I tend to think Solo is going to age well. Probably better than any of the other Disney movies or prequels.
Honestly? Because I find it weird that people are either unable or unwilling to look at any flaws in this movie, despite it obviously not living up to expectations.
I find most movies have flaws of one stripe or another. I don't find Solo perfect, but I do enjoy it when I watch it. Which is supposed to be the whole point of the process.
The movie is fine. Flawed, sure. But it does what its supposed to do. Its a fun romp through Han's history. I'm not sure if it will hold up as well as Bill does, but I think its a fine movie. Unless you mean "not living up to expectations" related to the box office to which I say, "Oh well!" Not everything goes to plan.
I'm not even sure why most folks care about the box office? None of that money is going into their pockets.
Well, fine is pretty faint praise, and that's mostly what I see for Solo. 'Yeah, it was okay, and that's all it needed to be'. But it wasn't. It was supposed to be a big success that spawned sequels, and it failed because people just didn't enjoy it that much. 'Fine' or 'fun' is okay when you're someone who really enjoys the SW universe, but it's pretty tepid if you're just an average viewer. In fact, coming from a Star Wars fan 'fine' is almost a bad review. And yes, I was partly refering to the box office, although also that it wasn't particularly well received. I notice people paying attention to box office returns for TROS now they're getting higher, but for some reason it's not a big concern when the movie didn't do as well as expected.
I don't think enjoyment factored into it. Disney put it in a bad slot, had been overloading the public with Star Wars, and was pushing a movie that no one had really asked for.
Sure, those points are going to have some impact, but to say people's enjoyment of the movie didn't factor into it's performace is absolutely ridiculous.
I gotta say, I'll take Solo versus pretty much every single outing of the MCU, with the exception of the first Iron Man, Captain America: The First Avenger and Guardians of the Galaxy.
People weren't coming out in droves to begin with, with the movie suffering through its opening weekend at about $50 million dollars short of Disney projections. With a $300 million dollar budget being reported, word of mouth simply wasn't going to save Solo. Even if audiences were coming out calling it the best movie ever.
But then things picked up once everyone heard about how 'okay' it was? It's not like Solo had a bad opening weekend and then went on to become really popular or acclaimed. Again, I'm sure the points you raised did work against it, but so did the fact that people just weren't that into it even after seeing it.
The first Avengers movie also falls in that for me, but otherwise, yeah, me too. Marvel just wears out.
I may have utilized "fine" to describe my feelings about TRoS, but I certainly added quite a few caveats. My one issue with Solo is that it was too many "Hey, you remember when..."s. I like Solo. Is it my favorite? No. But I have given Star Wars movies far harsher language against movies other than Solo.
I agree with the callbacks. Honestly,I agree with the 'fine' rating. I didn't hate this movie when I was watching it. I guess I'd rate it a solid 5/10 and probably wouldn't tell anyone who was thinking of watching it not to bother. But I do think there are serious flaws that stop it from being a good or even a great movie, and that's clearly what Disney wanted it to be. I'm sure you've given Star Wars movies harsher language. So have I. My point was that for someone actually invested in the franchise to say Solo was 'fine' is a pretty poor result. And your 'fine' was not an isolated rating.
The Skywalker saga is pretty much my only interest in the franchise, and I thought Solo was an entertaining film.