Solo: A Star Wars Story reviews suggest all may not be well with the force

Official reviews have landed for the latest Star Wars film, and if you're a fan of the series, it might be time to worry.

Solo: A Star Wars Story doesn't hit theatres until next Thursday, and the film's had a rough ride, with Ron Howard stepping in to direct at the last minute after the axing of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and plenty of criticism aimed at its trailers and the film's star, Alden Ehrenreich.

The film is meant to be a Star Wars prequel and origins story for space smuggler Han Solo, who has always been played by Harrison Ford.

Ehrenreich, who plays the young Solo, isn't the problem with the film, say critics in the film's first reviews released after the embargo broke this morning.

In fact, Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers says Ehrenreich "has the acting chops" to pull off his Solo impersonation.

Alden Ehrenreich appears in a scene from Solo: A Star Wars Story. His performance has been praised by critics. Photo/AP

But Travers has plenty of criticism for the rest of the film.

In a two-and-a-half star review, he calls it "thinly-sketched," says it's "hobbled early by a herky-jerky start," and says the creative team "defaults to dull and dutiful when they might have blasted off into creative anarchy".

The Hollywood Reporter was more positive, praising the cast but criticising the film's pacing and story.

"An energetic crew helps counter persistent engine trouble," wrote critic Michael Rechtshaffen. "There's enough here to satisfy the fan base and give Disney a very strong turnout," he wrote.

But he admitted the film wouldn't find a place among the best Star Wars films.

IGN wrote that it "never quite justifies its reason to exist". But critic Jim Vejvoda said it "offers enough pulpy fun and galaxy far, far away entertainment value to diminish any bad feeling one may have had about it heading into release".

It's a theme continued by Variety. "The film is not the disaster its production history might suggest. In fact, it's not even close," wrote Andrew Barker.

"Though burdened with a slow start and enough thirsty fan-service to power Comic-Con's Hall H for a decade, it has a kicky, kinetic heist movie at its heart, and its action sequences are machine-tooled spectacles of the first order."

Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian in a scene from Solo: A Star Wars Story. Photo/AP

The most positive review came from The Guardian, with critic Peter Bradshaw giving it four stars.

He called it "a crackingly enjoyable adventure which frankly deserves full episode status in the great franchise, not just one of these intermittent place-holding iterations".

Solo: A Star Wars Story hits New Zealand cinemas next Thursday.