Solo: A Star Wars Story (Ron Howard, 2018)

The Disney Star Wars juggernaut rolls on with another prequel, this time centring on the origins of fan favourite Han Solo, now played by halfway-credible young Harrison Ford lookalike Alden Ehrenreich. The studio obviously felt there was more goodwill out there for the character since having him killed off in the new batch of the main series. Thus, there is also a plethora of knowing references for the fans to reward their encyclopaedic knowledge of minutiae and dialogue from the original films, from how Han tricked Lando out of the Millennium Falcon onwards. This is all well and good, and while it's no sin at all to have a go at a franchise film which includes no Jedis, the action and storyline are too flat to work, and that is a more serious failing. This will, of course, not stop further run-outs for the character, with Ehrenreich signed up for another two films.

5/10