I'm pretty happy with Giacchino replacing Desplat. But out of basic respect for Williams he needs to lay off the pun-filled track titles. Don't cheapen the franchise, bub.
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Giacchino *is* a good choice, though I echo sentiments that a Desplat SW score was something to look forward to. Desplat impressed me and surprised me immensely for his work on Hostage, one of the finer outings in near-recent memory. I do not however view Mr. Giacchino`s assignment as a negative. He is a classical composer in the fine sense. John Ottman would have been another good choice.
But yes: please embrace theatrical track names for this one rather than jokey ones... it would seem jarring and somewhat... ... diminishing to have snarcasm (snarky sarcasm) amongst the media. We (!) are trying to move towards SW and Empire here, not devolve to any degree to those which are lesser.
Last night I caught "Air Force One" on BBC America. Still a great action flick. Knowing that there's a lot of hope for an expanded score, I paid close attention to the music, which is practically wall-to-wall. What Jerry Goldsmith accomplished after replacing Randy Newman at the 11th hour was Herculean. I'd love to see an expansion.
Agreed! And the work McNeely did was equally spectacular. Next to "The Hijacking," the MIG Attack music is the best action cue in the score!
I see you have great perspective comparing a score at the end of the Harry Potter cycle, when it got it's darkest and looked the least like the tale it started from, to a score at the beginning of Giacchino's career (when he was on his own) and his most inspired.
You're missing the point: I've never once liked Desplat. It's not just one of his scores, but his entire career I find bewildering in their dullness and popularity.
And since I consider Desplat one of the strongest thematic writers around today (which may seem like faint praise) I find your blanket appraisal also bewildering. Also from my experience when I consider the worst composers out there, if they have done a dozen or so scores, I usually find something of value in their work. AND there is something here that smacks of the problem I have had with the few Morricone haters all during my life. When I ask about specifics they usually bring up a handful of scores he did for American films that they consider his defining moments out of some 400 he did.
On the other hand there is a point where I can relate. Whenever Thor (who feels the same about as you about Desplat) talks about Elfman I get the same nails on a chalkboard feeling.
Look, everybody has composers they tend to put up on pedestals. And as much as I enjoy some of Goldsmith's or Morricone's failures because of what they try, I wouldn't hold up some of their least inspired work as something to praise. With Elfman, in the past, Thor has.
I'd gotten used to the idea of a new Star Wars score Alexandre Desplat. Despite being underwhelmed by some of his previous fantasy adventure scores (the Potter's, Golden Compass, Guardians), I've heard enough good scores by him to still maintain excitement for anything forthcoming from his pen. I anticipated the brassy excitement of MONUMENTS MEN with the rumbling tension of GODZILLA (and some Star Wars-isms of course). Likewise, I've enjoyed lots of scores by Giacchino down the years to be happy enough that he's the replacement composer, but I've also been disappointed and left wanting by many a score by him too. I suppose we should be thankful Disney kept R/C out of this mess. My biggest regret is that I think we would have gotten a score more thoughtful (considered?) and ultimately more challenging music score from Desplat to the one Disney will instruct Giacchino to write. But maybe that's just me being cynical and MG will knock one out of the park. It should at least be interesting.
But, if we are talking in theory who would have been the most exciting composer to take this on, my money is still on Don Davis- pity that he's just not getting these projects any longer. He would have married Williams' sensibilities with his own stylistic acumen and I think the result would have been a delight for film score fans.
To be honest, I far prefer Giacchino's JURASSIC WORLD to Don Davis's JURASSIC PARK III, so I'm perfectly happy with the choice here.
I’m not a huge Desplat fan except for a handful of his more dramatic scores, so I wasn’t too excited about his take on a Star Wars score. Giacchino is a good replacement and I think he’ll do a good, if not great score. This is a dream project for a composer so I would think they would be giving it their best efforts. But as a Joel McNeely fan I would have loved for him to get a shot at scoring this and see what he could have delivered. Just listen to his Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Shadows of the Empire scores. He would have knocked it out of the ballpark IMHO.
I think if Seth McFarlane was a producer, McNeely might have stood a chance But with J J A as one of the main men, Giacchino was probably a lock as replacement if they didn't feel confident with Desplat.
No credit for Abrams has been announced. Maybe he'll get a special thanks or something.
He'll most likely be credited on Episodes VIII and IX because he helped to create the new characters and, by his report, worked to some (small?) extent with Johnson and Trevorrow on developing the story of the trilogy.
Look, everybody has composers they tend to put up on pedestals. And as much as I enjoy some of Goldsmith's or Morricone's failures because of what they try, I wouldn't hold up some of their least inspired work as something to praise. With Elfman, in the past, Thor has.
Have I? I can't remember. There are loads of Elfman scores I don't care for -- especially the big blockbusters in later years.
Certainly, nobody at Disney/Lucasfilm needed Abrams to vouch for Giacchino, who (like him or not) is an A-list composer known for writing in the orchestral style that they're likely going for (since reading between the lines, it seems likely they're going for more Star-Wars-y, rather than less). It's sort of a no-brainer.
