: (Rob Simonsen) Skeptics who scoff
at time paradoxes need not concern themselves with
, a fairly typical family reconciliation story told through
the science fiction lens of time travel. A "time jet" pilot in a bleak
2050 travels back to 2018 and 2022 to thwart the events of that future,
saving his wife in the past and coming to terms with his estranged
mother and dead father, the latter the inventor of time travel in the
first place. When the corporate villains from 2050 aren't chasing down
these characters, the pilot, Adam, is bonding with his 12-year-old self
and his father, healing old emotional wounds and eventually setting the
timeline towards a better 2050. There's a touch of Steven Spielberg
aspiration in this Shawn Levy film, the fantasy element existing only as
a mechanism to address a lonely child and bring peace to his family. The
Netflix film, which had struggled for ten years to reach completion,
performed well despite tepid reviews. The director had collaborated with
composers Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman, and Christophe Beck throughout
his career, but for
. The original intent of the composer was not to pull at
the 1980's heartstrings with his music for
, the
atmosphere initially meant to be electronic and experimental. But as
Simonsen and Levy progressed through their ideas, they realized that a
throwback orchestral score was largely inevitable for the family element
and the general 1980's tone of the story. Also figuring into the movie
is a variety of songs that required Simonsen to work around and write
lead-ins to. The result, generally, is nowhere near as nostalgic as the
lightning in a bottle that Simonsen provided for
, nor does it contain the whimsically self-aware fantasy
tones that someone like Silvestri likely would have provided. There is
definitely no John Williams influence to be heard anywhere.
Rather than traverse the straight throwback route, the
score is instead a hybrid between that sound and the less organic
incarnation that originally occupied Simonsen's mind. In its constructs
and tone, the score for
The Adam Project closely resembles the
streamlined and reliable approach Brian Tyler would have taken to the
film. While guided by piano and orchestra for most of its tender
moments, the score utilizes a mix that never sounds truly organic,
giving it a somewhat dreamy element to address the science of the topic.
The Tyler-like mannerisms include the application of a set of rather
average but easily digestible themes that skirt anthem territory and are
rather slim on counterpoint. The suite-like "The Adam Project" uses the
standard, basic, long crescendo form for both of Simonsen's themes in
satisfyingly simplistic conveyance. The action music often uses
wood-slapping percussive tones, though some of the more aggressive
passages in this mode, as in the material early in "Punch That Sh*t,"
are interrupted by electronic manipulation that damages the experience
in that and a few other cues. The exhilaration of time travel becomes
lost in the equation but does hesitatingly extend the Tyler similarities
in the rhythmic progressions of
Now You See Me's more hypnotic
appeal; cues like "Hawking, Zip It" and "Plan A" extend this sound into
faint hints of Michael Giacchino's
Tomorrowland while using light
rhythmic patterns with insistence. When conjuring the score's thematic
base, Simonsen rejected the idea of providing different identities to
the older and younger versions of Adam. Instead, he opted to anchor the
score with one theme for Adam's familial relations and another for his
adventures at both ages and the fantasy concept as a whole. The two
themes are integral throughout
The Adam Project, the composer
offering them in equal doses and mingling them appropriately. The family
theme can be distinguished by its foundation built upon three-note
phrases that have difficulty resolving, and this idea is most often
carried by solo piano.
At 0:15 into the suite arrangement of "The Adam
Project," the family theme of hearty character in
The Adam
Project debuts on piano and develops solemnly into a light power
anthem, returning to respectfully end the cue with a little digital
manipulation in tow. The theme opens "Make Good Choices" but is reduced
to two-note phrases throughout the cue, a technique that Simonsen will
access several times to offer fragmentation to match that in the story.
The family theme continues in either its full or abbreviated form
throughout, a dull, low piano version early in "You Can Be a Real Jerk"
continuing similarly in "Who's This?" It dominates "I Found You,"
opening the cue on strings and becoming optimistic, yearning by the end.
The theme is reduced to its two-note variant again on piano at the start
of "Echo of This One," quietly respectful on strings later, with nice
solo violin touches. It takes on a spirit of urgency in the first minute
of "They Found Us" before terrible synth percussion ruins the cue,
extends out of the fantasy theme at 0:27 into "Laura," switches to its
slight, two-note version early in "Is This Time Travel?," and is
diminished to chords only under the conversation in "He Doesn't Need
Perfect." Simonsen wraps the idea by mostly following the suite format
in "Catch" and closes the score with the ensemble briefly returning to
the idea in "I Found You Again." By comparison, the fantasy theme is
naturally more entertaining in a nostalgic sense, mainly consisting of
two-note phrases that adhere to simple, guilty-pleasure chord
progressions. Heard first tentatively at 2:11 into "The Adam Project,"
this idea develops into a more mature melody using the same chords at
3:10 on cello. It extends out the rhythmic anticipation on piano and
strings in the latter half of "Hawking, Zip It," enjoys a prominent
performance at 1:15 into "Plan A," and is bold on brass for a quick
moment at 0:51 into "Ouchie with the Face." At other times, the fantasy
theme is less accessible, its chords only very slightly informing the
nervousness of "Tell Him" and struggling to assert nobility early in
"Plan" before more terrible synthetics and percussion spike the moment.
The theme opens "Laura" with hope but not much oomph, though Simonsen
compensates by allowing it to drive the action in the middle of "Punch
That Sh*t," becoming heroic by the end.
The fantasy theme supplies suspense at 1:36 into "Is
This Time Travel?," uses fragments to guide the action in the middle of
"Butternut Sippy Cup," overcomes distracting manipulations in the first
half action of "Supper Time, Spanky," and becomes intentionally
indistinguishable from the villains' version of the theme in middle of
"You Never Understood the Science," with good, dramatic appeal to this
slow, emphasized passage for that climactic scene. The theme returns to
the suite's same anthem crescendo at 2:09 into "Catch," and vague
atmospherics related to the idea open "I Found You Again." The
aforementioned villains' theme shares the first three notes of the
fantasy theme but is conveyed on very low instruments and remains
centered on those core notes. Heard first in full at 0:06 into "Find
Him," this villains' theme informs the action in the latter half of
"Look Up," opens of "They Found Us" with force, stews on low brass at
1:42 into "Plan," teases at the outset of "Butternut Sippy Cup," and
persists at 0:10 into "Take Your Son to Work Day" before reaching its
dramatic demise late in "You Never Understood the Science." It's an
adequate theme, if not underexplored. The only other impactfully
recurring idea in
The Adam Project is a mystery motif of wonder
that extends its rhythmic allure from the latter half of "Forest" to the
middle of "Take Your Son to Work Day." Together, these themes do offer a
strong narrative core to Simonsen's work, and they ensure that the bulk
of
The Adam Project retains a pleasant demeanor on the score's
hour-long album. That digital-only product contains none of the songs
from the film, so don't be surprised if mainstream reactions to the
album are indignant. The score on its own sustains that length but never
manages to achieve the endearment factor that successful 1980's
throwback scores often exhibit. This absence of shine isn't simply
because of the composer's obnoxious electronic effects mixed throughout,
but rather it owes to a seeming lack of fun in the demeanor of this
work. In the process of concentrating on the family and chasing elements
of the story, Simonsen somehow lost the sense of enthusiasm and charm
that brought zest to his
Ghostbusters: Afterlife score. Hence, we
end up back at the comparison between
The Adam Project and a
typical, workmanlike Brian Tyler score. There's enough here to genuinely
appreciate on album, and it all certainly suffices basically for the
picture, but you'll leave the experience wanting more.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
