Film: Solo

GENRE: Action Adventure

RATING: PG-13 for action violence
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 15 minutes

STARRING: Alden Ehrenreich (Hail Caesar!, Beautiful Creatures)

Woody Harrelson (Hunger Games), Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones)

DIRECTOR: Ron Howard (Apollo 13, Rush, Da Vinci Code)

WRITERS: Jonathan Kasdan (In the Land of Women) &

Lawrence Kasdan (Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi)

PLOT: Han Solo meets Chewbacca and Lando as he tries to save the girl and join a group of smugglers.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Worried a bit due to the director changes.

STORY STUFF: That was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed this Star Wars adventure. It was full of rip-roaring actions pieces, witty one-liners, interesting new characters, and lots of references to other things in the Star Wars cannon. Very entertaining.

ACTING STUFF: I think Ehrenreich was well cast as Han. He had the perfect mix of swagger and heart and humour. I have been getting annoyed with Donald Glover (Community, Atlanta) lately as his arrogance in his recent artistic pursuits is a put off. However, this plays nicely with his cocky Lando. I also love his obsession with capes. Clarke and Harrelson do good work as does Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca. In fact, Chewbacca steals a lot of scenes. Of course, with Ron Howard at the helm, expect to see his brother Clint.

ARTISTIC STUFF: This has all the trappings of a typical Star Wars film. Great use of special effects, set pieces, score and costume. Loved the Millennium Falcon escape/battle. There is also a cameo that I was questioning but after reading up on Clone Wars and Rebels, looks like a great fit.

VERDICT: Five stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You are a Han Solo fan even without Harrison Ford.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Ocean’s 8, The Incredibles 2