YMMV / Solo

• Adorkable: Qi'ra has a moment in the Millennium Falcon where she "couldn't resist" the urge to try on one of Lando's many capes. We get to see her smiling and giggling like a teenage girl as she spins around in the mirror.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Tobias Beckett's decision to become The Mole for Dryden Vos. Was it a pragmatic decision made because it's the only way to ensure his survival from Crimson Dawn's wrath? Or was it a decision made out of spite because Han was going to sell the refined coaxium to the Cloud Riders gang, who are partly responsible for botching the train heist earlier in the film which resulted in the deaths of Beckett's lover and co-pilot? Or both?
  • Lando and L3. L3 thinks Lando is in love with her, which is played for laughs when she shares this with Qi'ra. But between Lando's genuine grief when L3 "dies" and the screenwriters' comments about Lando being a pansexual, perhaps L3 is right after all?
  • Qi'ra's motivations, especially in the end. She betrays Dryden Vos, saving Han's life, but later takes control of the Crimson Dawn syndicate. This suggests her betrayal was fueled by pragmatism rather than any feelings for Han, but after speaking with Maul, she tears up while flying away. Was she realizing she might be in over her head and wishing she'd gone with Han after all, or was she genuinely invested in power and just mourning that she had to sacrifice their relationship for it? Speaking of, did she take control of the Crimson Dawn purely for power or because she thought she couldn't ever leave? Multiple times Qi'ra expresses an interest in not being controlled and a belief that she's changed too much, after all. Then on top of all this... how much might it have to do with possibly being a Force-Sensitive, and being under Maul's thumb and feeling like her destiny lies with the Sith?
  • Alternatively, Qi'ra's choice to remain was purely for Han's sake. For all of Han's talk, he is constantly under the gun of people he's slighted, all the way to his first appearance in ANH. Qi'ra deciding to place all the blame on Beckett protects Han from Maul's considerable resources, and taking over Vos's position means that she is in charge of the hunt for Beckett and his confederates, a hunt she will never allow to point at Han. In doing so, she gives up both the man she loves and the chance at freedom. Her Klingon Promotion is essentially accepting a gilded cage.
  • Speaking of Qi'ra, her relationship with Dryden Vos. He tells Qi'ra he considers her the person he trusts most in the galaxy; is he being genuine about that, or buttering her up? Also, the way she talks about it suggests it isn't romantic/sexual, yet Dryden still behaves like it is, infringing on her personal space many times. Is he an Abhorrent Admirer, or is she lying to Han? When she kills him, she just says "I had to do it" in a way that sounds like she's trying to convince herself, which suggests she may have genuinely been fond of him. To what extent, who knows. There's also the possibility that due to his control over her life, she may be suffering from a degree of becoming a Love Martyr to cope with it.
  • What exactly did Dryden Vos rescue Qi'ra from on Corellia? Given that she's a very attractive young woman growing up on a lawless crime-ridden hellhole, as well as some of her body language around Dryden, some fans have assumed the worst... although Dryden's treatment of her doesn't exactly suggest he's a paragon of respect, either. Furthermore, how much of his behaviour towards her is due to affection/possession, and how much due to the obvious fact that it pisses off Han?
  • The motives behind Empire's invasion of Mimban, also known as the setting of the book Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the very first Star Wars Expanded Universe novel ever. Were they just there to subjugate the planet? Or was the Empire there to lay claim to the Kyber Crystal, which powers Jedi lightsabers but was also used by the Empire to serve as an energy source for the Death Star's laser.
  • Did the droids free the human and alien slaves because they saw them as allies in a fight against oppression, or simply because they thought a simultaneous human/alien revolt would provide cover for their own? Or perhaps because they weren't really 'free' in their own heads, they'd just been given an order to 'go forth and 'free' others' by L3, and were carrying it out Sorcerer's Apprentice Broom Style?
