I've got weird expectations heading into Solo. When it was first announced, I was largely indifferent, figuring, "Hey, it could be fun, but there's a lot of other stories I'd like to see." Then they announced that Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the geniuses behind 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie, would be writing and directing, which certainly made me take attention. After all, everything these guys touched turned out to be great, so maybe this will be something after all. And then, just to make sure I was absolutely on-board, they cast Donald Glover as Lando.
Donald Glover. As in Troy from Community. As in Childish Gambino. As in the showrunner and lead of Atlanta, my favorite show of 2016. How could they possibly mess up after such a perfect move?
Ah. That's right, you can fire the directors for making the movie "too comedic". This was pretty much when everyone soured on Solo, with some pointing out the similarities between this and Marvel's feud with Edgar Wright over Ant-Man that led to his departure from the project. Ron Howard stepped in to reshoot the film, which suggested a wild change in the film's tone, with Disney and Lucasfilm reassuring us that everything was fine. No problems here, no sir.
*Ron Howard voice* There were problems.
When this bit of news broke, I was pretty much done with the film, to the point where I suspected that I might not even see it in theaters. At best, I thought it would turn out to be a bit of "Hey, remember this Star Wars thing you love? Isn't nostalgia fun?" like Rogue One turned out to be. Just a bit of fun, entirely disposable fluff, much like Ant-Man. At worst, I expected an uneven mess that wouldn't even make it's release date and forever sully the good name of Donald Glover.
But then they announced that a trailer for a trailer (which is a trend I hate with every fiber of my soul) would be showing during the Super Bowl. So, I watched the Super Bowl with interest. Granted, I only ever really watch the Super Bowl for the commercials in the first place, but now I was on the look-out for something. The teaser played...and it looked okay, but wasn't quite enough to sell me. So I got excited for the trailer the next day.
I watched the trailer and, surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. It looked like a silly little romp with a surprising color palette, so maybe Disney's fears were unfounded. In the space of two days, I had very much changed my tune on Solo. After all, it's a good cast with an good director, why should I be so hesitant?
But that's the problem. Try as I might, I can't quite seem to muster excitement beyond hoping that it will be good. Because despite the really good trailer, I can't escape the fact this is a film that forced two brilliant directors off in favor of more studio control, a film that was reshot almost entirely in the space of a few months, and a film that's own distributor is worried about. As a fan of The Last Jedi, I'm worried it will be a step backwards into "hey, remember this?" after Rian Johnson worked to free the series from the shackles of the past. Most of all, I'm worried that turn the audience off of the franchise and lead to Lucasfilm being hesitant to make more films like it.
But, hey, maybe I'm wrong and I'll really like it. Maybe it will be a smash-hit success, which I want it to be because a) rooting for something to fail is dumb and b) maybe the success will convince Lucasfilm to wise up and give the people what they want. That's right: Lando: A Star Wars Story, written and directed by Donald Glover.
Just two hours of this please.
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