Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in an epic action-adventure that sets the course for one of the Star Wars saga's most unlikely heroes. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, a young Han Solo befriends his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and meets the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, forging the legends that will define their lives forever.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
May 25, 2018 |
Running time |
135 minutes |
Genre |
Sci-Fi
Adventure Action |
Budget |
$275,000,000 |
Box Office |
$392,924,807 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Ron Howard |
Produced by |
Kathleen Kennedy Allison Shearmur Simon Emanuel |
Written by |
Jonathan Kasdan Lawrence Kasdan |
Music by |
John Powell |
Cinematography |
Bradford Young |
Edited by |
Pietro Scalia |
Production Co. |
Lucasfilm Ltd. |
Distributed by |
Walt Disney Studios |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #11 in Star Wars Collection
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The Plot
The Scrumrat and the White Worms
Six years after the rise of the Galactic Empire, the shipbuilding world of Corellia has become a grim industrial landscape. Among the impoverished population living in the shadows of capital ship construction, a young "scrumrat" named Han and his lover Qi'ra dream of a better life. They serve the Grindalid crime boss Lady Proxima as part of the White Worms syndicate, but they secretly long to escape the planet and explore the galaxy. Following a delivery job that goes awry, Han flees through the dirty streets of Coronet City on a stolen M-68 landspeeder, pursued by rival criminals. In a moment of bravado, he drives through a bridge and hangs his lucky golden dice on the windscreen, a symbol of the luck he desperately relies on.
Upon returning to the Den of the White Worms, Han and the other scrumrats are herded into Lady Proxima’s subterranean, watery chamber. While children fight over petty stolen goods, Han and Qi'ra steal a moment of intimacy in a tunnel. Han reveals he has stolen a vial of highly valuable hyperfuel coaxium, intending to use it to bribe their way offworld. However, their moment is cut short when Proxima’s enforcers—Moloch, Syke, and Rebolt—drag Han before their mistress. From her murky pool, Lady Proxima demands a report. Han lies, claiming he was robbed, but Proxima sees through him. When Rebolt beats him, a defiant Han snatches the weapon, declaring he will beat those who strike him. The situation escalates until Han produces a rock, bluffing that it is a thermal detonator. He hurls it through the ceiling, shattering a window and letting in a beam of sunlight that burns Proxima’s light-sensitive skin. Using the chaos, Han and Qi'ra flee the den in the M-68 speeder, racing toward the spaceport with dreams of becoming pilots.
The Separation and the Birth of "Solo"
The escape is fraught with danger as Moloch pursues them in a heavy A-A4B truckspeeder, accompanied by vicious Corellian hounds. The chase tears through industrial zones and Imperial checkpoints; when an RA-7 protocol droid objects to their intrusion, Moloch’s truck simply crushes it. Han proves his driving skills, maneuvering through tight corners in a factory to trap Moloch’s vehicle, forcing the enforcer to dispatch Rebolt and the hounds on foot. Abandoning the speeder, Han and Qi'ra sprint to the Coronet Spaceport, which is swarming with Imperial military presence. They witness the grim reality of Imperial rule as families are arrested and separated by stormtroopers.
Desperate to leave, they use the stolen coaxium to bribe Imperial Emigration Officer Falthina Sharest at the customs booth. Han successfully passes through the gate, but before Qi'ra can follow, the barrier slams shut. She has been caught by the White Worms enforcers. As she is dragged away, she screams for Han to go, and he vows to return for her. Alone and lacking identification or credits, Han sees only one way to become a pilot. He approaches an Imperial recruitment officer, Drawd Munbrin, to volunteer for the Navy. When asked for a surname, Han admits he has no people. The officer pauses, then logs him into the system as "Han Solo." With his new identity, Han boards a transport to the Imperial Flight Academy on Carida, believing he is one step closer to saving Qi'ra.
The Mudtroopers of Mimban
Three years later, Han’s dreams of flying for the Empire have crashed. Expelled from the flight academy for insubordination, he now serves as a grunt—a Corporal in the 224th Imperial Armored Division—fighting in the muddy trenches of Mimban. Under the command of Major Staz, Han takes part in a disastrous ground assault against the Mimbanese Liberation Army. Chaos reigns as Staz is killed, leaving a ragtag group of survivors, including Han, under the impromptu command of "Captain" Tobias Beckett. Beckett, a cynical and seasoned figure, rallies the troops to clear a ridge, displaying a competence that catches Han's eye.
