4 SPOILER Things I Liked/Didn't Like about Solo: A Star Wars Story

This article discusses the movie in the spoilierest of ways. Ye have been warned...

So I went to see the new Solo movie on opening night. It was...okay. It didn't make me angry like The Last Jedi, nor did it entertain me and surprise me like Rogue One. It was a good enough movie that established some interesting things and has me interested in future installments. I have a couple of issues which I will get into but in general the movie was fine. For those of you that hated The Last Jedi because of its radicalization, this might calm you down a little bit, and those that hated The Force Awakens for being too derivative, this strays enough from the Star Wars bubble that you may like it. It definitely was very slow in the beginning, and only picked up when Lando comes on the scene.

That I didn't hate the movie is actually a pretty high feat as it is. I was not pumped when they first announced the movie would be made. I did not feel as though I needed a Solo origin story, and felt that they probably wouldn't be able to do Harrison Ford's portrayal any justice. Then add on top all of the shenanigans and drama that has accompanied this movie from the firing of the original directors, to the hiring of an acting coach, because apparently Alden Ehrenreich sucked at acting for a while there. Although I must mention that his portrayal was fine. It wasn't as good as Donald Glover's Lando, but it was perfectly serviceable.

But as I said, the movie was okay. It eschews a "normal" Star Wars plot in favor of a "heist" movie plot. We discover the origins of Han Solo, and see how he meets the people in his life, and how they start to shape his character. There are a bunch of jokes, a lot of betrayals, a ton of throwbacks and easter eggs, and ends on a sequel-baiting ending. I want to go through some of the stuff that I liked, and then some of the stuff I didn't like, and the questions that arise from those:

4 Things I liked

1. Lando - Donald Glover's Lando stole this movie. He was by far the best part. He channels Billy Dee Williams' original character so well, you have no problem believing he is the younger version. He is charming, suave, smooth, and just as duplicitous as everyone's favorite only-black-guy-in-the-universe. I would definitely love to see more movies with him in it. Also, he has a cape room.

2. The Visuals - This movie uses a lot of practical effects, actual sets, and costumes, which I love. It is part of why I loved the original trilogy so much. It feels real. I also really liked how the movie was shot. There were shots that made it feel like a Western, and the dirt and grimey nature of the galactic underground was shown. The scenes in the Maw with the Star Destroyer and the Cthulhu monster were all so beautiful they should be desktop backgrounds. The creature, character design, and costuming were all excellent as well. Shout out to poor John Favreau's Rio Durant, the monkey creature that died early on. I liked him too.

3. Easter Eggs, throwbacks, and references* - As a Star Wars superfan I appreciated this a lot. At times it felt like the movie was winking at me, but most of the time I just enjoyed seeing little references that helped enhance the movie for me. One of the biggest was the name dropping of Aurra Sing, who was apparently killed by Tobias. But she was a bounty hunter seen in the podracing scene of The Phantom Menace, and someone who had a ton of stories surrounding her in the old EU canon, and even a lot in the new stuff in The Clone Wars animated series. For most people that probably didn't mean much, but that instantly fleshed out Tobias and how good of a fighter he must be.

Another great one was the explanation of how a Parsec is a measure of distance, not time. This has always been confusing for a lot of people, and it was nice that this movie explained it. There was also a subtle nod to how Lando mispronounces Han's name in the original trilogy. And of course the biggest wink to fans was how Han shot first, in the closing moments of the movie when Han shoots Tobias, showing a semi-character arc for Han as he learns not to trust people.

4. Darth Maul reveal - This one was big enough to earn its own spot. This could be put in both the good and bad section actually. Probably the biggest spoiler in the movie was at the end when it is revealed that the former Darth Maul is actually the leader of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. I recognized his voice even before they showed his face, considering they used the same guy that voiced Maul in the Clone Wars and Rebels TV shows. So on one hand I enjoyed the reveal, as it gives us some insight into a chapter unknown in Maul's life, and it helps bring the Star Wars universe together a little more, not to mention hinting at possible future stories involving the characters in the movie.

