Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I should probably start off by stating that this is definitely the weakest of John Williams' Star Wars soundtracks. I don't entirely blame the master for this. Having seen the film it's pretty clear that this movie wasn't designed around grand orchestral numbers in quite the same way that earlier ones were. The music is there to back up the visuals, not expand on them. Action scenes in particular give greater focus to sound effects and dialogue. What this means is that the film is lacking that one standout musical number that defines it. All the previous films had one, from the main theme of the original to the Imperial March of Empire, March of the Ewoks/The Endor Battle from Jedi, Duel of the Fates from Phantom Menace, Across the Stars of Clones, and Battle of the Heroes from Sith. Lacking that one unifying theme makes this whole album seem odd to me. We're also given a rather limited number of new leitmotifs. Rey, Poe, and Kylo get their own themes, although Poe's only appears once and it's easy to miss entirely (many have said he doesn't even have one). On top of this we get a march for the Resistance and an X-Wings in action theme. There is an action cue, but it is limited and appears only in the first half. None of the locations, such as Maz's pirate castle or Jakku are given their own cue or distinctive incidental music. Another oddity (particularly in a film so in tune with nostalgia) is a strange reluctance to use themes from the earlier films. Sure, the main theme pops up here and there, mostly in hints, and Han and Leia's Theme makes an appearance, but in general this movie is intent on doing its own thing. I still don't know what I think of that. This is really the first Star Wars score I've been truly disappointed in. I disliked the recycled nature of Attack of the Clones, but what new music it had was memorable and on the nose. Here most of the themes are on the nose, but several are either unmemorable or short. When it works it really works, but it's not enough to just say that. I'd be happier with an unoriginal score that simply recycled old themes than one which is filled with generic background noise. To state my view in brief (and without spoilers): Rey's theme is brilliant but not assertive or ubiquitous enough to be the standout piece that earlier films had. Kylo's theme works well, but it's short and a bit limited in how it can be used. Poe's theme will probably be great when its used to its full, but its use here is brief. The battle theme is fine, but only really shows up a few times and isn't on the same level as earlier ones. The Resistance March isn't used to its full potential and the X-Wing battle theme is good, but derivative and certainly not on the level of other films. There's one other spoilery theme in there that's great, but it really only exists to set up the next film, which no doubt will rely on it more heavily. This last theme and Rey's are the only ones that really feel on the level of Williams' earlier work. Since I'm going to be looking at the individual tracks I should be clear: there will be spoilers in here. It's unavoidable. I'm going to avoid directly stating anything that happens, but just describing the themes that appear in certain tracks can serve as spoilers about the film. . Main Title and the Attack on the Jakku Village This is the same intro music we've heard before, obviously. The rest of the track is mostly ominous mood music, capturing the idea of a surprise raid by the First Order. I don't mean that in a bad way as it sets the tone well. This is a promising track. One standout comes towards the end when Kylo Ren's theme shows up. It's barely touched on here but offers a good hint at what's to come. The Scavenger Here is our introduction to Rey's Theme, which is definitely the strongest piece of new music in the album. I'll have more to say when we get to the fully developed version of her theme. Here, it's mostly hinted at in a mysterious way that offers little more than a taste to whet our appetite. Here it feels sad and lonely, without the hope that it seems to offer later I Can Fly Anything I don't have much to say about this track except that it's exciting action music designed to fit into the background of the scene. Compared to earlier Star Wars themes it's entirely unmemorable, though on its own it's good. The one interesting moment comes towards the middle when we get a more wistful and tender theme that must be representing Poe. I'm not sure what to make of it. Poe doesn't seem the tender type so much as a heroic man of action. Regardless, I really like it and hope to hear it developed more in subsequent albums. Rey Meets BB-8 I have basically nothing to say about this track except that it's very quiet. Follow Me Another action track, although this one's much more memorable. It starts off slow before building up to a more exciting crescendo. Rey's Theme If this album did have a standout track it'd be this one. Only the fact that it's never really allowed to soar and overwhelm the senses prevents it from dominating the movie. This theme perfectly encapsulates a sense of yearning and potential while still seeming isolated. It's the same balance the film finds for Rey and I'll never understand how Williams manages to convey ideas like that through sheer sound without any visuals or dialogue. The "theme" itself is actually composed of several different themes, all of which are intertwined at various points. There's the loneliness theme at the beginning, which relies on a sort of flutter (I'm not very good at describing sounds), then there's a more mysterious theme in the middle, and finally a determined theme that we hear repeatedly throughout the album. These themes are intermingled here, and they work so well together that it's easy not to notice that they're different tunes at all. I don't think I'll find myself whistling this to myself very often, but it does stand out from the rest. In a good way. The Falcon Here's our big chase scene. We get a lot of hints of older themes (particularly the main theme) as well as an intensification of the action theme from Follow Me. I like how excited this track is. It's got elements of the chase music we heard in the first teaser. That Girl With the Staff From the title I was expecting another variation on Rey's Theme, but this is more of a lead-in to something else. I'm not sure where this track fits in but it isn't very memorable. The Rathtars! We get another burst of the main theme here, but for the most part this track prefers to stay intense but without any major tune. We do get hints of the recurring action theme here, but only at the end does it become explicit. Finn's Confession This is basically Finn's theme, a sad little number that stays determinedly low key so as not to interfere with the dialogue. For once, I'm not really sure how well the music fits the character. This theme is decidedly more tragic than Finn really seems to deserve. Sure, his story has its tragic elements, but he's not overwhelmed with depression so much as possessed of a strong survival sense that verges on cowardice. Apart from one or two brief moments of sweetness the track doesn't really stick with you. Maz's Counsel Another background track that feels like it wants to avoid anything too noticeable. It ends on a great version of the Force theme that quickly becomes ominous and menacing. I do like the ending, but the rest of the track feels like it was lacking something. The Starkiller This track isn't played for bombast as might be expected, but for tragedy. It's a sad number that sounds similar to many themes that have come before. Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle This is a great action track, starting off ominous before giving us Kylo's theme in its full brass glory. I like Kylo's theme. It's very aggressive and moody. It sounds as depressed as he does. It is however, a little more limited than it could be. The theme is only five notes, and it tends to repeat them a lot. This is no imperial march, it's more of a cue than a theme and only works for very specific moments. Basically, the cue is used as he appears or does something particularly significant, and then the music fades into more general villainous music. The Abduction This track starts off very dark and quickly gets decidedly oppressive as we're treated to more of Kylo's theme. This gets mixed in with Rey's theme towards the end, which seems quite ominous for our hero. Han and Leia This is mostly a nostalgia track, though it's necessary for film purposes. I was surprised at just how low key it was. Having been impressed by the aggressive remix of Han and Leia's theme in the trailer I was expecting something more like that. Instead it sounds more like you'd expect them to be after having been together on and off for thirty years. There is still love there, but it's a more comfortable love that doesn't really need to assert itself so desperately as in the original trilogy. I'm fine with that but I'm still surprised that this is a straight repeat of their theme. I had assumed that it would give us a development on that piece which took it in a new direction. Once this fades out we're treated to the Resistance march before going into some atmospheric music to establish the Resistance base. March of the Resistance It's about time the Rebels (or whatever) got a march of their own, but I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to feel when I listen to this. Determination maybe? It's a little vague, which rather reflects my opinion on the Resistance as well, who we were just rushed right past with barely an introduction. This march was put to much better effect in the film, where it sounds triumphant and spectacular in all the right ways. It also gave us a triumphant version of Poe's theme. Curiously, the version of this march in the end credits is a lot closer to the one that appeared in the film than this track is. I still like this march, but I wish they hadn't edited it down into this somewhat subdued version. More bombast, man! Snoke I think this is my biggest disappointment as a track. I was expecting something like the Emperor's theme, something dark and ominous but still strangely seductive. Instead we just get throat warbling with no apparent rhythm. To say this is a boring track would be an understatement. It's a lot like Snoke himself: an empty vessel that they haven't done anything with. Yet? On the Inside This track reeks of foreboding. Apart from an angry version of Kylo's theme though, the music is entirely background with nothing really standing out about it. Torn Apart This track is very good. It thrives on a growing sense of dread and sadness. About two-thirds of the way through it becomes much more aggressive as it turns into a majestic restatement of Kylo's theme and then the Force theme. It's suitably epic and dramatic for one of the most important moments in the film. The Ways of the Force This one starts off on a powerful version of the Force theme as we get into our lightsaber battle. Next we're given a much more heroic version of Finn's theme from earlier. It seems quite overwhelmed here. His theme isn't really designed to be heroic, but I guess it's plucky enough to try? Then we veer into Kylo's theme and a rather stronger version of the Force theme. It fits quite well alongside Rey's theme, although we're really only given hints of that. And then the track ends. Again, we're seeing a reluctance to let the music rise beyond the background level. It's still a good track, but of all the lightsaber battles in all the films this one is the least impressive musically. Okay, maybe Attack of the Clones' largely musicless fight was worse, but even the ten second battle between Qui Gon and Darth Maul on Tatooine conveys more excitement than both of these put together. Scherzo for X-Wings This at least is the sort of rousing action theme that you expect to hear in a Star Wars film. It's a great and exciting track that, oddly enough, leads into the main Star Wars theme at the end of each segment. I like this track, but a final battle scene needs to do a lot more than this does to keep us interested. Given the way the finale is edited there isn't really a place for such a score, which seems to support my theory about why this album is constructed the way it is. Farewell and the Trip This track gets very mystical very quickly as we're treated to Rey's theme crosscut with the Force theme in a nice interweave. Rey's theme really shines here as it becomes positively adventurous. The Jedi Steps and Finale Here we get a brand new theme that seems to come out of nowhere. It's mystical, sad, and not a little ambiguous. I think it represents Luke, or at least the hunt for Luke. It then turns into the Force theme and we're thrown into the end credits on that entirely mysterious note. I've really loved this theme ever since it appeared on one of the TV Spots about a month back, although I'd always assumed it was actually Rey's theme. The end credits then commence with repeats of all the themes we've heard so far, including a rather nicer version of the Resistance march that I'm happier to get behind. As you might imagine I found this very underwhelming. There is still hope for future films. With Rey's and Luke's(?) themes already established there is more room for development in other areas (a new Imperial March maybe?). Some themes in here seem to hint at a planned future expansion, such as the jaunty theme that represents Poe, and I could imagine a lot more being done with them in future films. But this will never be remembered as a great album in the way that every previous Star Wars soundtrack was. Just think back on those: Even characters like Qui Gon and General Grievous had distinctive and memorable themes which really soared. Here, I can't imagine myself whistling anything apart from Luke's theme or the Resistance March.