  • Some viewers have pointed out several similarities and contrasts between Qi'ra and Leia, which could potentially put a different light on Han's later relationship with the latter. Qi'ra is the perfect Foil to Leia: both are smart, charismatic, spirited women who prefer to be diplomatic but can also handle themselves in a fight and are two of the only few people who can see Han for who he really is. This might explain why Han is attracted to Leia during the events of the Original Trilogy. He saw a lot of Qi'ra in Leia. This could also have a sadder aspect as well as it reinterprets Han and Leia's relationship. Does Han genuinely love Leia for who she is, or because she reminded him a lot of Qi'ra and he only loved her because she resembles Qi'ra the closest?
  • In some ways, Han's relationship with Leia can be seen as his relationship with Qi'ra gone right. Leia brings out Han's better qualities and encourages him to be a good person, while Qi'ra, intentionally or not, plays a large part in Han's Cynicism Catalyst. Qi'ra betrays and abandons Han to serve her own interests, causing him to believe he cannot trust or rely on anyone (save for Chewie) while Leia, at great personal risk, comes to rescue Han when he's taken captive by Jabba the Hutt, along with their other friends, proving that there are people he can count on.
  • L3's demands for droid rights are laughed off by other characters, but considering that L3 and many other droids have human intelligence, feel resentful of their status as second-class citizens, and express desire to not be owned by anyone, she might be completely right.
  • L3 becoming a part of the Falcon was meant to be seen as heartwarming, but many viewers saw it as a Fate Worse than Death since her goal was freedom and she's more or less been enslaved forever. The novelization actually supports this, showing that L3 was conscious inside the Falcon and did NOT want to be part of it until the Falcon blackmailed her into joining by pointing out that Lando would die without it, and then forcibly assimilated her. This is furthered with the short story “Faith In An Old Friend” which is told from L3’s POV in the Falcon and she turns out to miss having her own body and resents Lando for letting her be sold to Han.
• Americans Hate Tingle: Part of the reason the film became a Box Office Bomb was its shockingly poor performance overseas. In North America it was actually the tenth-highest grossing film of 2018, but in the rest of the world it only managed to scrape together $179m. For perspective, this is $5m less than Star Trek Beyond, a film that bombed badly enough to kill the Star Trek reboot series and spur the creation of Picard, earned outside of North America.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Tobias Beckett is dealt with not with an intense gunfight, but with a simple surprise shot to the heart by Han while he's talking.
• Awesome Ego: Han Solo just wouldn't be Han Solo without an ego the size of the Death Star, or perhaps of Starkiller Base. Many critics and fans alike were delighted to see that Alden Ehrenreich pulled off the character's trademark mix of charisma and arrogance about as well as possibly can be hoped for from anyone not named Harrison Ford - and goes on to show why that arrogance is entirely justified at the same time.
• Awesome Music: See here.
• Base-Breaking Character: L3-37 is either endearing or unbearable for her droids rights activism. Furthermore, is she an endorsement or an parody of social justice advocates?
• Broken Base: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise.
• Cant Unhear It: Sam Witwer's voice for Maul. It was enough for some fans of The Clone Wars and Rebels to anticipate his identity before taking off the hood.
• Captain Obvious Reveal:
  • A marketing example. The announcement that the Untitled Han Solo film would be titled Solo was seen as an obvious choice, given that the franchise has been making use of Protagonist Titles recently. Possibly justified, given the Troubled Production and rumors that it was supposed to be titled something else.
  • Enfys Nest being a woman. One could deduce it only by seeing how petite and narrow-shouldered she is under her suit and that she is the only member in her platoon who has her voice obscured (which even sounds just like Leia's bounty hunter helmet when she did the exact same revelation in Return of the Jedi).
