Hey, d'you remember Zombieland? The low-fanfare, roundly entertaining ensemble comedy-horror from 2009 when The Walking Dead was only three seasons old so everyone was still into zombies? With the jokes and the splatter and the post-modern subversion of the nuclear family and 21st century crisis-management? Well if you missed that, here it is again only less.
Writer/director Ruben Fleischer returns - hoping for all the world that people still associate his name with the 2009 undead debut rather than last year's Venom - along with his original players in the form of Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson). The years have been good to the cast, with Stone in particular largely beyond this type of fare these days, so their reunion is a definite point in the movie's favour.
FAMILY We pick up ten years after first meeting the gang as they've settled into a dysfunctional yet relatively stable family unit. Stable that is until Little Rock feels the urge to flee the nest after a chance meeting with drifting stoner Berkeley (Avan Jogia), and the arrival of the valley-girl-esque Madison (Zoey Deutch). And so another road-trip and rescue mission begins through the burned out wreckage of America as fun, gunfire and relentless gore go hand in hand...
Eisenberg's opening (and subsequently sporadic) narration returns*1, as does the slow-motion, Metallica-backed title sequence*2, as do the on-screen graphics listing Zombieland's familiar rules, as do the Zombie Kill of The Week™ cutaways. And while it's certainly nice that these stylistic recurrences haven't been jettisoned during the production process, their collective weight quickly becomes the film's problem, rather than its solution. Double Tap is doing nothing new, even with characters we're meeting for the first time*3. The cast all do fairly well in their roles, but for the most part we've seen it before (in Eisenberg's case especially, as he only seems to have one performance).
SHARON The problem, as is so often the case, is one of expectation. 2009's Zombieland came out of nowhere and took civilian audiences and critics alike by surprise. But much like Guardians Of The Galaxy, Kingsman and Deadpool, the audience for this sequel consists almost entirely of fans of the first movie. And now they've got a checklist. What's more, in this case they've had that list for a decade. The zombie-culture renaissance has waned somewhat in the intervening ten years, and scripted references to Dawn Of The Dead and The Walking Dead now seem more lazy than geekily insightful.
Then there are the weird tonal shifts throughout, like the creative team couldn't agree on where to land between cynical, bleak and comic. It doesn't help that the characters new to this entry have only been half-written, so some of their 'exits' come off as similarly uneven. Ultimately, both the story and its execution feel very on-the-nose, as the film steams through in its bid to make as many callbacks as possible, hoping they'll be an adequate substitute for charm or originality*4. I mean, sincere congratulations to Fleischer for getting the band back together, but Double Tap feels as if they should have come back for more. It's like a second-draft screenplay became the shooting script without anyone noticing until the edit stage.
LYLE And for those among you thinking 'this sounds like it would work better as part of a double-bill with the original', I assure you it doesn't. I'd re-acquainted with that one at home in the afternoon before watching Double Tap, and if anything the direct comparison just hurts the sequel more. Don't get me wrong, the film has some great moments and even in its dips is never flat-out unenjoyable. It's just very forgettable.
There's a mid-credits scene which begins about 45 seconds into the credits (basically so that you won't be able to walk out without watching it start). It features a flashback/reprise of Bill Murray's Bill Murray™ character from the first Zombieland. And if you enjoy that, there's also a post-credits coda in the same vein. Alas, of the sizeable Saturday night crowd who'd come out to watch Double Tap, I was the only one who wanted to hang around that long. Which should tell you something about the mood in which the movie leaves its audience.
I'm not convinced that we needed a second Zombieland movie, and watching this I don't think Ruben Fleischer was either. But in a year which sees the sixth installments of both the Rambo and Terminator franchises, I see no real harm in splatting a few more ghouls just for the hell of it. Double Tap is basically fine, but that in itself is not.
You remember how Amazon made that TV spin-off pilot episode which worked relatively well on its own, yet still completely failed to recreate the spark of what had made Zombieland special in the first place? Well, now there's a movie like that as well...
