Star Wars is back with it’s second “Anthology” line of films, this time based on favorite character Han Solo’s youthful days. Rising his ranks as a mercenary, young Han comes across a band of thieves posing as Imperial Soldiers and joins them on a quest for a score that takes his life into an unexpected turn.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is a 2018 space opera epic, prequel film. It is produced by LucasFilm and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, it is currently in theaters now.

Editor’s Note: This review contains near complete to complete spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Alden Ehrenreich stars as the titular character in his youth.

Taking place between Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope, Solo finds Han Solo starting off in his late teens-early adult years as an exile solider looking to make a name for himself. Having overheard a conversation of a huge score, he tries to enlist with a group of thieves who posed as Imperial Soldiers to aide themselves on their job. Before eventually gaining the trust of the group, Han is imprisoned where he meets the Wookie and his future best friend Chewbacca. From here a turn of events has Han facing his past and possibly questioning the rest of his life as a series of decisions must be made for the beginning of the fate of the galaxy.

Our first taste of Donald Glover as Lando is actually an entertaining, albeit small bite.

THE GOOD: While not as excellent as previous Anthology film “Rogue One”, ‘Solo’ is still a fun story coming from the many of the Star Wars Universe. Alden Ehrenreich plays a much more grounded, less assholeish Han Solo compared to Harrison Ford, but his performance is believable enough that it doesn’t strain too far from the character overall. What’s really surprising was Donald Glover’s performance as a young Lando Calrissian. I’m sure many were expecting a cartoony, comedic adaptation of Lando from Glover, because well it’s Donald Glover but he played a much more serious Lando along with his usual no nonsense, cut throat demeanor we were introduced to in “The Empire Strikes Back”. His relationship with android L3-37 (voiced by Phoebe Waller Bridge); the rebellious android fighting for liberation of her kind is quickly established as a loving one and very possibly a romantic one if dialogue from L3 were to be believed.

L3 is the heart and soul of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

If you had told me that one of the most powerful deaths in a Star Wars film would belong to an android I’d have probably rolled my eyes, but ‘Solo’ builds up L3’s character so well that you can’t help but to fall in love with her even if you viewed her as nothing more than comedic relief. Which is exactly why her death was so damn heartbreaking. Regardless of her status as a secondary, one-off character she was written amazingly well with the little dialogue she possessed throughout the film. And she played off of Glover’s Lando just as greatly, Lando’s reaction to her death and L3 not understanding the fact that she was indeed dying was just soul crushing. Speaking of the actor/actress performances, most if not all of the performances were great with Woody Harrelson and co., it’s just a little difficult connecting to some of these one-off characters knowing they aren’t apart of the much larger world that Star Wars presents.

Knowing that one-off characters are the central cast of ‘Solo’, it makes getting invested very difficult.

THE BAD: One of Solo: A Star Wars Story’s biggest problems is that it plays it safe far too much. In most Star Wars films, including Rogue One there’s a bit of darkness to round everything out with the drama & light hearted bits, but ‘Solo’ just depends a bit too much on the feel good vibes. There’s nothing wrong with that in of itself, but an entire Star Wars film should be entirely “feel good”. Another thing was the slight alteration to Han’s character. I mentioned earlier that Ehrenreich plays a much less assholeish version of the character, but the issue here is that the film tries way too hard to remind you that Han Solo is indeed a bit of an asshole, even Han himself mentions it more than a handful of times, but it’s not even showcased until the end of the film. That was an excellent little easter egg to the source of the character, but when you take into account how much they drag out that aspect of the character without really showing it, it feels a bit moot.

While not the best Star Wars film, Solo continues a very solid start into the Anthology saga.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Solo while on the middle to low end on lists of Star Wars “best ofs” is still a decent ride for at least a single watch. It probably won’t ever be a longtime fan’s favorite, but certain characters and actor performances are definitely some highlights to keep you in the theaters until the very end. Otaku Dome gives Solo: A Star Wars Story a 75 out of 100.