Our “Solo” Glimpse at the Newest Star Wars Standalone

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Sydney Vallier (9th), Reporter

In July 2015, Lucasfilm announced the production of a standalone film detailing the origins of the galaxy’s most famous smuggler. Titled Solo: A Star Wars Story, the film set to release on May 25, 2018, but fans were starting to get nervous when February came and no footage had been released.

 

To the relief of Star Wars fans everywhere, the first Solo teaser debuted during the Super Bowl on February 4 as the predecessor to a full trailer released on Good Morning America the following day.

 

Although the assurance that Solo was still on course to be released on Memorial Day eased the minds of many, fans are also starting to worry about what they saw in the trailer. The primary concern seems to lie in the portrayal of Han Solo. The scoundrel from a galaxy far, far away is one of the most well known movie characters, even to those who aren’t Star Wars fans, and his image is distinctly the one created by Harrison Ford, so concern for how he would be recreated by another actor came into play very early on after the movie was announced.

 

That concern only worsened with the release of the new trailer, as our first look at Alden Ehrenreich’s young Solo was less than exciting. For starters, Ehrenreich is only 7 years younger than Harrison Ford was in A New Hope, and imagining his appearance changing that much in a reasonably short amount of time is far from an easy task. The appearance is definitely a concern, but it would be forgivable if the acting were able to make up for it. However, so far young Han doesn’t seem to have the same natural charisma as everyone’s favorite nerf herder.

 

The trailer wasn’t all bad though. All Ehrenreich related concerns aside, the rest of the trailer featured stunning images and a plethora of other promising characters. For instance, audiences are already sold on Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian, despite him having about a second of on screen time in the teaser and trailer. We also catch glimpses of what is likely the Kessel Run, which, as every good Star Wars knows, is the route Han bragged to have completed in just 12 parsecs during one of his earliest scenes in Star Wars: A New Hope. And fans of the Expanded Universe will be happy to know that the trailer seems to make Han’s EU origins canon. The trailer for Solo even earned the approval of Mark Hamill, who commented, “I don’t know what anyone is complaining about. The trailer makes you want to see the movie, and I’m dying to see it.” Hamill knows the character of Han Solo better than most as he portrayed Luke Skywalker alongside Ford’s Solo in the original trilogy, and the fact that he thinks so highly of the upcoming film is a big deal since he has recently voiced many negative opinions of where the Star Wars franchise has been going.

 

Hamill’s approval may not be enough though, a combination of factors including the firing and replacement of the film’s original directing duo due to a creative vision that contradicted Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy’s as well as rumors that they had to bring in an acting coach to help Alden Ehrenreich continue to make fans uneasy. No matter how good the new Solo film is, there will always be disagreements and complaints about the accuracy and quality of the story, especially surrounding Alden Ehrenreich’s Han, but this movie will certainly become an important part of the Star Wars universe.