However, on the other hand it was probably very confusing to most viewers. I have already seen and heard people talking about the reveal as a twist that the movie is set before Revenge of the Sith, or just flat out confusion as they thought he died in the Phantom Menace. These are valid concerns. As far as the movie canon goes, the last time we saw Maul was that he was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi, and fell in a giant pit in the Phantom Menace. Speaking of which, considering what Obi-Wan did something similar to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, can we be sure Kenobi has EVER killed anyone? It seems as though he keeps walking away thinking he's got the bad guy when in reality they just come back later. #pondababalives.

But anyway, for those of us who are huge Star Wars nerds, we know that Maul actually survived, and went on to have many plucky tales of woes and misfortune in The Clone Wars and Rebels, and then *spoiler alert* gets "killed" by Obi-Wan on Tatooine (look it up on wookiepedia). So this movie hints that Maul is part of yet another crime syndicate and explains what he has been doing in between The Clone Wars and Rebels.

4 Things I did not like

1. Reveal of Enfys Nest - This one was disappointing and confusing. Late in the movie, Enfys Nest, the cool looking bounty hunter who has been harassing our anti-heroes, is actually a biracial young girl! The pause in the movie seemed like it was supposed to be this huge, jaw dropping reveal. At the time, however, I thought it was a pause showing that Enfys Nest is actually the daughter of Tobias and Val (the poor character from Westworld who died way too quickly), especially considering that Tobias is white and Val is black, and Enfys Nest is biracial and young. This could still be the case, but that would be dumb because they would have wasted the father/daughter drama that should have enfolded.

So unfortunately, we are left to assume the pause on the reveal/twist was meant simply because Enfys is a young, biracial, girl. Considering Disney has said they are pushing for more diverse characters in Star Wars, I thought it was a little insulting the way they did this. It was like they said, "hey look, I bet you didn't think a little biracial girl could be this cool?! This is such a huge twist as there is no way a young, biracial girl could do that!". It shouldn't have been shot as a twist, but just had her take off her helmet like it was nothing and continue on with the story, which would normalize the event while obviously empowering both women and minorities, while also not slapping viewers in the face like we are stupid and ignorant. I think it kind of backfires on Disney. But who knows, maybe I'm looking too much into it.

My wife, who is not a Star Wars addict, was very confused by the twist as well. She wondered if Enfys was Tobias' kid, and then assumed she was some really big EU character, because the pause was so obvious. When I told her Enfys was not she agreed that it must have been that she was a little girl, and that that was dumb. I agree.

2. Lack of an ending - This was more confusing than anything else. I felt we did not have any kind of closure between the two main characters we met in the beginning in Han and Qi'ra. I don't really buy that Han is over her, even though he did kind of change when he didn't trust Tobias in the end and instead shot him. But it doesn't feel over with he and Qi'ra, and they clearly said she is going on to work with Maul in the crime syndicate. So maybe that is hinting at future TV shows, or additional movies, but I was under the impression these Star Wars story movies are all one-ofs. Don't get me wrong, I am fine with seeing more Han Solo movies now, especially if they involve Maul and Qi'ra, but that isn't a guarantee. If Solo doesn't do well enough in theaters then maybe they don't make anymore, and that will make the ending to this movie so much worse, because we will get no closure when it comes to the movies, and will have to wait for something else to explain what happened.

3. Han Solo's last name - Ugh, this was the worst explanation of a tidbit of Han's life in the movie. As a little joke, we find out that Han's titular last name, is not his actual name, but rather one given to him by an Imperial Officer since Han apparently doesn't have a last name. I mean, him not having a last name is fine, that goes along with the urchin and abandoned lifestyle (not to mention adhering to Disney's insistence in family legacy not being a thing in Star Wars anymore *cough* Rey), but it felt like a big let down, especially since it was delivered as a joke.

