SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY

Cert Running time

Experience a rollercoaster ride at the speed of light through a galaxy far, far away in this rip-roaring Star Wars spin-off. Set sometime before the original 1977 blockbuster, it follows the young Han Solo as he goes from a penniless street thief to becoming a swashbuckling space smuggler.

I worried about how the new guy would measure up in a role brilliantly played by Harrison Ford in four films previously.

Especially as Alden Ehrenreich is probably “a little short for a stormtrooper”, as Princess Leia famously quipped of Luke Skywalker. In his defence, everyone looks short next to the enormous hairy frame of Chewbacca the Wookiee. And Ehrenreich quickly wins us over with an endearingly cocky swagger as Solo survives a mountainside monorail heist, meets Chewbacca for the first time, acquires his iconic spaceship – the Millennium Falcon – and falls foul of Paul Bettany’s master criminal, Dryden Vos.

Emilia Clarke, from TV’s Game Of Thrones, plays Solo’s childhood friend, Qi’ra – though she has such a sweet on-screen presence she struggles to convince us of the conflict within her character.

And it’s Donald Glover, as the roguish Lando Calrissian, who steals the film with his cosmic charisma. This is a lot more fun than the other Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One, but there’s no avoiding the background hum of war. And far from the generals and emperors of previous films, this is a bluecollar world of miners, shipbuilders and frontline soldiers, where people wrestle in mud for their lives. Ron Howard’s safe pair of hands were brought in to reshoot large chunks of the film after original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were jettisoned when Disney were unhappy with their loose improvisational style.

Given that Ron had to race against the clock to complete the film, it’s remarkable he’s crafted not only a coherent movie, but a hugely entertaining one, packed with humour and spectacle.