Yet while evoking Empire—arguably the best Star Wars movie—the tone of Mandalorian and Grogu is more lighthearted and anachronistic. The sequence, in fact, begins between a meeting of Imperial leftovers who scheme ineptly about restoring the Empire to its once and future glory. In this context, the Mandalorian is not quite the gunslinger or the Western bounty hunter. He is, rather, the ultimate action movie fantasy; the unstoppable hero who enters the narrative like a myth; an urban legend; a boogeyman for bad hombres.

In a sequence that I’m convinced draws on the opening of Léon: The Professional (1994) and likely Desperado (1995)—the latter of which is also directed by Star Wars/Mando veteran Robert Rodriguez—the Mandalorian appears like an unstoppable wraith to completely decimate the last dregs of the Empire.

It’s a table-setter sequence which reveals a blunter approach to that galaxy far, far away. As the Mandalorian’s Razor Crest drifts into a friendly Republic port, it’s bathed in a perfect sunset, more reminiscent of Top Gun and its many ‘90s imitators, not least of which includes every Michael Bay movie. Meanwhile the legacy of Blade Runner is felt when Mando and Grogu are sent into the film’s real inciting incident by Sigourney Weaver: they must discover what happened to the kidnapped Rotta the Hutt, the descendant of evil Jabba—but who at least physically does not take after the gangster.

Resembling less shiny, clean Coruscant in the Prequel Trilogy and more the soiled rancor of Los Angeles in Blade Runner—and therefore many of its own ‘90s descendants like Dark City and The Crow—the city Mando lands in wallows in nu-noir chic squalor. It also features an easter egg only the parents (or grandparents) will appreciate: Martin Scorsese as the voice of an alien who absolutely, positively does not want to be a rat. The reluctant snitch is of course par for any movie playing with crime cinema seasonings, but to have the Martin Scorsese, maestro of some of the greatest crime films of all time, including Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), and The Departed (2006), voice a CG alien who doesn’t want to go the way of Billy Costigan, or for that matter Henry Hill, is a nice touch.

It also presages the longest look anyone has had yet of Rotta the Hutt in the ring. As we learn, he’s less coerced Gladiator than golden god rock star in his element. We see the surprisingly buff slug slime his way through one opponent after another. And the best thing you can say about the footage? By the time it’s over, I forgot that we weren’t getting the whole movie and wanted to see what happened next when Mando and wee little Baby Yoda entered the ring to ask for the space slug’s autograph.

The Mandalorian and Grogu opens only in theaters on May 22.