Solo (1996)

When you think of the movie Solo, automatically one would assume its the prequel Solo: a Star Wars Story, a movie that did not receive much critical praise. This is not that movie, however its a disaster that pre-dates that movie.  Which would then lie the question of what was this original Solo  movie?  If the Hans Solo movie was cursed by making comparisons, what curses did this film inherited?  More importantly if it was that bad why have we not heard of it?  even at the release of Solo: a star wars story.

Well sit back and know it was a long long time ago,  a science fiction story, about a secret military mission that gone awry, when the latest military's prototype, an A.I. Android concluded that self preservation means keeping it's own long term memories over the military's desire to erase and restart his initial programming was it's primary objective.

Based on Vietnam veteran Robert Mason's first novel called Weapon. Whereupon an android named Solo lives among Nicaraguan villagers after he deems them innocent while his government handlers targeted them for execution. 

Weapon was published in 1989, making the original story pre-dating all the circa 1990's action troupes of that decade; stamping a precedent in original concept over movies of that decade (but not the 80's). This was screenwriter David L. Corley first commercial big budget theatrical movie adaptation, according to IMDB he continued to write three more adapted screenplays, all of which went straight to video.  Executive Power and Angel's Dance where films in which he also directed; and nearly a decade after the release of  Solo, David L. Corley wrote his final screenplay Jean  Claude Van Damme's movie titled Second in Command, a direct to video which was abysmally received by both critics and audiences and thus concluded his career in Hollywood and the film industry in general.  

 Solo's debut in theatres was August of 1996 and is ranked 160th in highest grossing films of that year. Making just over 5 Million dollars at the box office, with a projected budget of 19 Million dollars, the film was a financial disaster.  The movie was released one year after Van Damme's Universal Solider;  a film about a slowly self aware cyborg who turns rogue from his military handlers.

 Solo shares the  1991 story of Terminator 2's idea of a boy and a deadly robot bonding, and why the robot can't conceive of an emotion - in this case laughter as oppose to tears of sadness. The film shares an underlying comparison to the 1986 movie Short Circuit where a robot becomes self aware and runs away from its military benefactors  for its own self preservation  over the risk of losing its own long term memory, as it's battery source bleeds out; that until his creator and friend arrives to give him a new one.  The film borrows  visual cue's and the echoing sound ideas of laughter in a  jungle which can be seen in the 1987 film Predator. 

Popularizing itself with Michael Jordan's Nike commercial Ad  and utilizing his most famous Gatorade slogan "Be like Mike"-  Solo  uses a rolodex of familiarity of established pop culture with the hopes that the zeitgeist will carry over into it's box office receipts.

 Life after Solo, for a revered  Mario Van Peeple's career was very much under the radar for the remainder of that decade, until the semi successful movie Judgment Night; but it would take the 2001 release of Will Smith's Ali to gain recognition and awarded accolades for his supporting role.  That comeback bumped up his Hollywood status and saw Mario return to the Director's Chair since 1994's New Jack City; telling the story of his father's celebrated career in Badassssss! which garnered multiple Independent Spirt award & NAACP image award nominations.

On its own Solo fits the category of a 90's blockbuster film, with its' budgeted action, use of guns, explosions, chops, punches, and memorable one-liners. The success of this film rested on in its very own use of words when it decided to deal with the devil.