Solo: A Star Wars Story

"You know, he's younger in this movie and that's fun because you have to imagine him 10 years earlier in his early 20s. What was he like before he hardened up? Before he had some setbacks? Before he put on this cynical coat? What got him there?"

- Lawrence Kasdan

Solo: A Star Wars Story is a stand-alone Star Wars film directed by Ron Howard from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Jon Kasdan, released Worldwide on May 25, 2018. It stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo in the years prior to Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. Donald Glover portrays Lando Calrissian and Joonas Suotamo portrays the Wookiee Chewbacca. Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge also star.

The film was first announced as a Han Solo picture in 2015, along with the news that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller would be the film's directors. Principal photography began in January 2017, after which creative differences arose between the two directors and the studio. They were replaced by Ron Howard, who was tasked with completing principal photography along with what was reported to be extensive re-shoots.

Official description
Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story'', an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga's most unlikely heroes.''

Escaping Corellia
Six years after the formation of the Galactic Empire, on the shipbuilding world of Corellia, a human "scrumrat" and aspiring pilot named Han and his lover Qi'ra long to escape the clutches of Lady Proxima's White Worms crime syndicate. Following a delivery job that went awry, Solo defies Proxima in the presence of her henchmen and the other scrumrats. After wounding the Grindalid by exposing her to sunlight, Han and Qi'ra flee on a stolen speeder with a vial of valuable hyperfuel coaxium.

Intending to escape offworld, Han and Qi'ra flee to Coronet Spaceport with the White Worms gang. Using the coaxium as a bargaining chip, Han and Qi'ra manage to bribe the Imperial Emigration Officer Falthina Sharest into granting them passage on an outgoing transport. Before Qi'ra can cross into the other side of the terminal, she is apprehended by the White Worms enforcers. Qi'ra tells Han to flee and he vows to return for her.

Lacking sufficient funds to travel offworld, Han is recruited by the Imperial recruitment officer Drawd Munbrin into joining the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet. Munbrin promises Han that he will be flying in no time and dubs him "Han Solo" in absence of a surname.

Ordeals on Mimban
"This ain't a quick job, it's a war."

- Rio Durant to Tobias Beckett

Three years later, Han has been expelled from the Imperial Flight Academy on Carida for insubordination, and is serving as a Mudtrooper Corporal during a battle on the planet Mimban. Solo's 224th Imperial Armored Division is locked in trench warfare against the Mimbanese Liberation Army, enduring heavy casualties in the torrid, muddy weather. Disenchanted with the Empire's promises, Solo regards the Imperials as occupiers on Mimban and earns the enmity of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Bolandin.

Later, Solo encounters Tobias Beckett, Val, and the Ardennian Rio Durant, a gang of criminals who had disguised themselves as Imperial Army soldiers to pull off a heist. Seeking to escape offworld, Solo tries to blackmail them into allow him to join their gang by threatening to expose them as infiltrators. However, Beckett turns the tables on him and convinces Lieutenant Bolandin that Solo is trying to desert. Seeking an opportunity to rid his unit of a "trouble-maker", Bolandin has Solo thrown into a pen where he is condemned to battle a "beast" held in captivity.

The beast is revealed to be a Wookiee named Chewbacca, whose species has been enslaved by the Empire. Owing to Han's ability to speak Shyriiwook, Solo convinces Chewbacca that he is a friend. Working together, the two stage a fight for the benefit of their captors after discovering that one of the pillars supporting the mesh above their cell is weak. Solo's plan works and the two are able to breach the mesh above Chewbacca's pen, allowing them to climb out and escape. They convince a sympathetic Beckett and his gang to allow them to escape aboard their stolen Y-45 armored transport hauler.

Heist on Vandor-1
After Han and Chewbacca's escape from Mimban, Beckett enlists the two for a planned train heist to steal a shipment of the hyperfuel refined coaxium from a 20-T Railcrawler conveyex transport on the snowy, mountainous planet Vandor. On the night before the heist, Beckett warns the gang of the threat posed by Enfys Nest and the Cloud-Riders. While sleeping by the campfire, Durant mocks Solo's flying abilities.

