We are but a matter of months away from the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, the horribly named anthology film based around Han Solo’s younger days before he aided Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi on Tatooine. But, amongst director issues and a number of setbacks, the film’s apparent May 25 release is unaltered, which brings about a number of issues. Firstly, will it be ready? And secondly, will it be good?
Disney and it’s behemoth movie arm doesn’t like rescheduling. And with Star Wars hoping to swap back to its May annual release cycle, you can bet there’s a lot of pressure to have it ready. Just half a year ago, the original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired due to creative differences between themselves and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. Having been a producer for ET, Jurassic Park, Schindlers List, Back To The Future, and the recent Star Wars films, you could argue that she has an inkling on the direction for mainstream success.
But with on the complaints being a lack of useable footage to edit with, due to Lord and Miller’s decision to use limited camera angles, a new director and their own sense of style and artistry, and a corporation with a desire to have things done uniformly, will the less than 12 month window from coming onboard, finishing shooting, post production and release be enough for Ron Howard?
We’re at a point now where we have no trailer yet, no indication of what the film will entail, and a cast that on paper seems strong, but is being led by an actor, Alden Ehrenreich, who Lucasfilm brought an acting coach late in production to assist. Not oozing a lot of confidence.
The absolute worst thing though, is that the expectations are enormous. Harrison Ford’s Han Solo is iconic, and has an irresistible charm that women love, and men aspire to have. A confidence, overwhelming aura that is hard to achieve, nevermind replicate convincingly. All with The Last Jedi, not a flop in any sense, but underwhelming Lucasfilm and Disney’s expectations, and audiences and critics not quite seeing eye to eye on its merits. It’s a poisonous atmosphere, that isn’t forgiving to a trouble production plagued with symptoms of a critical failure.
But the aforementioned great cast does have a lot of redeeming quality. Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Paul Bettany, and an intriguing Donald Glover as Lando Calrission suggests there will be some gold amongst the mud. The movie though will need to have solid storytelling, and a fascinating narrative that due to the film’s prequel status, will have little perilous feeling, such is the confirmed fate of Han and Chewie in the other films.
It’s definitely going to require a fantastic trailer to calm the nerves of Star Wars fans, myself included, who fear that the continuation of standalone films could rest heavily on the success of this one, marked by one of the Saga’s biggest stars, Han Solo. The rumoured Ewan McGregor Obi Wan Kenobi film, and fan favourite Boba Fett one, could be put on hold if Solo: A Star Wars tarnishes the reputation of the non-Rey / Finn / Poe / Kylo series. And I for one, don’t want that to happen.