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The film doesn't open in the UK until next year, but I'm listening to the (eventual) score by RG-W right now.
I can only imagine the feeling of profound sadness and disappointment Gibbo must have felt when hearing (and rejecting) John Debney's first attempt and then this pleasant, if by-the-numbers and wholly predictable sounding modern day score from Greg-Will.
I'm sure Mel shed some tears at not only the loss of his musical muse, but the levels Horner's music raised in his visuals and emotional beats.
There is nothing directly wrong with this score. It's just a product of the times.
It doesn't sound composed. Merely programmed in and fed out.
Perhaps my opinion of it will change/improve when I hear it within the film.
But for now, it's just another bitter reminder of the scale of the loss of James Horner and his music.
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Say what you like about Mel Gibson and his 'igots' and 'isms', but give the fella a camera and he will shoot the sh!t out of whatever material he's adapting.
That's five films now and I've been mightily impressed by every one of them.
This is a brutal, harrowing 'boy's own' adventure, incredibly based on real events.
If you've seen previous Gibbo stuff, expect soft, lovely old school filmmaking charged through with unflinching, gut-busting (literally) action sequences.
Even the 'seen it all before' drill/training sequences (which reminded me of Biloxi Blues) are hugely enjoyable.
Sure, it's got some ropey/rolls eyes scenes from time to time, but most Hollywood films play fast and loose with real life events (I was shocked NOT to find a bunch of Redcoats and English soldiers instead of the Japanese enemy atop the Ridge).
The only let-down for me was the music, or lack of James Horner, to be more precise.
While R-G-W doesn't do anything wrong, giving us some pseudo Thomas Newman and Mark Isham style scoring for the most part, with a generic bent, I feel Horner would have added some extra layers of depth and emotion, even if it would have just been Windtalkers meets In Country/Uncommon Valour 
Best film I'm likely to see this year.
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Best film I'm likely to see this year.
Agreed. It's also refreshing to see a film about heroism in war which centers on someone who refuses to use a gun.
The absence of James Horner was keenly felt though. Rupert Gregson-Williams' score was serviceable but formulaic and bland. I have to wonder what was so "wrong" with John Debney's contribution that G-W's was considered preferable.
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I still want to hear the Debney score. I'm sure there are some reasons behind the scenes why so many rejected scores never see the light of day until many many years later, and even then it's a small percentage overall that come out.
It would be nice if one of these scores went against this norm and suddenly got a legitimate limited edition release.
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