So it's disappointing that the movie completely drops the ball. L3 starts out as a loud and bold revolutionary, but some of her calls for equal rights are treated like comedy bits. In no time, she's killed and forced into a horrifying fate -- she's integrated directly into the Millennium Falcon, where she becomes yet another piece of hardware, silent and obedient to our heroes. It's like something out of Black Mirror. Now when I see the Falcon in any Star Wars tale, I can't help but see it as an eternal prison for a conscious being. Ron Howard, along with screenwriters Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan, made a huge mistake.

It's a shame. Outside of L3 and Donald Glover's wonderful take on Lando Calrissian, Solo is a dull romp through nostalgia. It answers questions we've never really cared to ask, like how Han Solo really got his name, without contributing much to the broader Star Wars universe. And in many cases, like the thoughtless way it handles L3's fate, it also changes how we view everything in the franchise, for the worse. (It turns out Han, the rebel we know and love, was given the surname "Solo" by an Imperial paper pusher. Because he was alone. Sigh.)

During L3's brief screen time, Solo sparkles with the possibility of fresh new ideas. She has no problem calling out humans for their cruel treatment of droids. At one point, she shouts down the owner of a brutal robot fighting ring, which feels reminiscent of the terrifying "Flesh Fair" in Spielberg's A.I. Later, she incites a riot among Imperial droids by convincing all of them -- even lowly sweeping bots -- that they have a purpose beyond their programming. We also get a surprisingly tender moment with L3, where she hints that she's in love with Lando (and has seemingly thought quite a bit about how sex would work).