Solo: It's a Better Movie than It Got Credit for

 SPOILERS AHEAD---- I'm not good at avoiding these, so if you haven't seen the movie, you might want to bail...

I did something most people probably didn't do before seeing this movie; I didn't watch any trailers, read any reviews or go into it with high hopes. In fact, I never really got into any of the Star Wars movies after the original trilogy. I liked the pod racing scene in Phantom Menace, but the next two movies were mostly awkward and forgettable to me. With Force Awakens, I did have to wonder if they casted it well and I just wasn't feeling Kylo Ren at all. The only seen I really liked was where Finn and Rey were working together to hit switches in a fight scene-- the only place where the movie had perfect chemistry. I don't remember Rogue One very well, but I remember the ending was sad. I didn't even bother seeing Last Jedi but I'm sure I will eventually.

Solo is my favorite Star Wars movie now.

These days, I'm scarce on social media or any type of opinion forum. I don't depress myself by devouring world news. I enjoy the internet for its very valuable factual research for my stories. I can admit that it can get addictive to be 'liked', but the tables are just as likely to turn. The fact that I can't tell if people are being serious or satirizing is another big turn-off. I consider myself to be very moderate, not so I can agree with my liberal and conservative friends, but so they understand that I intend to disagree with them when my own experiences prove an exception to their opinion.

That's the baseline for my standpoint. When I saw that this movie, Solo, was doing badly, I was genuinely shocked. I didn't go in with any agendas, but one of the first outrageous claims I saw was that this was an 'SJW movie'.

I have no idea how anyone can get that out of this movie. We're used to movies with a diverse cast by now and not only was this cast perfect for each of their roles (Danny Glover, Paul Bettany, Thandie Newton and Woody Harrelson, not to mention Amelia Clarke) I don't feel like they were 'color-casted' at all. I'd have a hard time even trying to put another actor into their roles. 

Let's get another bit out of the way before I launch into the SJW bit though; Alden Ehrenreich is no Harrison Ford. I don't think he was badly cast and it didn't ruin the movie for me, but we don't live in a time that makes men or actors like Ford anymore. Harrison Ford also came from an era where men and women didn't shame each other for their differences. That being said, while he didn't hit the same charisma or reckless arrogance as Ford, he was still convincing as an inexperienced, young Han Solo.

Now let's get to L3. How anyone can assume that this was a WIN for SJWs is beyond me. Directly from the onset, Lando makes it clear that he would erase L3 if he could but her navigational maps are indispensable. He finds all aspects of her personality irritating and humors her unfortunate personality because he's a showy, arrogant man who likes to possess things that no one else has. He tolerates a lot of bullshit and takes a lot of risks to have those things. When you look at how he deals with her, it is less a romance and more a purely comical arranged marriage type situation. Notice that when he is desperate to save her and the bottom half falls off, he hesitates for less than a second before he makes off with what he considers the most important. And I do think he is a little sad to see her go, but in the way that mismatched people often grow on each other. Han Solo and Leia were wildly attracted to each other and also completely annoyed.

And as for the SJW revolution where L3 'liberates' the droids? When she releases the restraint bolts on the first droid, she sets it free and then seems clueless as to what the fuck it should do. As the scene switches between the action, the next glimpse we get is her celebrating because she found her calling and all around her, the 'freed' droids are... basic fucking morons. They're running into things, wheeling over things back and forth, because most of them are low-level machines built with very limited purposes. L3 is like a Swiss Army knife in terms of use and she herself puts anything Lando says as her top priority, but her 'side missions' and 'purpose' are useless and hilarious, not very flattering to SJWs. The droids don't really represent slavery or anything so lofty; they come off as quite the opposite-- it is more akin to throwing your PlayStation in the dishwasher to clean dust off of it. To me, it seemed to poke fun at what happens when you meddle in the individual function of a logical society, you get chaos without purpose. What it DID succeed in was adding to the distraction and chaos that the main characters needed so that they could escape. It was never the central purpose and it doesn't glorify social justice in the least. It was just funny.

Now as for the movie as a whole, as far as I'm concerned, the pacing was perfect. The characters complemented each other well and it was funny, dramatic, and action-packed in all of the right amounts for me. One thing movie writers have been doing really well in modern times is choreographing beautiful intelligent fight scenes that do an excellent job utilizing their environments. I think Alden and Amelia had a chemistry that worked well, none of the awkward unbelievability that Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman, both terrific actors in all other respects, suffered in their compatibility. I have to admit I've become a big fan of Danny Glover and Thandie Newton; him from Community and her in Westworld as Maeve. Maeve is easily one of my favorite characters to date and she nails it. Glover is flawless as Billy D. Williams, er, Lando Calrissian and that's just it-- he doesn't just get into character, he really took the time to research his predecessor. Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos-- I can't say it enough how underrated Paul Bettany is as an actor because this was a VERY masterfully done and subtle villain that might easily have been ruined by anyone else. Woody Harrelson, well, he tends to rock roles in movies I didn't even like. I was not a Hunger Games fan but the guy he played in that (and Elizabeth Banks' Effie Trinket) were the only reasons I bothered (although Donald Sutherland makes a chilling villain, pun absolutely intended).

While it's regrettable that Thandie Newton's character (I think it was Val, but it was so rarely said) and the little four armed guy were short-lived, I can't say there were any characters that weren't well done. I had to look her up because I'd never seen her prior to this but the gorgeous Erin Kellyman who plays Enfys Nest is someone I intend to look for in the future. She's got such striking features that you could never mistake for anyone else. Even the brief characters were dimensional though.

I would not be disappointed if there weren't more movies in the Solo saga. I didn't feel like this one HAD to be continued, that it was complete within itself, but I would certainly try more of them if they go ahead with that. I feel like this is a movie that did its job; it told the back story of Han Solo learning some of the most important and hardest lessons that formed him. I'd never really imagined this movie would ever be made, but I'm very glad it was. It wasn't loaded with terrible CGI, and some people may complain it was too dark in places and that it seemed like a low budget shortcut, but I can't say that ever bothered me and there are plenty of video games and movies I would make that complaint about.

Here's what I'd really like to leave you with-- try to avoid consuming media with too much knowledge going in. Hype or bashing might overinfluence your ability to enjoy it or even form your own opinion. I might have enjoyed it less if I dissected it according to what other people said. Even now, I feel like I make a unique contribution to the arguments rather than just agreeing or disagreeing BECAUSE I didn't go in expecting anything. Perception is everything. I might have liked Hunger Games if I hadn't seen the concept done better in Battle Royale for example. Opinions are all over the place, but when it comes to the SJW argument, I think that bit was comedic genius that managed to shit on both SJWs AND anti-SJWs. Come with me and sit on the fence where it's easier to shit on both sides.

I'm sticking to my story; this was my favorite Star Wars movie to date. I still love the original trilogy but this was just a great balance of everything and I didn't feel like it pandered to anyone. You didn't have to be a fan to like this movie, but a fan could still enjoy it. I'm not trying to change minds, but I really, really feel like the harsher critics weren't watching the same movie I was. It's almost alien how differing the opinions are-- all the more reason I think people should get out and see it. Where do you fall?