While Rio Durant flies the Y-45 hauler, Han, Chewie, and Beckett land on the cargo wagon and separate it from the rest of the train following a skirmish with range troopers. Their plan is to use the Y-45 hauler to ferry the stolen cargo weapon. Before Beckett's gang can escape with the stolen coaxium, the group is attacked by the Cloud-Riders, who ride swoop bikes. Two of the Cloud-Riders board the Y-45 hauler and fatally wound Durant. Solo manages to climb aboard the transport hauler and fly the ship. With his dying breath, Durant apologizes to Solo for mocking his flying abilities and tells him that Val was right in her belief that no one should die alone.

As the skirmish continues Val, who is stationed on top of a nearby bridge, uses her vantage point to take out several of the Cloud-Riders. However, the Conveyex is rapidly approaching the bridge and Val realizes that there is not enough time for her to abandon her position without letting the crew steal the coaxium wagon. After telling Beckett of her change of plans via comlink, Val professes her love for him before detonating the bomb, killing herself and destroying the bridge.

The destruction of the bridge causes the Conveyex to plunge into a deep gorge. After a struggle, Chewbacca manages to detach the coaxium wagon from the rest of the train. However, the Cloud-Riders have attached grappling hooks to the wagon, dragging it down. Not wanting to risk the lives of Beckett and Chewbacca, Solo makes the difficult decision to let go of the coaxium wagon; which plunges into the ravine below and explodes.

An audience with Dryden Vos
Angered by Solo's decision to drop the cargo, Beckett reveals he was ordered to steal the coaxium in order to repay his debts to Dryden Vos, leader of the Crimson Dawn criminal syndicate. With Beckett fearing Vos' wrath, Han and Chewbacca volunteer to help him steal another shipment. They travel to Vos' yacht, the First Light, where a surprised Solo reunites with his friend Qi'ra, who has since become a lieutenant of the Crimson Dawn.

Despite Vos' displeasure with Beckett and his underlings, Han and Chewbacca managed to convince the crime lord to give them a second chance. Han announces a plan to steal a shipment of unrefined coaxium from the spice mines of Kessel, which are controlled by the rival Pyke Syndicate. This expedition also involves traveling through the dangerous Kessel Run. To keep an eye on Han and Beckett, Vos insists on Qi'ra accompanying them.

Meeting Lando Calrissian
Knowing that they would need a fast ship for the Kessel heist, Qi'ra takes Solo and his companions to The Lodge at nearby Fort Ypso. There, she introduces the team to Lando Calrissian, an accomplished smuggler and pilot. Han challenges Lando to a game of sabacc, with the wager being Lando's ship, reputed to be the fastest in the galaxy. Lando uses a sleight of hand to win but is convinced to join the mission in exchange for a share of the profits.

Han and his companions also encounter Lando's droid co-pilot L3-37, who has a female programming and is an avowed droid rights advocate. L3-37 objects to the droid fighting pits at the Lodge and picks a fight with the owner Ralakili. L3-37 almost assaults Ralakili but Lando convinces her to let him go. The group then set out for the spice mines of Kessel.

Raid on Kessel
The team boards Lando's impounded ship&mdash;the Millennium Falcon&mdash;and head for Kessel. After making planetfall, Qi'ra manages to gain entry to the Pyke Capo Quay Tolsite's mine by posing as the slaver Oksana Floren. Han Solo and Chewbacca infiltrate the mine disguised as slaves while Qi'ra, Beckett, and L3-37 make their way into Tolsite's control room. While Qi'ra distract Tolsite in his office, Han and Chewbacca steal the coaxium while L3-37 incites an uprising among the slaves and droids against the Pykes.

Amidst the uprising, Chewbacca frees several slaves including the Wookiee Sagwa and the human Tak. Out of gratitude, Sagwa helps Chewbacca and Solo escape the mines with a stash of unrefined coaxium. Outside Solo, his companions, and the liberated slaves fight off the Pyke sentinels. Sagwa helps Chewbacca to load the coaxium aboard the Millennium Falcon. During the fighting, Qi'ra also kills Tolsite using the martial arts Teräs Käsi. However, L3 is fatally damaged and Lando is injured during the escape. Lando grieves over the disintegration of L3 and blames Solo and his companions for the loss of his friend.

