Solo and Where It Ranks in the Star Wars Universe

Photo Credit: LucasFilm

Unless you’ve been living on Ahch-To or some similarly remote planet in the galaxy, you know the latest Star Wars movie came out this weekend. This time it’s a spin-off origin tale for Han Solo. I’ve been opposed to the idea from the start. Harrison Ford is Han Solo and at 70-years-old, he’s not going to be doing any origin roles. However the trailers looked better than expected so once again, Disney got my money. Per the norm, I took my oldest son and his cousin and the trailers didn’t let me down. We enjoyed it. Alden Ehrenreich isn’t ever going to be mistaken for the real Han Solo, but he wasn’t terrible. Donald Glover was great as young Lando Calrissian, there were plenty of cool aliens and chase scenes, and Woody Harrelson was as entertaining as ever playing Han’s smuggler mentor, Beckett.

So where does Solo: A Star Wars Story rank among its peers? Well I ripped off my 2016 Rogue One post for most of this list, but read on to find out how I scored all 10 films from worst to best.

The Phantom Menace (1999)

This film is the George Lucas equivalent of Godfather III. Younger versions of many of the characters you loved as a kid have returned to star in an abomination that does its best to tarnish the image of the great films that came before it. New baddie Darth Maul and John Williams’ excellent score are the only reasons to watch this dismal effort.

Attack of the Clones (2002)

Lucas’s second attempt in the new millennium has several cool battle scenes and some impressive CGI, but Hayden Christensen is simply awful as our newly grown-up hero. Every line of dialogue lands with a thud and his scenes with would-be love interest Padme (Natalie Portman) are excruciating.

Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Retaining the terrible acting and dialogue of its two immediate predecessors, this film improves upon those two outings based on having the most interesting story to tell, but it’s still pretty bad. Ben defeats Anakin simply because he stands on a taller rock?

The Last Jedi (2017)

Director Rian Johnson knows how to make a good film and this movie has plenty to like, but two crucial flaws doom this entry to the lower half of my Star Wars rankings. First and foremost, I don’t buy what he did to the character of Luke Skywalker at all. It just doesn’t fit the hero I grew up watching as a kid. And second, the Leia floating through space thing... just no.

Rogue One (2016)

As much a war movie as a Star Wars film, the storyline and several of the secondary characters are what make this one special. The effects and battle scenes are as amazing as always, but the two major CGI characters were disconcerting. Of larger concern, I just didn’t find the main protagonist as engaging as last year’s similar hero, Rey.

Solo (2018)

Despite my misgivings over the casting of young Han Solo, the rest of the cast was excellent. Ron Howard did a great job taking over what was rumored to be a troubled shoot before he was brought in to handle directing duties and I wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel if Disney decides to tell us the tale of just how badly Han screwed up to convince Jabba the Hutt to put a price on his head.

The Force Awakens (2015)

As many pointed out, this one is largely just a remake of the original Star Wars, replacing the boy protagonist with a girl. Nevertheless, it hits almost all the right notes. If J.J. Abrams had done a better job with the ending of this one, I’m looking at you Chewbacca and R2-D2, it might have rivaled the original trilogy.

Return of the Jedi (1983)

Ewoks and George Lucas’s increased focus on selling toys over storytelling takes this film down a notch or two, but it still has a ton going for it. The opening sequence alone is worth the price of admission. Luke Skywalker showing off his new powers inside Jabba’s palace and again on his barge are some of the best scenes of the series.

Star Wars (1977)

The movie that started it all, George Lucas proved that there was a huge audience for sci-fi if done right. Despite his later efforts to mess this one up with new edits and even a new title, Star Wars remains a classic. And Han shot first.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Rarely do sequels improve upon the original, but this one did. Empire has more bad guys, more lightsabers, and the tightest script of the series so far. If Boba Fett doesn’t get his own standalone film at some point, Disney might just find itself with a date in the Sarlacc Pit.

Never Tell Me the Odds

Photo Credit: Lucasfilm

Like many writers, I’m currently looking for a literary agent. I self-published my first novel Storm Orphans without even attempting to go the traditional publishing route and I learned a valuable lesson. It didn’t matter that readers enjoyed the book. I simply couldn’t reach a broad audience without mass media exposure. Social media and word of mouth only travel so far for us non-celebrities. I needed professional reviews, magazine interviews, and brick and mortar bookstore shelf space. Without those, my book and hence my writing career to date have been doomed to obscurity.