Zombieland.
It is very, very similar to Zombieland.
That's not a bad thing, it's just not enough.
Without wanting to damn with faint praise, you may as well see this in all the glory it's got on a huge cinema screen, yes.
It is, although the number of rewatches you'll get out of this is anyone's guess.
That's a strong four, but I think the film will quickly earn a reputation of being 'neither nowt nor summat'.
*1 Although the narration seems to be aimed through the fourth-wall and directly at the viewer this time, rather than something which could broadly count as a diary being read retrospectively. [ BACK ]
*2 For the record, 1986's Master Of Puppets is used to open Double Tap. And I'll be honest, For Whom The Bell Tolls from the first movie worked far better. It's a super slo-mo sequence so the slower, heavier song creates a stronger pairing. Choosing Master Of Puppets to for the sequel just feels like Ruben Fleischer trying to impress a girl by picking his naming Metallica tracks. Which, as men of a certain age will no doubt know, never actually works. [ BACK ]
*3 Guys, seriously. The whole "oh we've met another group of travellers who are avoiding zombies and their defining characteristics are almost exactly like our own!" schtick was done first in Shaun Of The Dead. The one from fifteen years ago. And it was only a passing gag there, here's it's dragged out expanded to fifteen minutes for a punchline which could have been achieved after five. [ BACK ]
*4Haha! Tallahassee is sitting in the president's chair in The White House*5! He's brash and uncivilised and kind of a moron and he's sitting in the president's chair! DO YOU SEE? DO YOU GET THE JOKE? THIS IS HOW YOU DO A SATIRE HAHAHAHA!![ BACK ]
*5 Naturally it's not explained why our heroes are able to break into the White House and find everything intact because not a single looting soul has forced their way into one of the most prominent buildings in America over the previous ten years that it's stood empty. Although I imagine the reason is on the same page as the fact that they're living there for weeks/months and no one attempts to get in then, either, despite there being plenty of other surviving humans around elsewhere in the movie.
[ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Venom (2D / Vaguely spoiler-ish)
Cert: 15 / 112 mins / Dir. Ruben Fleischer / Trailer
In short: I went to see Venom.
It is not a good film*1.
In long...
If there was ever a celluloid embodiment of the words 'oh mate', this would be the one.
So. It's Los Angeles. Some gooey aliens want to take over the Earth because scientists went into space and that was always going to end badly. We're at the point now where extra-terrestrial invasion narratives are no longer a metaphor for colonial attitudes or fear of progress, but just reflect the page where the library-copy of The Hollywood Screenwriter's Handbook falls open.
VENOM Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock, an investigative reporter who makes non-branded videos of domestic issues which we first assume are just for YouTube, but are apparently for some corporation or other, the precise nature of which isn't explained. He's the kind of hard-hitting, new-media journalist who corners his quarry by politely arranging meetings in their place of work then arriving on time. Who ruthlessly fronts his videos by looking at neither the camera nor his interview subject, but at a scratty notepad clutched in his hand while he mumbles vague accusations. Who responds to firm corporate rebuttal by leaving the building when asked. Who is so celebrated and in-demand as a journalist that when he's sacked from his part-time job nobody even notices, let alone head-hunts him for their own company. If Brock is actually capable of any kind of sleuthing or intelligence-gathering, we don't see it in this film. Anyway, Eddie is poking his nose into things he shouldn't, and an alien goes in him. That's Act 1.
Brock's girlfriend, Anne Weying, is played by the Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Williams, who brilliantly and incisively interprets her role as a woman looking indelibly bored for two hours. Anne is a lawyer whom we never see doing any lawyering, although given that a) it's not her film, and b) we barely see our investigative reporter actually investigating or reporting either, this is hardly surprising. Riz Ahmed plays Carlton Drake, who is The Baddie. We know this because he wears a sharp suit and whenever he opens his mouth, is forced to recite lines from The Movie Baddie's Phrasebook while squinting at underlings just off-camera. Woody Harrelson is in this but not until the end, and then you'll wish he hadn't bothered.
