It sticks the landing much better than the first two acts; it made me wonder if that was where Ron Howard took over, haha. But the first half to two-thirds just weren't terribly interesting. Although why is it so
dark?! Not plotwise, I mean visually. I got so tired of having to peer at the screen, and anytime a spark or anything bright flashed it hurt. I get that they were in squalor and war and seedy bars and stuff (which, by the way, why are there nothing but shit planets in this galaxy? lol. It's Coruscant and then nothing but desert planets, waterworlds, slave mines, etc.), but by the time they're on the Millennium Falcon and it's STILL nothing but dark blues I was thinking "Come onnnn!"
A lot of the humor didn't really land, it wasn't cringe-y or anything, just kinda meh. The multi-armed pilot guy was really trying for the Rocket shtick and it just wasn't working. But I was surprised they wrote off those two characters in the first heist. And the trailer completely ruined the "109 years old?!" part. There were a couple good lines, I liked the remark about the one uniform that would have fit him, and "rounding down" the 12 parsecs boast.
It's funny, with so many fans hating how much TLJ shit on fanservice, they apparently just crammed it all into this movie. I don't mind fanservice or anything, but they do hit everything you expect in a Han Solo movie, and you can see each one from a mile away. There was one bit I didn't expect (well two if you count Maul, I guess), the shooting first bit. That was a fun wink at the audience, but then of course they had the guy say "I would've killed you" ...
But like I said, the third act definitely improves. The lines get better, there's some freakin light, and you're less sure about exactly what's going to happen.
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