• Cliché Storm: One of the biggest problems with the movie is that it's not hard to guess what will happen from start to finish. It doesn't help that it's a prequel about one of the most famous characters in Star Wars, so the outcome of many plot threads is already known by default. It also sticks to the classic heist movie formula quite closely (the Skilled, but Naive hero with sympathetic motives who joins a Caper Crew, the cynical mentor looking for One Last Job, the Femme Fatale Old Flame whose loyalty is questionable, the plan that goes awry, the inevitable double-cross etc). While some viewers still find the movie a lot of fun and argue it has some surprises, it's generally agreed Solo isn't one of the more original entries in the franchise.
• Common Knowledge:
  • People calling Alden Ehrenreich a "total unknown" are mistaken. Ehrenreich was discovered by Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him in his film Tetro. Much like Ford was, actually. He also previously received a great deal of praise for his role in Hail, Caesar! and it's very likely that it was that very praise what got him the role of Han Solo in the first place. He also had a relatively small but crucial supporting role in Blue Jasmine and had worked with Warren Beatty just prior to being cast in this film.
  • It's common knowledge that A New Hope used the word "parsec" incorrectly. The original script outright states he's lying through his teeth to impress "the rubes" and that he isn't nearly as much of a hotshot pilot as he claims, which his incorrect use of "parsec" was meant to illustrate. Alec Guinness' raised eyebrow and slight smirk at this boast also suggested that Obi-Wan knew that Han was bluffing. This film, like the Expanded Universe before it, retcons him from being a big-talking huckster into the ace pilot he was merely pretending to be, but lacking the social graces to make people believe him.
  • Due to the film's Sequel Hooks (namely, Han going to work for Jabba, and Maul's cameo), many fans treat Solo like it had a sequel in the works that was cancelled after the film bombed. While both such hooks will likely be used for future stories, it was never officially confirmed that the film was going to have an outright sequel. The decision to use Maul as Crimson Dawn's boss came from the fact that Ron Howard's son Reed grew up on and enjoyed the prequels, so Ron Howard decided to throw in Maul (out of many other candidates for Crimson Dawn's boss) as a tribute to his son's generation. Even if the Maul cameo was hinting at a future story, it would more than likely not be hinting towards a sequel to Solo, but rather for the Revival of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, in which Maul ended up playing a significant part.
  • Co-writer Jon Kasdan later revealed on Twitter that, while the sequel hooks were intended for future Solo films, he admitted that they were unlikely to be made.
    "To be honest, I think the challenge has much more to do with the foreign box office than the U.S. Personally, I think there are great Star Wars movies to be made that don't need to cost quite so much. Hopefully that will be the trend in the years to come, and maybe, just maybe that trend will allow us, one way or another, to tell more stories with Alden, Joonas, Emila and Donald. With those actors and RH, I would jump at the opportunity. Given the way Hollywood, and the culture at large, seem to run from anything labeled a disappointment, the odds seem like they're against it happening anytime soon. But, I suppose, Han wouldn't have it any other way."
• Continuity Lock-Out: Audience members who did not watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars (and to a lesser extent Star Wars Rebels) will likely be wondering why Maul is still alive and kicking or if they only knew about his survival via word of mouth, why he has any involvement in the criminal underworld near the very end of the movie.
• Crack Pairing: Qi'ra and Maul, after his promise that they will be working together "very closely in the future".Also in part because of the people who find both of them sexy.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • The Battle of Mimban. Seeing a bunch of fellow soldiers dying in some muddy war-torn hellhole? Horrifying. An overzealous commanding officer telling his men to fight for their Empire before immediately getting blown to smithereens by an artillery blast like something you'd see in Starship Troopers or straight out of the Imperial Guard? Hilarious. And there's also a Mudtrooper shouting "My leg!" in the background somewhere in the sequence. The fact that we never actually learn why the troopers are fighting arguably makes it that much funnier.
  • Han claiming that he learned a piloting maneuver from a friend who died? Fairly standard stuff. Revealing that said friend died mid-attempt takes it straight to comedy territory.
