SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY SPOILERS - A Rundown Of All Of The Biggest Reveals And Most Shocking Moments
With Solo: A Star Wars Story set to hit theaters this weekend we've decided to take a closer look at all of the major moments from our latest trip to the galaxy far, far away. There will be SPOILERS...
Ron Howard's Solo: A Star Wars Story arrives in theaters this weekend, so we've broken down all of the biggest reveals and surprises in the movie for you guys right here.
Whether you've seen Solo and want to discuss the plot in more detail, or are simply in the market for some major SPOILERS before deciding whether to go see it or not, you'll find everything you need below.
To view the list in its entirety, simply click on the VIEW LIST (ONE PAGE) button below!
There Is An Opening Crawl... Kinda
Like Rogue One, Solo dispenses with the iconic "Star Wars" horn blast and traditional opening crawl - however, there is some introductory text.
Before the action gets going we are told about Han's home planet of Corellia and the awful conditions most of the populace are forced to live in.
To be honest, it all seems a little unnecessary, and begs the question: if they were going to bother with the intro then why not just stick with the classic crawl?
I've Got A Bad Feeling About This
As I mentioned in my review, the opening scene of Solo is bad, Like, really bad.
Han is caught trying to pull a fast one on the criminals he steals for and is about to be punished by a faintly ridiculous looking/sounding slug witch alien thing, before he manages to escape with Qi'Ra. It's rushed, the dialogue and acting are sub-par, and it just feels very clunky overall.
Thankfully, things do get a lot better once Han gets off Corellia.
Han Meets "The Beast"
Han and Chewie's first meeting doesn't play out how you'll expect, and takes a big detour from the old Expanded Universe/Legends canon.
After he's caught trying to desert the Imperial army, Solo is thrown in a pit with "the beast." Chewie lays a beating on his future friend, but after demonstrating that he can speak a bit of Wookiee, Han gets on his good side and they manage to escape together. Impressed, Becket allows them to join his crew.
Val And Rio Check Out Early
There's a reason we never saw that much of Val and Rio in the trailers and TV spots!
Han's first mission with his new crew is to swipe some rare super-fuel known as coaxium, but when Enfys Nest and her Cloud Rider show up, the heist goes wrong and Rio is shot. Then, in order to allow Becket and the others to escape, Val sacrifices herself by setting off a charge to blow up the tracks.
A waste of two characters with a lot of potential? Well, it does serve the story - but there's no doubt that there deaths would have had a lot more impact later on in the movie.
L3 Loves Lando, And He Might Just Feel The Same Way
When we meet Lando (who wins that game of Sabaac, incidentally), he appears to have a rather unconventional relationship with his female droid. Later, L3 admits to Qi-Ra that she has feelings for her Captain and implies that they're attempting to... establish a more physical connection.
There's a lot of talk about Calrissian being pansexual at the moment, but he might also be a Mechanophiliac!
L3 Is "Killed"
L3 gets some of the biggest laughs in the movie and is shaping up to be a major fan-favorite, when the rug is pulled from under us and she's blasted to bits while trying to free some other droids from "slavery."
Lando manages to drag her top half back on board the Falcon, but she powers down shortly after.
The crew then hook L3's powerful navigation system up to the Falcon, however, which means part of her lives on through the ship.
12 Parsecs... If You Round Down
With L3's help, Han and Chewie manage to pilot the Falcon out of a maelstrom and away from that tentacled creature we glimpsed in the trailer, ultimately completing the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.
Well, maybe it was more like 14 after all!
When Han begins to brag about how quickly they made the run, Chewie growls the actual time it took them before Solo replies that it's always better to round down!
Enfys Nest Is A Teenage Rebel
Enfys Nest and her gang catch up with Becket and co. before they can hand over the coaxium to Dryden Voss, but it's then revealed that The Cloud Riders are actually a rebel cell who want the fuel to aid in their struggle against The Empire.
Enfys unmasks, and is revealed to be a teenage girl. She offers Beckett a deal that would mean no more bloodshed, which Han excepts on his behalf. Beckett then tells Han that he's going to run to Tatooine, but the scheming SOB has other ideas...
Beckett Betrays Han
Earlier on in the movie, Beckett tells Han that he should always assume everyone is going to betray him and then he'll never be disappointed, but the still-naive young space-smuggler doesn't heed his words - or does he?
Instead of leaving, Beckett goes to Voss and informs him of Han's plan to deliver fake coaxium and give the real stuff to Enfys. However, Han hadn't told his mentor every aspect of the the plan, and when The Cloud Riders take out Voss' muscle, Solo and co. make their move.
Qi'Ra Kills Dryden Vos, Then Betrays Han Too
Han may have had an inkling that Becket could double-cross him, but he definitely didn't see this coming.
After a scuffle, Qi'Ra manages to get Vos to drop his guard before stabbing him through the chest. She does it to save Han, but that's not her only motivation.
Qi-Ra tells her old friend to go after Beckett, who is making his getaway with Chewie at gunpoint. When Han leaves, she makes a call...
Darth Maul
..To none other than Darth freaking Maul!
It turns out Palpatine's old apprentice is the leader of The Crimson Dawn, and Qi-Ra has just made herself his second in-command.
Maul's appearance may lead to some confusion since the character was seemingly killed off in The Phantom Menace, but it was established that he survived in The Clone Wars, and we even get a glimpse of his robotic legs here when he stands up.
Han Shoots First
There'll be no debating who shot first this time!
After blocking Beckett's path, Han decides not to take any chances and blasts his former leader before he can even begin to reach for his own weapon. Beckett tells his protege that it's the smartest move he ever made, as he would have killed him otherwise.
As Beckett dies, Han sees Qi-Ra taking Voss' ship and leaving the planet without him.
Han Wins The Falcon
As I touched on earlier, Lando actually wins that first game of Sabaac that's been heavily featured in the movie's marketing - but he's not so lucky when Han catches up with him later.
Solo notices that Calrissian has been using a hidden card to cheat, so he embraces him and stealthily snatches it from his wrist. When the game comes down to just the two of them, Han does all in and ends up flying away with Lando's prized possession, the Millennium Falcon.
A Date With Jabba
The "big-shot gangster" Beckett mentions earlier on is almost certainly supposed to be Jabba the Hutt, and that's exactly who Han and Chewie fly off to meet on Tatooine in their newly-won ship at the end of the movie.
There are still supposed to be a few years between the evens of Solo and A New Hope, so presumably Han winds up working for Jabba for quite a while - or he gets sidetracked on the way and finds himself in some new trouble. Either way, if we get a sequel, expect an appearnce from his high exaltedness.
What do you guys think? Did we miss anything out? Be sure to let us know in the comments down below.