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The 9 Best Moments From Solo: A Star Wars Story


SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story, now in theaters.

Despite a tumultuous production, the second Star Wars anthology film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, has finally taken flight in theaters across the galaxy. However, while the opening weekend box office was something of a misfire, this film is packed to the outer rim with crowd-pleasing moments longtime fans of the franchise won’t soon forget.

Follow along with us as we take a look at the nine best moments from Solo: A Star Wars Story:

  1. When Han Met Chewie

    Even before the film’s official synopsis was released, many rightfully assumed Solo would bring the first encounter between Han Solo and Chewbacca to live action. However, while the on-screen depiction of this moment strays ever so slightly away from the Expanded Universe (now Legends) incarnation – namely by bypassing the whole “life debt” concept – it’s still a sight worth seeing.

    After Han deduces Beckett, Val, and Rio Durant aren’t actually part of the Imperial Army, Beckett uses his assumed identity as a Captain to have Han detained. Thrown into a pit where he’s to be fed to “the beast,” Han soon realizes that his cellmate is none other than the Wookiee Chewbacca. After a brief skirmish, the pair works together to escape captivity, and the rest, as they say, is history.

    Plus, we get to see Han speak a bit of Shyriiwook, which comes as a welcome surprise. 

  2. The Heist on Vandor

    The bulk of Solo’s marketing was built around an epic train heist in which Han, Beckett, Chewie, Val, and Rio would attempt to steal the precious hyperdrive fuel known as coaxium from a 20-T Railcrawler conveyex transport on the planet Vandor. And while this scene surprisingly ends up taking place during the first act of the film, it’s no less impressive than if it were the climax, as most fans predicted it would be.

    For starters, we get our first taste of Han flying an actual ship, along with Rio’s affirmation that the Corellian scrumrat really is an excellent pilot, which we’d been told, but not shown until that point. Furthermore, we’re introduced to the enigmatic Enfys Nest and the Cloud-Riders, whose role in the film prove to be far more pivotal in the grand scheme of the Star Wars saga than expected (but more on that later). 

  3. Han vs. Lando: Round One

    We’ve always known that Han Solo won the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian in a game of sabacc, so there was little doubt this critical point in Han’s life would make it into the film. What we didn’t expect, though, is that he would end up losing the first time around.

    After bragging about his (fictitious) VCX-100 light freighter – the same ship as the Ghost from Star Wars Rebels – Han manages to convince Lando to put his prized Millennium Falcon on the line. Unbeknownst to Han, though, Lando has a few tricks (and some extra cards) up his sleeve, and after Han puts on quite an impressive display of sabacc skill, Lando bests his newfound competition… albeit by cheating.

  4. Han vs. Lando: Round Two

    Despite losing in their initial encounter, Han makes it a point to track down Lando at the end of the film and demand a rematch, this time buying his way into the sabacc game with the coaxium he got from Enfys Nest. Naturally, Lando accepts the challenge, as he still has an ace up his sleeve… or so he thinks.

    When Lando calls Han’s bluff and attempts to grab the extra cards in his sleeve, he realizes something’s wrong: When he and Han embraced earlier, the scoundrel swiped his stash. “Fair and square,” Han says upon finally beating Lando in his own game, which is not only a fitting conclusion to the game but also a launching pad for the frenemy nature of their on-screen relationship by the time The Empire Strikes Back rolls around. 

  5. Han Shoots First

    One of the most egregious changes to A New Hope in the 1997 special edition was the fact that George Lucas altered Han’s deadly encounter with Greedo in the Mos Eisley Cantina. In the original film, Han shot Greedo unprovoked, as he was a ruthless scoundrel at that point in his life. In the special edition, though, Greedo shoots first and Han fires back in self-defense, which many fans saw as a betrayal of the character’s – for lack of a better term – innate badassery.

    In Solo, however, Han absolutely shoots first when the time comes.

    After he’s double-crossed by Beckett, Han confronts his former partner/mentor for one final showdown. Beckett underestimates his protégé, though, who apparently has been listening to each and every one of the lessons he’s tried to instill in him. Drawing his blaster, Han fires a shot into Beckett’s chest mid-sentence, and while he does express some concern for him after the fact, it still proves that Han is well on the way to being shaped into the man we first meet in  A New Hope

  6. Enfys Nest’s Unmasking

    Between the marketing and much of the film itself, Enfys Nest is depicted as a secondary antagonist whose reason for stealing coaxium is likely no different from Beckett’s – to sell it. As we learn in the third act, though, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

    At the coaxium refinery on Savareen, Enfys and the Cloud-Riders confront Han, Beckett, Chewie, and Qi’ra. When Enfys removes her helmet, though, we discover that she’s not some old, hardened space pirate, but rather a young girl. As she explains to Han and company, their reason for fighting back against Crimson Dawn is because they have bigger plans for the coaxium – they plan to use the precious hyperdrive fuel to aid what will eventually become the Rebel Alliance in their struggle against the Galactic Empire.

    It’s quite a major reveal and one that not only helps validate the film’s main MacGuffin but also helps tie Solo into the overarching Star Wars saga in a way that few of us could have imagined. 

  7. Han & Qi’ra vs. Dryden Vos

    Just after Beckett betrays both Han and Dryden Vos and takes off with the coaxium, we’re immediately launched into one of Solo’s best fight sequences, as Han (and eventually Qi’ra) squares off against Dryden. However, while the pair appears to be evenly matched – give or take – things seem as though they’re about to go south when Qi’ra grabs a sword and points it at Han.

    It isn’t her longtime friend that she betrays, though (at least not yet), but rather Dryden, whom she begins attacking with the utmost ferocity, stabbing him in the chest and killing him. Unfortunately, as we soon learn, this doesn’t mark the end of Qi’ra’s affiliation with Crimson Dawn.

  8. The Kessel Run

    Han and Chewie making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs was arguably the greatest story never told in the Star Wars universe. However, in Solo, that moment finally unfolds on the big screen, and it certainly lives up to the legend.

    After stealing the unrefined coaxium from Kessel, Han and Chewie pilot the Falcon for the very first time, as Lando is injured and L3-37 is dead. With the Empire on their tail, Han decides to take a shortcut through the Maelstrom – a cluster of gas and debris. There, they encounter a massive, squid-like beast known as summa-verminoth, and to evade the creature, Han pilots the ship dangerously close to the gravity well called the Maw, which sucks the monster in. Then, by placing a drop of coaxium into the fusion reactor, Han and company are able to blast free of the Maw’s pull and make it to safety, completing the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs (if you round down, but still).

  9. The Maul Reveal

    Boba Fett… Jabba the Hutt… these were the prime suspects when it came to who might cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and for good reason, as they’re both heavily tied to the titular character. Nevertheless, neither of them appear in the film, and instead, we get a cameo from someone none of us thought we’d see again in live action: Darth Maul.

    After Qi’ra kills Dryden Vos, Han flees to catch up with Beckett and Chewie. Qi’ra tells Han she’ll be right behind him, but instead, she removes the Crimson Dawn ring from Dryden’s finger and uses it to contact Maul, who we learn is the true mastermind behind the crime syndicate. By abandoning Han and Chewie to head to Maul’s homeworld of Dathomir, Qi’ra effectively proves to Han what Beckett had been telling him all along, which is that you really can’t trust anyone.

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