4. L3-37 - I heard a lot of hype surrounding this leetspeak character, but after seeing the movie, I was disappointed. I really did not like the character at all. Her becoming part of the Falcon is ok, as it makes Threepios lines in the OT a little more entertaining when he has difficulty communicating with the Falcon. I don't mind the rebellious nature, nor the want for a droid uprising, but the bathroom and sexual humor is very much out of place for a Star Wars movie.

That conversation L3-37 had with Qi'ra about she and Lando being "compatible" and how he wanted a physical relationship was just creepy. She also had that awkward scene where she makes a peeing joke and that she can't "go" with someone looking at her as she pulled out her phallic "saw" to cut the gate open to get to the Falcon. Oh, and this weird "period" joke I think L3-37 made asking Lando to help her with her sticky gears? It was very strange. Star Wars may not be a kid's franchise, but it definitely isn't about sexual innuendo and toilet humor. I did not like that at all.

 Add on top of that how the writers decided that Lando was pansexual, and I guess that also means droids? If anyone in the Star Wars universe is pansexual I guess Lando could be, but it doesn't really fit in the world. Also, that whole thing reeks of what JK Rowling does with Harry Potter, where every time there is a social justice issue or debate, she chimes in and says one of her characters was a member all along, even though there wasn't any evidence before. You don't get to just keep changing what you wrote in order to stay relevant. The books were good, just leave them. Lando was good, just leave him. K-2SO was so much better in every way. No more L3-37 please.

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I also wish that Chewie and Han's relationship was more fleshed out, as I felt it didn't have enough, but if they are making more movies then we should get to see more of what brings them together. I get they are kind of partners, but I want to see how they become best friends and depend on each other, and that doesn't mean I want more shower scenes, lol.

But anyway, that's what I think so far. My opinion may change, but I was fine with the movie, will add it to my collection, and hope they make more with these characters as they are fun.

*Other easter eggs I liked:
Tubes from Rogue One - We see him in Enfys Nest's gang, and reveal where he may have started prior to his work with Saw Gerrara in Rogue One.

Weazel - Yet another Phantom Menace reference, as this Enfys Nest gang member was last seen in the podracing scene, not to mention rumored to also be Willow timeline/story jumping. It's also always nice to have a Warwick Davis cameo as he was Wicket the Ewok in Return of the Jedi as well.

How Enfys Nest and her band of marauders are another group that will help start the Rebellion.

Teras Kasi - Qi'ra's fighting style. Dumb Star Wars fighting video game, but kind of cool it got a mention. I believe Snoke's guards also use that fighting style, so it's nice to bring the universe together some more.

The Mandolorian armor and  Xim the Despot's masthead crystal skull thingy, which is a reference to a crazy guy from way back in the old EU.

Chewie and the Dejarik holochess game and ripping the arms off that one guy, more references from A New Hope. Side note - why didn't Chewie just attack Tobias in the elevator when they were betrayed? It's not like Tobias could have really stopped him. Whatever.

Sabacc being played and how Han wins the Falcon fair and square. Also saying "I know" to Lando at the end, referencing Harrison Ford's famous improv line from The Empire Strikes Back.

Lando's Return of the Jedi costume being used by Tobias.

Side note - in the official visual dictionary it mentions Dryden's desk is made of obsidian from Exar Kun's tomb, so I guess he's canon now. That's pretty awesome, I wonder if they will do anything with it.

Sad to not see Threepio or R2D2, as they have been in every Star Wars movie ever except now this one, but there really wasn't a good place to put them. At least Threepio's Anthony Daniels made it as a cameo in the Kessel Mines scene.

There are many more, but it's a fitting movie to have a ton of easter eggs, and I appreciated them. I hope you appreciated this little novella of a semi review, and go out and enjoy the movie!