POISON So. Venom feels like spending two hours watching first-takes of actors reading their lines for the first time, from a script which was written by a 12yr old who only watches superhero movies.
Demographically, Sony have spent so much effort angling their product to a non-kiddie audience that they didn't notice anyone old enough to get in will have seen all of this before (and better), whether it be any movie with aliens arriving on Earth, Todd McFarlane's other creation, Spawn, or even just the distrusted-authority in shiny skyscraper laboratories of Sony's last two Spider-Man outings. And although we get enough of the glistening fangs and body-horror to squeak through as a 15-certificate, there's little here to actually earn this edgier rating in terms of lasting threat or human injury.
By the time Brock and Venom become a variety double-act of grumpy bickering which barely stops short of looking right down the camera, this is like a Hallow'een-costume Deadpool.
But without the swearing. Or the self-awareness. Or the wit.
TIGERTAILZ Beats are taken haphazardly from the horror genre, from the conspiracy thriller, sci-fi, action, comedy and of course the superhero-origins story. None of these gel together in the final edit, which incoherently changes tone at a rate suggesting that director Ruben Fleischer has suffered some sort of cranial trauma, and is permanently unable to recall the footage he shot each previous day. As a result, Hardy is left to bimble along from scene to scene in the title role, himself displaying symptoms of scriptual amnesia as he struggles to work out who his character is meant to be. The lack of direction in Tom's performance - both narratively and in terms of just being directed - is staggering.
The most disappointing aspect is that Venom should be better. It could be better. Why isn't this better? By this point, Sony have held onto the Spider-Man rights long and hard enough to know what works, what will be derided by critics and audiences alike, and what is ultimately damaging to their own reputation. To have assembled a cast this impressive and still have churned out a Tesco Value Sausage of a superhero movie is an embarrassment to all concerned.
TIGERFEET There are some moments of fun, but there are far more which aren't. Perhaps the only saving grace is that the movie appears to exist (thus far) in its own standalone stream of continuity. In this respect, at least it will be easy to disregard.
Venom shows that not only are Sony not on the same page as Marvel Studios, they're not even in the same chapter. Okay, it's not Fantastic Four levels of bad, but the tonal inconsistencies and cack-handed moralising in the final moments put this on the same shelf as Ghost Rider.
There is a decent Venom movie to be made from this story, by this studio and with this cast.
But this isn't it...
The business-end:
• Is there a Wilhelm Scream? There is.
• Is there a Stan Lee cameo? There is.
• Is there a mid-credits scene? There is.
• Is there a post-credits scene? Well, kinda*2.
Not unless you like your migraines to originate from a 60ft wide screen.
Interestingly enough, this features the same cinematographer - Matthew Libatique - as A Star Is Born, also released in cinemas on the very same opening weekend. Although his hand-held, closeup style often threatens to derail that movie, too. In Venom, Matthew teams up with editors Alan Baumgarten and Maryann Brandon to go Full Seizure-Mode™.
Sure. This will make an interesting companion-piece for other superhero movies in the years to come.
In no way, shape or form.
Come at me.
There is, and it's as subtly woven into the mix as one would expect from a movie where a murdering alien says "turd" in the trailer.
*1 That's the micro-review version. But I'm writing this as well. Hey, I said I was going to stop doing full reviews for every single thing I watched, not that I was going to stop writing altogether. And if anything was going to bring me back for a stab, it's a disappointing Marvel flick. But I'm getting ahead of myself... [ BACK ]
*2 The mid-credits scene is a coda to Venom, so stay for this. After the names have rolled (and I don't usually moan about the time taken to credit everyone who contributed to making a movie, but Venom's roll-call is presented in the same 'easily readable' speed and size typeface throughout, mostly in a single-column list. Reader, this is a four-songs-and-a-bit-of-the-soundtrack-length reel), we get a sequence from the upcoming Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse animated film. It's not connected to Venom by anything other than the rights-holders, and if you arrived at the cinema early enough you'll have already seen the latest trailer for it. With this in mind, you'll already know whether this is worth you hanging around for an extra ten minutes.
[ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Well, thank the maker for the variation of weekend movie scheduling. Solo is back at my local for (presumably?) one final, off-peak blast before retiring in wait for September's DVD/Blu-ray release. This means I get to take another spin in the Falcon on a satisfyingly huge screen, and shorten the amount of time spent wondering "did I hear that line right? Did Han Solo from out of The Star Wars really say 'crap'?"*1
But the other question, one for which there is no shortcut in answering, is what will be the legacy of Solo? Not the real-world legacy of underwhelming box office performance and the righteous indignation of fanboys web-wide (one suspects those topics are far from being finalised), but how will this movie go on be seen within the narrative framework of Star Wars?
Ron Howard's entry to the canon is unusual for a prequel-type film in that it reveals little in the way of surprises to the audience, and features even fewer ret-cons in the process. As previously noted, the broad sequence of events for Han meeting Chewbacca and rescuing the wookiee from Imperial captors, and for Han winning the Falcon in a game of Sabacc... well, they're largely the same as the Legends continuity. The background faces might change, but the direction of the narrative doesn't.
Arguably one of its main strengths is that a viewer could sit down and watch Solo as their first Star Wars movie, enjoying the movie for the adventure romp that it is without their brain insisting on making connections to other stories throughout. And considering how iconic the 'legacy' characters are in this, that's one hell of an achievement.
But after we'd seen Rogue One for the first time, we knew that we'd never watch the opening ten minutes of A New Hope in the same way again. When Vader steps into the corridor of the Tantive IV after the Stormtroopers have taken care of business, we know that's because the dark lord is still getting his metaphysical breath back*2 from the slaughter at Scarif. And we now have to stifle our laughter when Leia insists she's on a diplomatic mission.
But with a decade between Han standing on the Savareen cliff-edge and then slouching at a table in Chalmun's cantina, what are the moments in the Original Trilogy which suddenly make sense after this new movie?
On the plus-side...
• Well, we can now crack a smile when Han boasts of the Millennium Falcon making the Kessel-run with a record-breaking distance measurement, rather than one of time. Although as above, the explanation for this was pretty much the same in the Legends continuity. The Kasdans could have ret-conned the Kessel-run into some kind of planetary drag-race (fitting, with Ron Howard's previous directorial form), but obviously thought better of stretching the fabric too far.
• While Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew always sold it perfectly anyway, we've now seen the beginnings of a bond between best friends who've been hanging around and getting out of scrapes for ten years. It's not clear in the rebooted timeline whether the 'wookiee life-debt' will come into play (that was always an Expanded Universe thing), but I don't think we've seen the pivotal 'okay, I'm all-in with you now' moment in their relationship during Solo's run-time.
• Now that we know L3-37 is part of the Falcon's droid-brain configuration, listen closely and you'll notice the whirring sound she makes (twisting her head before the jump to Kessel) is the same as the Falcon emits when jumping to Hyperspace in the OT. And while I'd like to say that this explains C-3PO's observation in The Empire Strike Back the the ship has an unusual dialect, I don't think he's referring to L3. While she was certainly abrupt and opinionated, L3-37 is one of the most clear and articulate communicators we've met. I suspect Threepio had been talking to one of the other two droid-brains which collectively navigate the ship.
...but then again...
• Most of Han's cynical personality traits aren't in-place by the end of Solo, and nor should they be. This film is the door-opener to another corner and timeframe of the galaxy, not the singular transformation process by which 17yr old orphan becomes exactly the grumpy pirate we meet on Tatooine. Not designed to follow straight on like Rogue One does, this just means that the character-gap will be more apparent than ever if a viewer watches Solo and ANH in close proximity.
