Yeah, sorry, PT = prequel trilogy, OT = original trilogy, ST = sequel trilogy. I actually think of them as actually three totally separate cinematic universes:
Prequels: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars (movie and series), Revenge of the Sith
Original: Solo, Rebels (series), Rogue One, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi
Sequels: Resistance (series), The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, Episode IX
Finally saw this today and everybody really enjoyed it (11 and 8 year old boys, me and my wife and even my 71 year old mom).
Strangley full theater for a mid afternoon Friday showing of a 6 week old movie.
So I caught this in the budget theater this evening, and it was very by-the-numbers, unexciting for me. It was essentially a heist movie with a McGuffin in it, but the entire Kessel Run just felt more and more silly the further they got. It had all the predictable story beats if one were writing some kind of Han Solo fan fiction to establish his entire backhistory.
It was also the darkest big-budget movie I can remember, and I don’t mean tone. My god, what was Howard thinking? I feel like I had sunglasses on during most of the movie. It was horribly lit, I lost count how many times character’s faces were backlit and in shadow, and it felt like the entire movie was in some kind of perpetual twilight. Even the interior scenes were dimly lit. I can’t recall a single moment where any kind of “normal” lighting kicked in.
You haven’t seen any of the recent DC movies, have you?
I didn’t think Solo was particularly darkly shot/edited.
I agree with Woolen, the image was VERY dark for me as well and really impacted my enjoyment.
Basically the Cinematographer shot it more as an indy with low-light sensibilities, consequently everything is pretty dark and shadowy. When critics and viewers started to criticize him for this approach, he blamed badly callibrated projectors at the cinemas.
At the heart of this controversy is a disconnect between lax projection standards and a very specific creative agenda — namely, the work of “Solo” cinematographer Bradford Young, who is known for experimenting with low-light cinematography.
In a recent interview with IndieWire for “Where Is Kyra?,” Young talked about how his increasingly dark images are partially an artistic response to the dark times facing the world today. He also discussed how digital cinematography has allowed him to take risks because of the ability to see in the on-set monitor exactly what he was getting in the lower end (or the “toe”) of the exposure.
I don’t quite buy that excuse, since I went to a highend cinema that I trust to have a very good image and I feel there are WAY too many people picking up on this problem for it to be an abberation. Even based on the trailer seen on a bright PC screen I feel its too dark. But perhaps I’m doing him a disservice.
https://i.imgur.com/9v98Wiu.png
https://i.imgur.com/ihncHk5.png
https://i.imgur.com/7OpE7n7.png
https://i.imgur.com/pMkHbcH.png
I mean, dark and moody can be fine for atmosphere, but if its 75% of your whole film it gets a bit much. Also in that last shot, there’s obviously lots of light outside, but in the scene you can hardly even make out what the characters are wearing.
If people are struggling to see whats going on in your 250 million dollar budgeted movie, you have a problem…
So basically Donald Trump ruined Star Wars.
Yep, thanks to him the world is a dark place these days.
Maybe HDR needs to be turned on.
Can they add post process lens flares or something?
Jon Kasdan, one of the movie’s writers, posted some interesting experiences and insights about the movie on Twitter. (He was tied to the project through his dad, Larry Kasdan. Larry, of course, was integral to making Han so interesting back in the Empire days, and so he got to focus the script of The Force Awakens and this one. Jon is the Kasdan son that didn’t direct Zero Effect and didn’t have anything to do with New Girl.)
It sounds like he had a good experience making the movie, tried to make it a great Star Wars movie, and is cautiously, if affectionately, washing his hands of it as a final product.
LK = Lawrence Kasdan, RH = Ron Howard, C&P = Chris Miller and Phil Lord
Interesting stuff, thanks for posting it.
While I did find most of the movie enjoyable the Kessel Run mostly gave me the impression of a confusing CGI-fest more similar to the escape deep in the Naboo Abyss of the Phantom Menace rather than the close call in the Hoth asteroid belt of Empire Strikes Back.
I watched the film at the cinema and also felt the Kessel Run was a confusing mess. I remember a tentacled monster, but thats basically it.
Like I mentioned upthread, the movie had a general problem in that it was extremly dark and ‘moody’, so thats a factor I guess.
Also I’d completely forgotten there were other wookies around, which should have been a big thing! But it also just goes under in all the chaos, don’t think any wookie apart from Chewie even got a close up.
Wow I wrote this right after I saw the film and never posted it.
I had zero, I mean zero interest in this movie. I did not care for Last Jedi at all for every reason that’s been mentioned to death. I don’t like the idea of knowing more about Han Solo’s past. I don’t like prequels. I don’t like the actor playing solo and Ron Howard can make a really dull movie.
That said, I enjoyed the film. The stakes aren’t high and for some reason that makes me feel like this was an episode for a tv show rather than a film. The humor is there without being out of place (like Last Jedi). Donald Glover nails Lando and let’s be honest this is the Chewie movie.
This film isn’t breaking any new ground. It’s a heist movie with all the tropes that go with it, but I’m okay with that.
Paul Bettany, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton all under used or underdeveloped.
And I’m noticing a trend with Cool robot characters dying in these films as some sort of forced emotional repsonse’
I wish there was an extended score because it’s good and not all on the soundtrack.
Now I’m actually interested in seeing a SOLO 2
He is the best thing in this movie.
And that is meant as a compliment.
Donald Glover. Funny enough, his dad is named Danny Glover, but it’s not the actor.
I saw this cross promo ad on a website today and thought, “Wait, the Nissan Rogue was in SOLO??? I’d better buy one right now!!!”
What a weird ad campaign.
Yep you can customize a few of their vehicles apparently.
Are any of the customization options an escape pod?
I had pretty much the same experience of the film. Take out the groan-inducing “we have to account for every crumb of Hans Solo’s backstory in the original trilogy” moments, and this might be my favorite of the post-Lucas films.