Solo: A Star Wars Story - Watering Down Something Amazing

I finally got around to seeing Solo: A Star Wars Story, a movie that managed to do the unimaginable.  Not only did this film not make tons of money, it is the first Star Wars film to be a box office bomb.  It is also the first Star Wars movie that I haven't seen in theatre, and I'm fine with that.

Overall, I thought Solo was decent enough.  Its cast was well selected, and the action was well shot.  I felt as though the viewing time passed by at a quick pace, which is always important for a film that is two hours and fifteen minutes.  There were a few smaller problems that I had with the film, such as a dreaded (and seemingly large) marauder turning out to be a child, and a number of call backs that weren't needed.  Ultimately, though, I was left wondering if I really even wanted this story to be told.  The answer is 'no.'  While I enjoyed the film, this wasn't anything that I was longing to see, and it sort of felt as though the effort was about making money instead of coming about because someone had a killer idea that needed to be pushed forward.

There is one issue with the film that I really did not like.  It is pretty much the same problem as when George Lucas decided to mess with his movie and make it so that bounty hunter Greedo shot at Han Solo in A New Hope, meaning that Han naturally had to shoot back and kill him.  Lucas saw that Solo became a hero, and why would a hero essentially murder someone, such as how it was portrayed in the theatrical release of the first Star Wars film?  Han Solo was then watered down.  The same happens in Solo.  Director Ron Howard and script writers Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan craft a tale where Han Solo is what the audience would want him to be at the end of the movie, and that is altruistic.

There are three big emotional moments in the final minutes of A New Hope that made it the classic that it became.  One was when Luke Skywalker turned off the targeting computer in his X-Wing and relied on using the force.  Another was when he blew up the Death Star.  The biggest emotional moment, at least to me, is when Han Solo shows up at the very last second and saves Luke from Darth Vader.

The reason why this moment is so key to the movie is because it is a transformation moment for Han Solo.  We need to put our love of the iconic character aside and remember that in the beginning he was a cold-hearted career criminal.  He had no care for anything other than his own safety and making money.  Life and other people meant nothing to him.  By having a scene where he murdered Greedo, the audience is shown that Han Solo has no moral compass, and will stop at nothing to save his own skin.

As bad as all of that makes Han Solo sound, it is the only way to get the maximum impact for the finale.  There are characteristics to Han that we as the audience enjoy and appreciate, and while watching the film we are thinking, 'I wish he was a good guy.'  George Lucas expertly threaded the needle, giving us someone who wasn't redeemable, but also someone that we desperately wanted to cheer for.

When he shows up and takes out Darth Vader, the moment is truly significant because of just how egocentric and unethical Han Solo was.  By taking away the scene with Greedo, Lucas diluted the villainy of Han Solo.  By creating an origin story where in the end Han Solo is only interested in doing the right thing we are losing out on the punching effect that his transformation would hold.

There is a very good reason why Han Solo was as brutal and criminal as Lucas first had him portrayed, and that reason is so we would cheer when he, for the first time, made a choice that didn't put himself first.  Some folk may seem that the softening of his character makes it easier for kids, but I think there is something powerful in explaining to a young person that even someone as morally lost as Han Solo could still become reformed.  Han Solo was a smuggler, cheat, and murderer, and by George Lucas originally portraying him that way led to one of the best character turns in cinematic history.