In regards to the complexity of wrapping up the franchise,
Williams additionally revealed, "I'll study the film and try to pick a
spot that's a logical starting point for what I think I need to do,
either thematically or from a textural point of view, and work out
toward the latter part of the film or the beginning part. I really may
jump around a little bit." In this case, Williams seems to have started
with the Anakin/Obi-Wan lightsaber battle and written "Battle of the
Heroes" first before working backwards through the rest of the score.
The same philosophy makes sense in
The Phantom Menace, for which
Williams could work back from "Duel of the Fates," as well as the
climactic statements of "Across the Stars" near the end of the second
prequel film. But in
Revenge of the Sith, the "Battle of the
Heroes" theme is not integrated (and even rarely hinted at) in earlier
cues. The continuity factor is almost entirely missing. By the end, it's
the "Force Theme" that maintains the most power in the score, which is
not particularly problematic given that it has become, in the absence of
the main franchise theme from the bulk of the prequel scores, the
dominant identity of the entire concept. As for other specific themes
and their usage in the score, this review is once again limited to the
album contents. But a thorough rundown of each new major cue in
Revenge of the Sith, as well as some disclosure about which
themes do and do not appear in the assembled tracks of length chosen for
inclusion on the album, might give you an idea of where Williams was
heading with the score. Right off the bat, as mentioned before, the main
Star Wars theme itself is curiously restrained in the prequel
trilogy outside of the customary performances, appearing only once in
muted form during the last minute of the finale to accompany the hope
placed in baby Luke. The title sequence is the source of some discontent
in
Revenge of the Sith, for Williams elected not to re-record it
specifically for this film. Instead, a reported combination of
recordings from the previous two scores' sessions were mixed to make the
title cue for
Revenge of the Sith. For true fans of the music
from the saga, those who can identify which title performance belongs to
which film based on their subtle variations, this frugal measure is a
considerable disappointment. The end of the title sequence is cut short
this time as well, launching immediately into frenetic action over the
"Force Theme" that once again required Williams to remind the trumpet
players to clearly distinguish each of their rapidly succeeding notes.
Ever since the space battle in
The Phantom Menace, this action
material in the prequels has exhibited a remarkable ability to produce
an amazing ruckus without really going anywhere.
For "Anakin's Dream," in which he has premonitions of
Padme's death, Williams begins with the most substantial performance of
the "Across the Stars" theme before the tension of the moment toils in a
crescendo of dissonance. After his dream, several faint hints of
interest are made; first, there were questions about whether Williams
would ever re-use the potent theme heard twice in
Return of the
Jedi for the death of a Jedi (first with reverence as Yoda dies and
finally as part of the huge choral finale during the saber duel between
Luke and his father), and its most structured reference in the prequels
(and a questionable one at that) exists here. More interesting is the
premonition of Vader's later entrance scene in bass strings and
subsequent performance of the Force theme by low woodwinds. With much of
the score for
Revenge of the Sith brooding and rumbling in the
depths of the dark side, Williams' use of the lowest range woodwinds is
substantial throughout the entire score. On album, the next cue is
"Battle of the Heroes," the aforementioned new concert piece for the
film. Its theme is very deliberately stated, with unconventional
thematic pacing; you seemingly have three different sections of the
orchestra all operating at different tempos, which could either be
considered a brilliant move by Williams or a hindrance to your enjoyment
of the piece (or both, perhaps). The track starts with a rapid string
rhythm augmented by brass and features the adult choir performing at a
more drawn-out parallel with the theme while trilling trumpets
(connecting it clearly, along with the frequent cymbal usage and
repetition of ensemble hits on key, to "Duel of the Fates") and horns
race over the top. The inconsistent pacing of the different sections
comes together for an ultra-dramatic performance of the "Force Theme" as
an interlude and, even after several repetitions of the melody, the base
rhythm is more memorable than the slower, static theme. As the primary
identity for the film, the theme has to be considered a disappointment.
