Two years after the release of the score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, iconic composer John Williams returned for the second installment of the blockbuster sequel trilogy. As the middle segment of a three-part story, Star Wars: The Last Jedi serves mostly to propel the action toward the grand finale of Episode IX, building upon the new themes introduced in Episode VII and playing heavily on nostalgia from the original films. Callbacks to those classic moments -- like "The Force Theme" and "Princess Leia's Theme" -- help spiritually center a movie determined to, as the tagline declared, "let the past die." Newer themes -- mainly those belonging to the central Light-and-Dark-Side pair of Rey and Kylo Ren -- confirm that Williams successfully crafted two of the more memorable Star Wars motifs for this trilogy, as their frequent appearances throughout The Last Jedi continually excite and invigorate. The Last Jedi introduces the theme for maintenance tech Rose Tico on "Fun with Finn and Rose" and elaborates on the Rey and Luke music from The Force Awakens' finale on "Ahch-To Island." The most interesting inclusion is "Canto Bight," the jaunty soundtrack to the casino scenes from Rose, Finn, and BB-8's side adventure to the politically problematic locale of the same name. Like the "Cantina Theme" and Jabba's palace jam "Lapti Nek," "Canto Bight" is an outlier that pulls listeners outside of the lush score and plants them firmly in the weirdness of the Star Wars universe, for better or worse. Lively and exciting, The Last Jedi is a pleasure to experience, even without such clear standouts as "Rey's Theme," "Snoke," or Kylo Ren's millennial Sith menace from The Force Awakens soundtrack. With heartwarming allusions to beloved classics and enough new ideas to establish the sequel trilogy as its own entity, The Last Jedi keeps excitement stoked for the next part of the saga. ~ Neil Z. Yeung

• Genre: Stage & Screen
• RSD Date: DDD
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 03/16/2018