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| Giacchino |
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: (Michael Giacchino)
For those who grew up on the original trilogy of
Star Wars films
and "survived" the prequels, the notion of witnessing a new feature film
in this franchise every year because of Walt Disney Studio's purchasing
of Lucasfilm is strangely unsettling. The Hollywood cash grab phenomenon
is disturbing enough without seeing it sully such a storied franchise as
this, though under the guidance of producer Kathleen Kennedy, a
diminishment in quality hasn't materialized as of 2016's
Rogue One: A
Star Wars Story. The first entry in a series of spin-offs based on
the
Star Wars universe (actor Ewan McGregor is lobbying strongly
for one, thankfully),
Rogue One expands upon the backstory
described in
Star Wars: A New Hope about the stealing of the
original Death Star's plans. The film's admirable exploration of George
Lucas' canon is its highlight, propelling the movie to positive reviews
and massive box office returns. On the other hand, it squeezes too many
characters and locations into one story, yielding potential confusion
(this is the first
Star Wars film that required title cards for
each planet, minus Darth Vader's Mustafar, returning from
Revenge of
the Sith, and a brief flashback to the galactic capital on
Coruscant) or dissatisfaction with the lack of depth in character
backstories. There are also issues of massive logical fallacies in the
story (think for a moment about the catastrophic data loss the Empire
willingly committed on Scarif), something
The Force Awakens
certainly didn't mind perpetuating. Fans won't care, though, as the
space battle at the climax of the film, highlighted by a Hammerhead
corvette encounter with a Star Destroyer, and the stunning digital
resurrection of Peter Cushing as Governor Tarkin aboard the Death Star
are well worth the admission price. As
Rogue One debuted,
composer John Williams was recording his score for the eighth episode of
the franchise's proper chronology, and while he was never attached
directly to any of the spin-off films, his legacy clearly looms
large.
Director Gareth Edwards had originally selected his
Gozilla collaborator, Alexandre Desplat, to compose the music for
Rogue One, though the highly publicized reshooting of the film
(the amount of mass character casualty at the end was a running debate
within the production team) forced Desplat to abandon the project for
scheduling reasons. Given rumors that Desplat wasn't most keen on
adapting Williams' themes into picture, there was some relief but
certainly no surprise when Michael Giacchino stepped in at the last
minute to replace him. Giacchino is unquestionably the most logical
choice to continue any franchise helmed previously by John Williams.
Soundtrack collectors have known this since Giacchino's accomplished
"Medal of Honor" video game scores beginning in 1999 confirmed
suspicions that he was a master emulator of Williams's style (and the
Indiana Jones voice in particular). When Giacchino stepped into
the
Jurassic Park franchise in 2015 with
Jurassic World,
his adaptations of the Williams mode and themes, while somewhat
inarticulate due to meddling by the filmmakers, were about as good as
anyone could have expected. With the
Star Wars franchise,
expectations are infinitely higher, and Giacchino only had about a month
to score the picture, forcing him through many sleepless nights in an
effort to deliver for a concept he had loved so much as a boy. With the
help of Williams orchestrator William Ross and the study of the
maestro's longtime orchestrator, Herbert Spencer, Giacchino sought to
create the right instrumental techniques and pairings to ensure as close
a resemblance to Williams' style as possible. (One has difficulty
imagining Desplat taking this route, interestingly.) A clear knowledge
of Williams' original three scores for the franchise is also on display,
though slightly disappointing is the lack of more tangible connections
to
Revenge of the Sith given this film's placement in the
chronology, especially in the only rather vague similarity to Williams'
handling on deep brass of the planet of Mustafar. Largely, though,
Giacchino succeeds quite well at times in the task of perpetuating
Williams' tone in
Rogue One.
There are some differences to note between the two
composers that are inevitably conveyed in the music for
Rogue
One. Giacchino's action music has never been as accessible as that
of Williams, in part because of the younger composer's reliance on
different types of anticipatory chords, his less tonal, broken-chord
choices simply not as melodically enticing as Williams' seemingly more
nuanced balance between conflicting notes and heartening tonalities.
There are times when listeners will equate Giacchino's music, especially
that for the Imperial forces in this story, with Nazi Germany from the
"Medal of Honor" games rather than Williams' prior
Star Wars
efforts more directly. The moments when Giacchino really flourishes in
Rogue One are those when he nails particular instrumental and
tonal applications to closely resemble some particular sequence in
either
A New Hope or
The Empire Strikes Back. Even here,
however, as in the deceleration of the Imperial March at the end of
"Krennic's Aspirations", the execution is slightly off. The novice ear
may not particularly care about any of these finer points of
orchestration and conducting, leaving the themes as the more important
takeaway from the score. Here, there's a balance of good and
unnecessary. Giacchino has, despite conjuring some outstanding melodies
ranging from the solo piano tear-jerking in
Up to the sweeping
expanse of fantasy in
Star Trek Beyond, never been associated
with mainstream melodic embrace. In other words, you won't hear his
themes performed in sports stadiums like you do with Williams. To expect
Giacchino to compete on that playing field is indeed unfair, but it has
to be raised as a topic in this score, because the thematic applications
in
Rogue One are a curious lot. The fresh identities are
seemingly as numerous as the new character introductions, and that
muddies the score to an extent. You have six or seven returning (or
heavily suggested) motifs from the Williams scores with a full slate of
new identities that are themselves typically informed by one of
Williams' existing themes. On screen, this plethora of identities
becomes something of a wash, leaving listeners inevitably grasping at
the direct quotes of the Williams classics.