Completing the Kessel Run
After boarding the Millennium Falcon, Solo and his companions flee into space just as an Imperial Star Destroyer exits hyperspace. Seeking to recover the Falcon stolen coaxium cargo, the Star Destroyer dispatched several TIE fighters and heavy fighters in pursuit of the freighter. With the help of L3's navigational computer which has been hardwired into the Falcon systems, Han attempts to lose their Imperial pursuers by flying into the infamous Kessel Run, which leads to the dangerous Akkadese Maelstrom and Maw Cluster.

Due to the highly volatile nature of the unrefined coaxium, Solo and his companions estimate that they must make the Kessel Run in less than twenty parsecs if they are to reach Vos before the coaxium explodes. Han's prodigious piloting skills allow them to evade their Imperial pursuers, only to awaken a massive summa-verminoth inside the Maw Cluster. The crew tries to escape the monster, but end up arriving at a large gravity well. Thinking fast, Han ejects the Falcon escape pod into the well for the summa-verminoth to follow, which is instantly sucked in. Solo's quick thinking reduces the typical distance from twenty to twelve parsecs.

Confronting the Cloud-Riders
After making the Kessel Run, Solo and his companions land on the planet Savareen to rendezvous with Vos. While the team are unloading their coaxium cargo at Bis Refinery, Solo and his companions are surrounded by Enfys Nest and her Cloud-Riders. Solo attempts to intimidate the Cloud-Riders by claiming to have a complement of armed mercenaries aboard the Millennium Falcon. However, Lando, who is grieving over the loss of L-3 and is furious at the damage to his ship, abandons Solo and the others.

At that point, Enfys Nest removes her mask and reveals that she and the Cloud-Riders are not pirates but are rebels trying to stop crime lords and the Empire from gaining more power. She tells Solo and his companions that the Cloud-Riders need the coaxium for their rebel cause. Sympathetic to the Cloud-Riders' cause and plight, Solo hatches a plan to prevent the coaxium from falling into the hands of Vos and the Crimson Dawn.

Skirmish on Savareen
When Vos lands on his yacht First Light, Han along with Qi'ra, Chewbacca, and Beckett go to deliver the purportedly "fake" coaxium canisters to the Crimson Dawn crime lord. Aboard the First Light, Vos surprises Solo's team by announcing that the coaxium is fake&mdash;he reveals that his "inside man" Beckett informed him of Han's plan to sell the real shipment to the Cloud-Riders. Vos also chastises Qi'ra for betraying him and realizes that Solo was her weakness.

However, Han announces that he had anticipated Beckett's deception: the coaxium containers they have brought are real. Meanwhile, Crimson Dawn enforcers storm the Bis Refinery and capture the masked "Cloud-Riders." However, they quickly discover that the coaxium containers are empty and that the "Cloud-Riders" are villagers serving as decoys. The real Cloud-Riders soon emerge from hiding and defeat Vos' enforcers.

Back aboard the First Light, Beckett takes Chewbacca hostage and escapes with the coaxium containers. A gunfight between Han and Vos breaks out. Qi'ra intervenes, holding Solo at sword point. However, Qi'ra's feelings for Solo leads her to side with him. She duels with her boss Vos and kills him. Following Vos' death, Qi'ra urges Han to help the Cloud-Riders and promises that she will join him shortly. After Han leaves, Qi'ra seals the room.

Separate paths
Han catches up with Beckett and Chewbacca. Before Beckett can shoot, Han shoots him first, killing the gangster. In his final moments, Beckett compliments Han for his quick thinking. With the deaths of Vos and Beckett, Han and Chewbacca deliver the refined coaxium to Nest, who reveals her plans to use the coaxium to aid the rebellion against the Empire. She offers Han the chance to join her but he declines. In response, Nest states that some day he may feel more sympathetic to the rebels' cause. Out of gratitude for his help, Nest gives Solo a vial of coaxium, enough to buy a ship for himself.

Alone aboard Vos' yacht, Qi'ra contacts Vos' superior, who is revealed to be the former Sith apprentice Maul. She informs him of the coaxium mission's failure and assumes Vos' position but carefully avoids telling him about Han's involvement, instead pinning the blame on Becket. Maul orders Qi'ra to bring the yacht to the planet Dathomir and tells her that she will be working more closely with him in the future. Having given a friend Solo a clean break from his debts to Crimson Dawn, Qi'ra departs on the yacht.