In the powerful "Anakin's Betrayal," listeners hear the first of
Williams' intriguing new sub-themes. With the full choir performing
extended wordless vocals over the melodramatic ensemble tones, several
moments in the composer's fantastic hidden gem for
Hook are
recalled. The maintained tension of the cue recalls the rhythmic figures
of
Presumed Innocent before its wholesale lament culminates in
two awesome crescendos of mournful power (separated by a striking brass
cut-off at 2:50 into the track) before respectfully bowing out at the
end. In retrospect, this cue is perhaps the most impressive, easily
digestible expression of beauty in the score, and the agony it contains
can be chalked up as yielding among the saddest single cues of the
composer's illustrious career.
The "fun" music for Williams exists in "General Grievous,"
a piece that jumps with some of the same character and pacing as the
"Knight Bus" cue from
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
but with the funk meter turned down to a more appropriate level. An
excellent percussive base (recorded separately from the rest of the
ensemble and mixed in) forms a rhythmic splash of short brass
flourishes, cymbal crashes, and constantly fluttering woodwinds that
make the "Asteroid Field" theme sound like a picnic. Without a
prevailing theme out of all that sound, however, the cue isn't really
coherent enough to call a concert piece, and despite its ambitious
rhythms, it leaves you with little to remember it by. In another twist
of the unexpected, however, Williams offers an approach in "Palpatine's
Teachings" that you wouldn't predict. Instead of expressing the
"Emperor's Theme" heavily in this cue, Williams begins with over a
minute of its deep male throat singing without stating the idea,
followed by extremely low woodwind meanderings. In latter stages, the
cue begins to form a muted battle between the Force theme and Imperial
March, with rumblings that serve the inner battle within Anakin well.
After several minutes of ominous bass string solos, a sudden quoting of
a Coruscant fanfare from
The Phantom Menace unfortunately breaks
the mood at the end of the track. A return to the standard frenetic
action music heard in two previous cues marks "Grievous and the Droids."
Once again, so much noise and so little organization in rhythm or motif
cause the cue to slip by with little notice; strangely, none of the
unique percussion established for Grievous in his prior cue is reprised
here. The driving snare drum rhythms, brief xylophone bursts, and
frantic sixteenth notes on the various brass are effective but a bit
stale in this cue. Another superior moment of underscore for tension
exists in "Padme's Ruminations," a cue notable for its droning,
synthesized bass (in almost pipe organ form). A distantly wailing female
voice performs no clear theme, but it doesn't have to; the emotional
grip of the score, so weighty in its sorrow, gets the point across with
superb power. After an eerie, distant reminder of the "Across the Stars"
theme, Williams pulls out a variation on a singular idea from
Return
of the Jedi during the moments of Vader's taunting of Luke right
before the continuation of the final duel. The attention to subtle
connections to previously wayward ideas from
Return of the Jedi
in this score is certainly one of its definite highlights. This slowly
developing bass string and woodwind motif, in its rendition near the end
of "Padme's Ruminations," is also reminiscent of the opening organ motif
in
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
One of the film's major curiosities exists in the actual
use of the "Battle of the Heroes" theme in "Anakin vs. Obi-Wan." The
duel, complete with tolling bells and rapid trumpet notes over rolling
percussion, is broken up in rhythmic progression by several
note-for-note regurgitations of the Cloud City duel cue in
The Empire
Strikes Back (the sequence during which Vader hurls equipment at
Luke before smashing the shaft window). The intention of Williams and
Lucas was obviously to draw parallels between the two duels (and
represent how history tends to repeat itself in this saga), but while
any inclusion of the Imperial March is usually most welcomed, the
"Battle of the Heroes" theme, along with the carry-over elements from
"Duel of the Fates," sounds more appropriate in context to the
surrounding underscore and is, frankly, much more exciting. The sudden
shifts back to music from
The Empire Strikes Back hinder the flow
of the cue until the last minute of the duel incorporates the Force
theme into the "Battle of the Heroes" rhythm with great effectiveness as
Obi-Wan dismembers Vader and leaves him for dead. The "Anakin's Dark
Deeds" cue is, alongside "Anakin's Betrayal," a splendid piece in which
Williams wanders off to another dark corner for a fresh secondary theme.