• Die for Our Ship: A number of fans expressed disdain for any possible Han/Qi'ra teases, due to Han/Leia being the One True Pairing (or in some circles, prefer Han/Lando). Essentially died down when the movie was released.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • A lot of people have really gravitated towards Enfys Nest, mostly due to being a mysterious yet oddly alluring figure and having a really cool-looking costume. Hmm, that sounds familiar. Having a kickass theme song helps too. This only increased with The Reveal that she and the Cloud Riders are actually a nascent rebel cell of various victims of the Empire fighting back, with Enfys herself having inherited the mask from her mother after she was killed resisting Crimson Dawn. There's also a rumor that the actress has signed on for two more films, leaving many to hope she's being set up for a bigger role in future.
  • Beckett's crew, Rio Durant and Val, are quite popular with the fans despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that neither of them survives the Conveyex heist.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • More than a few people have speculated that the giant tentacle monster in the nebula is actually Abeloth, who in Legends was imprisoned in the Maw, the cluster of black holes around which the Kessel Run is located. This has been jossed however, as the creature is an animal called Summa-verminoth.
  • Many fans have also speculated that Qi'ra will be a Femme Fatale to Han and is secretly an Imperial. They're half-right; she's not an Imperial, but she does abandon Han at the end of the movie.
  • Similarly, many, many people suggested that Qi'ra might be Enfys Nest, largely due to the above theory and Nest being a masked pirate with no known identity. This ended up not being true, however, as Nest is played by a different actor. and one of the trailers clearly showed a scene with both Qi'ra and Enfys in it at the same time and place. Although, as it turns out, Nest is actually female.
  • Speculation exploded that Boba Fett and/or the Mandalorians would have a role in the movie after the second trailer featured a large animal skull that closely resembles the Mandalorian Krybes◊, as well as a Mandalorian figure in one scene, (although that one was confirmed to just be a suit of armor in Dryden's collection). Ultimately, no Mandalorians appear. Directly. The new shakin' tree is that Enfys might be one, but this isn't addressed directly.
  • More humorously, some people have suggested that the (apparently female) Wookiee that Chewie is seen lovingly embracing in the second trailer is actually the canonization of Chewie's wife Malla from the infamous holiday special. With the full film, it might well be (Chewie is awfully insistent on saving this Wookiee) but with none of the Shriwook subtitled as always, it's hard to say.
  • Tag and Bink were cut for time from the movie, but are still considered canon (and they are in a deleted scene). In addition to Jon Kasdan confirming that they were working menial security jobs when Han was at the Academy, fans of the comic (as well as comic creator, Kevin Rubio) also believe they are the two Mudtroopers from "the beast" scene since their dialogue exchange is very similar (and it's very much like Tag and Bink to be in random roles). This is confirmed by the captions in the DVD release.
  • Qi'ra is Rey's mother or grandmother; after a while her double dealing caught up with her and she had to hide out as a petty crook on Jakku, where she hooked up with an equally pathetic guy. This theory was partly jossed following the release of The Rise of Skywalker, which revealed Rey's parents were the son and daughter-in-law of Palpatine, with Rey's mother portrayed by Jodie Comer, although Qi'ra could still hypothetically be Rey's grandmother: she could've shacked up with the Emperor (she likes money and power after all) and had a son with him, seeing as nothing is revealed about Rey's paternal grandmother. Qi'ra could also hypothetically be Rey's maternal grandmother, as little is revealed about Rey's mother in Rise.
  • A theory has been making the rounds that Qi'ra will double-cross Maul and strand him on Malachor, thus leading to his state in Rebels.
  • Some people believe that Enfys Nest is actually Beckett's estranged daughter with Val, and that Val wore the helmet before her but abandoned it when she fell in love with Beckett, since her actress Erin Kellyman plausibly looks like she could be the child of Woody Harrelson and Thandiwe Newton, and that she hates him because he works for the same people she spends her life fighting. Or alternatively, that she's the child of either Beckett or Val, but not both of them Some people have gone even further and suggested that she's actually Maul's daughter (however, given Enfys's age, this shouldn't be physically possible, as Maul has been unable to conceive for 22 years due to his bisection).
