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| Holkenborg |
Divergent: (Tom Holkenborg) Yet another dystopian
post-apocalyptic topic for teenage angst is thrown at the screen by
studios eager to milk the purses of young women seeking role models in
challenging contexts. How many of these kinds of franchises can the
market support? In the case of 2014's
Divergent, there is clearly
inspiration to be seen from
The Hunger Games, the young student
author of the "Divergent" novel concocting this clan and fight-based
class culture commentary for young people in 2011. Don't bother
intellectualizing the derivative nature of the source material, however,
when considering the hundreds of millions of dollars this film grossed
and the immediate plans for three sequels. In this futuristic world,
people are divided into a handful of "factions" depending on their
personality and capabilities, forcing them into societal roles that are
blurred when a few youth excel in multiple areas and war between
factions becomes imminent. Logical fallacies abound once again, but if
you're a teenage girl, who cares? Given the possibilities for targeting
this demographic with pop culture appeal, the filmmakers approached the
Hans Zimmer realm of Remote Control Productions and ultimately hired
Dutch electronica artist Tom Holkenborg for the task. Known by his
artist name of "Junkie XL," Holkenborg has transitioned into a healthy
career of film scoring after several years serving as a collaborator
with Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams. In early 2014, Holkenborg
parlayed his relationship with Zimmer into two blockbuster "solo"
scoring assignments,
Divergent and
300: Rise of an Empire.
It's important to note that when you say "solo," that entails that you
still have the assistance of several Remote Control ghostwriters and the
full ensemble of crew that comes with any Zimmer-associated project. In
this case, Zimmer is even identified as a music producer in the film's
primary credits. Not to miss the chance to maximize marketability, the
filmmakers also infused the soundtrack with a large array of songs.
Several of these songs were written and performed by English vocalist
Ellie Goulding, who also contributed wordless vocals to Holkenborg's
score. Anyone expecting Holkenborg to emulate James Newton Howard's
approach to
The Hunger Games in
Divergent will be
surprised by Holkenborg's ability to take the tone and style of that
music in a different direction while building off of some of the same
foundations.
Some expectations will peg Holkenborg's
Divergent as a work as derivative of Remote Control conventions
as
300: Rise of an Empire so disappointingly was. In reality,
that fear is only partially realized. You really have to
compartmentalize this Holkenborg music, because he seems to have made an
honest attempt to separate himself from both the Zimmer and Howard
moulds. That is, in some of his own music's factions. In
Divergent, the score can be divided into the modern soft rock for
the lead character, the largely electronic ambience for the futuristic
world, the brutally percussive element for the fight sequences, and the
orchestral lamentation for the main characters' plight to save society
from itself. Two of these factions in the score are surprisingly
engaging while one is unremarkable and the final one reminiscent of the
derivative nature of
300: Rise of an Empire. The highlights are
the modern rock and orchestral lamentation factions, for the former an
effective emulation of Danny Elfman's similar blend in
Anywhere But
Here and
Real Steel (with Goulding's vocals reminiscent of
those Elfman scores as well). The best of this material for the lead
character is summarized in the lengthy "Tris" and developed subsequently
during Goulding's other performances. The symphonic portions of sadness
for familial sacrifice consist of mostly tonal string ambience, "Faction
Before Blood" and "Sacrifice" quite lovely. Conversely, the fight
sequences resort back to the looped pounding for synthesizers and
oppressive orchestral shades that made
300: Rise of an Empire so
tiring. In these three factions, however, Holkenborg can be commended
for maintaining and even developing three or four motifs for specific
concepts in the story, some of them overlapping appropriately during
conflict. Unfortunately, the final faction, the electronic groaning and
nondescript background effects, do stunt the growth of those themes.
Some of these atmospheric cues are truly a waste. If you combine the
modern rock and orchestral family material, you have twenty minutes of
very easily digestible music. Some may criticize Holkenborg negatively
for the "abuse" of the stereotypical female vocals in this score, but
given that vocalist's contribution to the songs and the gender and age
of the lead character, this is a more appropriate place for such vocals
than in many other scores. On album,
Divergent can drag at times,
the 75-minute score-only product in need of some significant trimming to
produce a consistent listening experience. Be careful about your
expectations regarding this score. Holkenborg exhibits signs of
intelligence beyond what you hear in concurrent Zimmer scores, and
that's a welcome change for any Remote Control-related effort.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Tom Holkenborg reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.16
(in 19 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.49
(in 6,139 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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