas Suotamo and the unstoppable Donald Glover respectively.

Chewie’s first meeting with Han is an unexpected one, with Han being thrown into a muddy pit for attempting to desert to be killed by ‘The Beast’. Then, emerging from the shadows, comes the mighty Wookie which brings about a brawl between the two before a comedic conversation in Chewie’s native language, eventually leading to them both working together to escape. It appeared rather quick for the characters to become best pals after Ehrenreich simply doing a stellar Wookie impression and offering Chewie a chance to escape even though he had pretty much no reason to trust him.

For me, Glover as Lando was the standout performance of the film. You can seriously tell that he studied Billy Dee Williams’ performance and remained committed. The film gives us a real look at Lando and his young ego, an example being Lando doing Star Wars’ version of video blogging. I would be lying if it didn’t bring a smile to my face. We also see Lando’s soft side, as his friendship with equal rights enthusiast, droid L3-37, played by the hysterical Phoebe Waller-Bridge, shows him to have a sibling-like relationship with someone, which makes it even more painful when Lando sees L3 perish in battle. We also got to finally see how Han won the Falcon from Lando, which takes two attempts in the film which I prefer in all honesty; it was a nice shock for Han to fail first time.

The film chronicles some impressive action pieces, ranging from gun fights in a office to big scale wars in either a World War One type setting or escaping a planet. Speaking of, who else loved seeing Han doing the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs? A moment I didn’t expect to be in the film but sure happy it was there, and with Han helming The Falcon as it does so!

The Millenium Falcon has a much fresher look in this film which tells us a lot about Lando and Han. Lando is a man of taste and high end appearance, explaining why The Falcon is the cleanest spacecraft in the galaxy whilst in his care. However, in the hands of Han in later films, it looks like the inside of a Zarlak’s anus. Interesting thing for Ron Howard to apply. Oh, why is it so interesting? Remember that Han is a good person during this film, and a few betrayals (we’ll get to them later) cause him to begin going down a murky path. Although he loves The Falcon, he has no real care for anything fully.

The other characters who are shown in the film can be either hit and miss or a stroke of genius.

Thandie Newton and Jon Favreau’s characters were easily forgettable. With their small amount of screen time and no real additives to the story, they were out of my mind after their few scenes. This leads me onto their leader, Tobias Beckett, played by Woody Harrelson.

If you expect to watch this film and think Harrelson actually gives us a versatile character, you may be disappointed. From the get go, Harrelson doesn’t blend into the Star Wars Universe as Beckett, having time for swirling guns around during a fully fledged war... you know, 'cause that somehow makes the character seem cool (yawn). The initial arc of Beckett, however, adds to Solo’s. Harrelson gives a strong piece of advice to Han early in the film: expect everyone will betray you and you will never be disappointed. That advice is clear foreshadowing to the man Han Solo becomes.

Later in the film, Beckett, Solo and the rest of the team get what they need (A power source to be delivered to a character we will discuss soon), but ultimately decide to not deliver due to a sudden moral compass. Beckett, acting the coward, decides to leave after Han secretly tells him a plan he has (the audience don’t hear this). Not long after, it is revealed that Beckett double crossed Han and was a villain by means of protecting his own skin, grassing Han to their superior in terms of his plan. Then BOOM, turns out Han took Beckett’s advice earlier very strongly and used the secret plan of his as a red herring, causing a... double-double cross? After that? The ultimate sign that the Han Solo of A New Hope has been born. As Solo and Beckett get into a final standoff, Han aiming his gun at Beckett, the former tells Han he hasn’t got the guts to pull the— BOOM! Han shoots Beckett in the heart. That begins the life of the Han we know and love. ‘Nuff said.

The superior I speak of? That Beckett told on Han to? None other than Paul Bettany’s Dryden Vos. The character is a crime lord who is an obvious homage to classical portrayals of crime lords: doing business in a back room with a drink in his hand, and he is your best, caring friend until you tell him you failed him in some way. A great villain. An amazing portrayal. Watching Bettany work is pleasure as always and he shines in this film.

Back to a character whose arc brings about a surprising cameo in the film: Emelia Clarke’s Qi’ra.

Qi’ra is a simple, soft, caring character when the film starts off. It is when we meet her three years after being captured on Corellia that her arc really begins. When Han encounters her again, in the employment of Dryden Vos, she seemingly tries to act normal around Han but it is clear she has changed. She has become hardened and driven, but ultimately still aims to never be controlled by someone. This leads to her not so shocking choice to kill Vos when she gets the chance.

With Vos out of the picture, Qi’ra is seemingly free of his hinted grasp and can finally live her life with Han. Lovely isn’t it? That is, until she tells Han to go on without her and she’ll catch up, which obviously she won’t. She takes Vos’ ring from his corpse, puts it on and activates something with it, which leads to that shock cameo. That cameo...

Yep, it’s none other than Darth Maul, the saving grace of The Phantom Menace. Maul appears to be in control of Crimson Dawn, seemingly a high level gang with authority in the crime world. Maul, now with cybernetic legs, tells Qi’ra they will be working closely from that moment on, prompting Qi’ra to fly off in Vos’ yacht, abandoning Han.

Now, for people like me who have always just stuck to the main films in terms of Star Wars, you’ll surely be surprised to see Darth Maul alive considering he was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi long, long ago in a galaxy far, far... yeah you get the joke. But fear not, I did some digging for the lazy ones of you that didn’t yourselves! The animated show, Clone Wars, adapted Maul to have survived and be driven mad by what happened. Howard was slight misguided to do this knowing many people don’t branch out of the main films in terms of the Star Wars Universe. But, hopefully, there will be explanations in the films as to how Maul is around.

Maul could definitely show up again due to not only his presence but the way Han and Chewie end the film headed towards Tatooine (thanks to a tip from Beckett earlier in the film about a gangster there who is putting together a crew). Could this be a hint at a sequel that sees Han trying to adapt even more to the cut throat underworld, this time being around Jabba the Hutt.

Overall, the film is strong. A lot stronger than I anticipated. Though some characters don’t work, the characters that do are enough to keep the film afloat. We see Han mentored, both directly and indirectly, to become the man from the original trilogy. A much more thrilling adventure than I initially expected. There is room for a sequel, and I’m happy about that!