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Dryden Vos. Badass Cape, cool scars, a totally pimpin' yacht-starship, Paul Bettany's awesomely psychotic performance, and to top it all off, he's no slouch in combat to boot.
  • MAUL is back. What else needs to be said?
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: The revelation that Han got the surname "Solo" from an Imperial recruitment officer simply because he was alone at the time has been widely ridiculed by fans, even by those who otherwise enjoyed the film. Many found the explanation unnecessary (especially given how over-the-top some names can be in the franchise - remember these are movies where the protagonist has the last name "Skywalker"), and just raised the question why Han would continue to use the name long after he stopped working for the Empire.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Just how did Maul manage to rebuild a crime syndicate after the end of the Clone Wars?
  • And related, how did Maul go from leading one of the most feared crime syndicates during the age of the Empire to becoming a washed-out hermit on a ruined planet? And what happened to Qi'ra in the meantime?
  • What exactly did Qi'ra do to rise from a petty thief on the streets of Corellia to the very near top of the Crimson Dawn's hierarchy, especially under Maul's leadership? Given what he did in the Clone Wars, and how ashamed Qi'ra seems to be of what she's done, it can't have been pretty...
  • What kind of insidious activities did Qi'ra and Maul get up to while "working closely" together?
  • What did Enfys Nest and the Cloud-Riders do to aid the growing Rebellion?
• Fan Nickname: "Pimp Trooper" for the Range Trooper, due to the fluffy and soft fur cape on its neck.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: The film gives Han a pre-Leia love interest in the form of Qi'ra - one that the fandom seems to have completely shrugged off, in favor of Lando. In an odd case of this, it rarely supersedes Leia entirely; it just seems to be strongly agreed that Han and Lando were together and are Amicable Exes by the time of the original trilogy, while Qi'ra barely even rates a blip. Even Billy Dee Williams suggested at a convention that they'd had sex at least once.
• Friendly Fandoms: With Willow, due to both being Lucasfilm productions, directed by Ron Howard and sharing Warwick Davis in them. Both films also share similar stories of not doing well at the box office, but being enjoyed by fans, who hope that like the former, the latter will be Vindicated by Cable.
• He's Just Hiding: Some fans aren't willing to believe that Aurra Sing died from simply being pushed to her death. Even with the lack of context and Aurra going through adaptational Force-depowerment, Aurra has survived Slave I crashing and exploding with her inside. However, given that Maul is also a character in this film, and he came back after being cut in half and dropped down a bottomless pit, it's not impossible that she could still be out there. It's also completely in character for Beckett to lie about killing her.
• He Really Can Act: Many people were skeptical of Alden Ehrenreich's abilities to act as Han. Come the film's release, and he's been receiving a great deal of praise.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The line "assume everyone will betray you. And you will never be disappointed" is the Rotten Tomatoes consensus.
  • Ron Howard being brought on at the last minute to direct this movie is rather amusing when his daughter would follow in his footsteps as an episode director for The Mandalorian.
  • Original directors Phil Lordand Chris Miller were fired and replaced by Oscar-winning director Ron Howard after four months of principal photography. Nearly two years after their firing, Lord and Miller went on to win an Oscar for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, while also signing up to direct the sci-fi heist film Artemis, which one would notice has similarities to Solo.
  • This film takes advantage of Erin Kellyman's inherently innocent looks to instantly make clear that Enfys Nest isn't actually a villain. This was later turned on its head in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where she uses those looks to pose as a hostage of the terrorist group she's actually the leader of, and get the drop on Bucky.
  • After Phoebe Waller-Bridge played L3 in this movie, she would later go on to be cast in a movie featuring Harrison Ford's other most iconic character, this time played by the man himself in ''Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny '.
