The story starts off introducing us to Young Han and his lover Qi'ra. It turns out that they're poor smucks (slaves) trapped in the shipbuilding world of Corellia, where children are taught to steal in order to survive.
Han is in a lot of trouble. He owes people money and he doesn't have the credits. So he takes Qi'ra and they try to run off-world, away from their pursuers. Right at the last second the bad guys take Qi'ra and Han is shipped off world alone, presumably to become a pilot for the Empire.
Han signs up for the Empire but ends up as foot soldier blindly following evil orders by the Empire. However, he meets some mercenaries and ends up joining their ranks, becoming a deserter.
From there he goes on a heist to steal coaxiom, this explosive material that everybody wants because it makes things go boom! The leader of the mercs, Tobias Beckett owes the Crimson Dawn Syndicate, lead by Dryden Voss (who also played Vision in Avengers, arguably the most recognized actor in this movie) and he tells Han if he helps him get the coaxiom and pay off his debts, he will have enough cash for his own ship.
They enlist Lando Calrissian (played by Childish Gambino, of "This is America" and Community fame) and use his ship, the prized Millennium Falcon in order to pull off the heist.
In the end they get the coaxiom but a rebel group apprehends them. Han is perplexed but in the end decides to help them, give them the coaxiom and give Voss a fake replica of it. Voss gets upset when he finds out from Beckitt that he's been crossed, while at the same time Han is surprised that Beckitt crossed him as well. "Never trust anyone," Beckitt tells him for the second time in the film.
Meanwhile Voss has his baddies apprehend Enfys, the rebels but it turns out what they had was nonexistent. Their bags were empty. Not only that but when they were unmasked they all turned out to be old women, victims of the Crimson Dawn syndicate, peoples whom had their tongues cut out. It turned out that Crimson Dawn was responsible for despicable acts throughout the Galaxy, a revelation to Han. It was symbolic that these women were disguised as the rebels. There was a heartfelt connection to the characters in that moment. This was my favorite part of the film. They did that part right.
Enfys, the rebels who get ahold of the coaxiom, are planning to use it for revenge and a rebellion against the Empire. The rebel leader, a cute young girl with red hair asks if he wants in the rebellion but when Han says no she says,"You might change your mind later."
There's a showdown between Qi'ra, Han, and Voss. Qi'ra ends up killing Voss, and then lying to her boss (the true Overseer), saying he was killed by the rebels. It turns out the true Crime Boss here is Darth Maul, an old character from Star Wars the Phantom Menace, a film from 1999. In the Phantom Menace Darth Maul gets cut in half by a a jedi named Qui'gon Jin. Darth Maul sends a ship to kill Beckitt right as he's about to shoot Han and take the coaxiom, the real stuff. Han and Chewbacca give the stuff to Enfys. Darth Maul says to Qi'ra at the end of their conversation,"You and I will be working a lot closer from now on." Qi'ra looks around uncomfortable after the conference call. My secret hope is that Qi'ra becomes a Sith, and learns how to wield a light saber. I can dream right?
Ending the film, we see Han and Lando meet up again. Han challenges Lando to a gambling game again (how they first met) and Lando ends up betting the Millennium Falcon ship. He ends up losing because Han cheats. Han wins the ship and heads out for Tatooine with Chewbacca, where a gangster is putting together a team for a heist.
The film didn't gross nearly as high as any of the other Star Wars films but that's okay. I thought the movie was fun. The movie goes very slow with its development but its not a bad movie by any means. The acting could have been better and more emotive, but then again I don't expect Shakespeare from a Star Wars film.
I thought that they made Han a pretty boy that likes to tell jokes. Thats okay. Han doesn't have to be the cool tough guy he is when he's played by Harrison Ford. This is an all new take on Han Solo and it looks to keep people interested for the summer break.