After the skirmish, Han approaches Beckett, sensing there is more to him than meets the eye. He spots Beckett’s companions, Val and the four-armed Ardennian pilot Rio Durant, disguised in Imperial armor. Realizing they are thieves planning a heist, Han tries to leverage his way into their crew. He confronts them, noting Rio's species and their non-regulation behavior. Desperate to desert the Empire and return to Qi'ra, Han threatens to expose them if they don't take him along. Beckett, however, outmaneuvers him. He reports Han to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Bolandin, for desertion. Bolandin, eager to be rid of a troublemaker, orders Han to be thrown into a pit to be fed to "the beast."
The Beast in the Pit
Han is cast into a muddy, subterranean pen where a towering Wookiee, starved and enslaved by the Empire, waits. The Wookiee, Chewbacca, immediately attacks, hurling Han against the walls while guards watch for entertainment. In a desperate bid for survival, Han speaks to the Wookiee in Shyriiwook, his own language. He convinces Chewbacca that they can escape if they work together. Staging a brawl to distract the guards, Han guides Chewbacca to damage the structural support of the cage. As the guards laugh, the Wookiee slams into the weakened pillar, collapsing the walkway above and sending the troopers tumbling into the mud.
Chewbacca hauls Han out of the pit, and they discover they are chained together. Though Chewbacca initially wants to go his own way, Han convinces him to head toward the airfield where Beckett’s crew is stealing an AT-hauler. As Beckett, Val, and Rio lift off, they spot Han and the Wookiee frantically waving below. Rio is impressed by Han's persistence and the muscle Chewbacca provides. Despite Val’s objections, Beckett agrees to swoop down and pick them up. Aboard the ship, Han finally showers off the Mimban mud, only to have Chewbacca join him, cementing the beginning of their partnership.
The Train Heist Plan
The crew travels to the snowy, mountainous world of Vandor. Han formally introduces himself to the Wookiee, shortening his name to "Chewie." Beckett reveals the job: they are to steal a shipment of refined coaxium from a Conveyex transport train for the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. The plan is high-risk. They must derail the shipment between a tower and a bridge while Rio pilots the hauler to airlift the cargo away. As they camp out the night before the heist, the group bonds over a fire. Val remains critical of the newcomers, but Rio is more welcoming. Han shares his motivation: to get a ship and find Qi'ra. Beckett, however, offers a grim piece of advice that will haunt Han: "Assume everyone will betray you, and you will never be disappointed."
Tragedy on the Conveyex
The heist begins with precision but quickly descends into chaos. While Rio pilots the hauler, Han, Chewie, and Beckett board the speeding train. They are immediately engaged by Imperial Range Troopers. As Han and Chewie work to separate the coaxium car, a marauding gang known as the Cloud-Riders, led by the masked Enfys Nest, arrives on swoop bikes to contest the prize. The skirmish turns deadly when two Cloud-Riders board the hauler, shooting Rio Durant. Han leaves Chewie to handle the coupling and leaps to the hauler to take the controls from the dying pilot. Rio’s last words are a heartbreaking apology for mocking Han’s flying, admitting Val was right that no one should die alone.
Below, Val is pinned down on a bridge by Viper probe droids. Realizing the mission is compromised and she cannot escape without causing the entire crew to fail, she makes the ultimate sacrifice. She detonates the bridge, killing herself to derail the train and give Beckett a chance. The Conveyex plunges into the gorge, but the Cloud-Riders attach harpoons to the coaxium car, engaging in a tug-of-war with the hauler. With the hauler’s engines failing and the added weight threatening to kill them all, Han makes the agonizing choice to release the cable. The coaxium falls into the explosion below, and the Cloud-Riders retreat. Han pilots the damaged hauler to safety, but the job is a total failure.
