MOVIE MUSIC UK

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE FILM, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER WAITING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE DONE SO TO READ IT.

In the years since Disney bought the rights to Lucasfilm from Twentieth Century Fox, the Star Wars universe has grown exponentially. Not only have we had two films in the official sequel trilogy – The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi – but a number of side projects have also been greenlit, all expanding on the history and mythology of the franchise. The first of those ‘Star Wars stories’ was Rogue One in 2016, which looked at the events of how the Rebel Alliance came to possess the plans to the original Death Star, and eventually came to be seen as an immediate prequel to the first 1977 movie. Further movies are in development, including ones which would explore the origins of characters such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lando Calrissian, and Boba Fett. But, before all that, we have this movie: Solo, which looks at the early life of everyone’s favorite scoundrel and scruffy-looking nerf herder. The basic story of Han Solo’s life have long been known: he was an orphan and petty criminal on his home planet, Corellia, and eventually became an intergalactic smuggler, picking up a partner in the shape of the wookiee Chewbacca, and a ship in the shape of the Millennium Falcon, along the way – winning the latter in a card game from fellow smuggler and handsome playboy Lando Calrissian. What Solo does is look at the detail: his life on Corellia, the people he knew there at the time, how he first meets Chewbacca, how he acquires the Falcon, and what adventures he embarks up on during those first journeys among the stars.

The film is an absolute blast; a rollicking, hugely enjoyable sci-fi action adventure that is part heist movie and part coming-of-age story. It concentrates for the most part on this small group of characters and their escapades, but also hints at the wider Star Wars conflict involving the Galactic Empire and the Rebellion, and how these individuals fit into the bigger scheme of things. There are also a ton of fan-specific details and references that only the truly nerdy will pick up on: visual throwbacks, character name-drops, and the like. Best of all, the cast of characters are all generally outstanding. Alden Ehrenreich absolutely nails his performance as the young Han Solo, successfully capturing the cocky confidence inherent in the character, and adopting Harrison Ford’s iconic mannerisms, but without ever allowing it to become a parody impression. Donald Glover is equally successful at re-capturing the loquacious charm that Billy Dee Williams brought to Lando Calrissian back in 1980, while the new additions to the cast – Woody Harrelson, Paul Bettany, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Thandie Newton –all perform admirably. Perhaps the only disappointment in this regard is Emilia Clarke, who feels a little under-used as Han’s childhood friend and adult love interest Qira, but this is mitigated somewhat by Joonas Suatomo’s unexpectedly nuanced performance as Chewbacca: he somehow manages to bring depth and emotion to the role, despite being encased in a yak hair suit and communicating entirely in growls.

Much was reported in the media about the problems Solo suffered during production. Original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired half way through the shoot, with Lucasfilm citing creative differences, and they were replaced by the Oscar winning journeyman Ron Howard. Howard ended up re-shooting around 80% of the film, a fact which many took to be a signal that the film was in trouble, and could very well be the first Star Wars flop. People clearly didn’t learn their lesson from Rogue One – the same predictions were made before it came out, as it too required extensive re-shooting – because Solo is not just ‘not a flop,’ but is a genuinely excellent movie which all discerning fans of the franchise should enjoy enormously.

The one aspect of Solo which never seemed to be affected by the post-production issues was its score, which is by the English composer John Powell. In composing the score for Solo, Powell becomes just the third person to score a live-action Star Wars film, joining the rarified company of Michael Giacchino and, of course, John Williams (I’m choosing to forget the Ewok Adventures and the Holiday Special, and so should you). Powell is a self-proclaimed Star Wars aficionado, and I can only imagine the mix of excitement and sheer terror that he felt as he embarked on this musical journey. Thankfully, Powell absolutely nailed his assignment. His Solo score is a wonderful mix of powerful action and soaring romance, written in the classic Star Wars leitmotivic style.

