Solo: A Star Wars Story Dvd

Solo: A Star Wars Story (or simply Solo) is a 2018 American space Western film based around the Star Wars character Han Solo, also featuring his original trilogy co-protagonists Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian. Directed by Ron Howard, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the second Star Wars anthology film, following Rogue One (2016). Alden Ehrenreich stars in the title role, with Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo (reprising his role from previous films), and Paul Bettany co-starring. The film explores the early adventures of Han Solo and Chewbacca, who join a heist within the criminal underworld 10 years prior to the events of Star Wars.

Star Wars creator George Lucas began developing a Han Solo prequel in 2012, and commissioned Lawrence Kasdan to write the screenplay. After Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, Kasdan was hired to write Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), leaving his son Jonathan to complete the Solo script. Principal photography began in January 2017 at Pinewood Studios, under the direction of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Both were fired in June 2017 following “creative differences” with Lucasfilm, and Howard was hired as their replacement. With an estimated production budget of at least $275 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.

Solo released in the United States on May 25, 2018, and received generally favorable reviews from critics who praised the film’s cast (particularly Ehrenreich and Glover), visuals, musical score, and action sequences, while some criticized its storyline and screenplay. It is the first Star Wars film to be considered a box office bomb, grossing $393.2 million worldwide, making it the lowest-grossing live-action film in the franchise. It received a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 91st Academy Awards.

Plot

On the planet Corellia, orphans Han and Qi’ra escape a local gang. They bribe an Imperial officer with stolen starship fuel, known as coaxium, for passage on a transport, but Qi’ra is captured before she can board. Han vows to return for her and joins the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet, being given the surname “Solo”.

Three years later, Han is serving as an infantryman on Mimban following his expulsion from the Imperial Flight Academy for insubordination. He encounters a group of criminals posing as Imperial soldiers, led by Tobias Beckett. Han attempts to blackmail Beckett into letting him join the gang, but Beckett has him arrested and thrown into a pit to be fed to a Wookiee prisoner named Chewbacca. Able to understand Chewbacca’s language, Han persuades him to cooperate to escape. Beckett, aware of the usefulness of a Wookiee’s strength, rescues and enlists them in the gang to steal a shipment of coaxium on Vandor-1. The plan fails when the Cloud Riders, a band of marauders led by Enfys Nest, arrive to hijack the shipment. The resulting chaos leads to the destruction of the coaxium and the deaths of Beckett’s wife Val and another crewman, Rio.

Beckett reveals that he was ordered to steal the shipment for Dryden Vos, a high-ranking crime boss in the Crimson Dawn syndicate. Han and Chewbacca volunteer to help him steal another shipment to repay the debt so that Vos will not kill him. They travel to Vos’s yacht where Han finds Qi’ra, who has joined Crimson Dawn as Vos’s top lieutenant. Han suggests a risky plan to steal unrefined coaxium from the mines on Kessel; Vos approves but insists that Qi’ra accompany the team. She leads them to Lando Calrissian, a smuggler and pilot, who she hopes will lend them his ship, the Millennium Falcon. Han challenges Lando to a game of sabacc, with the wager being Lando’s ship. Lando cheats to win but agrees to join the mission in exchange for a share of the profits.

After reaching Kessel in the Falcon and infiltrating the mine, Lando’s droid co-pilot L3-37 instigates a slave revolt. They steal the coaxium in the confusion, but L3 is fatally damaged and Lando is wounded during the escape. With the help of L3’s navigational computer, hot-wired into the ship’s systems, Han pilots the ship through the dangerous and uncharted Kessel Run to elude an Imperial blockade. The Falcon, badly damaged, lands on the planet Savareen to process the coaxium.

Enfys arrives, having tracked the team from Vandor, and Lando leaves in the Falcon, deserting everyone else. Enfys reveals that she and her crew are rebels trying to strike back at the syndicates and the Empire. Han becomes sympathetic to their cause and tries to trick Vos, who reveals Beckett has already alerted him to the double-cross. Vos sends his guards to kill Enfys, but the Cloud Riders overpower them, leaving Vos defenseless. Having anticipated Vos’s strategy, Han tries to take the coaxium, but Beckett betrays Vos and escapes with it, taking Chewbacca hostage. Qi’ra kills Vos and sends Han after Beckett. She contacts Vos’s superior, the former Sith Lord Maul, to inform him of the mission’s failure, which she blames on Beckett. Maul orders Qi’ra to meet with him on Dathomir.

