Solo: a Star Wars Story

Cosmic chancer Han Solo gets his own origins story in director Ron Howard's engagingly propulsive and fun space western. Stepping effortlessly into Harrison Ford's massive shoes, Alden Ehrenreich captivates as the arrogant flyboy charmer who escapes his grungy home planet by joining the Imperial army. After befriending grifter Beckett (a charismatic Woody Harrelson), Solo joins his gang as they attempt to steal a shipment of precious fuel from a mining world for the power-mad Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany). Reunited in transit with his first love Qi'Ra (Emilia Clarke), Han faces betrayal and double-cross while forging a delightful bromance with Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and an uneasy alliance with Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover). With a grittier, dirtied-down look totally in keeping with its rough-and-ready lead character, the visual effects are exemplary, especially a mountain monorail heist. Launching at eye-catching lightspeed and keeping up the swashbuckling momentum throughout, Solo is one wily and satisfying mega-thrills-and-uber-spills ride.