The Crimson Dawn
A furious and grieving Beckett nearly kills Han for dropping the cargo, but Han argues that they had no choice. Beckett reveals the dire stakes: they are indebted to Dryden Vos, a ruthless leader within Crimson Dawn, who will hunt them down for the failure. Han suggests they meet Vos to offer a solution. They travel to Vos’s yacht, the First Light, where Han is stunned to find Qi'ra. She is no longer the scrumrat he knew, but Vos’s top lieutenant, sophisticated and deadly. She bears the brand of Crimson Dawn. Vos, initially charming, turns terrifyingly cold upon hearing of the failure. He prepares to have them executed until Han proposes a desperate plan: steal unrefined coaxium from the mines of Kessel.
Vos is skeptical, citing the alliance between Crimson Dawn and the Pyke Syndicate who run Kessel, but acknowledges that unrefined coaxium is untraceable. He agrees to the heist but warns that the fuel is highly unstable; if it isn't refined quickly, it will explode. He sends Qi'ra to oversee the mission. To pull it off, they need a ship fast enough to make the "Kessel Run" before the fuel degrades.
The Sabacc Game
Qi'ra leads the group to a lodge to meet a smuggler she knows: Lando Calrissian. They find the charismatic gambler playing Sabacc. Han, confident in his own skills, challenges Lando to a high-stakes game, wagering everything he has against Lando’s ship, the Millennium Falcon. Han plays well, but Lando cheats, using a card hidden up his sleeve to win the final hand. Though Han loses, Lando is intrigued by the potential profit of the Kessel job. He agrees to join them as the pilot in exchange for a cut of the profits, bringing along his droid co-pilot, L3-37, a passionate advocate for droid rights. The team gathers aboard the pristine, white-paneled Falcon and sets off.
Into the Maelstrom
En route to Kessel, the crew navigates the Akkadese Maelstrom, a dangerous nebula filled with carbonbergs and gravity wells. Inside the ship, tensions and emotions run high. Han tries to reconnect with Qi'ra, and they share a passionate kiss in her quarters. However, she pulls away, burdened by her past and her debt to Crimson Dawn, telling him he doesn't truly know who she has become. Beckett interrupts, reiterating his warning to Han not to trust anyone—especially Qi'ra. Meanwhile, L3-37 confides in Qi'ra about her unique relationship with Lando, claiming he is in love with her.
The Mines of Kessel
Upon landing at the spice mines of Kessel, the team initiates their plan. Qi'ra poses as a slaver trading "merchandise" (Han and Chewbacca) to the Pyke Syndicate administrators, while Beckett poses as her security detail. L3-37 accompanies them as a servant. Inside the control room, the trap is sprung. Qi'ra showcases her lethal training in Teräs Käsi, dispatching the Pyke leader Quay Tolsite, while Beckett secures the room. Meanwhile, Han and Chewbacca, being led into the depths of the mines, break free from their guards.
Revolution and Escape
Chaos erupts when L3-37 accesses the mine's mainframe. Instead of just disabling security, she overrides the restraining bolts on all the droids and slaves, inciting a massive uprising. As the facility descends into anarchy, Han and Chewbacca rush to the vault. Chewbacca spots a fellow Wookiee, Sagwa, being beaten and breaks protocol to save him. Together, they load the heavy canisters of unrefined coaxium. The escape is a firefight. The team battles their way back to the Falcon amidst the riot. Tragically, L3-37 is caught in the crossfire and destroyed. A devastated Lando retrieves her upper torso, and Han helps him carry her aboard. With the coaxium loaded, they blast off, but the ship is damaged, and Lando is incapacitated by grief and injury.
The Kessel Run in Twelve Parsecs
An Imperial Star Destroyer blockade awaits them at the exit of the Maelstrom. With the coaxium temperature rising critically, they cannot wait. Han takes the pilot's seat, with Qi'ra as his co-pilot and Chewbacca on systems. Lando reveals that L3’s navigational database is the best in the galaxy. In a desperate move, they upload L3’s neural core into the Falcon’s nav-computer, merging her consciousness with the ship. Han decides to take a shortcut through the dangerous Maelstrom to evade the blockade.