So I’m querying agents with my new book, a piece of middle-grade fiction that I believe will appeal to the same kids that enjoy stuff such as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Narnia, and The NeverEnding Story. It’s a fast-paced, fun story but after doing my research, it’s become clear to me that I need to approach the task of finding professional representation in the same fashion Han Solo approaches navigating an asteroid field in the Millennium Falcon. I simply can’t worry about the odds being stacked against me.

Several of the agents I’m targeting post statistics regarding how many queries they receive, respond to, and ultimately sign. The odds aren’t good. Here are a few comparables.

On one hand…

The lowly Atlanta Braves are five times more likely to win the World Series this year than I am to sign with an agent.

I have about the same odds of being assaulted by a firearm as I have signing with an agent.

I also have about the same odds of impregnating my wife post-vasectomy as I have signing with an agent.

That baby is twice as likely to be a genius than I am to sign with an agent.

But on the bright side…

I’m ten times more likely to sign with an agent than Han is to successfully navigate that asteroid field according to C3PO.

And I’m 20 times more likely to sign with an agent than I am to be named the new lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots.

So there you have it. Though the odds may be stacked against me, I’m confident that I’ll find the right literary agent in time. Even if I am a stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Image Credit: Disney

First, what you’ve undoubtedly heard by now is true. The Force Awakens is the sequel all of us Star Wars fans have been waiting for. It’s much better than the cinematic abominations George Lucas delivered between 1999 and 2005. No more awful dialogue, no more leaden acting, and no overwhelming amounts of CGI. The Force Awakens looks and feels like the original trilogy. It’s fun; it’s exciting, and it offers the kind of magic that will make you forget that you’re sitting in a theater. For 2 hours and 15 minutes, director J.J. Abrams transports you to another universe.

The film gives us several engaging new heroes to root for including the fierce scavenger Rey, the Stormtrooper turned rebel Finn, hotshot pilot Poe Dameron, and the thoroughly entertaining rolling droid BB-8. It also delivers a great new villain in the masked Sith called Kylo Ren. And of course several of our old favorites from the original trilogy are back as well, some in large roles, others in cameos.

One of the most refreshing aspects of this new Star Wars is lead actress Daisy Ridley. She carries her scenes with a conviction Mark Hamill never mustered no matter how much I might love the character Luke Skywalker. She’s tough, she’s scared, she’s determined… I believed her every emotion and decision.

As usual, Harrison Ford gets many of the best lines. His return as smuggler Han Solo is a great way to bridge the old and the new in this series. Writers Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams could have easily used the 73-year-old star as nothing more than a nod to longtime fans, but they didn’t. Without giving anything away, he plays an important role in this story and his performance is just as good as it was 30+ years ago.

Adam Driver is excellent as Kylo Ren and he’s something of a change of pace as the new main bad guy. While past villains Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and Count Dooku seemed fully in control of themselves and their use of the dark side, Ren seems almost unhinged. He rages, he doubts, he persuades, and he threatens. He’s a torn young man battling inner demons and striving for a level of power that’s just out of his reach.  Similar to what Anakin should have been in Lucas’s most recent trilogy, Ren actually makes us believe in his character’s turmoil and hatred.

All of this isn’t to say that The Force Awakens is perfect. It’s not. The reunion between Solo and Leia feels too easy when it could and should have been a scene filled with emotional tension and long-simmering hurt. The film’s MacGuffin seems remarkably easy to find given how long it’s been hidden and how many people have been pursuing it. And as much as I prefer the old-school effects over CGI, I could do without the tie-fighters that are clearly just models hanging by wires.

Despite its faults, Star Wars: The Force Awakens should please anyone that enjoyed the original films now known as Episodes 4-6 and will probably be a very pleasant surprise for the younger audience that’s more familiar with the prequel Episodes 1-3. It contains enough sci-fi violence that I won’t allow my younger kids to see it, but you can bet I’ll be in line again next week to take my oldest and his cousin. And I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one due in 2017!