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Solo: A Star Wars sets the tone for the galaxy's favorite scoundrel

The origin story of everyone's favorite scruffy lookin' nerf herder blasts into theaters this weekend.

The origin story of everyone’s favorite scruffy lookin’ nerf herder blasts into theaters this weekend. Solo: A Star Wars Story stars Alden Ehrenreich as the future husband of Leia Organa and future father of Kylo Ren. It’s the story of his humble beginnings as a street criminal on the ship-building planet of Corellia how through a series of daring escapes and his journey in the criminal underworld to meeting his best friend and co-pilot Chewbacca, his fellow scoundrel pal Lando Calrissian, and eventually becoming the Captain of the Millennium Falcon.

Solo is a fun heist movie that does an excellent job of developing the character of Han Solo. He’s a space pirate, a hustler, gambler, pilot, and smuggler but despite all those things, he’s a good guy. There’s a reason he enters the criminal underworld but you get to see the conflict he has with it. He’s a man of the criminal world but he’s not a criminal. He struggles between doing the right thing and doing the profitable thing, always looking for the big score but caring about those around him.

Particularly interesting are the relationships that develop between him and Chewbacca and Lando. In The Empire Strikes Back, it’s obvious that Han doesn’t trust Lando (and for good reason) but Solo sets up this frenemy relationship and ends it on a note that explains their relationship in Empire. Of course, you can’t say enough about the relationship between Han and Chewbacca, best friends to the end. Chewbacca serves as moral compass and faithful companion.

The movie also explains the confusion over the famed Kessel Run. Remember in A New Hope when Obi-Wan and Luke meet Han and Chewbacca in the Cantina? Han brags about how fast the Millennium Falcon is stated that it "made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs”. For years there’s been debate over what that means because a parsec is a unit of distance, not time. Solo: A Star Wars Story solves that problem.

The movie also sets up potential future films. Alden Ehrenreich has said he’s signed on for three films but Solo director Ron Howard says there aren’t plans for a trilogy right now. There’s a scene near the end of the film that could set up a Solo sequel or tie into the rumored (and hoped for) Obi-Wan Kenobi standalone film. It’s a scene that may be confusing for those who have seen The Phantom Menace but haven’t seen the animated Star Wars Rebels or Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series. Google it after the movie. It also sets up a potential appearance by Han Solo and Chewbacca in the just announced Boba Fett standalone movie to be directed by James Mangold (director of Logan).

Being a movie in the Star Wars universe, you can assume that there are a lot of Easter Eggs and foreshadowing in this film. There are and there is. I don’t want to spoil anything but in the third act of the film when they are on the refinery planet, look for an actor who played a small but memorable (and furry) role in Return of the Jedi.

A common question I get about Solo: A Star Wars story concerns when it takes place. If you assume that Rogue One takes place at least 20 years after Revenge of the Sith, then Solo takes place sometime between those two films. My guess is about 10 years before Rogue One. Don’t let the scene I mentioned a couple of paragraphs above confuse you.

Solo: A Star Wars Story would make for a fun heist movie, even if it didn’t tell the origin of our favorite scoundrel.

A quick note about Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover. Ehrenreich is an actor on the rise, check out this clip from Hail, Caesar! Donald Glover who plays Lando Calrissian (and may get his own standalone film) is one of the most talented people on the planet. Showing his comedy chops on the TV show Community, then his more dramatic side acting, writing, and directing the TV show Atlanta to a stellar musical career as his alter ego Childish Gambino. Check out his newest music video here.

Also new in theaters this week…

Wim Wenders' new documentary, Pope Francis - A Man of His Word, is intended to be a personal journey with Pope Francis, rather than a biographical documentary about him. The pope's ideas and his message are central to this documentary, which sets out to present his work of reform and his answers to today's global questions. From his deep concern for the poor and wealth inequality to his involvement in environmental issues and social justice, Pope Francis engages the audience face-to-face and calls for peace.

Based on his true story, The Rider stars breakout Brady Jandreau as a once-rising star of the rodeo circuit warned that his competition days are over after a tragic riding accident. Back home, Brady finds himself wondering what he has to live for when he can no longer do what gives him a sense of purpose: to ride and compete. To regain control of his fate, Brady undertakes a search for new identity and tries to redefine his idea of what it means to be a man in the heartland of America.

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