WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story, in theaters now.
Among the many issues that surrounded Solo: A Star Wars Story during production was the firing in June 2017 of directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, when principal photography was nearing completion. Lucasfilm cited "creative differences," with reports surfacing of conflicting views between the directors and veteran screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and studio President Kathleen Kennedy. For example, according to several sources, Lord and Miller had been going off script and steering the film further and further into the genre of comedy, a move Luicasfilm was reportedly not comfortable with.
As you'd expect, significant changes were made to the film because of this. Ron Howard was brought on as director, reshooting more than 70% of the film in an attempt to swing Solo back to the vision Kasdan and Kennedy had for it: A space opera, with a touch of comedy. It was a considerably difficult task, considering the relatively short amount of time available until the scheduled release date.
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Howard was unable to bring any of his typical creative collaborators along, or to make any changes to the scripts, cast or crew with the exception of Michael K. Williams, who was replaced as Dryden Vos by Paul Bettany because os a scheduling conflict with reshoots. And, as you might imagine there were a lot of reshoots.
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By now, you might have already seen Solo: A Star Wars Story, and are curious about just how much of Lord and Miller's film remains. Their marks on the film are difficult to discern from the rest of the film, which is a testament to Ron Howard's ability to ensure that different aspects of film blend well, but we're going to do out best.
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We'll start by noting the components of the film that are almost quintessentially trademarks of Howard. In an interview, Howard stated, "I realized I had to rely on my raw instincts more than I normally would, because I didn’t have the time to prepare a movie..." which means, as audience members, we can expect Howard to implement all the devices and techniques he's used so many times before.
This is evident in the overall tone of the film. Howard has praised the talents of cinematographer Bradford Young, and it's clear the two worked well together when you examine the visual aspects of the film. Much like Howard's more dramatic films such as The Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon and A Beautiful Mind, Solo's near monochromatic color palette and its visual tone remain consistently sombre throughout the film. It's fitting, considering the themes of the film include slavery and betrayal.
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The tone allows Howard to build tension, which he's able to do quite well throughout even the calmer moments of the film. It aids characters such as Dryden Vos, which appeared genuinely intimidating as a villain thanks in part to the atmosphere Howard was able to create, as well as Paul Bettany's praiseworthy acting skills. The scenes on Vos' yacht, though visually brighter, featured minimal amounts of humor and focused on painting Vos and his compatriots as untrustworthy and ominous characters.
For comparison, Lord-Miller -- known for 21 Jump Street and its sequel, as well as animated films such as Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and The LEGO Movie -- typically opt for a wide spectrum of colors that provides their work with energy and a feeling of lightheartedness. While this isn't wholly present in Solo, the duo's patented energy and lightheartedness is discernible in the some of the film's more comedic moments.
One example of a scene that might strike audiences as being reminiscent of Lord and Miller's work is the scene in which Han (Alden Ehrenreich) first meets Chewie (Joonas Suotamo), aka the beast of the Imperial army. In his struggle against the beast, upon realizing that the beast was a wookie, Han reveals he can speak and understand a little shyriiwook. Thus begins a bit, distinguishable from the rest of the film, during which Han proceeds to imitate wookie sounds. It's clearly meant to draw laughs and is the same style of comedy we've seen from Lord and Miller before, as is the brief scene in which Han takes a shower and Chewie, eager to clean his mud-caked fur, barges in.
Few other comedic scenes in the film seem as distinguishable from Howard's style that those. The only exception might be the subversive humor of the confrontation between Beckett, Han and Enfys Nest, when Han points to the Millennium Falcon, claiming that there's a small army in there ready back them up before the Falcon suddenly rises and flies off into the distance.
It's highly unlikely that these scenes as they exist, are untouched remnants of the Lord-Miller film. But under careful examination, you'll find these scenes are distinguishable from Howard's despite the latter's efforts to keep the movie's overall tone and style consistent, which it is -- for the most part. In general, Lord and Miller's film was had seamlessly faded into Howard's work.
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The truth of the matter is, for the casual viewers, each scene of the film blends perfectly with the others. The comedic elements don't detract from the heavier dramatic aspects of the film so without knowledge of the issues that plagued the development of the film, you're not likely to notice any creative inconsistencies, which is why it's difficult to know for certain how much of the original remains. It's an example of how, despite the many production issues, Solo: A Star Wars Story stands as a relatively decent instalment in the Star War Anthology series.
Directed by Ron Howard, Solo: A Star Wars Story stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca. They’re joined by Thandie Newton as Val, Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37, Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos and Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett. The film is playing in theaters nationwide.