• Ho Yay:
  • The shippers quickly latched onto Lando casually calling Han "baby." L3-37 also calls their banter "flirting."
  • Han and Chewbacca taking a shower simultaneously also caused this kind of reaction. At the very least, it proves just how much they trust each other.
    Han: (after Chewie joins him in the shower) We couldn't have done this one at a time?
• I Knew It!: Many fans had predicted that the Kessel Run would be featured in the movie. This was confirmed in early January 2018, when a LEGO set for the Millennium Falcon mentioned it by name.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: One of the reasons for why Han/Qi'ra was looked down on was because of disinterest in another tragic romance as a major point of the movie. It's been done in the Prequel Trilogy, The Force Awakens (by giving Han/Leia a Happy Ending Override), Rebels, and Kylo Ren/Rey after The Rise of Skywalker. Instead of yet more doomed love, a number of fans feel that Han and Qi'ra should've been akin to siblings to parallel Luke and Leia or Ezra and Sabine instead.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • A large number of fans were only going to see the movie for Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. Quite a few even stated that the movie should have focused on him instead.
  • Quite a few fans also stated they were only going to see the film for the inclusion of Tag and Bink (although their scene ended up being cut from the movie).
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Tobias Beckett is a smuggler working for the Crimson Dawn Syndicate. Introduced disguised as an Imperial officer, Beckett and his teammates successfully desert a battle in spite of Han Solo's blackmail attempt, later taking the young man as a protégé after a train heist goes wrong. Assigned to deliver a stolen shipment of coaxium to Dryden Vos, Beckett secretly monitors his teammates and reports them to his boss when they decide to give the material to the Cloud Riders instead. When it turns out that Han anticipated this, Beckett betrays Vos as well in order to make off with the coaxium for himself. Whether working with him or against him, Beckett proves himself to be a worthy teacher toward the young Han Solo.
  • Qi'ra was once a scrappy street rat from Corellia, who grows into the woman who almost toppled the Empire and annihilated the Sith. The former lover of Han Solo, Qi'ra joined Crimson Dawn and climbed her way to become Dryden Vos' right-hand. Upon reuniting with Han, Qi'ra helps him double-cross Vos and personally kills her former employer to gain Maul's favor, learning the secrets of the Sith at his feet. Uncovering the truth of the Emperor's identity, Qi'ra resolves to overthrow him and bring freedom back to the galaxy by rebuilding Crimson Dawn from the shadows, assembling legions of followers to infiltrate organizations throughout the universe. Qi'ra makes her grand re-entrance by stealing the carbonite-frozen Han from Boba Fett and hosting an auction for him, creating conflict between the Empire and the Hutts; with the underworld destabilized, Qi'ra sets off an intergalactic gang war, all while helping the Rebels rescue her former lover. Sowing chaos to such extents that she rattles even the Emperor himself, Qi'ra stages a massive battle to goad the Sith into a Fermata Cage, only prevented from freezing them in time for all eternity by the sudden betrayal of the Knights of Ren. Even with her plans foiled, Qi'ra survives to see the Empire's downfall, having lain what groundwork she could to help those in search of freedom.
• Memetic Badass: Therm Scissorpunch, a crustacean-looking Nephran with a cool name on par with Elan Sleazebaggano. His badass status seems to have ascended from a meme years later, as he was once shown to be part of Maz Kanata's pirate gang in The High Republic Adventures (2022).
• Memetic Mutation: Has its own page here.
• Misaimed Merchandising: A harmless example, but the film has a tie-in deal going on with Norton Lifelock computer security programs. Nothing says we’ll protect your valuable stuff than having ads featuring Han, who in this film is established as a lifelong thief and smuggler.
• Mis-blamed: Given that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy is deemed as a target for criticism when anything goes wrong with a new Star Wars movie, many point to her as making things needlessly complicated by hiring Lord and Miller only to fire them midway through production. In actuality, it was writer Lawrence Kasdan who wanted them to work on the project before he later realized that they weren't the best fit for the story.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • A few notes of Duel of the Fates starts playing during the scene where Maul makes an appearance.
