Thread by @ashleylynch

There's a far more interesting version of the movie Solo - a mini thread.

One of things that bugged me the most about Solo was how it seems to exist just to tick off boxes of information we already know.

OMG, who's the monster in the pit -- of course it's Chewie.

He's playing cards for a ship - we know how this ends and that it's the Millennium Falcon.

OMG, no one's made the Kessel Run in less than blah blah blah snore.

And the story that happens around that box checking actually isn't all that bad. It's pretty enjoyable, in fact. It's just dragged down by needing to run steeplechase through tired territory to fulfill it's obligation.

But... what if?

The way to make Solo interesting, unpredictable and even (gasp) relevant to seeing the original films in a new light would be to make Solo a loud mouthed buffoon who succeeds entirely despite himself.

Think Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China.

Jack Burton spends the entirety of the big final battle unconscious, having puffed his chest out, fired in the air and having ceiling debris from his gunshots hit him in the head.

Imagine a version where people are constantly pulling Solo's ass out of the fire and he's taking credit for it. Imagine a version where the only thing he's good at is being a con man.

And we think we know how the Kessel Run is going to play out because of the story we got in Star Wars.

But we're surprised to learn it's all bullshit. And suddenly the stakes mean something because we no longer know how this plays out.

But there's a bonus too.

You get to go back and relive Star Wars in new context. You get to see adult Solo running his mouth and understand he's no longer listing credentials. He's playing his con game. We get to watch him fake being a badass long enough to actually become one.

You could watch a version of Star Wars where inside Solo is freaking the fuck out because he's in over his head, but refuses to let on how scared we know he is.

And watch him become a legit hero.

I dunno, I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan in the world, but I think that version of Solo would be prequelling right.