Solo: A Star Wars Story

Directed by Ron Howard

I’d give Solo 3.5 parsecs out of 5 in this Kessel Run

Summary Summary

Perhaps I had high expectations of this movie. After all, I had really enjoyed the most recent run of Star Wars films: Rouge One, The Force Awakens, and The Last Jedi, even though that last one got seriously mixed reactions from fans (I still really enjoyed it – minus the Leia force moment).

So, I was excited to see Solo. As characters go, Han Solo has always been a fan. I was anxious to get more of his backstory, just like everyone else. At its core, Solo is a young love story, but it quickly turns into a story about friendship and the consequences of your decisions.

The movie starts off introducing us to a world where children are captured and used to plunder and steal for a local gang, of sorts. As long as the children do what they’re told, they have food and shelter, and they have somewhere they belong.

As one of these youth, Han is trying to find a way out. He wants to get away, and become a pilot. If he can steal for the gang, and skim enough off the top, he can save up to buy a ship, and get him and his girlfriend out of their situation, and off the planet for a fresh start at a new life.

Without spoiling the show–things go right until they go wrong. Han and his girlfriend get separated, and the rest of the movie is about him trying to find her again. They run into each other again, but under very different circumstances. They still love each other like they did in the past, but they have both changed, and done things that complicate the prospects in the present.

Overall, Solo is a good movie, and safe to take your kids to. You’ll enjoy it, I think, but it’s not the best of the most recent Star Wars movies.