Rematch with Lando Calrissian
"You really have it bad for the Falcon, don't ya?''" "''It's mutual. Trust me, she belongs with me."

- Lando Calrissian and Han Solo

Elsewhere, Han and Chewbacca soon track down Lando, and Han again challenges him to a sabacc game for possession of the Falcon. Han subtly relieves Lando of the cards stashed up his sleeve and wins the game. Han plans to go to Tatooine, where Beckett told him that a gangster is putting together an organization, as the Falcon jumps into hyperspace.

Origins
The earliest incarnation of a live-action depiction of young Han Solo came during the pre-production of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. Writer and director George Lucas conceived an idea of Solo as a child on Kashyyyk, with Chewbacca raising the young boy like a son. Solo would have been present during the Battle of Kashyyyk and would have encountered Yoda, helping the Jedi Master discover scraps of a droid that could have aided Yoda in determining the whereabouts of General Grievous. Concept art from Iain McCaig showed the young Solo as a slob, a juxtaposition of the character in his later years. "He's such a persnickety guy later &mdash; he always has to have the best of everything," McCaig said in The Art of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, "so I thought it'd be great if when he was a kid, he was an absolute slob." These concepts never made it out of pre-production, and Solo did not appear in Revenge of the Sith &mdash;though Chewbacca ultimately did make a cameo appearance during the battle.

After the release of Revenge of the Sith, Lucas began planning a live-action television series called Star Wars: Underworld, set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The unproduced series, dealing with elements of the criminal underworld, could have included some of Solo's backstory. According to Stephen Scaia, the show's writers came up with a story for how Solo met Chewbacca. Another story would have dealt with how Solo first met Lando Calrissian, who first appeared in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.

Pre-production
"&hellip;George had sort of roughed-out many movies&mdash;not just the new trilogy but other movies, the spinoffs and things. I wasn't sure I wanted to do anything, but I said, "I could do the Han Solo movie"&mdash;because he's my favorite character."

- Lawrence Kasdan

Ideas for a young Han Solo film began to percolate in the lead up to The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm. In October 2012, as Lucas was preparing to sell his company, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy contacted Lawrence Kasdan, writer of The Empire Strikes Back and co-writer of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, and asked him to meet her and Lucas to discuss new films in the franchise. Kasdan recounted that Lucas had already come up with some basic ideas for the sequel trilogy and had also come up with the concept of stand-alone films. One of those movies was about young Han Solo, before the events of A New Hope. Kasdan was initially hesitant on being part of the new films, but he decided he could do the Han Solo movie as Solo was his favorite character. He pitched his idea to Bob Iger by telling him about the scene where Han gets his last name. "I was interested in how was the character I fell in love with at Mos Eisley formed, and what kind of story could you tell around that? Because really, I'm a Western freak. I’ve made two Westerns, and there's nothing more Western than A New Hope and Mos Eisley. In walks a gunfighter. He looks like a gunfighter, he sits like a gunfighter, he shoots first like a gunfighter. And so I thought, what happened before that guy walked in the door?"

- Lawrence Kasdan

After agreeing to the job, Kasdan was also asked to help develop what would become Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. Once he had completed work on that film, Kasdan felt creatively drained, so he asked his son Jon to assist in developing the Han Solo film. The Kasdans worked on the script for nine months, during which they were inspired by Treasure Island, Heat, Unforgiven and various films by the Coen brothers. Meanwhile, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were hired to direct. Lord and Miller tested several thousand actors for the part, including Harrison Ford impressionist Anthony Ingruber. They ultimately chose Alden Ehrenreich, who had been the first person to audition. According to Miller, they didn't want an impersonation of Ford, but "someone who could evoke the spirit of the iconic performance we all remember while bringing something new and fresh." Ehrenreich was officially announced during Celebration Europe. He (and later, Ron Howard) met with Harrison Ford to discuss the character, and Lucasfilm sent Ford a copy of the script for his approval. Once Ehrenreich was cast, certain parts of the script were revised to be tailored to his voice; the final script also incorporated contributions from Lord, Miller and Howard. As Jon Kasdan told SFX magazine, "I think ultimately the movie that you'll see is truly a product of the five of us all coming together in this weird way to tell this story."

