Solo: A Star Wars Story (official title)

[crimsonquill]

Additionally... I know everyone always predicts superhero fatigue, but if I were Disney, I'd be FAR more worried about Star Wars fatigue. The Marvel movies have done a decent job of varying up the formula and doing all kinds of different genres within the Superhero blanket... but I just don't get that with Star Wars.

That's a really good comparison between Marvel and Star Wars that I never really thought about. There's enough in the Star Wars 'verse that they could certainly mix and match all sorts of genres, and that could help a lot with keeping it fresh.

SOLO was meant to have a Heist/Space Western (train robbery, smugglers, gun slingers, outrun the law in a dangerous environment) vibe to it and everything I've seen in the design/planning stages kept that mood to it. I wonder just how much refilming almost the entire film under Ron Howard lost much of the intended style because most the shots had to be filmed on blue screen since most of the giant sets were taken down by that point. It's amazing what Ron had to accomplish in such a short period of time and yet the majority of the blame seems to come on everyone involved because it was the "origin story that nobody wanted". Folks forget that the original footage under the old directors had much more comedy (way more improv) and ignored most of the scripting that Lawrence and Johnathan Kasdan put together and needed to find that old school feeling with a cast that felt very confused over the whiplash in direction once they returned for reshoots. For those of you confused.. reference issues of the "Star Wars: Tag & Bink Were Here "comics and that was the style that the original directors (Lord & Miller) were going for. For those with a very keen eye Tag & Bink even have a minor cameo in the final theatrical version because they used footage from the Lord & Miller version which have the duo bickering (yes, the Storm Troopers which are talking about "the monster in the pit") which crossed paths with Solo and Chewie as prisoners.

- CQ

[Silver Shocker]

So I watched it this week. Pretty fun. The references were very well researched and appreciated (the card games were especially amusing) but it kinda left me a little flat. Maybe it's because like Man of Steel and Prometheus I'd already heard people say all there was to say about the film by the time I saw it, but I think it's also because it still feels like an unnecessary story that in no way restores my faith in Disney's "mission plan" for Star Wars going forward. It was a perfectly good "rental movie".

[Shogunn2517]

So you must really be hating Kathleen Kennedy's extension.

[Silver Shocker]

Nah, "hating" is far too strong a word. My reaction is more "whatever". Solo didn't restore my faith in Star Wars, but maybe trailers for episode 9 will when those come out.

[crimsonquill]

What Star Wars needs is someone with the "master plan" of Star Wars under LucasFilm/Disney's arm much like Feige has built with Marvel Studios. They sort of have a plan with Star Wars Episode 7 to 9 but you can tell that each director just received a plot synopsis and basic script then run with that in their own direction and Kathleen doesn't check in on them regularly on set or walk in during the planning stages like Lucas used to do. She seems to start checking in with things starting with the dailies and that's where Solo really became a shock because she slammed on the breaks and fired the directors because they ignored the script they were handed. It become extremely costly because this happened at the 80-90% completed point which forced them to start from scratch and dump everything already in the can. She really should have been on their case from the moment that their out of control ad libbing started to show their respect to the script she gave them.

Episode 8 only became a problem because the director listened to the fans who wanted things to feel less like each new film would echo the classic trilogy (so many folks kept commenting that Force Awakens borrowed too much from A New Hope). Then he got the opposite feedback with his film from those superfans because it was radically different from the classic films. Nobody was around that could act as THE story guide they could call on if they needed advice. I still have an impression they are avoiding having someone follow in that role because nobody wants to become a giant target when things go wrong. If the superfans forced Lucas to sell it then how would they treat the people that stepped in his footsteps?

- CQ

[Shogunn2517]

In all honesty, I agree and disagree.

I think the part that made/are making the sequel trilogy so divisive is its lack of connection to the original trilogy... I take that back. I can't qualify that statement. I just know that it feels different. Even to me. Maybe that's why some characters has received such a backlash.

I do know this though, I very much agree with the sentiment that the lack of cohesion between Episodes VII to VIII and now to IX is showing. You make a big deal out of Rey's parents then they're no big deal. You make Snoke such a dominant force then kill him. And now there's word that all of that may be important again. The difference is Abrams, who did VII, didn't do VIII and is now doing IX and it shows. It's like the sequel trilogy has a split personality. And now with Johnson being given his own trilogy, Weiss and Benioff having their own series, I do get a bit of a DCU feel with this.  Just a bit. Ultimately, they're separate stories on the same canvass. That is where Solo lies. It doesn't have to be about the saga story. So that's probably where people are finding issue with it.