Samuel Brace on Solo: A Star Wars Story’s best moments. Spoilers follow…
Against all odds, defying dour expectations, and pre-game animadversions, Solo: A Star Wars Story is a truly excellent film. The movie that no one wanted and many angry internet dwellers oh so desired to be terrible, is actually tremendous fun, and replete with goodies aimed directly at the Star Wars faithful. Solo certainly isn’t a game changer in terms of narrative, the fate of the galaxy isn’t at stake, but the adventure is a sublime one, the characters are superb, Alden is brilliant as Han, the cinematography dazzling, and the surprises are jaw-dropping. After the fandom was rent asunder following The Last Jedi, it certainly feels like Solo could be the film to bring everyone back together – that’s quite an achievement.
Solo isn’t the best Star Wars film ever but it’s a tremendous entry and one that feels like it will only climb higher in one’s estimations on repeat viewings. Ron Howard’s film is replete with exciting moments, his movie propelled from one exciting action set-piece to the next and punctuated with delightful character exchanges. But what are the standouts? Well, one could assemble a rather dense list but in the interest of brevity, here are Solo’s three best moments.
The train heist
As mentioned, the action set-pieces that punctuate Solo are truly world class. There are a number of fantastic scenes of this nature, two of which make this list and are executed to perfection. One absolute standout is the train heist sequence, taking place shortly after Han joins up with Beckett and his crew for the first time. The gang is attempting to steal some precious cargo – Beckett for Crimson Dawn (unbeknownst to Han) and Solo to help fund his trip back to his beloved Qi’ra. Hovering over the speeding train amidst snowy environs, the team leaps aboard the vehicle’s roof, kicking off a high-speed heist that quickly goes wrong – a delightful throwback to similar sequences in many of our favourite Westerns. Enfys Nest and her crew quickly turn up to spoil the fun, chaos ensues, and audiences are treated to a dynamic shootout full with character losses, further bonding between Han and Chewie, and a fantastically choreographed duel between Beckett and Nest. Great stuff.
The Kessel Run
The train heist is a wonderful sequence but Solo’s best moment of action is the much discussed and apocryphally reported on Kessel Run. After Han, Chewie, Lando, and Qi’ra escape with their lives and their hard fought for treasure, they hop in the Falcon to secure their escape but things only get more dangerous from then on and Han is given the perfect opportunity to showcase his prodigious pilot skills, taking control of the Falcon, evading environmental dangers, imperial forces, and a giant space octopus. Its exhilarating stuff, layered with important character moments and is quite possibly Star Wars’ greatest ever chase sequence. Most enjoyable of all, this is where the Falcon turns from Lando’s immaculate prized possession to the beat-up old junk pile that we all know and love. Watching the ship deteriorate over the course of the run, losing bits and pieces on the way, is just another wonderful layer to this magnificent sequence. And it’s perfectly topped off once the team safely escape – watching Lando look on at what’s left of his ship and the disdain he has for Han is one of Solo’s most enjoyable character moments. Luckily, such occasions are legion.
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