TFA’s soundtrack is ALL killer. Damn guys.
Rogue One is a very fun listen but just right off that bat I don’t even agree with the approach. It has too much the classic Star Wars sound, not enough the score you’d imagine from a gritty war film. Even just any old war film. Check out the eponymous track on the OST (which has a cool WWII, Kelly’s Heroes sort of sound), that’s the kind of sound the whole thing could have had.
One of the most egregious instances of this is his scoring of the Imperials. Their music in the OT was often over the top big bad villain type of stuff. And it worked beautifully, of course, because of the kind of movies. This is supposed to be more down to earth, though. The Imperial music should be scary. Honestly, I think Giacchino drops the ball right off the bat in the opening scene. It’s great music, sure, but there’s really not much sense of impending dread, which is exactly what the scene calls for. It’s too big, too much bombast. Worse, maybe, is the first scene of the Death Star. It’s got that fun, catchy Imperial March pastiche. But you know, it’s kind of even more over the top “BAD GUYS!” than even that was, again, in a film that should have more nuance. Yeah, the Imperials are big and showy. But we should be getting a different angle on that here. I guess this is also the fault of the film in general for writing pretty basic scenes for the bad guys.
I suppose a lot of the blame can be put on the film too. Jyn’s theme is solid, though it’s kind of a bargain bin Rey’s theme, in a way. It’s tough, of course, because Rey’s theme is a legitimate masterwork. Seriously, not only is it complex and memorable/hummable (whatever it is people seem to care about so much), it also fits the character perfectly. So I guess I can’t really blame Giacchino for Jyn’s hazy characterization. Her theme is still nice.
I really do like the Guardians of the Whills theme. Fits Chirrut (and Baze) very well. Obviously doesn’t get as much play in the score as Jyn’s, for instance, but it’s solid. I do think Krennic’s theme is also fairly fitting, and much better than the general Imperial theme. The other big theme is the Hope theme, which is pretty hit or miss. Sometimes it sounds almost cheesy, SW rip-off-ish, other times it kind of works.
It’s a good score overall but when I compare it to TFA, it’s just not close. As I said before, Rey’s theme is genius and probably better than anything Giacchino’s ever written (and I love the guy). March of the Resistance too is also fantastic and again probably better than any of the new RO themes (case in point, check out that eponymous track again, maybe my favorite on the OST - it’s basically a second rate March of the Resistance). Poe’s also got a truly soaring theme which gets a few under the radar plays, and Kylo’s got two themes which I just find perfectly fitting. And this is of course without even going into how well the score works with the film. It’s classic Star Wars, but’s it’s still got a new sound to it, for the new generation. There’s also aspects of the score like the action music which I think just owns. Compare “Follow Me/The Falcon” to “Jedha City Ambush” and you’ll hear the same sort of idea but with, in my mind, a clear difference in quality. I will say Giacchino’s got some awesome stuff pumping during the climax but still, Williams duels Rey and Kylo’s themes against each other for the climactic “Ways of the Force” - storytelling through music and it is fantastic.
Also, “The Jedi Steps.” And don’t even get me started on the use of old SW themes.
