Story
In Solo: A Star Wars Story, a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) is a petty thief working for a crime syndicate run by Lady Proxima (Linda Hunt) and her henchmen. Lady Proxima provides shelter for young people struggling to survive the hostile streets of Corellia. Han and Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), the girl he loves, have a plan to escape the wretched and dangerous planet they live on and build a life together where Han can realise his dream of becoming a pilot. But their escape doesn’t go to plan and while Han makes it out, Qi’ra doesn’t.
Han enlists in the Empire to become a pilot and vows that he’ll return for Qi’ra. He soon finds himself in the middle of a war where he meets Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his motley crew. With the help of Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), his new Wookie friend, Solo finds himself in the middle of a secret operation to derail a train and hijack its precious cargo. When the hijacking fails, Beckett must face a dangerous opponent. Han goes with him and finally finds Qi’ra again.
Solo and Beckett hatch a daring plan to replace what they lost in the hijacking and enlist the help of Lando Calrisian (Donald Glover) and his robotic copilot L3 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). Lando owns the fastest ship in the galaxy, but they soon discover that speed is not all they need. They must learn to trust the unknown, perhaps even more than they trust each other, even if it eventually leads to rebellion.
Themes
Crime, enslavement, rebellion and war.
Violence
Solo: A Star Wars Story has some violence. For example:
Sexual references
Solo: A Star Wars Story has some sexual references. For example, Qi’ra and L3 discuss Lando’s feelings for L3. L3, who is a robot, alludes to a physical relationship between herself and Lando. Qi’ra asks, ‘How would that work?’
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Solo: A Star Wars Story shows some use of substances. For example:
- A captain drinks from a flask during a raging battle.
- A few scenes take place in a pub where characters drink and gamble.
- There’s an exclusive party during which characters drink. Chewbacca drinks numerous glasses of what looks like an alcoholic beverage.
Nudity and sexual activity
Solo: A Star Wars Story has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Han and Qi’ra kiss passionately several times.
- Qi’ra wears a revealing dress with a plunging neckline to a party.
Product placement
There’s no product placement in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Coarse language
Solo: A Star Wars Story has some coarse language.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Solo: A Star Wars Story is a science fiction prequel about the earlier years of Han Solo’s life. It has a diverse cast featuring people of many nationalities. The characters themselves also come from many backgrounds, and there are many strong female characters.
This movie will appeal to fans of the Star Wars series and is best suited to older teenage and adult audiences.
These are the main messages from this movie:
- Be strong and loyal.
- Follow your dreams.
- If you’re oppressed, unite with other oppressed people to escape enslavement, in this case by the Empire.
The movie also sometimes sends a message about never trusting anyone.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include:
- working as a team and communicating well
- doing what’s right even when this is difficult or there are unpleasant consequences
- being a good friend and showing loyalty.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like the following:
- Slavery: entire cultures are, or have been, oppressed as a result of greed or the mistaken belief that some are better than others.
- Cheating: eventually people who cheat are exposed. Sometimes the loss they suffer is much greater than anything they gained by cheating in the first place.
- War: so much destruction and devastation happens when two opposing sides refuse to act honourably.