After the recent mixed reception to The Mandalorian and Grogu, it’s clear that Star Wars isn’t the undisputed hit franchise it used to be. While Star Wars continues to thrive in the area of made-for-streaming animation, live-action endeavors have been largely hit or miss, with even the best outings failing to live up to their own hype. However, apart from Rogue One and its television prequel Andor, arguably the most rewatchable Star Wars project of the Disney era is the highly underrated Solo: A Star Wars Story.
‘Solo’ Recaptured the Fun of an Old Fashioned Space Western
From the very beginning, it seemed that Solo had a rough go of it. Between all the behind-the-scenes drama and the controversy surrounding Alden Ehrenreich‘s replacement of Harrison Ford, many were determined to write off this prequel before it ever had the chance to “punch it” to hyperspace. But despite all of these challenges, Solo — which was ultimately completed by Ron Howard from a screenplay by veteran franchise scribe Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jonathan Kasdan — offered an action-packed glimpse into the life of Han Solo long before we met him on Tatooine. Of course, what Solo does best (and what convinced this author to see it three times in theaters) is to recapture the excitement of a traditional space Western, echoing the genre that helped inspire George Lucas‘ original vision for the Star Wars franchise.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
To say that Solo is anything less than a Western would be a blatant misreading of the film. This is a movie that follows a plucky on-the-run outlaw who gambles for his next ride, battles a small posse of warriors (who he later becomes sympathetic for), and opposes the encroaching armed forces in the midst of their campaign of “galactic westward expansion.” These genre elements don’t just undergird the entire picture, but they keep the whole plot moving as Han does all he can to earn enough to fly off with Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) into the sunset. It’s from this vantage point that Solo is most enjoyed. Not as just another Star Wars prequel or a simple sci-fi adventure, but as a pulp Western set among the stars that aims high despite its occasional flounders.
Of course, where the “space Western” branding becomes especially clear is in sequences such as its pulse-pounding train heist. At the end of the first act, Han and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) join Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his crew to steal the shipment of coaxium right out from under the Empire’s nose. What should be a simple job becomes increasingly complicated when Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman) arrives in search of the same cargo. The whole thing is explosive and anxiety-inducing and appropriately sets the stage for the rest of the picture — perhaps not unlike the series of train robberies at the beginning of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. More than anything, it comes across as being so downright space-and-horse operatic that we’re on the edge of our seat for whatever comes next.
‘Solo’ Deserves More Credit for Recapturing That Star Wars Magic
For as much as Solo works as a space Western, it is also unequivocally a heist movie— one that deserves a second look almost a decade later. Yet, it’s Ehrenreich’s performance as a young Solo that ties it all together. No doubt, Ehrenreich echoes the previous efforts of Ford, but he does so while offering his own unique spin better suited to a younger version of the character. It’s almost a shame we never got a sequel, because his casting alone solidifies the notion that recasting is always better than uneven CGI facial reconfigurations. His version of Han is a bit less cynical than in the years before A New Hope, but we can see how this latest job has jaded him when it comes to trusting others (well, except maybe Chewie).
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Admittedly, Solo struggles at times with its eye-rolling droid subplot, an overreliance on fan-service, and some half-baked franchise cameos. There’s no doubt about it. However, the film’s positively nostalgic tone and careful attention to character mix well with the Kasdans’ clear goal of unpacking what makes Han Solo tick. In short, unlike many of the Disney efforts that have since graced the big or small screens, Solo feels like Star Wars — even without the Jedi.