The first and most important new theme in the new score is the one for Han Solo himself. Until now, Han was the only main Star Wars character without a personal character theme, and this was something which clearly needed rectifying. As such, the first track on the soundtrack album is “The Adventures of Han,” a brand new 4-minute piece written by John Williams himself. “The Adventures of Han” is a concert arrangement of Han’s theme, a rousing, energetic piece full of trumpet triplets and rampaging string figures, built around a long-lined central melody which has a heroic fanfare-like A-phrase (0:17), and a more rhythmic, muscular, but slightly sneaky-sounding B-phrase (0:37). The whole thing is very much rooted in Williams’s recent compositional ideas, and has much in common with pieces like “March of the Resistance” from The Force Awakens, as well as earlier scores such as The Adventures of Tintin, among others. It’s a testament to Williams’s enduring brilliance that he is still able to write music like this at the age of 86; the statement of the A-phrase at 2:50, performed with all the bombastic gusto and flair the orchestra can muster, is sensational, and there is a mind-blowing piece of virtuoso trumpet writing beginning at 1:24 which reminds me of the fiendishly complicated action material Jerry Goldsmith wrote for The Wind and the Lion back in 1975!

After this opening salvo, the rest of the score is all Powell: he uses Williams’s theme liberally throughout, but all the film’s other new themes are his own creations. There are actually five additional new ones – a love theme for Han and Qira, the first ever theme for Chewbacca, a theme for Enfys Nest and the Marauders, a theme for Tobias Beckett and his Gang, and a theme for L3-37, Lando Calrissian’s opinionated female droid. These combine with several statements of existing themes from the Star Wars music canon that act not only as fan service, but provide leitmotivic context to things which will prove to be important as the story develops chronologically through Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and beyond.

The score proper opens on Corellia, Han’s home planet, a military-industrial complex where the Galactic Empire builds all its hardware, from small droid robots to immense Star Destroyer spaceships. The first cue, “Meet Han,” introduces us to the character and the world he inhabits; the dark, slightly sinister-sounding brass and harp textures are representative of the shadowy Corellian underworld, while the brooding statement of Han’s theme slowly emerges into a more expansive statement accompanied by strumming guitars and tapped percussion. Listeners will notice that the percussion writing in Solo is very typical of John Powell, harking back to his work on the How to Train Your Dragon scores, as well as things like Hancock. It’s a new sound for the Star Wars universe, but I actually like that it adds a new dimension to the franchise’s musical palette – which is fortunate, because the relentless percussion quickly becomes a recurring hallmark as the score develops. The cue ends with a piano performance of the B-phrase of Han’s theme which hints at his dissatisfaction with his life, and his desire to escape with Qira from Lady Proxima’s influence, although the continuation of the relentless percussion shows that he is trying to hide his pain with outward brashness.

“Corellia Chase” is the score’s first main action sequence, underscoring the scene where Han and Qira boost a speeder and bolt for Corellia’s main spaceport – and freedom – with both Lady Proxima’s thugs and local Imperial troops in pursuit. The music here is bold, energetic, and full of relentless forward motion. Powell augments the frequent statements of Han’s theme with tambourines and other lighter drums in the percussion section, giving the whole thing a sense of freewheeling joy; the performance of the B-section at 0:48 almost feels like a dance for a flamboyant matador, as if Han is actually enjoying toying with his pursuers, while the contrapuntal string writing against Han’s theme on horns at 1:33 is just sublime. This all leads into the next cue, “Spaceport,” which is another action sequence that accompanies Han and Qira as they race away from their pursuers on foot and try to bribe their way through an Imperial security checkpoint to freedom. The cue again has multiple prominent performances of Han’s theme, including an especially notable one for lower-register strings which has a sense of danger and trepidation. Things come to a head at 2:44 as Han successfully makes it through the checkpoint, but Qira is apprehended by Imperial forces at the last second – and Han cries out in frustration from the other side of the barrier. This explosion of musical anguish is actually the first performance of Han and Qira’s love theme – something which will be explored in much more detail later in the score.