Nowhere is
Rogue One as unnecessarily bloated as in
the musical identities for the villains. Kudos to Giacchino for
resurrecting both Imperial themes from
A New Hope, the original
Death Star's brief fanfare heard in "When Has Become Now" and
"Confrontation on Eadu" and the more broad Imperial motif heard twice in
"Krennic's Aspirations." Of course, the Imperial March for Vader is
heard in "Krennic's Aspirations," where you also receive a strong
allusion to the Emperor's theme, and in nearly humorous, bombastic form
in "Hope." The over-the-top choral rendition of the idea for Vader's
massacre scene is perhaps justified by
Revenge of the Sith, but
it's simply too overstated to be taken seriously. On top of these
returning favorites, Giacchino supplies two additional new themes when
only one, if even that, was necessary. Rather than associate the
Imperial March with the villains in a general way in
Rogue One,
Giacchino supplies them the appropriately narcissistic, Nazi-inspired
march as summarized in "The Imperial Suite" and best heard in the film
in "When Has Become Now" and the introduction of the lovely Imperial
data center on Scarif. In the middle of the concert arrangement of "The
Imperial Suite" is the formal representation of the theme for the
villain Krennic, and you receive extended treatment of his theme (again,
clearly using minor thirds like the Imperial March) in his most potent
scene, the opening landing in "He's Here For Us." Arguably, this theme
is more alluring than the primary Imperial identity from Giacchino,
which is a shame given that it disintegrates over time as the character
is frustratingly marginalized; in "Get That Beach Under Control," his
theme is a subdued presence compared to the main Imperial idea. A better
approach to the picture might have been to allow one of Williams'
existing Imperial themes to represent Tarkin, the Death Star, and the
various Imperial installations while the one dedicated theme for Krennic
first augments and then clashes with that prevailing identity. At times,
as in "Are We Blind?," Giacchino achieves his best material for the
fighting Imperial forces when he isn't confined to this mess of Imperial
identities. The sequence reprising the Hoth battle from
The Empire
Strikes Back in "AT-ACT Assault" is outstanding, all the way down to
the familiar handling of percussive strikes.
The themes for the rebels and the force in
Rogue
One are also too numerous, often times distracting in their
references to past Williams or Giacchino ideas. Returning is arguably
the franchise's most important theme, that for the Force; despite the
lack of any Jedi in this film, the Force theme is littered throughout.
Although odd on the surface, it actually makes fair sense on screen
because the references to the Force are frequent, and Giacchino uses
each instance to state theme in some form. Also at work is the planet of
Jedha, a historically important base of operations for the Jedi, and
when two guardians of the Whills (a concept never detailed to
satisfaction in this film) join the main rebel gang, they are
accompanied by the official "Guardians of the Whills" theme that is a
clear offshoot of the Force theme in progression and provided a mystic
tone to accompany mostly Donnie Yen's blind character as he chants his
way to heroics. It's a nice melody but not entirely necessary. On the
other hand, the theme for the main heroine, Jyn, is vital to the film's
melodramatic appeal. Here, Giacchino suffices in offering a dramatic
winner for the character, though that success is tainted by a couple of
misplays. First, the melody is a distracting merging of his Yorktown
theme from
Star Trek Beyond and Rey's theme from
The Force
Awakens, and, secondly, its choral performances at the end of the
film are a bit too saccharine to handle, even after Williams set the
table for such levels of outward musical tragedy in
Revenge of the
Sith. In the concert arrangement of "Jyn Erso and Hope Suite," as in
the finale, her idea is provided a poignant solo string performance, and
the second half of that recording summarizes a nascent Luke Skywalker
theme simply denoting "hope" that accompanies Jyn's transformation from
cynic to believer in "Rebellions Are Built on Hope" and elsewhere later
in the picture. The franchise title theme clearly guides this identity
and makes it, again, a bit unnecessary. Why not just use the main rebel
fanfare of original trilogy fame in more dramatic form? That main
franchise theme does receive due airtime in the more substantial
rebellion sequences, including "Scrambling the Rebel Fleet" and "AT-ACT
Assault." The film features the main theme in its usual, bracketing
credits placements as well, and look for its reprise from the rebel
blockade runner sequence in
A New Hope at the end of
Rogue
One.