Production
"I think in terms of us leaving the project, I think everybody went in with really good intentions and our approach to making the movie was different than theirs. That was a really big gap to bridge, and it proved to be too big."

- Phil Lord

Principal photography began in January 2017, with a working title of Star Wars: Red Cup. In addition to Pinewood Studios, the film shot at Fuerteventura, Spain, the Dolomites in Italy and at an undisclosed location near London. One of the three rewards in the 2017 Force for Change fundraiser was a role in the film.

On June 20, 2017, Lucasfilm announced that directors Lord and Miller were departing from the project due to creative differences and that a new director would be announced soon. Entertainment Weekly reported that Lord and Miller encouraged an improvisational style on set, which Lucasfilm insiders believed was moving the film away from the vision crafted by the Kasdans in their script and ended up significantly changing the story. Lucasfilm believed that these apparent issues could be fixed during reshoots, but Lord and Miller were reportedly reluctant to significantly alter their approach to the film. As a result, Kennedy made the decision to remove Lord and Miller from the production. Co-writer Lawrence Kasadan later attributed it to tone: "You can have fun with the tone but you never make fun of the tone, in my world."

On June 22, Lucasfilm announced that Ron Howard would take over directorial duties for the film. Howard had worked on three previous Lucasfilm projects: 1973's American Graffiti, 1979's More American Graffiti and 1988's Willow (which starred Star Wars veteran Warwick Davis, who also appeared in Solo. ) After the announcement, Howard said that he had been a fan of Star Wars since the beginning and that he found it "gratifying to be asked to lend my voice to the [Star Wars] universe." Michael Kenneth Williams was originally cast in the film but was unavailable for the reshoots, so he was replaced by Paul Bettany. George Lucas visited the set at one point, and helped direct a scene. On October 17, Howard confirmed that production had wrapped up, and he officially announced the title of the film would be Solo: A Star Wars Story. By March 30, 2018, the editing and score were finished, and post-production had ended by April 22. John Powell composed the film's musical score, and John Williams contributed a new theme.

Marketing and release
A TV spot aired during Super Bowl LII, followed by a full teaser trailer the next day and the release of a series of character-themed teaser posters. A theatrical trailer and poster were released on April 8, with the former debuting during American Idol. Tickets became available for pre-sale beginning on May 3, and sold second to Infinity War among 2018 releases. The film had its world premiere on May 10, and appeared at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15. It received its wide release on May 25 (the 41st anniversary of the release of A New Hope, in which Harrison Ford first appeared as Han Solo).

The film was spotlighted in the February and April 2018 issues of Entertainment Weekly, the 300th issue of SFX and the June 2018 issue of Empire. The cast and crew made various media appearances to promote the film, including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Donald Glover hosted the May 5 episode of Saturday Night Live. Various cast and crew members participated in Q&A sessions on Twitter, Facebook  and Tumblr.

Merchandise
Lucasfilm arranged Solo licensing deals with Denny's, Esurance, General Mills, Nissan, Solo Cup Company and Symantec. Denny's aired a commercial that utilized props, characters and a set from the film. The French car company Renault also aired an ad showcasing the film's train sequence. The Solo merchandise line debuted in stores on April 13. The video games Star Wars Battlefront II, Star Wars: Commander, Star Wars: Force Arena, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, Star Wars Pinball and Minecraft were updated with Solo-related content.

Lawsuits
The release of the initial teaser posters prompted a complaint from a French artist, Hachim Bahous, that the design of the posters was a plagiarization of a series of covers he designed for Sony Music for French album releases. A side-by-side post demonstrated that the posters and covers feature nearly identical coloration for both the background and character/album names, as well as a similar font. On April 23, a lawsuit was filed by Ren Ventures, who holds the trademark for the card game Sabacc, against Lucasfilm and Denny's Star Wars card game after Sabacc was featured in promotion for the film.

Home video
Solo will be released on digital streaming formats on September 14 and on physical media and on demand on September 25.

