Solo: A Star Wars Story Discussion thread

[Chel]

The new Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer just dropped, so I made a discussion thread about it. Here's the trailer below

I'm excited for the movie, what are everyone else's thoughts on it?

[Cheif Operations Director]

It looks like a soap opera

[KSK]

4 hours ago, Cheif Operations Director said:

It looks like a soap opera

Great! I hope it is. Why? Because soap operas tend to be fairly character driven, which is what I'm hoping for with Solo. We know how the story turns out (even more so than for Rogue One) so having a very plot driven film doesn't make a great deal of sense.

So let's have characters. Motivations. People doing the right things for the wrong reasons and vice versa. More of a Tie Fighter (as in the video game) style Empire perhaps where they're more Galactic Cops than Ultimate Evil. 

Although that would require better than normal writing for a Star Wars film, so I'm not overly optimistic. But then again, Rogue One did quite a decent job of portraying the Rebellion as a pretty mixed bunch - with its share of cowards, petty opportunists hiding behind a cause, and actual Rebel scum. So maybe there is hope for a more nuanced Empire in Solo. Time will tell. 

[Just Jim]

2 hours ago, KSK said:

Great! I hope it is. Why? Because soap operas tend to be fairly character driven, which is what I'm hoping for with Solo. We know how the story turns out (even more so than for Rogue One) so having a very plot driven film doesn't make a great deal of sense.

Agreed! Didn't we just have this same soap opera discussion on the Emiko thread not long ago?

Anyway... Funny story about this trailer. I have to admit, I wasn't too terribly interested in watching the Super Bowl... I'm not a big fan of either team. However, I switched over last night just in time to catch this Solo trailer; which IMO looks promising.

And from that point I ended up watching the rest of the game. Which turned out to be wild!!! I haven't seen a Super Bowl that good in years. 

But I wouldn't have seen any of it if it hadn't been for the Solo trailer making me stop from changing the channel... lol

 

Edited February 5, 2018 by Just Jim

[TheSaint]

That wasn't the Solo trailer, that was a Tide commercial.

[DAL59]

 

[Superfluous J]

Nice trailer. I like the casting for Lando.

Looking forward to seeing it... Just like I was before the trailer hit

[Chel]

Alden Ehrenreich looks nothing like Harrison Ford, but, well, he's been chosen to play Han 

[Cheif Operations Director]

16 hours ago, KSK said:

Great! I hope it is. Why? Because soap operas tend to be fairly character driven, which is what I'm hoping for with Solo. We know how the story turns out (even more so than for Rogue One) so having a very plot driven film doesn't make a great deal of sense.

So let's have characters. Motivations. People doing the right things for the wrong reasons and vice versa. More of a Tie Fighter (as in the video game) style Empire perhaps where they're more Galactic Cops than Ultimate Evil. 

Although that would require better than normal writing for a Star Wars film, so I'm not overly optimistic. But then again, Rogue One did quite a decent job of portraying the Rebellion as a pretty mixed bunch - with its share of cowards, petty opportunists hiding behind a cause, and actual Rebel scum. So maybe there is hope for a more nuanced Empire in Solo. Time will tell. 

I meant noon soap operas, the pure unrealistic drama

[KSK]

9 hours ago, Cheif Operations Director said:

I meant noon soap operas, the pure unrealistic drama

Makes no difference to my point. Whether you've got a gritty realism type of soap opera or a fluffy noon drama, they're still largely driven by characters and the interactions between those characters. Which is something I'd like to see in Solo - it's a character backstory that we already know the ending to, so hopefully it will take some time to explore Han's character a bit and show us how he ended up being the cynical small-time smuggler we see at the beginning of Episode IV.

Out of curiosity, which part of the trailer made you think 'pure unrealistic drama' or 'noon soap opera'?

 

[Just Jim]

2 hours ago, KSK said:

Makes no difference to my point. Whether you've got a gritty realism type of soap opera or a fluffy noon drama, they're still largely driven by characters and the interactions between those characters. Which is something I'd like to see in Solo - it's a character backstory that we already know the ending to, so hopefully it will take some time to explore Han's character a bit and show us how he ended up being the cynical small-time smuggler we see at the beginning of Episode IV.

18 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

Nice trailer. I like the casting for Lando.

Agreed! I'm not sure who the actor is, but the instant I saw him, I knew it had to be Lando! 

And to @KSK's point, I would love to see more about the relationship between the two of them... including how Solo ended up with the Falcon. Judging by how they acted towards each other in the original movies, there has to be a great backstory there somewhere

 

Edited February 6, 2018 by Just Jim

[Cheif Operations Director]

19 hours ago, KSK said:

Makes no difference to my point. Whether you've got a gritty realism type of soap opera or a fluffy noon drama, they're still largely driven by characters and the interactions between those characters. Which is something I'd like to see in Solo - it's a character backstory that we already know the ending to, so hopefully it will take some time to explore Han's character a bit and show us how he ended up being the cynical small-time smuggler we see at the beginning of Episode IV.

Out of curiosity, which part of the trailer made you think 'pure unrealistic drama' or 'noon soap opera'?

