SOLO: A Star Wars Story

Unlikely hero, the mildly dark and handsome bad boy of the stars, Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), frees himself from slavery and sets out to become a pilot; but, following orders and falling in line, not exactly a strong suit for this daring young daredevil. Meanwhile, the empire and crimson guard continue their advance from planet to planet, collecting resources and enslaving inhabitants, all the while an active black market secretly continues to thrive. Falling out of good grace with the empire, Han Solo finds himself aligned with a host of smugglers, thieves, and gamblers, members of the dirty side of the galaxy. In the underworld Han will meet notorious characters such as Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), Beckett (Woody Harrelson) , and Val (Thandie Newton), friends or foes, who’s to say at this point, either way they’ll have to work together to stay alive and pay off debts owed to Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany). And what of this old flame/love interest Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), young Han has a lot of learning yet to do.Directed by Ron Howard and Written by Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan this perfectly predictable story offers up handfuls of fan fic pulp, offering up answers and origins to all things Solo– which might be interesting, if the surrounding story were more compelling and not so much of a spoon feeding of expectations. Respectfully, this is no small undertaking for Howard and crew, attempting to capture the bravado and gravitas of one of the Star Wars franchise’s most beloved characters, the deck is already loaded for failure with a build up of over 40 years of anticipation, but certainly the Kasdan’s could have come up with more driving ways to reveal key elements to Solo’s character. As for the ensemble embodying our heroes this go round, shoulder shrugs, there are hits and misses, the end result is kind of a “humph,” the same can be said for the film overall. Mercifully, at least we’re not given a Jar Jar in this backstory. Solo: A Star Wars Story is rated PG-13.