Woodlands Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the film score Woodlawn by Paul Mills.

Buy the score here (if available)

At a glance:

Geek Score: 100
Total Minutes Of Excellence: 93.5
Album Excellence: 100%

How are the scores calculated and what does it mean?

Woodlawn is a 2015 American sports drama film directed by Andrew Erwin & Jon Erwin and starring Sean Astin, Jon Voight and Caleb Castille. Following government-mandated desegregation in 1973, Tony Nathan (Caleb Castille) joins fellow African-American students at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Ala. As violence and anger erupt in the city, Woodlawn football coach Tandy Gerelds (Nic Bishop) allows an outsider (Sean Astin) to speak to his players. His message of hope and love leads to a spiritual awakening that inspires star athlete Nathan, his teammates and other members of the community to overcome the hate that surrounds them. The score is composed by Paul Mills.

Randomly I happened to come across this film not long ago and something that struck me was the music. It was the perfect fit for an inspirational sports drama. I also didn’t think I would ever hear it on album. Not long after I saw it though, it was announced. My hopes and prayers were answered! Let’s just hope that what I heard in the film sounds just as good on album. The score opens with a massive 9 minute cue called ‘Opening And The Run’. This score is massive in itself with a 94 minute run length. Back to the music which definitely answers my prayers, at least this opening cue which starts slow, but is building slowly up using very heroic measures to do it. Goose bumps arrive when just after the 3 minute mark, the music has an epiphany and gives me percussion, even for just a little bit. Th cue is cleverly built up like that, going hot and cold while steadily building up to greatness. It is a bit like Hans Zimmer’s Man Of Steel in that respect. I got that vibe. This is top notch heroics, the stuff of dreams, the stuff I dream about and I’m so happy it delivers on all fronts.

Luckily it doesn’t have the “opening cue” syndrome that many scores have where the opening cue is great and the rest is meh. This score just builds and builds into a fantastic musical palace. Check out ‘Team Revival’ for another goose bump worthy cue, beautiful ostinatos, light and breezy music while keeping it in the land of glory and heroics. Of course it has the traditional American football percussion that you can hear on every game and every score, and I love that in conjunction with the heroic and epic style that Mills have created for Woodlawn. Perfection. This score contains a number of great themes as well, lots of theme power in this one. This is an epic sports score, in fact it’s one of the best epic sports drama scores I’ve ever heard. The feeling I get when listening to this might be compared to when I saw Rocky IV for the first time and heard the training montage or Rabin’s Remember The Titans. This is a stunning score from start to finish and should easily be a contender for score of the year.

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Opening And The Run *
2. Fight At Practice
3. Unrest
4. Team Revival *
5. Ensley vs Woodlawn
6. Ensley Game Start
7. Tony’s In
8. God Is Testing Us
9. I Think You’re A Superstar
10. I Hate To Lose / Hayes Game *
11. Johnnie and Tony
12. Looking In
13. On This Day *
14. Huffman Game *
15. Outsider *
16. I Believe *
17. Student Threat
18. No Photo Op / Burning Cross
19. Family Fear
20. Banks Game One
21. You Are *
22. Bear Bryant
23. Because It’s Time
24. Two Teams Meet
25. You Ain’t *
26. Battlefield
27. That’s The Woman I Love
28. Prayer Meeting And Rally *
29. Board Of Inquisition
30. Tony And His Dad Talk *
31. Kingdom Come *
32. Woodlawn vs Banks
33. Your Times / Kingdom Come Reprise / Undeniably Spiritual *
34. I Am One *
35. Sugar Bowl And The Call *
36. End Credits *