Jamo3103 wrote:Saw Solo last night, really wasn't impressed.
My biggest concern going in was about the actors portraying both Han and Lando but I was pleasantly surprised, think they both did a great job. The issue was the plot, it just felt so bland and was completely lacking in any excitement, it addressed things about the character of Han which I really didn't need, or want to know and it was at least half an hour too long.
Probably the worst film in the franchise for me, it never reached the lows of the prequels at their worst but at the same time it lacked any of the high points which drag those films up.
After this and The Last Jedi I have to say I'm feeling quite down on Star Wars as a franchise, been a massive fan since I first saw the original trilogy of films 25 years ago but my interest is starting to wane. The prospect of Episode IX (which is largely about characters I have no investment in) and a load more films designed to fill story gaps which (in my opinion) don't need filling (Obi Wan, Lando, Boba etc.) just doesn't appeal.
I'd love to see more films set in the universe which explore unseen aspects of it, a totally different time period (such as the Jedi/Sith war) or perhaps a point of view we haven't seen in a film. I'd love for example to see a film set from the Empire's point of view during the Civil War, this was explored in one of the new canon books called Lost Stars and it is clear how the Empire see themselves as heroes whilst seeing the Rebels as galactic terrorists. Doubt we'll see anything like that explored in a film unfortunately.
I think the issue comes down to a few things for me
> The threw out a massively expanded universe that fans were invested in. Saying "commit to this again" was always going to be a hard sell when people saw that rich (and varied) world casually cast aside. It burned long time fans.
> They then went back to that well...You liked Thrawn? See how he exists in our NEW continuity.
> They've smashed the ongoing cohesive narrative. TPM led to AOTC led to ROTS led to ANH and so on. There's an ongoing organic story that tells of a changing and evolving universe. How the hell does ROTJ lead to TFA? The film doesn't know, or care. If it can't take 5-10 minutes to properly explain the world, why should anyone care? "Oh they look like Star Drestroyers!" doesn't count. This is doubled down from the first point where an established cohesive (ish
) world was already in place. It's so disconnecting from the established universe, in a jarring manner rather than intriguing.
> Pointless Characters. Poe has no arc story in TFA. Other than to oppose the designated villain (I assume he was supposed to die off early on). Finn does nothing except being a red herring for the force user. Rey/Ren get ok stuff. Han/Leia get a massive short end of the script and character treatment. Luke is put in a mystery box.
> TLJ is set the day afterwards, and invalidates the previous film's victory.
> TLJ is clearly not build on "a plan". There's no full outline of the trilogy - they're making it up (or undermining previous films) wherever they need to. Why should audiences buy into that? In the hopes they pull desperate threads together in some as yet unplanned finale?
> Pointless Characters. Poe gets 1000s killed learning not to Mansplain. Finn could be extradited from the film and nothing would change (although more Rebels might live
). Rey gets sucked into 2 awful story-lines with Skyping Ren and Luke's exile. Luke's character is murdered and desecrated.
> Superweapon fatigue. We've gone from Planet Killer Station to Planet Killer Station II (worst part of ROTJ) to HYPERSPACE CAPABLE SYSTEM KILLING PLANET to FLEETKILLER SHIP to PLANET KILLER SHIP to BASE KILLER ULTIMATE LASER (those last 3 in one film, or last 4 in the space of 4 narrative days). You can't have any sense of threat against such over the top elements.
> TFA relied on nostalgia. TLJ relied on Nostalgia, while sticking 2 fingers up to it (Like Star Trek Into Darkness). It's an odd feeling that they've got nothing substantively new to offer, but also degenerate what they''re relying on.
That's a lot of words for a "meh" feeling