My Rogue One Soundtrack Review

It seems there is a way to extract only the music line from a rogue one trailer like shown in this video:

Any idea how to do that??? thank you

 

Hi, can you tell me where in the OST can I find Jyn's theme? In which tracks?
The one that stuck with me is the main theme, the one that sounds when the title of the movie appears.

 

Thanks! I just listened to it, today I'll watch it for the second time.
In the track "When Has Become Now" from 0:00 to 00:14 that's the one I identified for the Empire. And from 00:16 to 00:21 you can actually listen to the four-note Death Star motif which appeared several times in ANH!!

 

Yeah, I thought it really stood out during my first watch. Listening to it again... Wow, the feels.

 

I went into the movie very apprehensive about the music due to the late change in composers and the two piece sample that was released the week before the movie (which I did not hate but did not get excited about either).

With that said, the only point I was disappointed with the music was when they showed the Rogue One title after the opening flashback scene. I think Giacchino nailed the key moments of the film.

The Vader scene music was absolutely perfect to help the viewer understand that Vader was, to borrow a phrase from Lords of the Sith, "losing himself in the Force".

The "Your Father Would Be Proud" and "Jyn Erso & Hope Suite" are very powerful pieces used at key moments throughout the movie but most prominently during Galen's death, the Star Destroyer crashing through the Shield Gate, and of course, Jyn and Cassian's death. These pieces simultaneously make you feel hopeful and grateful for the ultimate sacrifice our heroes have made but also sadness for their loss.

Lastly, the "Rogue One" piece is really growing on me. This is most prominently played as the Rebels depart Yavin in the shuttle for Scarif. It is a very resolute piece and starts the build up for the most intense 35 minutes of Star Wars film we have ever seen.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 17, 2016, Original Post Date: Dec 17, 2016 ---

I think this really had to do with the change in composers as Giacchino stated he did not use (or even look at) anything done by Desplat prior to him leaving the movie.

 

This was also true of the TFA trailers, if you remember. The music has very little to do with the soundtrack. They finally used "Jedi Steps" in a TV ad last year, but that was about it.

In other words, this is the norm.

 

After listening the soundtrack multiple times, I really like al the different renditions of Jyn's theme and the Guardians of the Whills theme. I have a bit more trouble listening to the Imperial suite/ theme. It was deployed rather haphazerdly in the movie and I really think it is more suited for a Dracula or Horror movie than Star Wars. The emotional piece are absolutely beautiful. They remind me very much of the best pieces of Giacchino's score for Lost.

 

Man, Giacchino missed a few opportunities for good puns. "Krennic's Aspirations" should've been named "All Chokes Aside".

 

I don't have the soundtrack on me atm, but his pun track names are in the insert. I don't remember off the top of my head what he called that particular one.

 

Oh really? That's cool, I will definitely buy the CD now!

 

Here we go:

1. He’s Here for Us (Jrennic Condition)

2. A Long Ride Ahead (Jyn and scare it)

3. Wobni Imperial Labor Camp (Jyncarcerated)

4. Trust Goes Both Ways (Going to see Saw)

5. When Has Become Now (That new Death Star smell)

6. Jedha Arrival (Jedha call Saw)

7. Jedha City Ambush (When ambush comes to shove)

8. Star-Dust (Erso Facto)

9. Confrontation on Eaudu (Go-Do the Eadu, that you do so well)

10. Krennics Aspirations (Have a choke and a smile)

11. Rebellions Are Built on Hope (Erso in vain)

12. Rogue One (Takes One to Rogue One)

13. Cargo Shuttle SW0608 (World’s worst vacation destination)

14. Scrabbling the Rebel Fleet (Scarif Tactics)

15. AT-ACT Assault (Bazed and confused)

16. The Master Switch (Switch hunt)

17. Your Father Would be Proud (Transmission Impossible)

18. Hope (Live and let Jedi)

19. Jyn Erso and hope Suite

20. Imperial Suite

21. Guardians of the Whills suite

http://makingstarwars.net/2016/12/takes-one-to-rogue-one-micheal-giacchinos-pun-filled-track-list/

 

Lol, isn't that an episode title from lost? Or did this appear on the lost soundtrack. The pun "world's worst vacation destination" sounds familiar.

 

I don't know. But now that I look at #11, shouldn't it just be 'Erso Vain,' rather than 'Erso in Vain?' I wonder if that's a typo on the part of makingstarwars.

Edit - Not a typo. Instead, it's a missed opportunity by Giacchino.

 

Maybe its just how gentle the orchestra played, but the music that plays when our heroes are about to be consumed on Scarif by the Death Star's destruction really reminded me of the Cloud Atlas Sextet. So beautiful, alas the fates of our heroes were meant to be -- ah, the irony of prequels.

 

I think Giacchino did a fine job given the contraints and the inevitable comparisons one is invited to make.
The film has 3 good (if subdued) themes I would have been able to hum straight out of the cinema and some nice subtle and not so subtle references to existing material.
I loved the imperial motif from IV during Vader's bacta reveal or the Death Star fanfare / cadence for example.

That said, he sure is not John Williams.
The employ and function of the music seems to underline or react throughout; the only occasion of it properly driving the film starts with the Death Star appearing over Scarif and ends before the hallway scene.
Fittingly that is also one of the few occasions of the means of the score becoming fittingly sparing and economical. I've always felt that Giacchino tends to break the back of his own thematic ideas with an almost baroque attitude towards orchestration.
Maybe for some listeners that reads as "blaring" (as some reviewers have described it) - more the suspicion of hollow bombast than an actual lack of substance.

 

My first thought when I heard the loud-choir Vader-killing music was....hey, that sounds like when he was killing the Separatists on Mustafar! Hard to say for sure whether that was intentional, but it worked as a callback for me.

Love Giacchino, hate his tracklist puns. Always have. lol. I'm glad we got more normal titles this time. It wasn't bad on a score like, say, The Incredibles, back when only a few tracks were puns, but having them all labelled as jokes takes me out of the listening experience a bit.

 

The dialogue is in the center channel most of the time, so you have to extract the left and right channels to get just the music. That doesn't work perfectly though.

 

While watching the movie, I thought that some stuff worked really well, while some was forgettable....like any soundtrack.

The fanfare that played when the title card displayed was really amateur. It reminded me of 1970's Battlestar Galactica.

(Side note: the title card looked REALLY BAD. Having it with no fill and a stroke only was just cheap looking.)

But I've been listening to the whole soundtrack all day at work, and it is REALLY GOOD!!

I can't wait to see the film again to see if it works better now that I'm fairly marinated in it.

Overall: VERY good, sometimes brilliant, rarely bad.