OK, But What If 'Solo' Ends Up Being Good?

By Alyssa Fikse | Film | April 15, 2018 |

By Alyssa Fikse | Film | April 15, 2018 |

Winning Star Wars fans over to Solo was always going to be an uphill battle. Harrison Ford’s scruffy looking nerf herder remains one of the most iconic characters in film history, and the thought of anyone else strapping on that blaster is a tough pill to swallow (no matter how talented the replacement). It wasn’t the standalone character film that fans wanted — my kingdom for an Obi-Wan Kenobi space western — and honestly just left people wondering why this was the route that Lucasfilm was taking. Add in a particularly fraught production, and they could have a flop on their hands.

But what if it’s great? The first trailer left a little to be desired, but each new look at the world is more fun than the last.

Listen, I may have to eat crow Memorial Day Weekend if this thing is a disaster, but I genuinely like what I’m seeing here. The world looks fresh, the character design is pretty compelling, Alden Ehrenreich has the banter with Chewie down, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a sassy droid is everything I never knew I wanted. While Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian is the obvious highlight, everything else looks pretty great, too.

Moving beyond Harrison Ford’s take on the character will be difficult because, let’s be real, no one in history has as much charisma as that man in his prime. However, if we’ve learned anything from The Last Jedi it’s that change can be good for Star Wars. Whining is often second nature to us nerd types (may you all be spared from my screeds about The Hobbit trilogy and Thor: The Dark World), but let’s not be the first ones to attack the things that we love so well.

Feel free to drag me to hell and back if I’m wrong and Solo is garbage, but I’m choosing to remain optimistic.