“Solo,” July 13, 2018, theater. This “Star Wars” series, Ron Howard directed, Lawrence and Jonathan Kasden written, prequel gives us Han’s backstory following him from street thief to pilot and good guy criminal. Raised in privation, he (Landen Ehrenreich) flees and joins the imperial military before hooking up with criminal freebooters (led by Woody Harrelson) working for an intergalactic syndicate. He hopes to return to his young love, Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke). Along the way, he meets, befriends, and joins forces with Chewbacca (Joonas Sootama), connects with Lando Calrissian (the wonderful Donald Glover) and his radical droid-liberationist copilot L-3 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge). They struggle against other gangs and syndicates, and especially have to deal with the vicious criminal Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany giving the best performance in the film). There’s lots of shooting, flying, and struggling for freedom against the criminals and the empire. Sadly, the writing leaves much to be desired, as does the acting by Ehrenreich and Clarke. The two lack any chemistry. Lando and L-3 make a much better couple; Glover and Waller-Bridge sizzle together and she’s a hoot separately. In all, too much shoot-em-up and too little good acting. Even Harrelson is mostly wasted and just seems bored in this one. Not terrible, but definitely less than I’d hoped