The flight is treacherous. They are pursued by TIE fighters and encounter a colossal space monster, a summa-verminoth, within the Maw Cluster. Han flies aggressively, performing maneuvers that strain the ship to its limits. To escape the gravity well of the Maw, Beckett is ordered to inject a drop of the volatile coaxium directly into the fusion reactor. The boost propels the Falcon forward, allowing them to break free just as the Maw collapses on the pursuing creature. They clear the run in record time—approximately twelve parsecs, if you round down—and jump to hyperspace.
The Cloud-Riders Revealed
The battered Falcon lands on Savareen to refine the coaxium before it explodes. As they wait, Han and Qi'ra share a quiet moment where he suggests they could start over, but she remains elusive. Their respite is interrupted by the arrival of Enfys Nest and her Cloud-Riders. Han prepares for a fight, but Lando, seeing the odds, abandons them, taking the Falcon and fleeing. However, the confrontation takes a shocking turn when Enfys removes her mask to reveal she is a young woman, not a marauder. She explains that the Cloud-Riders are freedom fighters resisting the brutality of the Crimson Dawn and the Empire. They don't want the fuel for profit; they need it to fund a rebellion. Moved by their cause, Han decides to help them, hatching a plan to trick Dryden Vos.
The Double-Cross
Han, Qi'ra, and Chewbacca return to the First Light to deliver the coaxium to Vos. Han presents the containers, but Vos laughs, revealing he knows about the plan to give the fuel to the Cloud-Riders. He exposes his informant: Tobias Beckett. Beckett has betrayed Han, choosing self-preservation over loyalty. Vos declares that the containers Han brought are fake and that his men are currently ambushing the Cloud-Riders. He orders his guards to kill Han and Chewbacca.
Duel on the First Light
Han reveals his own counter-play: he anticipated Beckett’s betrayal. The containers on the yacht are the real coaxium, but the "Cloud-Riders" being ambushed by Vos's men are actually empty-handed decoys. The real Enfys Nest and her warriors ambush the unsuspecting Crimson Dawn enforcers, capturing their weapons and turning the tide. Realizing the situation has flipped, Beckett grabs the coaxium cases and takes Chewbacca hostage, fleeing the ship.
Left alone with Vos and Qi'ra, Han engages in a brutal fight with the crime lord. Vos, wielding custom Kyuzo petars, proves to be a superior combatant. He pins Han down, ready to deliver the killing blow. Qi'ra intervenes, drawing a sword and seemingly siding with Vos, only to turn on him in a flash of movement. She kills Vos, saving Han. She urges Han to go save Chewbacca and get the coaxium back, promising to follow him shortly. Han rushes off, leaving Qi'ra behind.
The Shadow of Maul
Alone, Qi'ra does not follow Han. She takes Vos’s signet ring and contacts the true leader of Crimson Dawn: the former Sith Lord, Maul. She informs him of Vos’s failure and death, positioning herself as the new head of the operation while omitting Han’s involvement. Maul commands her to bring the ship to Dathomir. As the First Light ascends, Han watches from the ground, realizing she has chosen a different path.
On the cliffs, Han confronts Beckett. The older man tries to talk his way out, distracting Han while he subtly reaches for his blaster. He tells Han he’s making a mistake. Han, having finally learned the lesson Beckett taught him, shoots first. He strikes Beckett in the chest mid-sentence. Dying, Beckett compliments Han on his smarts, admitting he would have killed him. Han stays with him until he passes. Han and Chewbacca then deliver the coaxium to Enfys Nest. She offers him a place in the budding rebellion, but Han declines. In gratitude, she gives him a single vial of coaxium—enough to buy his own ship.
Rematch with Lando Calrissian
Han and Chewbacca track Lando down to a jungle outpost on Numidian Prime. Lando is back to his old tricks, gambling and boasting. He feigns happiness to see them, but Han is all business. He challenges Lando to a rematch of Sabacc for the Millennium Falcon. This time, as Lando reaches for the card hidden in his sleeve, he finds it missing—Han had swiped it earlier. Han reveals his winning hand, claiming the ship fair and square. Together, Han and Chewbacca board the Falcon. As they sit in the cockpit, Han hangs his golden dice and sets a course for Tatooine, where a "big-shot gangster" is reportedly putting together a crew, ready to begin his legendary career as a smuggler.
