Solo's Satisfying Space Cowboy

Sometimes it happens – you try to make the jump to box office lightspeed, and the hyperdrive just doesn’t engage. It whines awkwardly and you’re left floating along in space. It doesn’t mean you’ve got a bad ship – it just didn’t perform like you wanted it to when it really counted. That’s pretty much the story with Solo’s Memorial Day box office. A disappointing 4-day take of barely $100 million, far short of the colossal franchise expectations. Which is something of a head-scratcher – because director Ron Howard has made a rousing, satisfying, audience-pleasing movie.

Exclamations of “franchise fatigue” will be made, and Disney will be blamed for opening Solo a mere 5 months after The Last Jedi. Given how fantastically well they’ve done over the last three Decembers, holding Solo until The holidays would have made sense. But let’s question that logic: Avengers: Infinity War came out less than 3 months on the heels of Black Panther – and was a colossal hit. So that “proximity” premise doesn’t always hold true. Part of the issue is likely due to Solo being a prequel – so there’s little sense of real jeopardy for our heroes, because we know they’ll make it out of any scrapes, having lived on to appear in the subsequent films. Solo also earned an A- CinemaScore from viewers, so we know that most audience members (myself included) loved the movie.

Solo’s development woes are well known. Original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street) were let go by Lucasfilm after their freewheeling, ad lib directorial style clashed with Kathleen Kennedy and Lawrence Kasdan. Ron Howard came in to right the ship, reshooting a huge amount of footage, and ballooning Solo’s budget in the process. So how’d Howard do? I think he did a sensational job. Receipts be damned, Solo is terrifically Old School, and being free of the larger Jedi mythos, it’s just plain fun.

Solo: A Star Wars Story, was written by none other than legendary screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, along with his son Jonathan. Lawrence Kasdan wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Nobody knows Star Wars better. Kasdan also wrote Silverado and Wyatt Earp – which is worth mentioning because overwhelmingly, Solo feels like a Western. Han Solo’s the outlaw gunslinger, there’s an elaborate train heist, Lando Calrissian’s the stylish riverboat gambler. Howard and the Kasdans have given Solo a real Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid vibe, and those tropes have always been a part of who Han Solo is: the rogue who shoots first – who’s in it for the money, but can’t help having a tarnished heart of gold.

Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) is growing up fast and wild on the streets of industrial ship-building planet Corellia; his best gal Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) his accomplice in trying to steal something valuable enough to buy a ship and escape their world’s total lack of prospects – maybe build a future together. But things go south and the two lovers are separated. Han actually joins the Empire out of desperation, hoping to at least become a better pilot. But he’s not cut out for military life, and quickly falls in with a gang of outlaws posing as soldiers, looking to make a big score on military fuel supplies. There are a lot of predetermined plot points we know are coming – how Han meets Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). How they find the Millennium Falcon. Their knowing Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) back in the day. So while many of these beats may seem obligatory, Howard and the Kasdans deserve credit for making them entertaining and satisfyingly surprising.

The cast is the glue. Alden Ehrenreich’s endured a lot of grief, (“He needed acting lessons!”) tasked with the unenviable task of filling Harrison Ford’s shoes, but he does a great job here. He’s charming and funny and easily carries the picture. He’s a terrific fit in the role. Thandie Newton is great as part of the gang, and I really enjoyed Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett, the older gang leader who somewhat reluctantly mentors Han into the life: “Assume everyone will betray you and you will never be disappointed.” He’s a great character. Likewise Donald Glover, who knocks it out of the park as Lando. He’s a fantastic incarnation of Billy Dee Williams’ original character, intent on style and deliberate with charm. He and Ehrenreich have great chemistry together. But as unfiltered, riotously righteous robot L3-37, it’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge who steals this movie. L3 is captivating and hilarious and a fantastic addition to the seemingly endless roll call of Star Wars characters. 

It's worth noting that Solo’s color palette is overwhelmingly gray and drab, with the murky grime often working at cross purposes with the film’s generally lighter tone. Lando’s yellow shirt and a red cape Qi’ra wears in one scene, create the only splashes of color in the film. That muddy monochrome may be helping to dampen audience engagement to some degree. A highlight of the film is the absolutely spectacular train heist – but it occurs fairly early in the film, and no other set piece quite tops it in terms of sheer spectacle. 

