The Han Solo origin story is still best known for the fact that its co-directors were fired towards the end of filming, and that Ron Howard was brought in to replace them and essentially started from scratch.
Thankfully, there's no hint of those production problems in the finished product, a charming romp that provides a pleasantly upbeat counterpart to the relentlessly dour The Last Jedi.
We meet young (seemingly late teens) Han (Alden Ehrenreich) as a low level criminal on the rough streets of ship-building planet Corellia, which he dreams of escaping from with his partner Kira (Emilia Clarke).
A three-year time jump leaps ahead to after Han has been thrown out of the Imperial Flight Academy. Now an infantryman for the Imperial Army engaged in ground combat on a muddy battlefield, Han aligns himself with a group of bandits lead by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and together they plot a daring heist on a mining planet. Along the way he encounters a certain tall hairy fellow.
![Alden Ehrenreich is Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Photo / AP](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/K4IHS76BF6SBJCKBA5RHDOLH7Y.jpg?auth=a243de6549e1cf504fde78396b6084a7ea03b8e08698f0592a27edef1a3a2297&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)