The first half of “Flying with Chewie” presents more bombastic fully orchestral action, full of interesting rhythmic ideas, powerful brass, and throbbing strings, as well as the first performance of the Gang theme at 0:40, a brand new piece written to give a recurring musical identity to Woody Harrelson’s smuggler Tobias Beckett and his band of good-natured outlaws. The Gang theme has an infectious sense of mischievous bravado which works well at capturing their mutual camaraderie, and as the score progresses Powell gives the theme several raucous workouts. Beckett rescues Han and his new friend Chewbacca from a war zone and allows them to join his group for its next job, which sees them travelling to the planet Vandor where they intend to hijack an Imperial freight train and steal a shipment of a rare and extremely valuable mineral called coaxium for their employer, a galactic crime lord named Dryden Vos. The music which accompanies their arrival on Vandor is a light, optimistic statement of Han’s theme which melts into a gentle, almost new-agey piece that has strong similarities to the flying music from How to Train Your Dragon.

“Train Heist” starts quietly, intimately, with gentle strings, harps, and elegant woodwind accents, as Beckett and his family of rogues discuss their hopes and dreams for the future while camping with Han and Chewbacca, the night before the heist. These moments have a wistful quality to them, especially during the moving moments when Chewbacca describes what has happened to his tribe of Wookiees since the events shown in Revenge of the Sith, and how he wants to help free them all from Imperial bondage. The heist action sequence begins in earnest at 1:30, and gradually grows in scope as it develops. Powell’s percussion rhythms are almost Zimmer-esque in tone, and add plenty of power and boldness to the whole experience, but the equally prominent flute trills keep it grounded in Williams’s musical influence too. There are some fantastic brass-led motifs running through the entire sequence, as well as some outstanding contrapuntal writing which jumps backwards and forwards between imposing statements of both the Gang theme and Han’s theme. Look out also for the special cameo from the Imperial Motif from The Empire Strikes Back at 3:34 as a group of laser cannon-mounted Probe Droids appear to try to take out the gang.

The subsequent “Marauders Arrive” gives us the first look at the Cloud Riders, a rival group of smugglers led by the fearsome warrior Enfys Nest, who are going after the same shipment of coaxium and want to steal it out from under Beckett’s nose. The Marauders theme is primal, rugged, and exotic, with Avatar-like female ethnic vocals atop a bed of imposing brass and percussion hits. These sensational chanted, whooping vocal ideas add a brand new textural dimension to the Star Wars musical canon, and combine perfectly with the immense orchestral forces Powell employs to underscore the conflict as the two rival gangs face off. Powell juxtaposes both Han’s theme and the Gang theme against the Marauders theme throughout the rest of the cue, resulting in music which is densely orchestrated and wonderfully stylish, but still allows several individual instrumental textures to peek through, adding a great deal of depth.

Eventually, the Marauders make off with Beckett’s coaxium – the mission is a failure, and the gang has suffered casualties, and now Beckett and Solo must explain themselves to Dryden Vos in person. They arrive on Vos’s space yacht to find a cocktail party in full swing, and two alien vocalists performing a song for the guests – featured on the soundtrack as “Chicken in the Pot”. This song is likely to be the one which most people skip, but I actually quite like it; it joins the tradition of unusual in-world songs that dates back to the Mos Eisley cantina band, although this one actually has more in common, tonally, with Eric Serra and Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. The song is performed as a duet in what sounds like a garbled version of French, underpinned by hip hop beats and shimmering Hollywood strings. Interestingly, the version of the song that appears in the film is different from the one on the album – in the film the second alien voice (the high pitched one who appears at 0:18) is replaced by a more bass-heavy voice emanating from a frog-like creature in a goldfish bowl.

It is during this cocktail sequence that Han re-unites with Qira, who is now working for Vos. Qira convinces Vos not to kill Han and Beckett, and instead allow them to get the coaxium another way. Between them they come up with a plan: they will travel to the spice mines in Kessel, steal a shipment of un-refined coaxium, and bring it back to Vos on the planet Savareen before it degrades into a volatile state, and explodes. In order for this to happen, Han and Beckett must acquire a ridiculously fast spaceship capable of making the journey, and it just so happens that Qira knows where to find one.

