TwitReview-  Solo: A Star Wars Movie delivers an origin story of Han Solo, Chewbacca, and an adventure in a galaxy that is far, far, away. Full of action, humor, and a darn good fun time.
Grade: 4 stars

Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story, an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes. (Official description from StarWars.com)

Starring:

• Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo
• Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett
• Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra
• Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian
  
• Thandie Newton as Val
• Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37
• Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca
• Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos

Solo: A Star Wars Story is the prequel movie to the Star Wars timeframe that you never knew you wanted. It is rich in a character tapestry that shows what life is like in a galaxy under the rule of the Empire. Solo takes place in a time where the Rebellion hasn’t started and the Empire rules the galaxy with an iron-fist-of-helping-hands. Slave labor is rampant throughout the outer rim and the only way to get away was to get out.

Solo is awesome! Liked it much better than Rogue One. Don’t get me wrong, R1 had some good battle sequences and a very cool plot leading into A New Hope. But to me, the characters were all forgettable. In fact, outside of Jyn Erso, I can’t even name any of the other main characters. But in Solo, the characters that are not named Han, Chewbacca, or Lando, are very memorable and work well into the fabric of the story.

The Good:

• Getting to see the start of something bigger. Seeing a time of the Empire and their strong-hold into the universe shows how much bigger the Rebellion needed to be. Solo helps cement the start of the Rebellion by showing how the universe needs to come together to stop not only the Empire but the outlaws and the gangsters. Solo should be a three-part movie with the last movie leading us right to the cantina scene in A New Hope.
• No Darth Vader – no mention, no name drop, nothing. And that is a good thing. Solo is about Han Solo and his start into something greater. Yes, the Empire is in the movie and is a crucial part of the early acts of the movie, but not name dropping was a good thing.
• You get ALL THE BEATS you were expecting! Kessel Run, Millenium Falcon, meeting Chewbacca, Lando. And even though this was all expected (and really not a big giveaway as they were all shown in the various previews), it’s how they play out in front of you that will leave you with a big ole smile across your face.

The Bad:

• Disney needs to make a second installment sooner than later and make this the next min-franchise trilogy.

The Geek for E:

• The entire movie is a big love-fest to the Star Wars universe and one of the most important characters in the overall franchise.
• Enjoy the cameo of Clint Howard and Warrick Davis.
• There are some very cool background shots that will leave you in awe. In the opening sequence, you see Star Destroyers being constructed in the skies of Correllia. Lots of cool little things like that helped grow the tapestry of the movie.
• Han and Chewbacca starting their friendship. Little things with Lando that lead some weight into that classic landing on Cloud City scene in The Empire Strikes Back.

A very fun movie in the time of the Empire that truly feels like a welcome prequel to the overall Star Wars mythos.