As expected, there is some more obvious spotting
controversy involving themes in
Rogue One. While small quibbles,
like the lack of Leia's theme at the end, are not significant, the
handling of the opening and closing titles are impactful. The end
credits take Williams' standard fanfare placements of the main rebel
theme and push the three new concert suite arrangements in between, and
that's fine. The lack of a representation of the final credits sequence
on album is unacceptable, especially given the more customized, soft
ending to close out that arrangement. But if steam is going to come out
of the ears of
Star Wars fans in regards to the music, it'll be
because of the opening of the film. Gone is the yellow crawl and big
"STAR WARS" letters, the single title card instead shown after the
opening Krennic landing sequence and the escape of Jyn. Giacchino blasts
one chord at the outset of "He's Here For Us" that is too discordant
with the
Star Wars universe to be satisfactory, and his sudden
statement of the Hope theme over the main title at the end of "A Long
Ride Ahead" is rushed and, quite frankly, really odd in context. For
film music collectors, there are also some other curiosities that are
distracting, such as the blatant similarity to the song theme from
Williams'
Hook in "Rogue One." Perhaps forgiveness must be
allotted Giacchino in this discussion of themes, however, because of all
the films in the franchise, the third and fourth episodes were the most
often to feature totally nonsensical thematic attributions (who can
forget the rebel fanfare when the Millenium Falcon is captured or Leia's
theme when Obi-Wan is killed?), and this film resides in between those
works in the chronology. In the end, the orchestration and rhythms are
more likely to sink or float this score for you, and it's often in these
portions that Giacchino hides his most intelligent Williams references.
There are a few trademarks of Giacchino himself in the score, whether in
the solo piano of "Star-Dust" or the groaning percussive sound effects
akin to
Doctor Strange in "Trust Goes Both Ways" and "Jedha
Arrival," and these are a net neutral. One could argue either way about
the solo cello and mass choral applications. It's easy for these
elements to get lost in the warm French horn lines, chomping bass string
rhythms, or trumpet triplets that will more likely gain your attention.
The timpani accents are an expected delight in the late action cues like
"Entering the Imperial Archives" and "We Have to Press the Attack."
Giacchino also pays special attention to the lighter woodwinds that were
prominent in
A New Hope, particularly the flute.
By now, you have probably noticed that this review is
referring to cues not available on the primary album from Walt Disney
Records for
Rogue One. One could have hoped that the transition
from rights for these scores from Sony Classical to Disney would have
yielded more satisfactory albums, but, aside from Disney refusing to
allow Giacchino his usual asinine cue titles for the album tracks (they
were published separately for fans to enjoy, however), that isn't the
case here. As with
The Force Awakens, an online awards
promotional stream was presented by Disney with 26 minutes or so of
additional material that didn't make the 70-minute album, and even when
their contents are merged together, they are not complete. You won't for
instance, find the full end credits, even if they did happen to be
cobbled together artificially. Some of the awards promo tracks are
negligible, including the atmospheric "Hearts of Kyber" and "Today of
All Days" cues on Jedha. But there are entire sections of the movie not
represented on the commercial score album, and the portion bridging the
escape from Jedha and arrival on Eadu is among those. The four or so
cues from those scenes include the exciting and dramatic "An Imperial
Test of Power," the "Asteroid Field"-like "Approach to Eadu," and the
forceful Krennic theme reprise in "Jyn's Path is Clear." More impressive
development of Krennic's theme exists on the promo cue "Good Luck Little
Sister" (this theme's presence on the commercial album was woeful),
including his boisterous arrival at Scarif. The action material in "Are
We Blind?," "Entering the Imperial Archives," "Get That Beach Under
Control," and "We Have to Press the Attack" is entertaining and sadly
absent on the main album. If any cue really needed to be included on the
commercial release, it is "Project Stardust," the data tapes shaft scene
in which Giacchino offers some of his most rousing Williams-like
material. Overall,
Rogue One, like
Revenge of the Sith,
badly needed an expanded album presentation from the start, even if it
only contained 20 more minutes of music, including the end credits in
the proper arrangement. The contents of the score as a whole are uneven
in quality, and the recording is as dry as always for Giacchino. Given
the time crunch for the task,
Rogue One has to be labeled a solid
success, but that doesn't exonerate some of the melodic deficiencies,
including the over-reliance on familiar progressions. As anyone could
guess, this was a no-win situation for Giacchino, but he handled it here
better than he did in
Jurassic World. Disappointed listeners must
recognize that while Giacchino is and never will be John Williams, he
accomplished a feat here that is as passionately loyal as anyone will
likely ever hear.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Michael Giacchino reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.48
(in 35 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.24
(in 17,726 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert of the commercial product includes a list of performers, a note from
the composer about the score, and his usual pun-laden alternate track titles. The Disney
promotional album is a digital product with no official packaging.
