Aside from the pro's and con's of the story, the film is very poorly lit. There is so much dark shadow throughout, which is exacerbated when viewed in 4K HDR. Whenever there is light it is back-light so the characters are virtually in silhouette. We watched it with curtains drawn and all lights off in the room but it was still really difficult to see what was going on. "It's probably his set-up", I hear you say, but we have many other 4K HDR movies and can watch them without any such problems. I tried the Blu-Ray version (which is included in the 4K case), on two different TVs and although slightly better, it proved it was an issue either with the studio or the DVD distributers. If you want the movie I would recommend the Blu-Ray version over the 4K one, unless you want to adjust your TV settings every time you want to see it.

I can't understand the negativity around this movie. I get a lot of people didn't like The Last Jedi. But this is not that movie. In fact it simply does what it says on the tin - tells the story of a younger Han Solo.

It manages to pack in a lot of the fun of the original Star Wars: A New Hope. It is a romp. It's not full of too many serious issues and it should appeal to anyone who enjoyed the original trilogy. It is certainly a lot lighter in tone than Rogue One - which I also love - but it's good to have contrast. Also what humour is present is entirely justified. There are certainly lots of thrills too. And you see a lot of events which are referred to in the other movies.

As a long time follower of Star Wars, one thing I noticed is how this movie seems to reference Han's adventures both in the early Marvel comics and the Brian Daley books. It underlines that the Empire isn't the only threat in the galaxy and we see more of the scoundrel and less of the rebel. That's what make this stand out for me. It harks back to the original repetition of Han as we first saw him.

Han isn't an anodyne hero. In fact, he's trying hard not to be a hero. There is a sequence towards the end where we see the harder side of him which we only glimpse in A New Hope - think Greedo.

It is obvious that the movie has been left in such a way that a follow up could be made. I hope we get at least one, but it could just as easy be left as it is.

Overall a more accessible entry into the canon that say The Last Jedi - although I enjoyed that too, but for different reasons. Also there are shedloads of Easter eggs to keep fans happy. And a big surprise just tops that off.

If you are wondering if this is worth getting, do yourself a favour and get it. You may even enjoy it.

I am a Star Wars fan. Not a super fan, just a fan as I feel like there has been more bad or so-so films than amazing films. This film felt like a chore to get through. Its never a good sign when you keep checking how long is left. Got some great potential, few interesting new characters to add to the expanded universe, but just doesn't quite deliver a memorable film.Film would be a one star if it wasn't for the underused Donald Glover, the always scene stealing Woody Harrelson and the well choreographed train heist. Part of the charm of Han Solo is his mysterious past that was always mentioned in a throw away line. I didn't need to see it. Did nothing to expand the character in my eyes, just annoyed me with the source of his name.

So, Lawrence Kasdan who wrote The Empire Strikes Back - arguably the best of the Star Wars films - let his son write a Star Wars movie. This is the result. Now, I don't know the inside story - but I'm guessing when it all started to go wrong, Lawrence must have phoned up one of his Hollywood buddies. "Ron, my son, he's ruining Star Wars. Help!" And they got Ron Howard involved. I mean, Ron Howard!!! He made Willow! He can fix this! .... Except... he couldn't. I just made that story up - but it's a better story than the film I just watched.So, it's really not a good story. In spite of all the action sequences, there's no real tension because you know who is going to live and die at the end of it. The guy they've got playing Han just... isn't Han. We didn't even need this story - all it did was make Han Solo a smaller character. In episodes 4-6 when he talks about the Kessel Run, we now know it's the equivalent of some guy who peaked in high school bragging about that one time he scored a touchdown. Rather than leave the Kessel Run to our imaginations, we've seen it. Same with winning the Millennium Falcon. Well then. That's it. I guess Han did nothing else between that and Episode 4.

Not going to lie I was hoping for Anthony Ingruber, but Alden does well to recall a young Solo, even if he lacks some of Harrison’s comic timing. Donald Glover makes an amazing Lando. We get insights about why Lando pronounces Han’s name as he does, and why the Falcon is so temperamental. It’s a great Buddy movie with some great Easter Eggs for the observant and some fantastic musical callbacks that made me giddy with joy when I watched it in the cinema, like Rogue One did. It’s not a perfect script by any means but it’s more coherent and logical than the last two sequel movies and the cameo at the end begs for further exploration, even if on the small screen.

I'm not going to comment on the story-line but just the quality of the disk itself: for me this was disappointing and I can honestly state that personally, I can not see much difference between the DVD version and this. As a comparison, I played the DVD version on my 4k player (which up-scales) and compared it to this UHD disk and as I've already stated, personally I can not see much of an improvement; certainly not that much of an improvement to justify the price differential between the two versions. If you are expecting UHD Planet Earth II quality you are not going to get it. But then I suppose that's the way things are - quality varies.