Han confronts Beckett and shoots him before he can return fire. Qi’ra leaves in Vos’s yacht, while Han and Chewbacca give the coaxium to Enfys, who offers Han a chance to join the rebellion against the Empire. He declines, and she gives him a vial of coaxium, enough to purchase a ship of his own.

Han and Chewbacca locate Lando and challenge him to a rematch in sabacc, once again wagering the Falcon. Han wins, having stolen the card Lando used in order to cheat; he and Chewbacca leave for Tatooine to find a crime lord who is putting together a profitable job.

Cast

Main articles: List of Star Wars characters and List of Star Wars cast members

Alden Ehrenreich starred in the title role of Han Solo.
Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo: A cynical smuggler who joins Beckett’s crew. When asked how Solo differs from his appearance in other Star Wars films, Ehrenreich stated, “I think the main thing that’s different is that the Han we meet in this film is more of an idealist. He has certain dreams that he follows, and we watch how it affects him as those dreams meet new realities—realities that are harder and more challenging than he’d expected.” Harrison Ford, who portrayed the character in previous films, met with Ehrenreich, giving him some insight and words of advice.
Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett: A criminal and Han’s mentor. The character of Beckett was based on Long John Silver from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra: Han’s childhood friend and romantic interest. Describing her character, Clarke said: “She has a couple of guises, but essentially she is just fighting to stay alive. If you’ve got a really glamorous lady in a really sordid environment, you kind of know the glamor is hiding a few rough roads.” With regard to her character’s relationship with Solo, Clarke offered that “They grew up as comrades, essentially. They grew up as pals, as partners in crime. There is obviously the romantic side of things. But they grew up together. So they were kids together.”
Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian: A smuggler, gambler, and self-proclaimed sportsman on the rise in the galaxy’s underworld. Billy Dee Williams, who portrayed the character in previous films, met with Glover, giving him some insight and words of advice.
Thandie Newton as Val: Beckett’s wife, a fellow criminal and member of her husband’s crew.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37: Lando’s droid companion and navigator. When the character dies in the film her consciousness and data are uploaded to the Millennium Falcon which serves as a retcon of the previous Star Wars films including The Empire Strikes Back in which the starship was described as having “the most peculiar dialect”. Screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan explained that this was done to give “the Falcon a personality that is fused with this amazing character played by Phoebe [which] I think does actually enrich the other movies”.
Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca: Han’s Wookiee sidekick and best friend, who also serves as his first mate. Suotamo reprises his role from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, the former of which he acted as a body double for Peter Mayhew, who portrayed the character in previous films.
Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos: A ruthless crime lord who has a history with Beckett. Michael K. Williams had originally been cast, but he was removed from the final film after being unable to return to set during the film’s reshoots. Bettany was cast in his place, with the character being reworked from a motion-capture alien (described by Williams as half-mountain lion, half-human) to a scarred near-human alien lifeform.
Erin Kellyman appears as Enfys Nest, the leader of a gang of pirates called Cloud Riders. Jon Favreau voices Rio Durant, “a very cool and important alien character” and member of Beckett’s crew, and Linda Hunt voices Lady Proxima, the serpent-like leader of the gang to which teenage Han and Qi’ra belong. Ian Kenny portrays Rebolt while Clint Howard portrays Ralakili. Additionally, Anthony Daniels cameos as Tak, enslaved alongside Chewbacca, Kiran Shah plays Karjj and Warwick Davis briefly reprises his role from The Phantom Menace as Weazel, a Cloud Rider. Ray Park reprises his role as Maul, with Sam Witwer providing the voice, reprising the role from The Clone Wars and Rebels animated TV series. Peter Serafinowicz, Maul’s original voice actor in The Phantom Menace, was initially brought to record Maul’s dialogue, but his vocal performance was ultimately dropped in favor of Witwer’s. Dee Tails appears as Quay Tolsite, the director of the Pyke Syndicate’s operations on Kessel.

Screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan and first assistant director Toby Hefferman portrayed Tag Greenley and Bink Otauna, respectively—two characters that first appeared in the Star Wars Legends comics published by Dark Horse Comics. The scene was not included in the finished film.