So. The new trailer for Solo. It's ... good? I mean, it's pretty good, right? It's a heist flick! And kind of a western? But Star Wars! And with people you know! Do you 'member how Chewie owes Han a life debt? And how Lando used to have the Falcon? I 'member!
Leaving all that aside: At some point we're going to have to discuss the obsession with casting Emilia Clarke as female leads in nerd-nostalgia movies. Look. I get it! She's good in Game of Thrones, where she's not asked to do a ton more than look regal and occasionally light someone on fire. She's attractive. She's the Mother of Dragons. She has a lot of appeal, theoretically. In practice, though. I mean. She's just all wrong.
Consider, for instance, the effort to remake her into Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys. Compare her to Linda Hamilton:
She just looks ... soft. Or look at Clarke in comparison with Lena Headey, who played Connor on the Terminator TV show:
I dunno man. If you've seen Genisys—and you probably didn't, judging by the box office—you'd know that she was just all wrong. It just didn't work. And there's nothing wrong with that! Not every actress is suited for every role. No biggie.
I bring this up because, well, in the new Solo trailer there's another shot that ... doesn't work. It just doesn't. It's a single shot and I don't want to read too much into it but, you know. It is a trailer. They are saying this is the best the movie has to offer. The sassy robot! The sexy Lando! The grizzled-but-goofy Woody Harrelson! And ... this!
I assume we'll discover that her character, Qi'Ra, is Force-sensitive and that incredibly awful throwing motion will result in a grenade being tossed 200 meters, instantly killing Han's captors or something, and then he'll say "I love you" and then she'll say "I know" ('member that? I 'member!) and we can move on and call it a day.
But come on. Stop asking people to do things they can't do IRL if you aren't going to fix it in post with CGI. How much would it cost to make it look like she could actually throw something more than 12 feet? Peanuts, I'm guessing. $50,000? $75,000? Two mid-day screenings on the opening Sunday.
Or just keep it out the damn trailer. Either way.