Short Review – This is the most fun I’ve had at a Star Wars movie since I was in junior high school.  If you’re a fan, you need to go see it, because it’s the kind of movie we’ve been waiting for since the credits ended on Return of the Jedi.

Long Review –

“Solo: A Star Wars Story” recounts the origin story of Han Solo, interstellar rogue, smuggler, and scruffy-looking nerf herder.  It’s basically a heist movie, with Han (Alden Ehrenreich) and Chewbacca (Joonas Suoatomo) teaming up with Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) to do a big job.  The mysterious woman from Han’s past, Qi’ra (Emily Clark), is along for the ride, and both she and the audience get their money’s worth.

The movie starts with a chase scene, and it doesn’t let up until the final scenes.  There is tension, intrigue, humor, love, and just enough fan service to grab the young me and make him cheer.  Ron Howard and crew did an excellent job of plotting this movie, and left out a lot of the moralizing, philosophy and “Hey, we know it never worked like this before, but that’s how it works now” that has plagued Episodes VII and VIII.

This was just a plain, fun, popcorn movie.  There were surprises sprinkled throughout the story, but it never knocked me out of the narrative.  The effects were phenomenal, which is to be expected, but they weren’t the centerpiece.  The music supported the action, always there, but never intrusive.  The acting and story were believable and easy to fall into, and I never felt like I was being preached to.

Surprisingly, the theater was only about half full.  Usually, a Star Wars movie is impossible to get tickets for on opening weekend.  Honestly, I didn’t want to go see it at first, mainly due to Episode VIII, but the word-of-mouth I got from trusted friends who saw it on premiere night, as well as Boo talking about Star Wars nonstop for a couple of weeks, changed my mind.  I’m glad they did.  If we want Disney to make more Star Wars movies that are actually fun to watch, we need to support Solo.

If you’re looking for a fun summer blockbuster, this is it.  Is it high cinematic art?  Nope.  Will you walk away a changed human being?  Sorry, but no.  Will you be entertained for a few hours and think about the movie for a lot longer?  You bet you will.

Trust me, go see it.