"Solo, A Star Wars Story" Is Fun, Action-Filled Adventure That Doesn't Disappoint

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The force is strong with this one.

"Solo, A Star Wars Story" is the story of the iconic galactic scoundrel, Han Solo and how he became who he is.

Actress Thandie Newton plays Val, a tough, no-nonsense gangster who is the partner and love of Beckett, a charming career criminal played by Woody Harrelson.

Both have a strong part in shaping the man Han Solo eventually becomes,

"When that call came in and you were offered the role, what went through your mind," CBS4's Lisa Petrillo asked Thandie.

"My kids are going to love this," she said laughing. "I love the fact she is a modern powerful woman. She's the woman I want to see on screen in this day and age. She could've been a damsel in distress and I wouldn't have been so excited. I'm thrilled Star Wars was continuing with their legacy theme of powerful women."

Thandie knows a lot about playing powerful women. She has a host of strong roles under her belt.

She's currently on the small screen in the hugely popular sci-fi thriller "Westworld" as Maeve Millay, a "host" or android who is a madam in a brothel. For this film it was all about the stunts.

"They would show me what they want me to do and every single time I would say, obviously I'm not going to be able to do that. But, within a 1/2 hour I was doing it and because I could do it, they had me do it. Then when I saw it pieced together I was thrilled," she said.

There was a director shakeup happening behind the scenes and academy award-winning director Ron Howard was brought into re-vamp the movie.

"When the time came for change to happen, I felt a bit of trepidation. But Ron was such a gentleman and so good and is the loviest team player. He's a professional bar none. He carried the movie to the place that it is," she explained.

It's an all-star cast with a lesser known actor, Alden Ehrenreich, playing Solo who steps into the role with the perfect amount of swagger.

For Thandie, it's a project she's thrilled to be a part of.

"It was fantastic and in terms of the chemistry you see on screen. It was fun, and hard work but of the best kind because it was such a great team effort," she said.

"Solo, A Star Wars Story" is in theaters May 25.