If you’ve read even a little bit about the troubled production surrounding Solo: A Star Wars Story, you probably don’t have particularly high hopes for this movie. It was described as having an Ace Ventura vibe in its early stages, Kathleen Kennedy of Lucasfilm was none too pleased with the direction it was taking so original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were sacked and veteran Ron Howard was brought in for reshoots that ended up with him basically redoing the entire movie. When early reports from the first screenings said the response from audiences was favorable, that felt like a miracle, given the circumstances. Anything short of a big old mess was a success. And yes, Solo isn’t a bad movie—there’s no evidence of its shaky beginnings or rushed reshoots—but something about it feels decidedly safe and generic rather than the groundbreaking movies we hope for out of the Star Wars universe.
Without giving away spoilers, the plot is basically this: young Han Solo is just a smartass kid living on the crime-filled streets of Corellia and trying to get by with his girfriend Qi’ra when a twist of fate sets him off on an adventure that will lead to him becoming the scoundrel we all know and love. It’s a simple origin story that involves heists, sassy droids, crime bosses, practical and CGI creatures, and of course, one of the most iconic ships in movie history, the Millennium Falcon. Does it add more depth to the world of Star Wars? Yeah, kind of. Does it change the way you’ll think of Han Solo forever? Probably not.
When Alden Ehrenreich was cast to take on the mantle of everyone’s favorite space smuggler, people were not particularly optimistic. He doesn’t look like Harrison Ford and capturing that specific brand of swagger would be a challenge for any actor. Thankfully, Ehrenreich proves very capable, bringing us charm that works for the vast majority of the movie. Phew! Woody Harrelson does his usual thing as the older, grizzled, mentor who teaches Han the ropes of interstellar smuggling. He’s good, though the character isn’t hugely memorable, and his crew of Thandie Netwon and Jon Favreau get even less to do, sadly. Emilia Clarke is serviceable, though I’ve yet to be particularly impressed by her in any role other than Daenerys Targaryen. Sometimes I wonder if she’s a good actress or if she’s just really good at looking powerful in beautiful outfits. Even Paul Bettany, who was brought in for the reshoots when a scheduling conflict meant Michael K. Williams couldn’t return, is suitably threatening as our mob boss villain.
Of course, the main standout is Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. Every moment that he’s onscreen is a hit and he perfectly serves us the charm we remember from Billy Dee Williams’ performance. It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if we saw a Lando spinoff movie in the future, since most audiences will walk away from Solo wishing it had instead been Lando: A Star Wars Story.
This issue isn’t the performances, it isn’t the effects or action—which are both pretty good, it isn’t even the occasionally cringey fanservice moments. The main issue is that nothing in this film is amazing. It seems to hover between good, meh and just sort of fine in every scene that doesn’t include Lando. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the “filler queens” from RuPaul’s Drag Race. These are the contestants who never really wow the judges, but they also don’t fail hard enough to end up lip-syncing for their lives girls in the end. As RuPaul says, safe can be a dirty word on a show where the objective is to wow the crowd. Like those filler girls, Solo is not a straight-up hot mess, which is surprising given the production, but it also doesn’t do anything particularly epic or memorable and it won’t have us quoting it years into the future.
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