Star Wars Purist

The Last Jedi tried, and more often than not, failed at packing an emotional punch.  Most of the time the scene fell flat (see Princess Leia imitating Michael Rooker imitating Mary Poppins) or it was mired in preachy head-scratching nonsense (see the entire Canto Bight sequence).  There were however a few moments when Rian Johnson and Co. pulled off some memorable moments even an old school fan could appreciate.

The Millenium Falcon at the Battle of Crait

This was just simply fun to watch.  Chewie piloting the ship, Rey enjoying every minute of picking off Tie Fighters, Kylo Ren screaming to “blast that piece of junk out of the sky”, and of course John Williams reprising the Tie Fighter Attack theme from the original Star Wars when Luke, Han, and Leia escaped the Death Star.  This is Star Wars at it’s best.  No pretentious bullshit.  Just shameless fun in the Falcon blowing stuff up.

Yoda and Luke

An iconic friendship of master and apprentice that never had the closure in the originals it deserved.  In Return of the Jedi Lucas had to tie up loose ends and move the story forward.  Yoda had about three minutes of screen time, left Luke hanging, and any sadness the audience might have felt for the passing of the greatest Jedi Master in the galaxy was completely overshadowed by Obi-Wan and his “certain point of view” cop out speech.  In The Last Jedi Yoda is his old trickster self, the one we remember on Dagobah, lecturing and teasing his old friend and “young” apprentice.  Sure the lecture might have been a little thin and contrived but it was a welcome one compared to Luke’s convoluted “three” lessons he gave Rey.  Yoda’s theme played throughout the sequence and is probably one of the best pieces of Star Wars music John Williams ever wrote.  This was also a much different Yoda from the zero sense of humor whatsoever CGI Yoda from the prequels.

Luke’s Twin Suns Death

Most old school fans did not like what Rian Johnson did with Luke’s character.  It was baffling.  But you couldn’t have had a more fitting death for the most famous and powerful Jedi in the galaxy.  The twin suns hearkened back to a more innocent time.  A time when Luke was that wide-eyed kid on an idealistic crusade to save the galaxy.  And even though we didn’t like how he got there in The Last Jedi, at his death Luke was that kid again.  The kid who blew up the Death Star, stared down the Emperor, and turned a Sith Lord back to the light side.  It was just a shame he had to go out as a glorified hologram saving a handful of rebels and trolling his nephew.  Rian Johnson showed no respect for Luke Skywalker and what he meant to the entire Star Wars legacy.

The entire John Williams soundtrack

Not really a sequence or moment in the film, the entire score of The Last Jedi is Empire Strikes Back caliber.  He hits all the recognizable themes (something he did not do in the prequels and they suffered for that) at the right times and in the right context.  If you don’t have The Last Jedi soundtrack, get it.  It is a literal greatest hits of the original trilogy and sequel trilogy (so far).

Honorable Mention – Luke and R2 on the Falcon.

It was great to see R2 trolling Luke with the hologram of Leia like they were back on Tatooine.  Cheesy? Maybe.  Gratuitous? Yes.

What do all these moments have in common?  They brought the audience back to someplace they hadn’t been in decades.  Each of the above involved iconic characters (or ships) the audience grew up with and cared about.  This is what the fans wanted to see.  Not Canto Bight.  This is what fans were waiting for.  Not Admiral Holdo.  I realize these characters are 40 years older and it would be ridiculous to have them swinging across battle station chasms or jumping around with a light-saber, but the argument that fan-boys wanted nothing original or ground-breaking is nonsense.  The Zahn trilogy was so popular in the early 90’s because fans were starving to learn more about Luke, Han, and Leia.  It didn’t matter what they were doing as long as the story stayed true to the spirit of these characters.  Zahn, for the most part, did that.  We got our original characters in new situations getting it done the same way they always did.  Just like old times.  The Last Jedi basically implanted impostors into the story and who they were or what their motivations were was anyone’s guess.