“Is This Seat Taken?” underscores the first meeting between Han and Lando Calrissian at a dangerous backwater casino, where Han challenges Lando to a game of ‘sabacc’ with the stakes being Lando’s ship, the Millennium Falcon, the fastest ship in the galaxy. The cue begins with an unusual arrangement of Han’s theme for quirky oboes augmented by marimba, metallic percussion, and light guitars, which gives the whole thing a wryly comedic, slightly mischievous air. Powell’s orchestrations are bouncy, flighty, and a bit exotic, seemingly blending together flavors from both Hawaiian and Middle Eastern music – a perfect fusion to capture the essence of the alien casino setting. Listen for the quick burst of Chewbacca’s theme on flutes at 0:37, as well as a slow version of the Star Wars Rebel Fanfare at 2:00 when the Millennium Falcon gets added to the pot in the middle of the game. The subsequent “L3 & Millennium Falcon” introduces L3’s theme at 0:26, a vaguely comedic little march for brass underpinned with tapped snares, perfect to capture the sarcastic personality of Lando’s personal droid. Cool vibes, slithery smooth strings, and finger-snapping guitars give an unusual dimension to Lando and L3’s relationship. Magical textures, choral accents, and wonder-struck refrains of both the Star Wars Main Theme and the Rebel Fanfare underscore the moment Han steps on board the Falcon for the first time – love at first sight? The unexpected burst of the Marauders theme at the end of the piece indicates that Enfys Nest is aware of this plan too, and is planning to follow them to Kessel.

“Lando’s Closet” provides the first prominent performance of the Love Theme for Han and Qira, as the two childhood friends re-connect properly, so many years after that fateful day in Corellia’s spaceport. The theme is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and wonderfully old fashioned, sounding for all the world like something Erich Wolfgang Korngold or Max Steiner might have written for a scene like this, had they been alive and scoring Star Wars movies. The theme is mainly arranged for strings and woodwinds, and Powell’s harmonies are just gorgeous – in fact, this may very well be the most classically beautiful love theme of his career to date. Appropriately, Powell injects the tiniest hints of “Han Solo and the Princess” into the chord progressions because, as we know, this won’t be the last time Han steals a forbidden kiss in a tucked-away corner of the Falcon.

The entire sequence set on and around the mining planet of Kessel is just magnificent. It all begins with “Mine Mission,” which begins with a brief recapitulation of the Love Theme on brass, but quickly then becomes a brilliant fugue-style march with a prominent cello undercurrent, a relentless percussion beat, and a vast array of dancing strings, flutes, and brass accents on top. The whole thing plays sort of like Williams’s March of the Resistance from The Force Awakens crossed with a British WWII patriotic anthem, filled with upbeat optimism and a can-do spirit. The cue is wonderfully detailed, with sparkling orchestrations that showcase different sections of the ensemble playing off each other to mutual benefit, and numerous flashes of Han’s theme, the Gang theme, Chewbacca’s theme, and L3’s theme, most notably the latter as she inspires as a mass rebellion of droids and slaves rising up against their Imperial oppressors. The subsequent “Break Out” continues the stylistics from the previous cue, but with many more moments of explicit major-key heroism. There is a massive statement of Chewbacca’s Theme at 0:44 to accompany the moment where he enlists the help of several newly-emancipated wookiees to help Han move the consignment of coaxium. As the cue progresses there are several equally stunning statements of the opening brass fanfare from the Star Wars Main Title (1:17), Han’s theme (1:51), and the Gang theme (2:13), each underpinned with resounding trumpet triplets. The moment where the Rebel Fanfare is juxtaposed against Han’s theme is brilliant, as are the moments of searing tragedy during the cue’s second half as L3 is cut down by Imperial forces, Lando is injured trying to save her, and then Chewbacca is forced to say goodbye to one of his fellow wookiees, and we are treated to an especially emotional performance of his theme.

The subsequent “The Good Guy” is out of chronological order – it actually appears towards the end of the film, after Qira has killed Dryden Vos on Savareen, during the scene where she sadly explains to Han why their relationship will not work – but it is programmed here to give the listener a break from the action, allowing them to catch their breath. The cue is essentially an extended rumination on Han and Qira’s love theme, offset with a touch of melancholy, and with emphasis on harp glissandi and solo trumpets which alters its tonal dimension and gives it a flavor similar to “Luke & Leia” from Return of the Jedi.

