I watched Solo a couple of weeks ago. All issues aside, I liked it. It's a pretty fair movie. And it's excellent at Star Wars worldbuilding, maybe the best effort since A New Hope. This post really isn't a review of the movie, but more my thoughts about it's Star Warsiness.
The Good
As I said, Solo does a really, really good job of worldbuilding. Two scenes come to mind. The first is when Han and his girlfriend are trying to leave Corellia. The starport is so well realized. There are the poor masses wait in line at emigration. The emigration officials are women dressed as KZ matrons. There are regular Imperial military and security manning consoles or standing around. And there are Stormtroopers everywhere, pulling people out of line for whatever reason. It's a very paranoid and oppressive setting.
The second scene is after Han washes out of flight training, in a deleted scene, and is sent to the infantry. Not the Stormtroopers, but the regular army. The Imperial Army is something we've never really seen much of, even in the Expanded Universe. So it was awesome to see Han in the middle of a high-intensity battle reminiscent of the future war in Terminator 2. The army uniforms were Star Warsy and Imperial looking, but still looked pretty functional. It's a very cool scene that has really opened up a lot of headcanon.
The Bad
Beside the fact that it deviates from the EU, the Disney version of Han's origin story, Solo covers too much ground. The movie flows okay and it works. But starting with Han escaping a life of crime on Corellia and ending with him heading to Tatooine to hook up with Jabba a few years later is just too much time glossed over. There is so much more storytelling to be mined there which won't be.
The Ugly
I guess I will talk about the movie a little bit. Woody Harrelson did a great job; he's a fine actor. But his character was... eh. Tobias Beckett, not the most Star Warsy name. And did Han really need a mentor figure anyway? How cliche and it diminishes Han a little bit. And that haircut Tobias had was actually distracting. And Tobias loses his wife (she was his wife?!) early in the movie and he moves right along with the plot. And and and... I could go on.
On the subject of the movie, I will mention I thought Han and Chewie had excellent chemistry, even more amazing since Chewie is a guy in a suit. Chewie's actions and his body language really sold the character and the relationship with Han.
Oh yes, one more thing: Han shot first. :D :D :D
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