You kind of answered your own query. The “hand-wringing” is over how dumb it was to drop Maul into it with nary an explanation so only cartoon viewers know what’s going on.
Ok, thanks for the context. For me, I don’t really give a shit that he was in there. Whatevs. Sorry that it bugs other people.
I also have a small question. Why exactly did the Falcon get rid of its front attachment? Obviously wasnt paying enough attention when that happened…
Escape ship. They used it to escape from that large creature near the Maw.
Well I’ll be damned. Saw this with the kids last night and enjoyed the hell out of it. Easily the most enjoyable of the new films. Chewie was a raging badass, Lando was pretty much in target, and L3 worked well. I really like Han but he seemed a little too trusting for the same character we knew from the original films. Still he was great as his own character. Everything that TLJ did to try and get me to stop caring about the franchise, Solo did to pull me back in.
We saw this last night and thought it was better than expected after reading some negativity. Liked it better than Last Jedi but not as good as Rogue One or Forever Awakens
The scale of Solo’s box office failure is pretty epic. Remember, the movie was basically made twice. Rumors are the total budget reached nearly $300 million. I think a $50 million loss would be a good thing for Disney.
If this were a Bond or Star Trek movie, the producers would be sitting in a room doing a lot of hand wringing right now about the future of the franchise. If it were a new IP any planned sequels would be getting cancelled or having their budgets slashed.
I would not be shocked to see all the current proposed prequels put on hold. Obi-Wan, Boba Fett, etc.
My contribution to the pile of anecdotal evidence: I actually liked TLJ quite a bit, but had absolutely no interest in Solo. Rolled my eyes when I learned they were shooting it and laughed at the title. Ended up taking my kid to it and enjoying it more than I expected.
So based on a sample of myself, TLJ’s divisiveness may have played a part in Solo’s BO failure, but really I think from the start this looked like yet another uninteresting prequel that simply failed to attract an audience.
That’s a valid point. Nothing in the marketing made me think “Gotta see it in the theater!” I was planning on Netflix, but my boredom got the better of me and I’m glad it did.
Sometimes it’s worth considering the hypothesis that the movie just wasn’t very good and people stayed away for that reason.
The Last Jedi made 1.321 billion USD.
Yeah. I’m a firm believer that for most established series, any connection between quality and box office is based on the PREVIOUS movie in the series. Box offices are just too front-loaded and inertia-driven for a franchise movie to be significantly up or down on its own merits.
Finally saw Solo… the first Star Wars movie I haven’t seen on opening day or weekend… and it’s annoying. Kind of too ironic with its portrayal of Han as overly optimistic (in a dark Star Wars world as a western). It not a terrible movie but its too busy trying to connect dots of Han’s ‘fall’ to cynicism, which kind of makes him more a caricature. Kind of annoying how these current writers seem to want to demythify heroic characters from the orginal trilogy, patronizing the audience as too stupid to realize our real world sucks and so should Star Wars. Whatever, I felt sorry for the actors again, wasted. And the writing comes off so NOT Star Wars. Disney should hire the guy who did the Guardians of the Galaxies movies, he seems to GET the Star Wars feel. I’m not against different Star Wars movies, Rogue One still kept the heroes heroes, but this movie just feels wrong.
I enjoyed it a lot, mainly because after eight Force and Destiny movies and one Age of Rebellion movie we finally, finally got our Edge of the Empire movie.
Regarding the ST, I’m totally ambivalent about Episode 9. My biggest beef about the ST is it has utterly failed (for me) to make the First Order a credible threat and the Resistance a credible… resistance. Certainly very pale imitations of the Empire and Rebellion.
I’m quoting this post because I love it. Because I don’t know if you’re making up the terms I’ve bolded, or if those are real things in various iterations of the Star Wars universe. I’m guessing the latter, but I could totally see me or Kelly or Tom making these things up to label the things we think are going on.*
Anyway. I’m not being sarcastic. And I disagree with your point about “credible threat” and “credible”–especially w/r/t Rogue One–which, full disclosure, the more I see the more I love. But I truly do love this post.
As for your final point, about them being “very pale imitations of the Empire and Rebellion”…I don’t see them as being “very pale imitations” at all. First off, I don’t see it as a 1:1 issue. The First Order/Empire comparison only exists as a “pale imitation” based on how you first experienced the entrance of Darth Vader. If the first time you met him was when he boarded Leia’s ship after that opening, and with the “Blockade Runner” music…okay. Maybe. But I disagree with this way of viewing it. The Galaxy has a history now, and don’t many historical figures come across as merely imitations? Is that even a fair criticism since one of the points of the movie is that in introducing the First Order, we see that Kylo Ren is trying to pick up where his grandfather left off? I’m asking this question in earnest. Did you want them to send an intergalactic Hannibal Lecter in order to more darkly imitate Darth Vader?