Opening with what casually sounds like a light choral tribute to Howard
Shore's Middle Earth in
The Lord of the Rings, the cue escalates
into a level of rhythmic action equal to "Duel of the Fates" (with
slight hints of that theme) as Anakin begins slaughtering the newly
perceived enemies of the Republic. A new, descending theme is introduced
at 2:15 into that track that builds in melodramatic fashion to an
outstandingly excruciating finish. This minute or two of music plays
perhaps a bigger role in its placement in the mix of
Revenge of the
Sith on screen than any other cue, a fantastic, singular theme that
yearns for a more complete arrangement. Similarly, the introduction of
the new archvillain in "Enter Lord Vader" leads to another secondary
motif to highlight the score. Rather than reverting to the Imperial
March (quite a curious move), Williams instead twists the motif from the
end of "Anakin's Dark Deeds" into tormented phrases before erupting with
a forceful fanfare for Vader's announcement, driven by very strong snare
outbursts, heavy layers of brass, and even some harp flourishes for the
fantasy element. One brief, partial reference to the Imperial March ties
the character to his eventual musical identity, and listeners are left
waiting for a gong strike (as in his first scene in
A New Hope)
that never comes. The cue concludes with a dying "Force Theme"
performance yielding to the only obvious use (in low ranges) of the
Emperor's theme on the album.
The last of the interesting new tracks on the
Revenge
of the Sith album comes in the form of heavily layered strings
performing an adagio of lament in "The Immolation Scene." Once again, a
unique sub-theme is presented before, after two minutes, Williams refers
back to the bass string motif from
A New Hope as Luke jumps in
his speeder to return to the homestead and find his family slaughtered.
The last of the choppy action music makes an appearance in "Grievous
Speaks to Lord Sidious," punctuated by the now typical snare rips
followed by a cymbal crash with which Williams has arguably
overpopulated the prequel trilogy. The weakest track on the album, this
generic cue leads to a faint echo of "Across the Stars" and subtle
references of lamentations heard previously in the score. The last two
tracks on the album are a source of interesting controversy for fans of
the saga's music. They represent the manifestation of the bridge between
the old and new trilogies, and in both cues, Williams makes some odd
choices. For "The Birth of the Twins and Padme's Destiny," Williams
pulls 90 seconds of instrumental tone from his
Harry Potter
scores for the birthing sequence, tingling with magic but not conveying
the weight or melodrama necessary for the gravity of the event. Of note
during this passage, however, are fragments of both "The Imperial March"
and "Across the Stars" hidden in the floating two and three-note figures
that permeate the cue. The track then shifts to a direct quoting of the
funeral sequence for Qui-Gon in
The Phantom Menace. Williams may
have used this cue in one or more of three ways: to tie the prequel
trilogy in a neat package, to establish the theme as a general funeral
representation rather than one for Qui-Gon specifically, or for Qui-Gon
himself (given the revelation of the character's ability to talk to the
living as a ghostly spirit). The second controversial cue is the last
one, "A New Hope and End Credits," which features two minutes of new
score for the finale before launching into a whopping eleven minutes of
end credits suites. As it would make sense, Williams provides sensitive
performances of the two infants' themes, first Leia's theme and then the
Star Wars title theme for Luke in low-key, loving fashion.
Williams then returns to the "Binary Sunset" cue from
A New Hope
on Tatooine, which is where the cue starts to go awry. After a solo horn
introduces the "Force Theme," the full orchestra provides a somewhat
underpowered performance of the second verse of that identity,
underpowered considering the magnitude of the event and its position as
the last minute of the six films thus far. Even more problematic is a
very poor key change into the standard title theme performance for the
end credits that may make you cringe.
The selection of music for the lengthy end credits
presentation exists as a sore point in
Revenge of the Sith.
Williams chose to provide the concert arrangements of "Leia's Theme" and
the "Throne Room" finale sequence from
A New Hope bracketing a
reprise of the "Battle of the Heroes" concert arrangement. The
performance of Leia's theme, and especially the transition from it into
the "Battle of the Heroes" theme, is well executed, but that doesn't
explain why five minutes of "Throne Room," (as well as its coordinated
conclusion to the entire track) is heard here. Was there no inspiration
to write a new arrangement? No time? A demand from Lucas? There has been
much incredible music described above in this review, but Williams'
choices thematically are open to a considerable number of questions.
