Jo, ich hab dazu eher gemischte Gefühle. Selbst wenn L&M nicht so gut gepasst haben sollten, was meiner Ansicht nach immer noch unbeantwortet im Raum steht (hätte es überaus interessant gefunden zu sehen, was die beiden daraus machen), liegt hier die Schuld wirklich bei Kennedy, Kasdan & Co. Erstmal überhaupt Leute, deren Arbeitsweise und Stil auch vorher schon überaus deutlich ersichtlich waren, für ein Projekt zu wählen, das dann wohl doch eine abweichende Vision seitens Produzenten und Drehbuchautoren hatte. Aber dann dermaßen lange zu warten, satte drei Viertel durch die Hauptdreharbeiten hindurch, und die Leute dann eiskalt zu feuern, obwohl so etwas vom ersten Tag an hätte ersichtlich sein müssen - sorry, das ist ne Sauerei. Bin darüber hinaus auch nicht sicher, was ich von Ron Howard als inzwischen bestätigtem Ersatz halten soll. Er ist erfahren, ja, aber fast alles was er bis jetzt gemacht hat ist tonal so völlig dem entgegengesetzt, was ich mir von einem Han Solo Film erhofft hätte. Und wir werden wahrscheinlich nie erfahren, wie viel auf seinen Input zurückgeht, und wie viel auf den von Lord und Miller.
Hier mein ausführlicherer Kommentar auf englisch, habe im Moment keine Zeit und Lust zum Übersetzen:
I don't know what to make of this whole story. I like Lord & Miller and I was looking forward to the Han Solo film mainly because of them, despite loathing the basic idea of destroying the mystery of that character's past. And the spin-offs were supposed to be vastly different in tone and style, furthering this fictional universe and going where the main episodes could not go. After the rather serious Rogue One, a western style Star Wars movie with a fun and slightly more winking, humorous tone sounded about right.
We all don't know the specifics. Maybe it's true and L&M's ideas had gotten too wild and not fitting the vision of the higher-ups anymore. Maybe they had more problems on a personal level, regarding their working approach - I don't think encouraging improvisation at times is necessarily a bad thing, they shouldn't have to stick to Kasdan's script 100% as if it was set in stone; some of the best lines in the Original Trilogy arose from improv! - but for me, one thing is certain: Whatever they have done so far, the responsibility lies not so much with them, but with Kennedy, Kasdan & co for hiring them in the first place.
It was plain and clear what their style is beforehand. If the producers and Disney wanted something else, they should have chosen someone else. Whatever we would have gotten (I don't think it would have resulted in a screwball comedy like some commenters now suggest), in my opinion it is a very harsh and extreme thing to fire the director(s) after three quarters of principal photography and so much else already done. No doubt they put their heart and soul into it. Why this late in production? Kennedy and Kasdan must have known they weren't satisfied for a while. Either you fire the directors early on, or you stick with them. Seldom a great movie resulted from studio decisions of this kind.
I'm not a big fan of Ron Howard. Don't get me wrong, he is talented, experienced, and a good director. But he has made very little that is of interest to me, and the movies of him that I did see didn't impress me much, with a few exceptions. He hasn't made something awesome in a long time, especially the Dan Brown trilogy is pretty 'meh'. What concerns me most is that I can't remember one of his movies being lighthearted fun (don't mention the annoying Grinch). They often have a serious or somber, dramatic tone as far as I can tell. While that is an asset in its own right for other things, it is the exact opposite of what Lord and Miller are known for and what they have probably infused the Han Solo project with to some extent. Not a good sign.
Back when word surfaced about the Rogue One reshoots, I hoped they would not try to make it overly funny, add jokes, make it less hard and gritty. It was supposed to be a war movie. Now with Han Solo, it's the other way around. Of course it shouldn't end up as a comedy, but I hope they don't change it to be overly bleak and bitterly sarcastic, but keep at least some elements of L&M's vision and style intact.
Ron Howard really is a safe choice. He will get it done and bring it over the finish line, although by this point in production, it will never be entirely "his" movie. Could have been much worse for sure. Then again, I wanted the spin-offs to be different and fresh and bring something new to the franchise, as was promised back then. Being creatively a little more daring and original. Letting Howard complete it seems a bit like they want to adjust and match it to be rather similar to what came before, and I'm not too sure I will love that... in a movie of which I don't even like the basic story idea, mind you. You know, as much as fans now nag and beef about L&M, I can't rule out that maybe, just maybe, what they were doing was exactly what I wanted this to be.
In any case, I hope the next spin-off is brave enough to have much less connections to and established characters from the existing Star Wars stories. I don't want backgrounds of the Original Trilogy being fleshed out, I want entirely new adventures in this universe with all its fascinating concepts. That way, creative problems about tone and style won't arise so easily, too. With new characters they can do whatever they want and don't have to worry about getting them "right".