I had pretty high hopes for Solo: A Star Wars Story. Han Solo was never really one of my favorite characters, but it was a movie that lay outside the realm of the trilogies. After Rogue One: A Star Wars Story though, which was released in 2016, I believed the standalone movies would rule-supreme. I did not think I would love a Star Wars movie which takes place off the beaten-path until then; Rogue One paved the way for my excitement for Solo. Unfortunately, for a lot of Star Wars fans and I, Solo was a sub-par film for the franchise. Personally, two things really bothered me about this film. (SPOILERS ahead)
The first issue I have (and by far the largest one) with Solo was its use of color. For a majority of the film, the colors were too dark and too dull. The color choice affected not only the tone of the entire movie but also its visual clarity. It is obviously a huge problem when an audience can barely comprehend what is happening in multiple scenes of a film. In a few instances, the screen was pitch-black except for a few sources of dark blue or dark red light. It is not enjoyable to watch a movie that makes it a challenge to watch. Duh.
When the lighting is not as dark as the void of space, the visible colors are disappointing and depressing. When one thinks of Star Wars, color and brightness should be one of the first things to come to mind. Bright red and green laser beams shooting across the screen, the mesmerizing blue lights passing by while jumping at lightspeed, colorful laser-swords for God's Sake. These are aspects of the franchise that makes Star Wars so exciting. The great Cloud City duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in Episode V used dark colors symbolically; showing Luke's temptation to the Darkside while emphasizing the brightness of the lightsabers as the lingering hope of the Lightside. Did Solo do anything interesting like this with lighting and colors? No. They used a ton of dull oranges, grays, yellows, greens. It almost seemed that the studio went to Home Depot and bought all the paint swatches from the store's clearance section. It really affected the tone of the entire movie, making the tone less of an exciting space-adventure to a film which tries to be too gritty for its own good.
The other issue I have with Solo is the very random Darth Maul cameo. Do not get me wrong, Darth Maul is one of my favorite characters in all of the Star Wars universe. He is a total bada**. However, he did not need to be in this film. Yes, there are other forms of media that Star Wars expands into and are canons, such as comic books and animated television shows. In the TV shows and comics, Darth Maul survived being sliced in two by a young Obi-Wan Kenobi from Episode I. This fact was introduced into the Star Wars cinematic universe through Solo by showing Maul as the leader of the Crimson Dawn. But, WHY? Serious fans may rejoice, but casual viewers may ask "how is he still alive" or even "who the hell is that red guy?". If Darth Maul was going to be involved, he should have been in the movie a little longer than for a one-minute scene. Otherwise, what is the point? The only way this would be acceptable is if he would return in future movies. I hope that IS what happens, but for now, it appears to have just been an annoying fan-service.
Ultimately, Solo is worse than I had hoped for. The color choice really diminished the experience for me, and the Darth Maul appearance was a large irritation. The movie had other flaws, yes, but it wasn't a bad movie. I think Alden Ehrenreich's Han Solo was great. I loved seeing Chewbacca and Han meet and become friends. I thought Woody Harrelson's character of Beckett was really interesting. The story itself was not too bad either. Overall, I would rate this movie a 6.5/10. I thought maybe after seeing this film that Han Solo would be more of a personal favorite, but alas, he still is not.
