Listen, I’m pretty certain that this May’s Solo: A Star Wars Story is going to be a more-than-decent film. It has a whole array of things going for it, from Woody Harrelson as a roguish criminal to Childish Gambino himself channeling a young Lando Calrissian perfectly in footage we’ve seen so far to Alden Ehrenreich looking to have potential as a Han Solo at the beginning of his smuggling career. Hell, if that’s not enough, the movie’s got the pedigree of being directed by Ron Howard…
…who was hired to step in when Disney fired directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord were fired from the project. There’s a ton of conjecture out on the Interwebs about how much of Lord and Miller’s original vision remains, whether the film is cohesive and not a Frankenstein monster of mish-mashed parts, and how much the story flows. However, there hasn’t been a trailer or TV spot that hasn’t gotten me energized and left me optimistic that, at bare minimum, this will be a fun movie. And while Donald Glover has me giddy in what we’ve viewed of him as Lando, the latest Chewbacca-centric TV spot may have superseded even that level of joy.
Chewie is criminally underused in the Star Wars films, and the recent sequels are some of the worst offenders. Leia isn’t shown hugging Chewbacca after Han dies in The Force Awakens, instead comforting Rey, despite the fact that Han and Chewie were, for all intents and purposes, brothers. Chewie is given more to do in The Last Jedi, but not by much.
That’s why it’s nice seeing Chewbacca have so much to say, to do, and to emote in the latest TV spot for Solo, with Han learning his name and Han surmising that Chewie doesn’t think any of Han’s ideas are good. And the exasperation at seeing Han’s cards at the end of the clip? Priceless.
More of this in Solo, please and thank you. Hopefully the movie will deliver more Wookie goodness like this on May 25th when the film hits theaters.