While these questions pertain to most of the score, the final two cues
are the real curiosities. Why would Williams neglect to even hint at the
"Luke and Leia" theme from
Return of the Jedi in the birthing
cue? He is certainly knowledgeable and forthcoming about his abilities
to weave themes together; whether it's the hints of Leia's theme in the
concert arrangement of "Han Solo and the Princess" from
The Empire
Strikes Back, the incorporation of Jabba's theme into the start of
the racing sequence in
The Phantom Menace, or the translation of
the Emperor's theme into the song at the end of that same film, Williams
is the master at subtle references. "Part of music for films that's very
important is the melodic part, which is an opportunity for a composer to
create a melodic identification for a particular character or a place,
so that when you see that person, or that person is suggested even by
someone's thought, that theme can be played and it's a link for the
audience," Williams reminded listeners at the time of this score's
release. "It's an aural identification, which provides an additional
magnetism for the viewer. So in terms of atmosphere, identification of
melody, action, choreographic timing elements in the music, it's really
part of the corpus, the body of what a film is." If Williams really
believes in maximizing this identification, then the lack of new, highly
developed thematic material, as well as the end credits suites for
Revenge of the Sith, are a contradiction to that statement.
What's frustrating about this score is that the maestro does introduce
so many flourishing and engaging new secondary themes for this film,
whether it's on the lamentation half or alternately the parts that
represent the rise of evil. No fewer than four strong new ideas go
without full realization, and although this makes
Revenge of the
Sith a very engaging collection of compelling and technically adept
underscore cues, its whole is sadly unsatisfying.
The ultimate in thematic opportunities was missed with
the end credits for
Revenge of the Sith; with eleven minutes to
work with, Williams could have referenced so much more, perhaps a minute
or two from several prominent and relevant themes from both trilogies.
Given the composer's talent, the only logical conclusion to make about
this misfire is that a sweeping summary of the saga was not allowed by
Lucas. All three themes from
The Phantom Menace were reprised in
Attack of the Clones, including the "Flag Parade," and none of
them receives treatment in the major album cues for
Revenge of the
Sith. Nothing is quoted from "Yoda's Theme" or "Luke and Leia," and,
in at least what we have here, no use of the Death Star motif from
A
New Hope is available as Governor Tarkin oversees its initial
construction. The theme for the Emperor is surprisingly absent, even
though his meteoric rise occurs in this film. Only a badly needed,
complete album release will reveal Williams' attempts to incorporate
more melodies in his shorter cues not heard on Sony's initial 72-minute
offering. That product includes a 70-minute DVD on which actor Ian
McDiarmid introduces 16 music videos of major themes from the six films
(listed below on this page). Sony re-issued the album in its 2016
"Ultimate Soundtrack Collection" set, and Disney remastered this same
presentation in 2018 for another pressing. As Williams summarized, "I
was very impressed with this film, particularly the last third of it or
so. The links that George has put into it really make the connections to
the characters of Darth Vader, and the mother and the child; the
familiar part of the mythology is so expertly woven together at the end
of this film, and, I think, particularly beautifully shot."
Unfortunately, he seems to have become entranced by the beauty and
emotion of individual scenes in
Revenge of the Sith and forgotten
the days when the saga's music was defined by robust development of each
new idea into something memorable and larger than life. His music for
the sixth film became seemingly lost in the era of spectacular special
effects and expansive plot circles, and the cohesion of the overarching
musical storyline is consequently diminished. Compared to its peers,
Revenge of the Sith is, despite its great strengths in its
individual cues of immense melodrama, the weakest of the first six
scores. In the end,
The Phantom Menace reveals itself as the most
characteristic
Star Wars score of the prequel trilogy while
Attack of the Clones features the best new theme and single cue
("Across the Stars" and "Finale," respectively). Although its dramatic
posture dwarfs the rest of the trilogy,
Revenge of the Sith is,
in the tapestry of the
Star Wars universe, its glittery but badly
frayed edge.
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