10 Problems I have with Star Wars: The Last Jedi *Spoilers*

Okay, so this article will be talking about major spoilers for the Last Jedi, so stop reading unless you want it spoiled!

Overall I would say I enjoyed the movie. It did not blow me away. It definitely does not hold a candle to the Empire Strikes back. In fact, I think I liked Rogue One a lot more. It still had some good moments though. I really liked Kylo Ren and Rey's relationship and interactions.  I enjoyed the overall plot of the movie even if I didn't like how it was always executed. I liked some of the little characters and potential stories that could spawn from behind the scenes of this movie. I also really liked the very end of the movie and what it could mean, and I will get to that later. But in this article I will touch upon some of the stuff that I did not care for and why.

SPOILER WARNING!!!

1. Hyperspace combat - This was a cool part of the movie, where Admiral Holdo, who we thought was being a bit of a coward, or at least not a decisive leader, got her badass ending by using her ship to go into hyperspace through the First Order fleet, destroying most of it. I think? They still managed to land a force on the ground and did not seem to be bothered that much by the set back, so I dunno. But it looked like she destroyed several destroyers and cut the major ship in half. I don't really like the precedent this sets. Seeing how devastating one ship could be would just cause me to use droids to pilot any number of objects, and fling them into hyperspace at the enemy. They can't shoot down everything, and even if a little X-Wing goes into hyperspace through a ship it would be more devastating than any bomb. It just seems too obvious a tactic. We haven't seen it used before and I was glad for it, because I knew this type of hole would exist. From now on, all space admirals will look a little incompetent to me if they do not use this tactic. But if they use this tactic, space combat will look dumb.

2. Finn's "sacrifice" - So the Resistance is piloting a bunch of broken down speeders, to try and knock out a giant laser battering ram. Then, they start getting blown up and Poe tells them to break off, because it is apparently a suicide mission. What were they planning on doing when they got close? Finn got close, and the only reason he didn't run into the ram and blow it up was because Rose stopped, or saved, him. It looked as if it would have been a suicide mission for anyone of them. Did the speeders not have any weapons?*** And how did Finn get so close anyway? The First Order seemed pretty determined to shoot the speeders down, and succeeded...except for this one speeder that could have easily destroyed the ram, OR Rose's speeder that managed to get around and hit Finn's. It ended up being a dumb sequence. Based on playing the Battlefront 2 multiplayer map of that battle, I was thinking the speeders were going to use the red kick-up salt dust to screen the base and the fighters, to let them be more effective in the trenches. I was hoping to see some Star Wars trench warfare. Honestly, and I can't believe I'm saying this, play the Battlefront 2 game for a better battle than what we saw. Sad.

*edit* - After watching the movie a second time, I saw that they specifically showed Finn's speeder's weapons being melted off, preventing him from using them. However, I noticed something else. I am sure this is just a film error, but Rose is looking to her right when she is yelling at Finn to break off, and then when she rams her ship into Finn's, she is approaching from the right. So, unless it is a simple film mistake, Rose managed to loop around and catch up to Finn and ram him, while not being shot by the First Order, and also not bothering to just destroy the cannon with her functional weapons.

3. Was the codebreaker DJ the guy that Maz recommended to Finn and Rose or not? Based on her description, it seemed like the guy in the casino was who she meant since he was the only one with the rose lapel. So did Finn and Rose just happen to be put in jail with another expert codebreaker? That is a little too coincidental. I feel like we missed a scene, where DJ gets his jacket and fancy lapel back from the casino guy, from whom I assume DJ lost a bet. I just feel like something's missing. Also, if DJ was the codebreaker Maz was talking about, we didn't really see him be really suave and an expert gunfighter.

My hope is that DJ will be the Lando of the series. Just like how Lando betrayed everyone and was a scoundrel in Empire, he came back and did some good stuff in Return of the Jedi. I hope they do the same thing with DJ, because he could be a cool character, and his actions are very similar to Lando's. Side note - was Maz fighting against Magna Guards in the background? I feel like that union dispute was more entertaining than the whole of Finn and Rose's storyline.

