Movie Review: "Solo: A Star Wars Story" Flies Smoothly, But Donald Glover Steals the Show

Everything’s perfectly alright now. Solo: A Star Wars Story is better than so-so, evading catastrophe with a roguish cast.

The Star Wars spin-offs are totally inessential, but Solo at least answers a few lingering questions from its father franchise, like how intergalactic scoundrel Han got his last-name, how he won the Millennium Falcon, and how he completed the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs. (Spoiler alert: a parsec is not nearly as short as it sounds.)

It also answers questions very few of us have asked, such as: Did Lando Calrissian ever make it with a robot? Turns out: Almost definitely. And now that’s canon.

Production of Solo: A Star Wars Story is one of the most publicly troubled in recent movie history, with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller booted midway through shooting, allegedly on account of their freeform comedy stylings. Ron Howard agreed to take over, presumably because no one told him the odds, and when he has Woody Harrelson’s smuggling mentor tell Solo, "Don’t improvise," you have to wonder if that was Howard’s first direction to the cast as well.

Anyone hoping to spy frayed edges, inconsistent storytelling or clearly identifiable reshoot wigs is out of luck, and I’d instead point them towards the calamitous Fantastic Four or The Snowman or The Cloverfield Paradox instead. Solo is far from catastrophic, sticking the landing, albeit unremarkably. When all is said and done, this is a workmanlike ‘Ron Howard’ flick with an appealing cast, expectedly bizarre alien character designs, and only a couple of comic moments that fall embarrassingly flat.

Don’t everybody thank Ron at once.

The story of Yung Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) begins when he escapes a life of servitude and joins the fascist Empire’s army, long before A New Hope. (The film's timeline weirdly establishes him as being at least 50 in Episode IV.) Seeing as Han’s not down with the Empire’s ‘take over the galaxy’ agenda, he bolts, alongside a crew of thieves led by Harrelson’s Beckett and Thandie Newton’s Val. Hairy Wookie Chewbacca eventually joins the team, finally setting events in real, kinetic motion, giving Ehrenreich a comedy partner to play against. Chewie’s a godsend.

Han, a nice guy only playing bad, wants to steal enough to rescue his childhood love, Qi’ra (Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke), from their Oliver Twist-ian home planet. That is, until he discovers she’s now working for the villainous, personal-space-invading Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), to whom Beckett and company are in debt. So, he devises a ‘winner takes all’ plan, to square the ledger and ride into the sunset with Qi’ra. Unfortunately, it’ll involve finding a spaceship fast enough for a high-risk heist. Good thing Qi’ra knows of a cape-festooned playboy named Lando (Donald Glover, too much fun in too few scenes) with one hell of a ride.

Alden Ehrenreich, who stole the Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar! as an adorable cowboy actor in over his head, does not embarrass himself in this similarly high-stakes casting coup. That said, he cannot keep Solo from being stolen out from under him by his co-star, Glover, whose confidence—as both Lando and the lead of a mega-franchise—reveals the kind of unteachable charisma that Ford brought to both Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

The thing keeping Solo from greatness is not the impossible task of making Alden Ehrenreich an instant equal to Harrison Ford, and not the turmoil behind the scenes; it’s the failure to make the argument to viewers that this is a story that needs telling. The answers it offers don’t inform how Han Solo became 'Han Solo'. It doesn’t even end with him hardening his external shell; it shows him softening for the sake of rebellion, which he'll later do, once more, for Luke and Leia Skywalker. So, yes, you have another Star Wars instalment to accuse of repeating the originals.

On the other hand, Solo gives our hero a justified excuse to 'shoot first', attempting to undo a controversy that began when George Lucas re-edited Han’s Star Wars intro. And there are plenty of rollicking action sequences, including a mountaintop train robbery and a galactic chase with a space octopus. Those may be enough to warrant a standalone Han Solo picture while we wait for another proper sequel to the main saga. Ultimately though, The Last Jedi was funnier and more narratively audacious. Come at me, fanboys.

Elsewhere, Solo continues the series’ strange habit of showcasing pissy robot characters, introducing us to Lando’s will-they-wont-they co-pilot, L3 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). The mutinous and spirited L3 has maybe the most interesting B-plot, wanting to liberate the enslaved droids across the cosmos. As we travel from planet to planet, we see how the Empire and ugly, mini-despots taking advantage of the times have capitalised on slavery. Screenwriters Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan—on a ‘take your son to work’ assignment—don’t fixate on this heretofore-unplumbed Star Wars territory. Still, this is a thoughtful through-line I didn’t anticipate from a predictable prequel cash-grab.

Nonetheless, like Rogue One before it, Solo: A Star Wars Story brings elevated expectations for future Star Wars spin-offs back down to Earth. Except when it comes to a vehicle for Lando. Now there's a new hope.

3.5/5

In Australian cinemas 24 May. Rated M for science fiction violence.