As for the Resistance/Rebellion part of your SAT analogy, I don’t see that working as a “pale imitation” in the pejorative sense, mainly because of entropy and funding. And also because of Yavin and Hoth, and when we saw those for the first time.
Anyway, that’s all nerd talk that doesn’t make any sense to anybody but me. Suffice to say I really like your post and think this particular movie was a waste of time because it doesn’t respect character. So there.
-xtien
“Bring the hounds.”
*Well…not Kelly. Because he’s read Splinter of the Mind’s Eye.
I really wish they would have adapted Imzadi instead.
The three terms come from Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars RPG. They decided to split it into three separate core rule books (so, distinct games, though they share the same stat blocks, mechanics, etc. so can be mixed freely). The first (and my favorite) is Edge of the Empire, which has as a focus smugglers, bounty hunters, explorers, and the like. The second (and my second favorite) is Age of Rebellion, which focuses on soldiers, diplomats, etc. The third (and my least favorite) is Force and Destiny, which focuses on the Jedi, Force sensitive characters, etc. Not only are the classes slotted into the most appropriate game but also the equipment is as well – EotE has the Falcon, Slave I, rogue-ish weapns, etc.; AoR has X-Wings, Mon Calamari cruisers, army ordinance, etc.; and FaD has kybher crystals, light sabers, etc.
I’m confused about your comment regarding Rogue One. I love it too, one of my favorite Star Wars movies (I’m a bit of an Empire nerd, though, and that movie was great for that…). I found the Empire very well represented threat-wise. Note that Rogue One and Solo aren’t part of the ST for me, they are part of the OT’s story. Just The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi are in the ST so far.
I agree that I wouldn’t want to see a “bigger / badder” Darth Vader. Better to not try and ++ the OT, and one of the sins (though a necessary evil, I think) of The Force Awakens is that it hewed a little too close to Star Wars. I respect The Last Jedi for trying something different at least. What I meant is pale imitations threat-wise / resistance-wise. The OT’s original three managed to make the Empire feel like a world-spanning force, not just militarily but also a day-to-day intrusion. I must admit that Rogue One and Solo (the space port scene in the beginning as well as Minban) are part of this world building, and perhaps it’ll come in time with the ST. The Rebellion feels bigger too, and Luke’s dialog in Star Wars as a kid on the outside looking in helps build that.
In the ST the First Order feels pretty inept, Snoke hasn’t half the presence Palpatine has, Kylo is prone to frequent fits of anger, Phasma is ineffective, Hux cracks jokes and sneers. It just feels so small. I still don’t feel as if they are this huge presence. Maybe they aren’t meant to be, as they are rising from the Empire’s ashes and it is the Resistance that is the ruling force. Except… it doesn’t feel that way. It is tiny, by the end of The Last Jedi there are literally dozens of them, and nobody answers the call. Sure, a janitor boy on Casino World has a decoder ring but it just feels so… bleh. Speaking of one-up’ing the OT, the First Order blows up nine planets and it had no effect on me whatsoever. Why should I care about these planets? They show just one quick snippet of people looking up and going “oh, darn”. The destruction of Alderaan was handled so much better – we had a vessel in Leia through which to experience the pain, then of course Kenobi sells it later when he feels the disturbance.
Entropy on the part of the Resistance (“The Empire is defeated, why do we need to be at full alertness, can’t we just enjoy peace?”) and funding on the part of the First Order? I guess I could see that. Though the First Order must’ve had some funding to afford their Not Death Star.
My enjoyment of Solo was in the world-building. Much as with Rogue One. I nerded out seeing the shield generators being lifted up to newly minted Star Destroyers. Loved a glimpse at Empire bureaucracy at the space port, both the bribe lady and the registration guy. Enjoyed the look into the warfare (though I’m still not convinced a Star Wars World War I would ever really happen with that level of tech), the criminal underbelly. The plot was straightforward, the characters good enough, and the action set pieces (particularly the train heist) nifty. Not a huge fan of the reveal of you-know-who at the end but ah well.
Your whole response post is excellent, but I appreciate this the most.
Please forgive me for being a dunderhead, BigWeather, but WTF is the ST?
I mean, other than this:
I like this. Because it’s evocative of Kylo Ren and the mask. Well done.
No. I formatted that poorly. I meant both w/r/t the Resistance. They seem to have a problem with funding.
This point, in particular, is excellent. I was a fan of the movie, mainly because I loved how the relationships unfolded. However, this point is spot on and I had not considered it.
-xtien
“This bickering is pointless.”
I managed to parse it!
OT - Original Trilogy vs ST - Sequel Trilogy.