4. Plasma was once again lame - Plasma was hyped up before The Force Awakens for being a badass female bad guy, something we have not seen. Unfortunately, she was incompetent, a push over, and a genuinely horrible soldier for the First Order in TFA, and in The Last Jedi...she just fought against a disgraced trooper/floor mopper that left the Order because he didn't want to fight, and lost. Pretty pathetic existence. It seems like Plasma is relegated to the Boba Fett curse. Looks cool, but actually doesn't do much and gets killed in a lame way.

Also, Hux is just getting annoying. He had more of a comedic role in this movie, and that at least matched his actions more than in TFA. He is very incompetent, and his mistakes are constantly causing The First Order thousands of lives.

5. The First Order chasing the Resistance fleet story had some major issues. In theory I liked this part of the story. It was very reminiscent of the newer series of Battlestar Galactica, where the beginning episodes the humans are trying to escape the Cylon fleet, but they keep getting followed, and they are just trying to buy time until they figure out how to get out of the situation. They did not have fuel issues, and were not just trying to run faster, they had to think of something else. In TLJ, the resistance fleet was able to run faster, and was only in trouble because they were running out of fuel. I believe it was said they were running on fumes, yet were able to completely fuel all of those transports. I guess the big ships are quite the gas guzzlers. Meanwhile, I am thinking why did the First Order not hyperspeed a little further ahead to catch up to them?

And before anyone says anything, let me remind you that Finn and Rose, and Rey and Chewbacca, were BOTH able to basically do that. They left and came back exactly where they wanted to, close to the ship they wanted to be close to. So it is possible. The First Order just didn't do that. Hubris perhaps? More likely just bad writing to leave such a hole.

6. Luke's ending and physics - So this was a pretty cool moment, and an emotional one. Luke comes back to save everyone, stall the enemy, and essentially dies because of it. But the more I think about it, the more it makes me angry and confused. For one, I don't completely understand the rules of what he did: So he force astral-projected himself to Crait. Could he affect anything, or was he a glorified hologram? It seemed like he could affect some stuff, like holding Leia's hand and giving her Han's dice, but then again Rey and Kylo held hands, but not really, so I dunno. It seems as though he wasn't really there because the lasers did nothing, and Kylo's lightsaber just passed through him. My conclusion is that he was a glorified hologram, and the stress of doing that killed him. That is a lame way of dying. If you die because of thinking too hard for a trick that could be completed by a slightly more advanced hologram, you died a lame death.

I liked the parallel and the reference to Luke's earlier line about taking his lightsaber and taking on the entire First Order. I just wished he actually did do it. I know there was a theme of not fighting whom you hate, but saving those you love (which I actually liked a lot by the way), but it felt like a chump way to go. This was Luke Skywalker, who we had an entire trilogy watching him grow and become more powerful. I wanted to see him do some amazing things on screen. I wanted to see him actually be there and survive all of those walker blasts, and then start to lay waste to the walkers. I wanted to see him use the force to bring them down one by one, and generally be a badass, before maybe finally becoming exhausted, and then toy with Kylo to stall him. This just did not feel like the send off Luke needed.

Also, while we are talking about force powers we don't know about, does Yoda have the ability as a force ghost to call down lightning? Sure seems so. And Leia apparently can use the force to protect herself in a vacuum and float around. I thought Disney said that Leia was not going to appear in Episode 9? Shouldn't that mean she dies in 8? They had ample opportunities to kill her off in this movie, but they specifically did not. They better not kill such as major character behind the scenes or in between the movies. I don't know what they will do. I guess we will have to wait and see.