  • The same character's Evil Laugh in that very scene. Sam Witwer does the character as chillingly as always, and it's an absolute joy for fans to hear.
• Narm: See the franchise's article.
• Older Than They Think:
  • While the film attracted unwanted attention with sheer number of problems with its production, this would, in fact, hardly be the first time that a Star Wars film has had these issues. That honor goes to none other than A New Hope, which was plagued by so many production problems that nearly everyone, including George Lucas himself, thought it would fail. The main difference is that while A New Hope was (at that time) a completely new franchise, this time the film has several incredibly successful predecessors and a very large fanbase — and it came close on the heels of the divisive The Last Jedi.
  • There were also a lot of people complaining that nobody "wants" this movie, with many stating that this is secretly just Disney trying to milk childhood nostalgia and nothing else. George Lucas himself was already working on the movie even before he sold Lucasfilm to Disney, with this movie especially being the Kasdans' pet project since that time. And a huge impetus for the creation of the original Star Wars Extended Universe was the ceaseless clamoring for stories about Han and Chewie and more details of their implied history, stretching all the way back to The '80s.
  • L3-37's crusade for Droid Rights that defines her character is often brought up as an example of a shoehorned political allegory in this movie. Thing is, Droid Rights have been an issue brought in Star Wars Legends here and there for about as long as the old EU has existed, long before Disney bought Star Wars, most notably as the subject of a Flashpoint in The Old Republic and as a possible character motivation in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire tabletop game.
  • Han just being given the last name Solo because he didn't have a family name was described as hokey by some. The concept dates back to at least the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, where it was revealed that the future Darth Malak was given the name of his hometown as a surname when he fled the Mandalorians.
  • A younger-looking Han was originally from concept art of a Han-like character to be introduced in The Force Awakens.
  • The plot shares many elements with The Han Solo Trilogy, with changes to certain names and organizations. Heck, this even includes offering explanations for things about Han that don't really need explaining; while this film gets flack for its origin of Han's surname, The Han Solo Trilogy felt the need to explain the importance of the stripes on Han's pants.
  • Darth Maul returning to run a criminal organization happens in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Near the end of the film, Maul only appears for about a minute, but the sheer unexpectedness of the character's appearance, combined with the performance given, is enough to be incredibly memorable, much in the same vein as Red Skull in Avengers: Infinity War.
  • Proxima only gets one scene, but she certainly leaves quite an impression.
• Questionable Casting: Alden Ehrenreich being a relatively unknown actor bearing little resemblance to Harrison Ford cast doubt over his ability to portray Han Solo. Upon the film's release, however, Ehrenreich received a lot of praise for his performance as a younger, more idealistic Han Solo who gradually becomes more cynical. There are several moments, mostly towards the end of the film, where he sounds very much like Harrison Ford in the original films, making it a possible case of Ability over Appearance.
• Retroactive Recognition: Lexi, a scrumrat who steals another kid's loot in an early scene, is played by Lily Newmark , who later became better known for her role as Pym in Cursed.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: The film has a rather slow paced first act centered around Han's early days and setting up how he wound up working for Beckett and then Dryden Vos, taking around 40 to 50 minutes before we meet Lando and get to see the Millennium Falcon for the first time.
• So Okay, It's Average: General critical consensus (though fan reception tends to skew more positive) is that it's a fun little adventure film and a good watch with all the actors doing a wonderful job in displaying the younger roles of their older counterparts. But the story is nothing all that spectacular either and stumbles a bit in its pacing. In stark contrast to the other Disney films in the franchise so far, and even compared to most other Star Wars films in general, you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who flat out loves or hates it.
  Rotten Tomatoes critics' consensus: A flawed yet fun and fast-paced space adventure, Solo: A Star Wars Story should satisfy newcomers to the saga as well as longtime fans who check their expectations at the theater door.