But as a Star Wars fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It’s full of references to other little corners of that universe, and there are some definite surprises – including one whopper – along the way. Most importantly, Solo is fun. It evokes those old fashioned Dirty Dozen “train gang” flicks that spin a good yarn and keep you entertained and smiling. Do we need a whole sub-franchise of Solo adventures? Probably not. But if you haven’t seen Solo yet, don’t write it off as a disappointment. It’s a helluva good time in the dusty streets of deep space, so if you like Star Wars, better grab the controls and “Punch it!” and see Solo on the big screen.  

Avengers: Infinity War Leaves No Stone Unturned

I guess you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs - but know this: Avengers: Infinity War is one hell of a damned omelette. I've only seen Infinity War once so far, but that's enough to realize it's the shadow-casting monolith of all superhero movies - a film we've been building up to since Iron Man changed everything back in 2008 - and as the 19th entry in Marvel Studios' massive movie mosaic, humbling evidence of extraordinary foresight and planning, that leaves an emotional blast crater amidst the pop culture landscape.

By now, most eager beavers have experienced Infinity War, but I'm still going to try to stay spoiler-free here, then get more in-depth and specific in a week or so, after I've had my second helping. These days, as we keep seeing with the Star Wars franchise, the greater the anticipation for a film, often the more polarizing and indignant the fan response. We've been waiting for this movie since we got our first glimpse of Mad Titan Thanos in a post-credits scene of 2012's The Avengers. That's a lot of build-up.

This picture does not disappoint. Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Captain America: Civil War), Infinity War is an incredible decade-spanning example of deft execution. Imagine the complexities of taking five or six of your favorite franchises and whipping up multiple overlapping sequels that suddenly allows for the interaction of numerous unrelated characters: Thor meets Rocket. Doctor Strange meets Spider-Man. Black Panther meets Captain America. It could easily feel muddled and obligatory. Not so here.

Make no mistake: Thanos is the most satisfying villain in ages. Too often our heroes' antagonists are one-dimensional behemoths who bluster and bore, Wonder Woman and Justice League being the most recent and egregious examples. With Thanos, we're finally getting a villain who's a character. Who's got depth. Like the all great villains, he's the hero of his story, and from where he sits, he's more than justified in undertaking his agenda. Scattered throughout the cosmos are six Infinity Stones - artifacts that when combined, endow the wielder with unlimited power - the ability to annihilate countless billions with the snap of his fingers.

Josh Brolin is simply iconic as Thanos. He's in nearly every scene, and he rules. We've seen motion-capture performances evolve mightily over the last couple of years, and Brolin's performance is of equal stature with Andy Serkis's Apes work here. He crafts a tremendous character, rich with emotion and malevolence, and the effects work is so stellar I kept asking myself where they found this twelve-foot-tall actor at.

The Russos aren't screwing around, and Infinity War opens at full throttle, with dire stakes from the very outset. It's jarring to board a ride that’s already going at full speed and you feel you'd better not let go. Thanos has a goon squad - The Black Order - that quickly establish themselves as formidable and cool. I particularly enjoyed Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), though they're all unique with great character design.

The chess pieces are scattered across the board on several different planets, so we're frequently moving between small groups of characters - a dynamic that works and never becomes tiresome. Because we've had years to invest ourselves in these characters, the stakes feel incredibly dire to us. The outcome matters because we truly care about these people. Nearly every character has been given ample moments to shine, though for me, Zoe Saldana's Gamora is a particular standout. She's amazing here, as is Chris Hemsworth's Thor.

It's fairly common knowledge that this is the first of two Infinity War films, with the second as-yet untitled installment arriving next year. So while you may be expecting an Empire Strikes Back cliffhanger, Markus, McFeely, and the Russos take a more Thelma and Louise approach to cliffs, driving the audience right off the edge.

Audiences crave the thrill of the new and the shock of the unexpected, and may find they get more than they bargained for. Like me, I suspect they'll be wanting to head right back for a second viewing as soon as possible. It's a lot to take in, but Marvel has succeeded wildly, and the shock waves of Infinity War will be with us for a long time. Make haste and drink deep, True Believers: Thanos is here.