Yeah, this was my take too. Not bad at all, just nothing remarkable. It just sort of happened and then it was done.
Only things I hated was how they felt the need to very clunkily explain his surname and how they tried to make another funny robot after K2SO was so good in Rguuue 1.
Woody H and Paul B were both great and I thought the chap playing Han did a pretty good job.
The âfunnyâ robot didnât work at all.
Film basically OK though.
Saw this the other night and youâve basically got entirely my feeling too. Was pretty sad that it didnât punch higher, TBH. Could have improved it by chopping off the pointless text at the start and intro and beginning in the war bit, I reckon. The QiâRa back story could have come out in the bar on Bettanyâs yacht thing - in fact I think anyone watching could have understood all of that just from what we see.
I think also itâs how uninspired so much of it was. The train heist thing at the start was great for a couple of reasons:
Whereas we got the Kessel Run and it was just a mash up of the Asteroid field stuff in Empire Strikes Back and the TIE fighters attacking the Falcon in the original Star Wars. The final fight felt different but it was too weighed down by a weird desire to have all this heist-style double-crossing but not really delivered well.
Liked this a lot more second time around tonight. Lots of little bits I hadnât noticed like Han shooting first, Lando and his awkward hug at the end being the carbon copy of the one in Empire, some mannerisms and acting that nailed the characters really well.
The strengths are really good; that train sequence, Bridgeâs droid, setting for the climax fight, Lando in general, intro to Chewie, the speeder chase at the start. I also think this movie has the best costume and new alien designs since Jedi.
The major flaw is also one its strengths in my eyes; how much it ties into the original films. The little things feel smart (the way they turn the Chess game off at the point they activate it in a New Hope, use of Landoâs Tattooine disguise, integrating the droid into the Falcon, his lucky dice), the bigger plot points feel forced (Han unwittingly funding the Rebel Alliance, how he gets the name Solo).
The stuff I still canât figure out revolves around timing. Firstly, as many people have said, the time frame all this happens in is frankly insane.
But the one I canât fathom is how the film ends with him heading off to do a job for Jabba when the Empire is in its infancy and Darth Maul is leading it. Even if he got waylaid, for Maul to be alive then Anakin is less than 7 years old so Han would be about 20-30 years older by the time he meets Luke.
Am I missing something?
Anyhow, you can tell where it was rushed, where it labours and where itâs a bit too much of an ode to past glories but Iâd rather watch it over all 3 prequels and possibly The Force Awakens.
Ok, so I found this and it explains it.
Weird⌠canât help feeling that if I, as a fairly big Star Wars fan and reader of several movie websites, didnât know about Maulâs subsequent life in a spin off comic and kids series, then I doubt many average cinema goers did either.
Aye, itâs an absolutely bizarre move to have included him without any filling in of the gaps. I was so baffled about the chronology when I got out of it until I read up on the EU stuff.
It reminds me of when they thought The Matrix was so huge, that weâd all played that Enter the Matrix game and watched the Animatrix episodes so knew what half of the Reloaded back story was about. Absolutely marvellous for the hardcore 1000 fans out there at Comic Con, but plain stupidity for most mere mortals.
I just got out of a 20th anniversary Matrix screening. So fucking good.
It is weird that they include him in there yeah but I donât think itâs that much of a logical stretch for the viewer to go âoh he must have survived the fight with Obi-Wan somehowâ rather than that weird timeline stuff you came up with 
I just rationalised it by reminding myself that the prequels donât actually exist.
I just thought they fucked up the timeline tbh or that I had misjudged how old Han was supposed to be here. I guess I should realise in Star Wars that being cut in half or dying obviously means youâre still alive.
Also, lets not forget that in this universe, Anakin Skywalker turns from a 7 year old boy into a 25 year old Jedi in the time it takes Padme to pop to the shops for some anti-aging cream.
Both my girlfriend and our friend are fairly big SW fans and thought it was Darth Mailâs son or brother or something. Thereâs so much Star Wars around that itâs very possible to not know heâs back even if youâre very into it. Only reason I know heâs back is because I listen to a weekly comics podcast, and the week the Darth Maul comic series began out they reviewed the issue and explained heâs back. I used them dropping the old EU as a jumping off point, and I reckon a lot of fans will have done the same. Kids and parents may know the cartoon stuff, but itâs a bit of a niche thing to drop in there as a seemingly significant plot point with no explanation.
If you really like Star Wars then Iâd advise watching the Clone Wars and Rebels, they both add huge depth to the main films and are full Cannon.
Been meaning to get around to this for ages
You all listening to the podcast Star Calls? Itâs really good. A guy watching the saga for the first time and calling up his lifelong super fan mate up to then discuss them. Really interesting hearing someoneâs view on them who hasnât been too subjected to them.
Whatâs The Phantom Menace?
maybe the real Phantom Menace was the friends we made along the way
Just remembered Chewbacca was pals with Yoda in the prequels and got angry again
I like this film overall but âhmm I shall call you Han⌠Soloâ is far dumber than anything in the prequels