We are thoroughly enjoying watching The Mandalorian.
To me, what makes a great Star Wars movie:
- Great storytelling
- Unique, dynamic, and out-worldly visuals
- Fantastic soundtrack
- The overall feeling of watching the tales of "A galaxy far, far away..."
Since Lucasfilm's creative director Doug Chiang's led The Mandalorian's visual art department, the environments' design follow the "Star Wars universe" esthetics in continuation of what Macquarie built now over 45 years ago (holy moly!).
Favreau uses them to the best effect; bringing us in a different part of the galaxy far far away every week.
The compelling, self-contained weekly stories weave their narratives into, and get influenced by, the greater tapestry of the Star Wars "history". This immediately gives a lot of depth and richness to The Mandalorian; that elusive Star Wars umami.
“It’s a new medium, a new set of characters — and it has a certain tech-y grittiness, because you’re dealing with a very dystopic setting,” says executive producer Jon Favreau. “The Empire has fallen and chaos is beginning to reign in the galaxy, so the romantic strains of John Williams’ score would not sit well against the imagery that we have.”
“It still has the soul of ‘Star Wars,’” says Göransson."
https://variety.com/2019/artisans/production/star-wars-mandalorian-music-1203402950/
I beg to differ; in Star Wars, the music never plays second fiddle; it is an integral part of the experience and tells the story as much as the images do. With very few exceptions (the theme, as well as the frequent use of the recorder, I do not feel this with The Mandalorian. Sometimes, it is the music itself which feels out-of-place, sometimes it is just the audio mix choices that just push the soundtrack as a barely audible grumble in the background.
The big orchestral sound of Williams is not just a background to the stories of Star Wars, it is the ambient soundtrack of its universe. Göransson's tracks, sometimes detract me for the action that I see onscreen, as if some of the scenes were 'music-bombed', and that's the only thing I could focus on. Some other times, I feel that the background music is just not there to create the required tension a scene calls for.
For my own taste, I would have preferred Göransson's tracks to be the additional touch on top of a more "Star Wars-universe cohesive" orchestral soundtrack. I would have kept the recorders, drop the synths and other non-organic instrumental experiments.
But that's just me. If it works for you as a Star Wars soundtrack, all the better!
More on Ludwig Göransson's creative process for The Mandalorian.
