Title: Solo: A Star Wars Story
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke
Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins

What It Is: An origin story for perhaps the coolest scoundrel in a galaxy far far away. We find out how Han Solo (Ehrenreich) became Han Solo. In this adventure, we discover where he met fellow scoundrel Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and the infamous game of Sabacc that won him the Millennium Falcon. In this story, however, Solo must help gather hyper fuel for a shady corporation. Being Solo he, of course, does this by more nefarious means.

What We Think: Look, I had a great time with this. Not only did it have a bit of that Star Wars magic but it told a fun, almost swashbuckling type adventure. Glover shines in this and seems like the perfect heir apparent to Billy D. Williams. Sauve as all get out and interesting to boot. Phoebe Waller-Bridge makes L3-37 pretty funny and I liked Emilia Clarke enough. Ehrenreich was a bit of a weak point and I don’t feel like he totally had that character, this icon of cinema totally pegged right. Howard does what he always does and crafts an interesting narrative with this script. His handling of everything seemed done right without too heavy a hand. Another Howard hallmark. This could’ve easily stood as messy and over-directed, Howard was the right guy for the job.

Our Grade: B-, It’s a flawed film that’s mostly let down by its weak lead performance. Not weak enough to kill it though. I think that Star Wars fans will love the nods to the old “Legends” mythology that’s now become canonical. Listen, Paul Bettany chewing all of the scenery he’s in is just really fun. Some Star Wars purist will point to Ehrenreich and say #notmysolo but therein lies the issue. He is Solo now. Enjoy the film, move on accept it.