• And because of this length between chapters, the gaps in the old scripts which are now filled tend to be more curiosities (ie the Kessel-run) than events which show the OT in a new light. Because of this (and the various real-world marketing niggles), I suspect this new film will be remembered as the first slightly 'forgettable' Star Wars movie. Not least because a whole load of people haven't yet seen it.
• And because of the lack of narrative punch, I don't think Solo will be revisited too often by casual fans until further entries in the canon make it interesting or necessary to do so (ie another movie featuring Crimson Dawn).
Okay, so…
I don't think it's unfair to say that Solo's legacy will be far greater inside the Galaxy Far, Far Away than outside it. From all the narratively-significant 'new' characters we meet, only Qi-ra and Enfys Nest are left alive to continue the story after the credits roll. And the same thing can be said of Rogue One of course, but the Star Wars publishing schedule is far from linear.
Stories will be retrospectively told about Woody Harrelson's ramshackle pirate gang, about the ongoing war on Mimban, about the Cloud-rider swoop gang, and most pertinently about the rise of Crimson Dawn. And this last thread is a one which will continue into the future of course, with Qi'ra and her boss continuing to be a thorn in the side of everyone, after her promotion.
And let's not forget that we now have a definitive foundation for an in-universe decade's worth of multi-media buddy japes and cantina-stories. And those have already begun, because there's a concept we can't get enough of - a man and his wookiee…
The Star Wars's.
Yes.
Yes, all.
Best? Debatable.
Most memorable? Pehaps…
No, but we'll discuss it at great length.
By which I mean, *I'll* discuss it at great length.
There isn't.
Down with this sort of thing.
Level 0: It is Star Wars.
…but if you wanted to go round the houses with it, Solo stars Woody Harrelson, who was of course a regular in Cheers, as was John Ratzenberger, who appeared in 1988's She's Having A Baby which also starred Paul Gleason, a participant in 1993's Loaded Weapon 1 along with Tim Curry, who rocked up in the 2010 comedy Burke And Hare with Michael Smiley, who was in The Other Boleyn Girl with Natalie Portman, who appeared in the 2009 documentary Milos Forman: What Doesn't Kill You, as did... Woody Harrelson.
*2 As opposed to his 'actual' breath. We all know he's got a machine which does that for him. [ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
One of the most satisfying jokes in Solo is Imperial recruitment officer Drawd Munbrin (Andrew Woodall) saying assuringly to his newly approved cadet "Good luck Han Solo, we'll have you flying in no time". We then cut to an exterior battle-scene on another planet - day or night, it's hard to tell - and join who we'll find out is Han Solo, hurtling briefly through the air before unceremoniously landing in a welter of mud, sweat and shrapnel.
And as Han picks himself up, concentration struggling against the noise and confusion which surrounds him, I thought 'is this the first time we've seen this?'. Is this the first time we've seen the unrestrained chaos of actual 'war' in Star Wars?
There have been plenty of battles of course, but they've been relatively short-lived confrontations and with a clear victor at the end. The previous movies' set-pieces tend to show one party arriving on-planet with the intention of destroying the other (Hoth, Endor, Naboo, Geonosis, Scarif, two Death Stars), and are settled (more or less) within the confines of that film. But with Solo we're dropped onto Mimban in the middle of a prolonged onslaught, as Imperial forces struggle to subdue the indigenous resistance fighters of a planet that the Empire are mining to death. There's no easily attainable objective for either side, no shortcuts in the meanwhile, and Han does the sensible thing of getting out while he's still alive. We leave Mimban as we found it, no closer to a conclusion but for the dwindling body-count on both sides.
Even back in the animated Clone Wars series where we dotted around the galaxy's conflict hotspots, the location was acting as a pivotal point in the overall war (or that planet's role in it) or being used as a backdrop while something happened as an aside to it all. The closest we've ever come to witnessing a miserable, protracted assault was Clone Wars Season 4's 'Umbara' story-arc, where the Besalisk Jedi, General Krell, went a bit Colonel Kurtz and the story played out as an homage to Francis Ford Coppola's seminal war film.
