Solo: A Star Wars Story has been plagued by production problems for almost a year now. The original directors were fired over creative differences well into principal photography. Ron Howard was brought in to take over and reportedly reshot most of it. There has been rampant speculation that the lack of a trailer was a sign of impending disaster. Now, finally, less than four months before release, we have our first trailer. You can see it for yourself here. It is not at all encouraging.
It would be easy to confuse this with a fan-made effort. You would expect more polish from a studio giving the public their very first look at a film scheduled for release over Memorial Day weekend. Take “Star Wars” out of the title, and you have a generic, pedestrian sci-fi movie – possibly entertaining in a mindless way, but nothing special. Put “Star Wars” back in the title, and you have a crass Disney cash grab.
Alden Ehrenreich has none of the cool cockiness we expect from Han Solo, unless you envision young Solo as a smug, insufferable millennial. Emilia Clarke has just enough screen time to remind us that she can’t act to save herself. This thing has train wreck written all over it.