However, once this brief diversion is over, we return to Kessel for what is likely to be most people’s favorite sequence of music: the Kessel Run itself. “Reminiscence Therapy” underscores the first part of the scene, a major action set piece in which the Millennium Falcon – piloted by Han and Chewbacca together for the first time – is forced to take a ridiculously dangerous route through the Maw, a giant galactic maelstrom around a black hole that orbits Kessel, in order to avoid an Imperial Star Destroyer. This is the scene that finally answers the question of why, in the cantina in the original Star Wars, Han brags to Luke Skywalker that the Falcon is the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. The length of the Run actually relates to physical distance, not speed, and completing the run in that short a distance requires a ship with both speed and astonishing maneuverability. It all begins with a superb cameo from the 4-note Death Star Motif from Star Wars which heralds the appearance of an Imperial Star Destroyer in the space around Kessel, and from then on the sequence is an overload of glorious musical nostalgia. Powell blends together the iconic ‘Here They Come’ music from the TIE fighter attack sequence in Star Wars with the ‘Asteroid Field’ music from The Empire Strikes Back to illustrate the fact that the Falcon is evading TIE fighters and asteroids simultaneously – it’s a brilliant, brilliant conceit of musical thematic referencing which had me grinning like an idiot the first time I heard it.

But this is not to say that the cue simply apes Williams – Powell actually makes the music his own by adding a new layer of percussion under the vast array of complicated orchestral histrionics; many people have commented on how much this changes the original themes for the worse, but I think it’s outstanding. Not only that, there are numerous statements of both Han’s theme and the Rebel Fanfare, a wonderfully wry statement of Chewbacca’s theme at 2:55, and – best of all – a spectacular statement of the Star Wars Main Title at 3:15 as Chewie sits in the Falcon’s co-pilot chair for the first time, and a partnership is born.

“Into the Maw” continues the ideas from the previous cue, but makes them sound darker, more aggressive, and more dangerous. The orchestrations in this cue are ridiculously complex and dense – listen especially for the wonderful, almost Elliot Goldenthal-esque dissonance emanating from the bank of screaming trombones during the first minute or so of the cue. Embedded within it all are constant quickfire references to Han’s theme, the Gang theme, and Chewbacca’s theme, all jumping around in quick flashes, while a darker statement of the Mine Mission March accompanies Beckett as he races to add a drop of the stolen coaxium into the Falcon’s engine in order for them to break free of the Maw’s gravitational pull. The final minute of the cue begins with a blast of the Star Wars Main Theme, and then becomes a runaway locomotive in space – a breathless, insanely fast set of snare drum tattoos and racing strings that accompany equally swift bursts of the Rebel Fanfare, Han’s theme, and the Star Wars Main Title, as the Falcon frantically tries to find a clear path out of the maw so that they can jump to light speed – and freedom.

Eventually the action moves to its final location – the barren planet Savareen, where Han and Beckett are supposed to deliver the coaxium to Vos’s mineral processors. Unfortunately, in “Savareen Stand-Off,” Han and Beckett are ambushed again by Enfys Nest and the Marauders, and a tense standoff ensues. Powell scores the scene like a space western, with abstract electronic textures, the windswept whine of an aboriginal bullroarer, clattering percussion, and eventually an enormous explosion of the Marauders theme. However, not all is as it seems, and the music changes when Enfys Nest is finally unmasked and the deeper purpose the Marauders serve becomes clear. Powell injects subtle hints of the Rebel Fanfare into the mix here, alongside turbulent and dramatic cello figures, and a more solemn bass flute version of the Marauders theme accompanied by growling throat singers. A huge string crescendo accompanies the face reveal. “Good Thing You Were Listening” underscores Beckett’s death sequence, paying the price after his duplicity is revealed. As any true Star Wars fan knows, Han always shoots first, and the music that accompanies this sequence is full of powerful emotions, including an especially heartbreaking version of the Gang theme. “Testing Allegiance” underscores the final sequence of conflict as Han, Chewbacca, Enfys Nest, and the Marauders join forces in order to take down Vos’s troops for control of the coaxium; the battle version of Han’s theme heard here is brutal but brilliant – the Han Solo melody on brass accompanied by Marauder percussion, signifying their new alliance – while the final piano-led statement of Han & Qira’s love theme is more than a little bittersweet.

