All 11 Star Wars movies ranked from worst to best
By Josh Baggins
11. Solo: A Star Wars Story
Coming in last is a movie that, at its core, is not poorly made, which only illustrates the caliber of the Star Wars franchise as a whole. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller left due to creative differences midway through shooting the film and Ron Howard picked up directing duties. This scenario is inherently susceptible to a messy production, however Howard, a true professional of the industry, made sure to complete the project efficiently.
Alden Ehrenreich stars a younger Han Solo, garnering a rather indifferent response from audiences who had a hard time seeing anyone other than Harrison Ford play the iconic role. Emilia Clarke as the love interest, Woody Harrelson as the untrustworthy associate, and Paul Bettany as the villain were all fine, but fail to make significant impressions that supporting players in Star Wars usually do with better screenplays.
The standouts, by far, are Donald Glover as the delectably charismatic Lando, relentlessly pushing Han’s buttons, as well as Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the voice of L3-37. In her short screentime, L3 is one of the funniest droids in Star Wars, marking the Kessel sequence, where she leads a droid rebellion, as a particularly enjoyable part of a movie that is better than average for the science fiction action genre, but falls short of expected Star Wars caliber.
In the end, Solo could be seen as a disappointment since Stars Wars has set the bar high. Observing Han and Chewie form their partnership is appreciated, although not necessarily demanded by fans. The infamous Kessel Run is fun to watch, but hearing an older Han brag about it is even more pleasurable. And the Darth Maul cameo is only cool because Maul is an imposing villain, not because it added anything to the character or the narrative. A different Sith cameo in one of the top-ranked movies was much better executed.