Bonus features:
 * Solo: The Director & Cast Roundtable — Sit down with director Ron Howard and the stars for an intimate and entertaining discussion of the film's making.
 * Team Chewie — See what it takes to bring your favorite Wookiee to life in this lighthearted look behind the scenes.
 * Kasdan on Kasdan — Iconic Star Wars screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and son Jonathan share what it was like to write the movie’s script together.
 * Remaking the Millennium Falcon &mdash; Track the transformation of the most famous ship in the galaxy, from Lando's swank and impeccable pride and joy to Han’s stripped-down hot-rod freighter with "special modifications."
 * Escape from Corellia — Get behind the wheel for the making of this high-octane chase through the streets of Corellia.
 * The Train Heist — Explore the challenges and thrills of creating this action-packed sequence, including its remote location and spectacular effects.
 * Becoming a Droid: L3-37 — Meet the newest droid—and the talented actor who helps bring her to life.
 * Scoundrels, Droids, Creatures and Cards: Welcome to Fort Ypso &mdash; Take an in-depth tour of the rough-and-tumble bar where strangers mix and gamblers risk all in the legendary card game, Sabaac.
 * Into the Maelstrom: The Kessel Run &mdash; Join Han and Chewie at the controls of the Millennium Falcon to see how this legendary moment in Star Wars history unfolds.
 * The Millennium Falcon: From Page to Park — In an exclusive bonus feature available as a digital code with the Target release, you can get a look at the history of the most famous ship in the galaxy, its origin and development, and how it will translate in one of the most anticipated expansions in Disneyland's history.
 * Deleted Scenes: Proxima's Den, Corellian Foot Chase, Han Solo: Imperial Cadet, The Battle of Mimban: Extended, Han Versus Chewie: Extended, Snowball Fight!, Meet Dryden: Extended, Coaxium Double-Cross

Box office
Solo opened substantially below industry projections, with $103 million in North America and 68.2 million in foreign markets. Financial analysts have estimated that Disney will lose $50 to $80 million on the film.

Critical reception
The film currently holds a 71% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 325 reviews.

Forbes reviewer Scott Mendelson described the film as a Star Wars story that played like an Indiana Jones movie. While opining that the film had no "artistic" reason to exist, Mendelson praised Solo for its decent cast, fine action sequences, and references to the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. He also described Solo as the first live-action Star Wars that felt like a random adventure rather than the usual "Empire versus Rebellion" struggle.

The Hollywood Reporter reviewer Michael Rechtshaffen described the film as "an origins story that represented a return to the saga's more humble, original space Western roots which emphasized character development over kinetic, adrenaline-fueled action sequences." He also praised Alden Ehrenreich's performance as Han Solo and Ron Howard's directorship. The Guardian reviewer Peter Bradshaw described Solo as a "boisterous bromance," awarding the film four out of five stars. Besides praising Ron Howard's directorship and Ehrenreich's performance as the titular character, Bradshaw credited Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon for "channeling the spirits" of the original trilogy into the film.

The BBC reviewer Nicholas Barber gave Solo a mixed review, awarding the film three out of five stars. He wrote that Solo was a "Disney-fied, sub-Guardians of the Galaxy adventure: a lightly comic, family-friendly, action-packed, nigglingly sexist popcorn movie." Barber described Ehrenreich's depiction of Solo as a "likeably goofy hero with an irresistible grin and an air of boyish decency," and compared him favorably to Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy. CNN reviewer Brian Lowry wrote that the film had a "messy, flat opening half before rallying and picking up speed down the stretch," which he attributed to the fraught production process. Lowry praised Ehrenreich and Donald Glover's performances as Han Solo and Lando Calrissian respectively, opining that they captured the spirit of the original-trilogy characters. The New Yorker Joshua Rothman wrote that Solo' is an entertaining movie, with engaging performances, vivid production design, and enthralling action sequences. It’s also distressingly forgettable—it's about nothing, an episode of 'Seinfeld' with hyperdrive."

Solo also received several critical reviews. Vox reviewer Alissa Wilkinson described Solo as the "safest, most forgettable Star Wars movie" and criticized what she termed as the "box-ticking approach to filling Solo's story as distinctly unimaginative." Similarly, National Review critic Kyle Smith dismissed Solo as a "soulless intergalactic freeway pile-up" and criticized the fast-paced nature of the plot.