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| Beltrami |
The Wolverine: (Marco Beltrami/Various) Apparently
Marvel Entertainment made the determination somewhere along the life of
its
X-Men films of the 2000's that the character of Wolverine (or
Logan in his "normal" existence) is more bankable than the others from
that concept, though having lead actor Hugh Jackman decide to produce
his own continued existence on screen doesn't hurt. The studio must not
care about the critical failure of 2009's
X-Men Origins:
Wolverine, making
The Wolverine the sixth installment in the
movie franchise based upon the Marvel Comics series and serving as a
sequel to both the 2009 entry and 2006's
X-Men: The Last Stand.
The production was delayed by natural disasters and Jackman's singing
stint as Jean Valjean, though that gave the actor time to eat an insane
diet in preparation for a return to a role that necessitates shirtless,
unnaturally vascular intimidation. The plot of 2013's
The
Wolverine focuses on Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's 1982 limited
series about the character, taking him to Japan and embroiling him in a
conflict involving the Yakuza and, of course, ninjas and samurai. Aside
from allowing Logan and his mightily inconvenient protrusions from his
fists to thrash these armies of foes, the story also forces the
character to overcome his own mortality issues and deal with his
relationship with Jean Grey, which in current lingo could be classified
as an "epic fail." The music for the
X-Men films has been
somewhat laughable in its total lack of cohesion or direction, each of
the six films through this one tackled by a different Hollywood
composer. There has been absolutely zero development towards overarching
thematic integrity and the style of each of the entries has differed to
varying degrees, some significantly. Thus, a character such as
Logan/Wolverine receives no lasting musical identity in this franchise,
and this problem continues into
The Wolverine. Harry
Gregson-Williams was tasked with establishing such an identity in
X-Men Origins: Wolverine and managed to do so at a minimal level
in a score that rehashed tired techniques from the composer's past. In
2013, Marco Beltrami, who had achieved success with director James
Mangold on
3:10 to Yuma, largely ignores Gregson-Williams' styles
and motifs, with the exception of the cue "Where To?," which vaguely
reprises the cool thematic tones sprinkled throughout "Logan Through
Time" and "...I'll Find My Own Way" in the 2009 score. Otherwise,
Beltrami and his team are content unleashing a brutal atmosphere of
Asian-tinged despair that is far more challenging to the ears than
Gregson-Williams' music.
Compared to Beltrami's prior to action efforts of 2013,
A Good Day to Die Hard and
World War Z,
The
Wolverine will test your tolerance for orchestral abrasiveness. Each
of these three scores has progressively moved away from tonal action
accessibility towards an environment in
The Wolverine that is
downright unpleasant in its demeanor. Undoubtedly, the turmoil in the
titular character merits a fair dose of this dissonant, in-your-face
attitude, but it somewhat degrades any humanity remaining in him. This
is, simply put, a very harshly rendered score, one that serves
Logan/Wolverine with only one dimension while doing the same for the
Japanese elements, which are represented by an equally stereotypical
musical presence. The orchestra is joined by Taiko drums, ethnic
woodwinds, and koto to this end, their presence battled literally by the
awkward tones of a harmonica, of all things, in the soundscape. The
fight sequences are handled with percussion rhythms backed by a
continued orchestral haze of dissonance and these passages are nearly
unlistenable. There are carryover glimpses of instrumental intelligence
from
World War Z, but not many, "Sword of Vengeance" an
exception. The softer portions of the score are sadly non-descript,
especially early on, when solo strings have difficulty generating any
warmth for the character's troubles. In fact, there is practically no
warmth or humanity to be found anywhere in this score, very few respites
allowed by Beltrami on the otherwise bleak canvas. Dramatic flair is
rare in
The Wolverine, the highlight of the score's few
awe-inspiring moments coming in the tonality of brief portions in "The
Hidden Passages." This cue builds of off three-note phrases of dramatic
origin in "Abduction," this motif existing as the score's only thematic
development until the final cues. The easing of tensions in "Goodbye
Mariko" is too little, too late to save this score from being a mind
numbing experience on the whole, though don't discount the seeming nod
to Gregson-Williams in "Where To?" This score will be challenging for
listeners to appreciate outside of context, roughly five minutes of
material expressing engaging action tones or melodic development, not
enough to compensate for what is heard elsewhere on the laborious,
nearly hour-long album. As if to concede its gains, the album ends with
a meandering atmospheric cue, "Whole Step Haiku," that completely
deflates whatever satisfaction the listener was rewarded with in "Where
To?" It's difficult to recommend the
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
score over this one, because it wasn't a stellar work itself, but
Beltrami fails to really adopt any kind of superior narrative approach,
forcing ambient brutality upon us rather than continued growth for the
character. Be prepared for a depressingly futile battle of cultural
stereotypes if you choose to explore Beltrami's take.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Marco Beltrami reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.75
(in 28 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.8
(in 19,012 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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