Fortunately, the album – and the score – ends on a high with “Dice & Roll,” which underscores the epilogue scene of Han tracking Lando Calrissian down to a different backwater casino, and again challenging him to a game of Sabacc for the Falcon… although, this time, Han has evened the odds. Powell’s exotic piece of amusing tropicana concludes with a gong crash, a buoyant reprise of the Rebel Fanfare, and a flamboyantly upbeat final statement of Han’s theme, before the end credits (which are not on the album) roll.

As you can clearly see from all this ebullient exposition, I consider Solo to be a triumph in every respect. For me there is a huge difference between this score and something like X-Men 3, which many people have compared it to, but which I described as ‘like listening to mud’ (see my review of it for details). This is my reasoning: while Solo and X-Men 3 are equally dense and complicated, the difference between the two is like night and day because everything in Solo is crystal clear. You can hear all the references, all the thematic statements, all the sections of the orchestra, the choir, the percussion, the electronics, and they are all well defined both individually and as a group. The colors sparkle, and it’s mixed wonderfully.

There are a couple of moments I would I have liked to hear in the album – most of the music for the Mimban battle sequence, where Han first meets Beckett and, later, Chewbacca, is missing, as is the music for the final fight between Han, Qira, and Vos on board the space yacht. The quick blast of “Duel of the Fates” which is heard during the surprise cameo at the very end of the film might have been a spoiler, but it would have been fun to hear Powell’s major key version of the “Imperial March,” which appears underscoring an Imperial propaganda recruitment video playing in the background at the Corellian spaceport.

But, these are minor quibbles for what is, in every other way, and unqualified success. For me, all the new themes work wonderfully well in context, and I am especially enamored of Han’s theme, Chewbacca’s theme, and Han & Qira’s Love theme. The way Powell incorporates all this thematic complexity into his score is masterful, but best of all is the way he allows them to develop organically; this is not just a rigid leitmotif score where mathematics trumps emotion. Instead, Powell engages in sensible and appropriate development, meaning that when the emotional outbursts do come, they pack a real wallop, and satisfy both the heart and the brain in equal measure. Despite already being one of the most popular and successful composers working in Hollywood today, Solo could very well propel John Powell into the film music stratosphere. This is one of the scores of the year.

Buy the Solo soundtrack from the Movie Music UK Store

Track Listing:

• The Adventures of Han (3:52)
• Meet Han (2:22)
• Corellia Chase (3:36)
• Spaceport (4:09)
• Flying with Chewie (3:34)
• Train Heist (4:51)
• Marauders Arrive (5:16)
• Chicken in the Pot (2:12)
• Is This Seat Taken? (2:39)
• L3 & Millennium Falcon (3:19)
• Lando’s Closet (2:14)
• Mine Mission (4:14)
• Break Out (6:18)
• The Good Guy (5:28)
• Reminiscence Therapy (6:14)
• Into the Maw (4:52)
• Savareen Stand-Off (4:28)
• Good Thing You Were Listening (2:11)
• Testing Allegiance (4:23)
• Dice & Roll (1:59)

Running Time: 77 minutes 22 seconds

Walt Disney Records (2018)

Music composed by John Powell. Conducted by Gavin Greenaway. Orchestrations by John Ashton Thomas, Geoff Lawson, Tommy Laurence, Andrew Kinney, Randy Kerber, Rick Giovinazzo and Gavin Greenaway. “The Adventures of Han” and original Star Wars themes by John Williams. Additional music and arrangements by Batu Sener, Anthony Willis and Paul Mounsey. Recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy. Edited by Jack Dolman, Ryan Rubin and Ramiro Belgardt. Album produced by John Powell.