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| "Never tell me the odds." No, really, don't. |
A recent article on fellow movie blog ScreenRant titled "If Classic Movies Were Cast Today" sparked some controversy amongst us here at YAMB. Well... actually only one recasting suggestion. And it really isn't about the cast, as it is who is the better character. Thus the reason of this post (and to create more traffic for this site...). Today's debate is between two rather popular space rangers: Han Solo (self-proclaimed captain of the Millennium Falcon) and Malcolm Reynolds (captain of the Serenity).
In the ScreenRant article, Nathan Fillion was suggested to be the replacement of Harrison Ford's iconic Star Wars character, rogue smuggler Han Solo. Nathan Fillion played Malcolm Reynolds in the Joss Whedon created series, Firefly (later spun-off into a movie, Serenity). Thus sparked the debate on which character is better: Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds.
So, what say you? Who is the better character, Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds? Comment below and please explain your choices!
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| Also has a hammer. If you know what I mean... |
Geronimo
~Peter
(you have no idea how hard this is...)
*cough* Han Solo! *cough*
Psh. Han by a mile. No contest.
ReplyDeleteMal by a long shot. First of all he carries a pretty sweet six-shooter. He bought his own ship instead of winning it by luck in a poker game (or just getting it b/c Chewie rigged the game (as pointed out by the article Ben posted a week or so ago- http://www.morningstar.nildram.co.uk/A_New_Sith.html)). Nobody else wears Mal's clothes. http://img.youtube.com/vi/dPT9LA-gA58/0.jpg They are his and his alone.
ReplyDeleteMal. Better than Han.
Han friggin' Solo. Sure, Mal is super awesome, and I hate arguing against him, but c'mon... It's Han friggin' Solo. There shouldn't even be a debate over this.
ReplyDeleteOK. Han Solo has personally lived through multiple galaxy-wide governments. When there's a regime crushing freedom throughout the galaxy, what does Han do? Gosh darn it, he takes that regime DOWN. What does Mal do? Eh, he flies around in his spaceship running from it, and occasionally getting in fights in backwoods bars. Mal was a sergeant, and he took down one puny starfighter. Han was a general, and he took down TWO Death Stars, or at least got assists. Han had Boba freaking Fett after him, and still got away in the end, but nobody cared enough about Mal to bother chasing him.
ReplyDeleteBut otherwise, they're basically the same character anyway.
I think this is a little like comparing apples to oranges - I mean, after all, we're talking about two characters who, while very similar, hail from completely different time periods of film and television. Admittedly, they are quite similar, although distinctly different, but there's a 30-year gap there making Han look a bit more campy than he really is, so to speak - back in the day, he was probably at relatively Mal-level badassery, but these days, he just can't compare; film is just too plain different for Han and Mal to even be compared to each other. I mean, like they say: "In pre-nineties film, a helicopter's job was to fly and just maybe explode. In modern film, a helicopter's job is to explode and just maybe fly."
ReplyDeleteMal over solo. This is mostly due to Mal being a far better swashbuckler-er, and also due to being a better/more interesting character.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding? Mal's character is basically the same as Han Solo's: rogue with a heart of gold, only Han actually does something. Mal just looks pretty and talks funny. Presumably Joss was going to get around to actually doing something interesting with his character but then (ugh) it got canceled. Maybe I'm being too harsh on Mal because we haven't actually gotten to see his entire character arc, but as is he's got nothing on Han.
ReplyDeleteMal over Han by a parsec. In spite of Mr. Lucas' re-edit, everyone knows that Han shot first. Han did not take down the Empire; he was merely one of many foot soldiers (General? Ha! If he's such a hot pilot he would've been an Admiral). In Serenity, Mal took down the Alliance while avoiding a competent assassin, a large fleet and legions of psychotic Reavers. Han barely escaped from Boba Fett, the poorest excuse for a bounty hunter EVER. Han was captured and only escaped courtesy of his friends. Han was backed up by a large rebel army and fleet; Mal was backed up by a handful of friends. Mal was a patriot and a rebel before he became a rogue; Han was a rogue and a pirate before he selfishly became a rebel. Han did not take down the Empire, he did not take down the first Death Star, and the only reason he took down the second was because of bad screen writing.
ReplyDeleteWow. I hit a nerve.
ReplyDeleteThis would be a moot point if George Lucas was good at character development, but he was not. Mr. Lucas had great ideas and created good outlines, but even Harrison Ford referred to his scripts using scatalogical references (I used 'scatalogical' because it is a big word, unlike parsec). Fortunately for George, he was able to attract incredibly talented people who were able to overcome the challenges of a Lucas script. BTW Harrison Ford was reading Han Solo's lines to actors auditioning for other parts. Spielberg convinced Lucas that Ford would be a good choice; the role was not written for him.
Regarding the pirate reference - Lando calls Han a pirate on at least 2 occasions and according to http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/hansolo/ Han joined a pirate outfit run by Lemo and Sanda. Admittedly he is primarily a smuggler, but the fact is that he was a rogue, a smuggler and possibly a pirate before he became a member of the rebellion.
Harrison Ford is a much better actor than Nathan Fillion, which probably explains why so many people prefer Han to Mal. Mal was better written, had a better backstory, had better lines written for him, and was more believable.
I appreciate that you prefer Han - that's fine, but most of your reasons for preferring him to Mal are opinions.
Most of these arguments are going to be opinions, so there's no need to say that like it's a bad thing, or to imply that there's any need to do research for a comment on which badass rogue you prefer.
ReplyDeleteI will willingly admit that Joss Whedon's writing is superior to George Lucas'. Once you hit the prequel trilogy, you start realizing that Lucas really isn't the best writer or director.
It is a tad difficult to intelligently compare the characters of Mal and Han (it's sure easy to unintelligently compare them, see my comments above) because the way their character's were made was radically different. Han was first made in a movie, and then his character was expounded upon by multiple authors in scads of books. Even if you only use the movies, the way his character is defined is still quite different than Mal, who got a whole TV show of development (albeit only one season, dang Fox). Also, Mal is the main character, and Han is a side character who really doesn't get a whole lot of development, playing your typical suave rogue with a heart of gold.
I would argue that Han Solo's badassery levels outweigh Mal's, but the attention and care given to Mal's character beats that given to Han's, but also Harrison Ford's skill trumps Nathan Fillion's (not inconsiderable) charms. If you want, I could back that up to a ludicrous extent, but instead I'm going to work on writing something actually interesting for the blog. Or maybe my homework. Maybe.
You... you have homework? We haven't even started classes yet...
ReplyDeleteJoke. It was a joke.
ReplyDeleteMal over Han by a parsec. In spite of Mr. Lucas' re-edit, everyone knows that Han shot first. Han did not take down the Empire; he was merely one of many foot soldiers (General? Ha! If he's such a hot pilot he would've been an Admiral). In Serenity, Mal took down the Alliance while avoiding a competent assassin, a large fleet and legions of psychotic Reavers. Han barely escaped from Boba Fett, the poorest excuse for a bounty hunter EVER. Han was captured and only escaped courtesy of his friends. Han was backed up by a large rebel army and fleet; Mal was backed up by a handful of friends. Mal was a patriot and a rebel before he became a rogue; Han was a rogue and a pirate before he selfishly became a rebel. Han did not take down the Empire, he did not take down the first Death Star, and the only reason he took down the second was because of bad screen writing.
ReplyDelete