Solo

Back to the galaxy far far away, this time we're exploring the back story of hero/rogue/smuggler, Han Solo. The usual prequel problems apply - this does have times when it's not so much story as "checklist of references to things already mentioned" - but this is pretty proficiently put together. Alden Einreich has the unenviable challenge of trying to recapture Harrison Ford's lightning-in-a-bottle charisma in this role and ... if he doesn't quite perform miracles, he's still not wildly objectionable in the role, and at least does have the right level of "quite possibly out of his depth the entire time" quality that he probably should. There are a couple of thrilling sequences (in particular, the middle of the film has one section that had me tense and excited and utterly engaged like a good action sequence should), a reasonable twisty-turny plot (although this does have the "character removes a mask but isn't actually anybody we've known about previously so I'm not sure why they bothered with the mask particularly" element.

If it slightly suffers from franchise over-confidence near the end (setting up a sequel that box office results suggest will not be readily forthcoming), and if the romance between Han and Qu'ira fails to be one for the ages, it's a perfectly serviceable sci-fi action movie whose only major flaw, perhaps, is a lack of further ambition. Still, if you can ignore that this never quite makes a case for why this movie should be made in the first place (beyond "people like this character"), it's perfectly fine.