(MILD SPOILERS) I wasn't excited about the Han Solo movie...until now

[Neverhoodian]

https://twitter.com/RealRonHoward/status/919270625696538625/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstarwars.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FMain_Page

https://www.inverse.com/article/37428-han-solo-tag-and-bink-writer-kevin-rubio-comics-ron-howard

That's right, the two most unlikely heroes in the galaxy are going to be part of the current Star Wars continuity. To be fair they're probably only going to make a brief cameo, but the mere act of acknowledging their existence in the official canon is amazing in and of itself.

For those not in the know:

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Whatever interest I could've possibly had for a Han Solo origin story died with the character in The Force Awakens.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

I want a movie about these guys. A Star Wars movie inspired by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead would at least be... you know, it would be something. It'd be inspired and surprising and all those other things no Star Wars movie will probably be in a very long time. It's such a sadness that the Star Wars Universe is in the hands of people who, in all likelihood, are never gonna experiment with it in any meaningful way. I think the best we can hope for is something like Rogue One, which, to be fair, was different. It wasn't good. But it was different.

 

[Chewster]

I was never too hyped for this except to see Donald Glover as a young Lando because Donald Glover is super talented and genuinely funny.

 

[LunarRepublic]

I had really mixed feelings about the Han Solo movie, especially after Phil Lord and Chris Miller got kicked out. And hearing how they nearly turned it into a full-blown comedy before they left, I'm really worried this will blow even harder than Rogue One.

...and then I heard that John Powell was brought in as composer, and I'm absolutely sold.

John Powell's the man behind the music for the Bourne series and How to Train Your Dragon. He's also been attached to a lot of bad-to-mediocre films like The Lorax, X-Men: The Last Stand and Hancock, and almost every single time, his score is the saving grace of the movie. His musical style is like a mix between the intensity and excitement of Hans Zimmer, and the sentiment and melodies of John Williams. And it's utterly magnificent.

He's my favorite film composer of all time, and one of the most underrated film composers working today. And my god, he's going to make music for Star Wars.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

I was kinda excited, til i learned lead actor had to take acting lessons between shots.

 

[Hawki]

So, newsflash. The Han Solo movie is called...

Solo: A Star Wars Story

...

...

...this is gonna blow.

 

[TelosSupreme]

Eh, really doesn't do anything for me, as funny as that series was.

Honestly, I still don't understand the direction Star Wars is going under Disney. Was anybody really asking for a Han Solo movie? I sure wasn't, and it will certainly stay that way with how it appears to have been handled thus far. Star Wars is a complete mess.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Honestly, I still don't understand the direction Star Wars is going under Disney. Was anybody really asking for a Han Solo movie? I sure wasn't, and it will certainly stay that way with how it appears to have been handled thus far. Star Wars is a complete mess.

Disney was a safe choice to steward a special effects tentpole series of blockbuster films after their run of success with Marvel. Like or loathe the MCU, it was a commercial juggernaut that succeeded on high concept like Rule of Cool, breezy dialogue and bankable stars. As this was the exact same formula that saw Star Wars redefine the big budget action film to begin with, it was a logical fit. And the drubbing Force Awakens delivered at the box office demonstrated that Disney knows their market.

The place to experiment and push boundaries was the standalone films, and Rogue One was a tepid, cowardly blob of fan service and half baked ideas. It doesn't bode well for future installments. "Logan" is an excellent example of taking a genre film and snapping it out of its conventions to deliver something genuinely refreshing (if, in this case, exceedingly dour). A Rogue One that bore more resemblance to Saving Private Ryan than a traditional Star Wars film could and would have been very interesting. Alas. A Han Solo stand alone movie that was a breezy comic enterprise from wall to wall could have been interesting. Alas. This is where Disney's play-it-safe attitude comes back around to bite them in the ass. The MCU has the benefit of having everything tie into a single, larger story, so even the weaker installments get buoyed by the rising tide of the enterprise as a whole. These Star Wars prequels and far flung one-offs have nothing to do with the larger narrative at all, and just feel like...soggy Star Wars films. Superior to the Ed Wood ineptitude of the Lucas prequels, perhaps, but only technically. Spiritually Rogue One felt completely inert, and the signs are grim for this Han Solo film.

 

[Hawki]

The MCU has the benefit of having everything tie into a single, larger story, so even the weaker installments get buoyed by the rising tide of the enterprise as a whole. These Star Wars prequels and far flung one-offs have nothing to do with the larger narrative at all, and just feel like...soggy Star Wars films. Superior to the Ed Wood ineptitude of the Lucas prequels, perhaps, but only technically. Spiritually Rogue One felt completely inert, and the signs are grim for this Han Solo film.

I disagree on the notion that the MCU really has the benefit of having everything tie in. Star Wars, films-wise, is more or less a complete, single narrative. You don't need to watch every film in that narrative to understand what's going on, but there's clearly one overarching story going on. As in, for instance, if you wanted to watch things chronologically, you could easily slot in Rogue One between Revenge and New Hope.

The MCU on the other hand is far more about string continuity, and whether that's a good or bad thing depends on how invested you are. For instance, I watched Spider-Man: Homecoming, but to understand a film titled "Spider-Man," I'd have to watch a plenthora of other MCU films where Spidey isn't even present to understand what the heck is going on. That, or look stuff online (in my case, bit of both). But the MCU is also more tangental - so far, both GotG films have been stand-alone with no real connections to Earth, whereas in Star Wars, again, it's still the same overarching narrative.

If we're comparing the two franchises, I actually did a quick check - for me, the average Star Wars film rating is 3.44/5, whereas the average MCU film rating is 3.18/5. Overall, Star Wars has had lower lows than the MCU, but also higher highs. Though Star Wars's "highs" are in the OT, whereas the MCU's highs have been in more recent entries, so who knows what'll happen down the line?

 

[Tanis]

Still waiting for my 'I, Jedi', film...but that's never going to happen now that the current continuity seems hellbent on 'underdog stories' instead of something more interesting.

 

[Natemans]

I was mildly interested in the film. Until Lord and Miller left. And then more of the behind-the-scenes came out. I'm interested in it, but not for positive reasons. More of what kinda trainwreck this is gonna be