But Mimban. The fire, the screaming, the mud of a thoroughly destroyed landscape. The dug-in trenches which look like they've been there long enough to represent an absolute stalemate in the fight for planetary supremacy. The barely-concealed weariness of brittle commanders attempting to organise cynical troopers, personnel flying through the air, AT-ST walkers using those nimble legs to actually leap across the battlefield. All that's missing in the realism stakes is the blood and bad language you'd expect to find there*1.
While video games almost always make for appalling big-screen adaptations, I can't shake the thought that this is what a Star Wars: Battlefront movie could look like. Still at a 12A rating, but with the driving intensity you usually only find when you've got a controller in your hands.
Can we have more of this, please..?
The Star Wars's.
Yes.
Yes, all.
For some, time will tell.
I shouldn't imagine so.
There isn't, and I'll be honest with you, I'm not entirely happy about that. Which I'll admit is something of a small hill to die on, in the current state of Star Wars fandom.
Level 0: It is Star Wars.
…but if you wanted to go round the houses with it, Solo features the voice and mo-cap work of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who was in 2011's Albert Nobbs with Bronagh Gallagher, who starred in Made In Belfast with Shauna McDonald, who rocked up in 2013's Filth, a movie which also featured Kate Dickie from out of Game Of Thrones, which showcases Gwendoline Christie who appeared in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, along with Celia Imrie, who appeared in the TV series Blandings with... Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
*1 And while the only creatures that appear to actually bleed in the Galaxy Far, Far Away are ANH's aqualish and TESB's wampa, bear in mind that The Last Jedi was the first Star Wars movie to feature the word "bastard" in its script, while Solo adds "butt", "crap" and "arse" to the ongoing lexicon. We'll have Disney up to Inglourious Basterds-levels in no time at all ;)[ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Well, the dust has begun to settle (a week is a long time in cinema) on the anticipated Solo movie and, on the whole, Ron Howard’s return to the Lucasfilm fold has been well-received.
Each piece about the film in the meanwhile seems obliged to mention both its turbulent production history and struggle in the box office stakes (as does this one, now), but for the bums-on-seats, all that matters is the creative quality of the product which follows the iconic words ‘A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…’.
And against all odds, Howard – or more properly, long-time Star Wars screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and his son and co-writer Jon – have crafted an incredibly solid addition to the canon. Not only does Solo succeed in inking and colouring the previously sketched backstory of everyone’s favourite Corellian smuggler, it also gently opens a series of other doors, revealing glimpses of the galaxy’s criminal underworld which are just begging to be expanded upon.
In the long run, this turns out to be the film’s saving grace, not least because Han Solo’s revealed backstory itself is structurally very similar to the Legends tales of the last 40 years; serving in the Imperial forces, rescuing Chewbacca from captivity/servitude and winning the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian in a game of Sabacc. And it’s not that this isn’t all great fun, but long-time Star Wars fans will find few surprises in the newly finalised telling. Although it feels like a harsh statement, it’s probably not unfair to say that the Han/Chewie/Lando aspects – while they’re the glue which hold the pieces together – are the film’s least interesting aspects.
No, Solo‘s real revelation comes in the form of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate, ostensibly headed by Paul Bettany’s Dryden Vos, who manages to inject enough venom into his performance that it feels like a spiritual successor to his lead role in 2000’s Gangster No. 1. When we first meet Vos, he’s removing one of his energy-cord daggers from the torso of a regional governor, the Imperial position in which 1977’s Grand Moff Tarkin put so much bureaucratic faith. As the body slumps wordlessly to the floor, we know instantly what level of practical power is wielded by this gangster, as well as his apparent freedom to flaunt it.