• Spiritual Adaptation: The war scenes on Mimban are perhaps the finest Warhammer 40,000 movie scenes ever produced.
• Squick: The fate of the Summa-verminoth in the Maw. Fierce monster or not, having your skin shredded off by what is essentially a black hole is not a pretty way to go, and the movie certainly shows it.
• Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • "The Adventures of Han" has quite a similar structure to "Battle of the Heroes". Perhaps John Williams is trying to draw parallels between Han vs. Tobias and Anakin vs. Obi-Wan?
  • Parts also sound similar to Poe's theme from The Force Awakens, which makes sense as both are hotshot Ace Pilots.
  • Powell's love theme for Han and Qi'ra is an intentional homage to the love themes Williams composed for Han and Leia in The Empire Strikes Back, Anakin and Padmé in Attack of the Clones, and Indy and Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Aurra Sing is offhandedly mentioned to have been killed by Tobias Beckett sometime in the past. This is a rather unceremonious end for one of the most dangerous bounty hunters and an Ensemble Dark Horse in both the Canon and Legends continuities of the EU. Although the fact that it's offhandedly mentioned through dialogue by a not entirely reliable source means that it could easily be undone by a writer who wanted to use the character in the future.
  • Tobias's original crew, Val and Rio, are both killed in the botched train job when so much more could've been done with their characters, with Rio being a friendly Deadpan Snarker Ace Pilot and Val being a no-nonsense Jerk with a Heart of Gold who is one half Battle Couple alongside Tobias. Them being killed despite these interesting traits is similar to how the cast of Rogue One died while with little development despite their interesting potential, and just feels like a waste of characters. Jonathan Kasdan later said he regretted this with Val in particular, as casting as big a name as Thandiwe Newton gave the audience an unfair expectation about how big her role would be.
  • When it was revealed the giant tentacled being in The Maw Cluster is a creature called Summa-Verminoth, quite a good deal of Legends fans felt this was a missed opportunity to bring Abeloth back into canon, more so considering The Maw was where she was imprisoned. Granted, there's a good chance we haven't seen the last of the cluster yet.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Many people think the leader of Crimson Dawn should have been someone other than Darth Maul because that character's life has already been explored, and he already has a canon death, so there can be few surprises.
  • Han clearly blames himself partly for Qi'ra being captured on Corellia, preventing her from escaping to freedom with him. It then took him three years to even get into a position where he could return for her, during which time she felt compelled to go to extreme lengths to survive. Qi'ra insists she doesn't blame Han, but some viewers thought it might've been interesting if Qi'ra secretly did resent Han for 'abandoning' her, potentially leading her to consider double-crossing him or seeking revenge. It could've also added an extra layer of complexity to their relationship, as Qi'ra could have conflicting feelings of both resentment and lingering affection for Han.
• Too Cool to Live: Beckett's pilot, Rio Durant, and lover, Val, both of whom were badass and likable characters. Both of them die during the Conveyex heist to make room for Han and Qi'ra on Beckett's crew.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Out of all the possible Star Wars Legends characters to make the jump to film, it's pretty safe to say no one expected Tag and Bink, especially since they—being from a parody comic series— were never canon to begin with. They didn't make it to the theatrical cut, however.
  • Warwick Davis has a rather unexpected Role Reprise in this movie: Weazel, the pod race spectator from The Phantom Menace!
  • Easily the biggest one happens at the very end of the film, when Qi'ra contacts the Crimson Dawn's boss: Darth Maul. Especially so for people who hadn't seen The Clone Wars and Rebels and thus didn't know that he survived his apparent death in The Phantom Menace.
• The Woobie: It's hard not to feel a little bad for the Summa-verminoth, as it's basically just a big dumb animal looking for food and it dies so painfully, being slowly sucked into a black hole while having its skin torn off, dismembered and burning alive the whole time.

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