7. So who is Snoke? This is a major thing that I felt we needed. The director said we would learn everything we needed to learn for the movie, which was technically correct, but his character seems to be too important to just be brushed off. I hope we find out more about him, I guess it'll have to be behind the scenes. He is a ridiculously powerful force user that is very old, and at least knew of all of the previous events that have happened in Star Wars. That is very intriguing. Did he come from a different galaxy, which explains him not really being a Sith or a Jedi? Or did he used to be a Sith or a Jedi? These seem pretty important considering his role in the universe. I was really let down by that.

8. Where are Kylo's knights that were referenced in TFA? They had a pretty major role in the first movie, and I just assumed they had other things to do during the actual events of the movie. But we found out nothing about them in this movie. Were they just other Jedi students? I would think not, as Kylo became their leader. But who are they, and where are they now? And while we are at it, where are the other students that Kylo took with him when he betrayed Luke? It seems unlikely that they turned and became knights without Luke knowing, as we were meant to think that him going to Kylo's tent was a spur-of-the-moment thing. There are just a lot of things missing from that that I feel like they were either dropped, or forgotten about.

9. The First Order's apparent disregard for their own lives. I know it is a bad guy trope that they never care about their minions, but this movie was a little ridiculous. The First Order lost WAY more troops than the Resistance, and yet we were made to feel as though they were completely winning the whole way. It may have been a way to show how strong they are, in that they can take those losses without losing a beat, but come on. At least put a single line in their mentioning the fact that the Starkiller Base was destroyed. It was a pretty major point in TFA, you think it would have been mentioned. Even something like this would have sufficed:

Officer: But sir, the Resistance was able to destroy Starkiller Base, we should not underestimate them.
Snoke: It is inconsequential. Starkiller Base fulfilled its purpose. It destroyed the Republic. That base was but a tiny fraction of our strength. The Resistance threw a pebble at the crushing waves of our might. They cannot win.

Or something better than that, I'm no movie writer. I can't believe I have to reference Battlefront 2 yet again, but in their most recent campaign DLC, the main character saw a map that referenced the First Order fleet, and how many ships they had, and showed that losing even a lot would have done nothing to them. I feel as though we needed to see that in the movie.

And while we are talking about the video game, that at least attempting to talk about the map that led to Luke. This movie didn't even mention it. That was the major plot point of TFA. So what is it and why was it made? It seems like Luke really didn't want to be found, so I doubt he would have made it. The video game mentions that it is a map to the forgotten island, and I guess Kylo Ren knew that somehow?

10. Admiral Holdo saying "godspeed". What is up with that? We already established that she believes in the force, and I don't think we have ever heard a god mentioned in Star Wars before. I am all for having multiple religions in the Star Wars universe, but this one came out of left field and felt like bad writing. The phrase "godspeed", would not be in a universe where there are no gods. Ugh.

There was another minor quibble in that I felt that Rey's parentage was a let down. It was a big character moment for Rey, and something that has driven her entire character, and they relegated it to a line that she really doesn't matter, except to Kylo. I'm not sure what I would have preferred, but that felt anti-climactic.

And lastly, would it kill you to tell Poe your plan, Holdo? Apparently so. 

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I did not want to end on all this negativity, and wanted to touch upon the very ending of the film. The Resistance is in tatters, and apparently all condensed into the Falcon, but Leia says they have everything they need to be the spark the brings down the First Order. We are then transported back to Canto Bight where the little stable boy is listening to the legends of Luke Skywalker. He then walks off to do some chores, uses the force to grab a broom, and then stops to look at the stars as the Luke Skylwalker theme swells. It's a really great moment. It got me thinking about the next movie.

The Last Jedi is the only Saga film to not have a multi-year gap in between movies. Will we see a gap in this one? Is that little boy going to become a major character, or is he just an example that hope is not dead and that its potential is everywhere, and that the Jedi may rise again? It looks like we may need to have a bit of a gap so that the Resistance can start to try and rebuild, but we will see.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, or at least I hope it will spurn answers to the questions I had. Hopefully I missed something and this movie is actually better than I thought. Please correct me, and have a nice day!