 

Charachter driven movies and plot driven movies both never work. If you plot is about people in a mall and they just talk you learn a lot about them. It's good charachter development but NOBODY want to see you shop in a mall for a hour talking about your new car. Likewise a movie that is solely action, example a video with nothing but a battlefeild and non specific charachters just screaming and shooting is not a good movie either. Both need a MIX. Soap Operas, the ones I'm ever so slightly familiar with are just people arguing and blah blah blah. You doing that I Han Solo is an atrocity beyond having him get killed by his own son.

[kerbiloid]

Welcome to StarK Wars.

[razark]

7 hours ago, Cheif Operations Director said:

Charachter driven movies... never work. If you plot is about people... and they just talk you learn a lot about them. It's good charachter development but NOBODY want to see you... for a hour talking...

Twelve people.  In a single room.  Talking to each other.  Nothing else.  They don't even have names.

Damn good movie.

[Cydonian Monk]

9 hours ago, Cheif Operations Director said:

NOBODY want to see you shop in a mall for a hour

I found MallRats to be throughly enjoyable. (It’s a sail boat!)

Edited February 7, 2018 by Cydonian Monk

[KSK]

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

I found MallRats to be throughly enjoyable. (It’s a sail boat!)

A sailboat is a schooner dumS!  

And to add something to the conversation. A Few Good Men, is getting close to being a film about a bunch of people talking for the duration. Also - I repeat my earlier question to @Cheif Operations Director What is it about that trailer that makes you think 'soap opera'?

 

Edited February 7, 2018 by KSK

[XB-70A]

6 hours ago, razark said:

Damn good movie.

If only I did not ran out of likes..! Could not agree more with you, the whole movie is intense, and when you start to understand who is the character played by Lee Cobb...

[ProtoJeb21]

On 2/5/2018 at 5:22 PM, The_Cat_In_Space said:

Alden Ehrenreich looks nothing like Harrison Ford, but, well, he's been chosen to play Han 

I’m pretty sure it’s because of the time period this movie takes place in. Looks to be at least 10 years before A New Hope.

[PakledHostage]

On 06/02/2018 at 3:11 AM, KSK said:

Out of curiosity, which part of the trailer made you think 'pure unrealistic drama' or 'noon soap opera'?

Have you seen the Star Wars Episode 8 thread? That train wreck might give you some clues...

 

20 hours ago, Cheif Operations Director said:

Charachter driven movies and plot driven movies both never work. If you plot is about people in a mall and they just talk you learn a lot about them. It's good charachter development but NOBODY want to see you shop in a mall for a hour talking about your new car. 

Aside from the movies already mentioned, what about other widely regarded classics like "The Breakfast Club" or "Reservoir Dogs"? 

[KSK]

3 hours ago, PakledHostage said:

Have you seen the Star Wars Episode 8 thread? That train wreck might give you some clues...

Aside from the movies already mentioned, what about other widely regarded classics like "The Breakfast Club" or "Reservoir Dogs"? 

Sadly, yes. If this thread turns into that style of train wreck, I'm out of here. I don't have the time or patience to engage with another one of those.

And yeah, I was wondering about Reservoir Dogs too.

[DDE]

On ‎06‎.‎02‎.‎2018 at 1:22 AM, The_Cat_In_Space said:

Alden Ehrenreich looks nothing like Harrison Ford, but, well, he's been chosen to play Han 

He reportedly can't act. By the third reshoot they brought in an acting coach.

I'm prepared for a trainwreck.

[Chel]

15 hours ago, DDE said:

He reportedly can't act. By the third reshoot they brought in an acting coach.

I'm prepared for a trainwreck.

Lol 

[StrandedonEarth]

On 2/6/2018 at 5:12 AM, Just Jim said:

Agreed! I'm not sure who the actor is, but the instant I saw him, I knew it had to be Lando! 

And to @KSK's point, I would love to see more about the relationship between the two of them... including how Solo ended up with the Falcon.

Lando is being played by Donald Glover, no relation to Danny Glover of Lethal Weapon and a zillion other things.

The story of how Solo got the Millennium Falcon according to the Expanded Universe* is as follows....

Spoiler

Han won the Falcon from Lando in a sabbacc card game. (Was that ever mentioned in a movie? i don't recall) The nitty gritty was that Lando offered Han any ship on his used starship lot if he won, expecting him to take a shiny yacht from the front lines. Instead, Han chose the junky-looking sleeper that Lando was quietly upgrading, tucked away at the back. Of course, Lando was rather peeved about that. He was also embarrassed about losing to a scruffy-looking nerf herder, so told anyone who asked that Han stole it. Separately, Han rescued Chewie from Imperial slavery.

It'll be interesting to see how they handle those parts of the story.

* (gut says The Jedi Academy trilogy, I think, may be wrong about which books it was in, don't have them anymore)

Edited February 9, 2018 by StrandedonEarth
proofread, proofread, proofread....

[Vanamonde]

You know what is sure to turn this thread into a trainwreck? Posting about how this thread might turn into a trainwreck instead of talking about the actual subject of the thread. 

[Chel]

On 2/9/2018 at 11:34 AM, Vanamonde said:

You know what is sure to turn this thread into a trainwreck? Posting about how this thread might turn into a trainwreck instead of talking about the actual subject of the thread. 

Ok, no more ranting, only discussion! (Proceeds to rant about casting choices)