Ehrenreich I thought...almost fit?
It's weird, honestly. His whole performance and/or the character was an 'almost' both internally and externally. In the story he always looked like he didn't quite fit--he looked like a kid playing dress-up in Imperial uniform or in smuggler's duds--and combined with his kind of...off, almost-charm that was
almost 'Han Solo' but
wasn't, it
almost approached that level where it was believeble this was a 'young' Han Solo that had yet to perfect the Harrison Ford smirk-and-shrug attitude...But it
wasn't, so it felt off.
That offness only made worse by the fact that Ehrenreich...Yeah, just has something of a look about him in just features terms that's off-putting. And there too there's an '
almost' to it in comparison with Ford as older-Solo...But it isn't. Perhaps if that former, 'in-character' appearance had come closer throughout or developed into a much-closer imitation where it might have been mistaken for a 'full-grown' Solo's charms and mannerisms then Ehrenreich's looks would've been less off-putting and faded into the background, but they
didn't (least for me). Course, that's something of a pitfall/challenge of trying to do prequels of established characters using different actors and whatnot.
Though, on the other side of things--maybe it's influenced by him appearing much less and so not there being less chance for anything to show through or be bothersome--but Donald Glover's portrayal of Lando seemed very-much spot-on.
@Skallagrim actually laid-out a slightly-detailed version of the idea I had at the time and since that the movie should have been since its inception and would have worked better if it was
Lando: A Star Wars Story, because that'd open up a lot more potential shenanigans that don't have to feel so rushed or shoehorned-in, and Glover just pulled a more convincing character than Ehrenreich (though, again, maybe that would have fallen-down the same trap with more screentime required).
All that said, of the Disney Star Wars movies, Solo is easily my second-favorite after
Rogue One. I'd hesitate on calling it good just because...Yeah, pacing issues and the mentioned character/acting complaints, and as another old EU junkie I kind of was put-out by the Disneyfication of Han Solo's backstory that refused any real degree of actual 'scoundrel' to pop-in in favor of, like, an Oliver-ified story of orphanhood and lost love and the like. But there's a core there of ideas and elements that could come together well...And some of that might well be attributable to 'executive meddling' and the horse-swap of directors or producers or writers or whatever happened there that I recall.