Bettany’s performance is aided in no small way by Emilia Clarke as Han’s childhood friend (later, love-interest*1) and now Vos’s lieutenant, Qi’ra. The Game Of Thrones mainstay’s portrayal isn’t quite the femme fatale audiences might have been expecting from the character, but nor is it the fierce warrior or wilting wallflower archetype, either. Clarke cuts her own swathe through the GFFA as likeable, but untrustworthy; Qi’ra is sincere in her intent, even though she’s clearly holding something back.
And all because Crimson Dawn is only the tip of a galaxy spanning and void-cold criminal iceberg. In Solo, we get the big-screen debut of spice mines of Kessel (last seen in Star Wars: Rebels), now controlled by the Pyke Syndicate (last seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Meanwhile, back at ‘ground level’, the nuts and bolts of outlaw life are carried out by smaller, less formal gangs. The collective we meet first is headed up by Woody Harrelson’s Tobias Beckett, orchestrating a heist of Imperial-owned Coaxium fuel with his demotions-expert and partner, Val (Thandie Newton), and trusty getaway-pilot Rio (voiced by Jon Favreau).
Given how quickly Beckett’s team ‘evolves’ when things go south, it’s anyone’s guess as to the volume of previous membership in this band. That the line-up shifts with relatively little fanfare is testament to the ultimate lack of job security in the heisting game (although the phrase ‘a job for life‘ still seems to apply, at any rate).
And yet, we still haven’t covered how Alden Ehrenreich plays an interesting and amiable younger Han, by no means delivering an impersonation of Harrison Ford, but keeping enough ticks and mannerisms from the older actor that there’s never any doubt as to who the character is. Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian is a little more overt in its homage, but then it wouldn’t be Lando any other way. And Joonas Suotamo dons with wookiee-suit for the third time, wearing Chewbacca’s character itself with the same level of practiced ease. It’s remarkable how effortlessly Joonas has become part of the family.
Rounding this all out is John Powell’s score (with a helping hand from John Williams, naturally). The pieces are flowing, dynamic and generally a great accompaniment to the action, although Powell’s work really comes into its own when the percussion or choral sections are in-play. More on that in the next review.
And at the top of the tree, established all-rounder Ron Howard does an admirable job of keeping the urgently paced set-pieces on track, although it’s clear that his heart is in the action-driven scenes more than their dialogue-heavy counterparts, especially those segments involving chasing-and-racing, where our characters put the pedal to the floor and burn off some of that precious hyperfuel.
But most importantly, everything which occurs between the ‘long time ago’ and ‘directed by’ cards feels intrinsically part of the series continuity. Even ‘that‘ holo-moment. In fact, especially that holo-moment, with the threads of different eras and media projects wound together to pull in a new direction. Whether we’ll get a direct sequel to this movie is up for debate; whether we haven’t seen the last of the criminal underbelly in the GFFA is undoubtable.
After the high-stakes drama of Rogue One and introspective guilt of The Last Jedi, Solo isn’t an entry in the saga which will be blowing viewers’ minds, which is both its weakness and its key strength. In fact, the film’s overall absence of emotional punch is representative of its eponymous character’s lack of family structure, and his cynical attitude in-the-making.
But Solo underlines Rian Johnson’s idea sometimes, the greatest heroes really can come from nowhere…
The Star Wars's.
Yes.
Yes, all.
Well there's a subject for debate.
Probably not, but I'll talk your ear off about it either way.
Going with no.
Level 0: It is Star Wars.
…but if you wanted to go round the houses with it, Solo stars Thandie Newton, who appeared in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla as did Geoff Bell, an actor who rolled up in War Horse along with Pip Torrens, who was in 2012's Anna Karenina with Keira Knightley, who was of course in Love, Actually with Liam Neeson, the voice of a lion in 2010's Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, a film which featured Simon Pegg who had previously starred in Run Fatboy Run alongside... Thandie Newton.
*1 Although since writing this piece I have come to fully embrace the theory formulated by John Marcoux on the Rebel Force Radio podcast, namely that Qi'Ra isn't the love-interest in this film, the Millennium Falcon is. Seriously, give it a listen, outstanding stuff. [ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
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