I admit it, I had very low expectations for this film. It seemed like an unnecessary addition to the Star Wars canon, filling in a backstory that didn't need to exist outside the minds of fans. But actually, I loved it. I was originally going to give it four stars, but I've decided what the heck, it should get five stars just for pulling off in a sharp and entertaining way what could easily have been a disaster. Also, because it'll annoy all those who seem to think Disney have wrecked Star Wars, rather than revitalised a franchise that was not looking too good after the prequels.

Solo is a heist movie, pure and simple and the perfect backdrop for the character. Thieves, gangsters, smugglers, and a Solo that is fresh-faced and at the start of his career, not the grizzled rogue we meet in the original films. This is a cocky, perhaps naive, pilot looking for his escape route and a big break. Sure it's going to upset some of the fans, but deep down we all know that Han didn't magically appear the way we've always known him - and when we leave the story, we get a better appreciation for how he ended up years later.

This could even be a great standalone film for non Star Wars fans looking for an entertaining heist movie with a science fiction twist. Who knows, it might even gain some new fans for the franchise.

A film that I think really deserved better in basically all aspects: financially, production-wise and it’s release date. Solo: A Star Wars Story tells an early adventure of how Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) gets caught up in a heist alongside a band of criminals, meets his future co-pilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) before becoming the Galaxy’s most notorious smuggler.

The messy and overlong production of Solo is well documented. Originally supposed to be more of a buddy comedy between Han & Chewie, written and directed by Lord & Miller (21 & 22 Jump Street, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse) before a creative disagreement with Disney/Lucasfilm led to them leaving the project and well established director Ron Howard taking the reigns of the project and having to reshoot reportedly 70% of it, making the production cost balloon to anything between $275-300 million.

It’s very clear that Solo is patched together at times and there are clear differences between the original and reshot sequences. However this doesn’t stop the film to be mostly thoroughly entertaining throughout its 2 hour 15 minute runtime. There are some brilliant action and chase scenes here. The train heist sequence is nail bitingly tense at times, really well shot and features some excellent choreography and camera movements. The slave revolt shootout outside is a blast (literally and figuratively), however the interior section of the fight is a bit choppy with some messy choreography and lighting. The opening chase scene in Corellia throws you full on into the action immediately and sure it’s just a tonne of CGI featuring a giant generic looking tentacled monster but the Kessel run is damn fun.

Alden Ehrenreich had a near-impossible job of following up Harrison Ford’s iconic portrayal of Han Solo, however he does a really good job here. The cocky attitude, the mannerisms and likeable persona doesn’t make it difficult for you to believe him as Han Solo and just ‘not Harrison Ford’. His first encounter with Chewbacca is a definite highlight and they have an immediately believable friendship just like the original two. Emilia Clarke plays Han’s love interest, she fares much better in this legendary franchise than her previous one (Terminator), she’s good in the action scenes and they have good chemistry. Donald Glover captures the swagger and cool of Lando Calrissian perfectly, Woody Harrelson is as good as expected and Jon Favreau as Rio really needed more screentime because he’s great. There are a couple of weaker characters, Paul Bettany’s antagonist Dryden Vos is very forgettable and uninteresting and Lando’s co-pilot droid L3 does get a bit grating at times.

I really appreciate the use of practical effects and sets, there are some really creative and interesting creature designs especially at the Crimson Dawn headquarters, Lady Proxima and when we first meet Lando. I wanted to spend more time in these places and explore the seedier and stranger aspects of the Star Wars universe. The CGI looks impressive as expected at times, especially in some of the flying sections and the action set pieces. However it is rough and basic at time as well. The colour grading and lighting is a definite issue for the film, a lot of the film wears a grey filter and some of the scenes are very hard to navigate due to the low and dark lighting. The score is solid but only really is noticeable and standout when old themes cut through.

Solo: A Star Wars Story honestly deserves more attention in my opinion. It’s not perfect, it slightly overstays it’s welcome and is a bit patchy with some of its production value. However the cast is extremely likeable and clearly having a tonne of fun and the action is fast paced and entertaining. A solid instalment in the franchise and it’s a shame that a bunch of ‘fans’ had to really go out there way to boycott the film and with the studios poor release scheduling. Definitely worth a watch and better than the prequel trilogy.

3D Blu-ray, Solo.

As yet another prequel to the original (ie the three episodes made first) Star Wars, I think this is one of the best, with well drawn characters and more convincing action. The Az blurb is reasonably accurate about what to expect from the film, and the Hollywood clichés are kept to a minimum, while the nods to other Star Wars films are well weighted.

The extras disk has interesting stuff on it, well worth a look even though not in 3D.

The surround sound works very well on my

Love Star Wars but could only manage to watch 5 mins of this