2012
Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander
" If 2012 is upon us, would you take this music with you? "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Whether you believe or not in the Mayan calendar's prediction that the end of the world will occur in the year 2012, Roland Emmerich thought it would be the best possible project to give us his latest (and apparently) final disaster movie. After all, if you have come from destroying the White House to destroying the entire world, what's there left to destroy after that? 2012 is simply put fun, and it probably has the most amazing special effects I've seen in a long time.
Sadly, how brilliant 2012 may be in production design, how poor it actually sounds like if we're talking about the musical score of the film. We all know what made David Arnold big, and it were his amazing fun / bombastic scores he did for Emmerich back in the days film music had a future to talk about. But after The Patriot, we were invited to taste Harald Kloser's The Day after Tomorrow and Kloser / Wander's 10,000 BC. It is then also a damn shame we had to hear them together again on 2012, because it's better to take one good composer instead of 2 average ones.
Because 2012 is basically put average. It is effective and it works without question in the film. But if you're so blown away by the movie, and can't remember one bloody thing of the music, then there's really something wrong in the end for sure. 2012 is basically Harald Kloser in a nutshell, reprising everything the way he did it in The Day after Tomorrow, with the one possible exception: The Day after Tomorrow did it better.
The original soundtrack has a few songs as well, and they aren't exactly properly placed in the track listing to begin with. The one that closes the film will open the soundtrack, and there's such a thing like don't place jazz music right after the destructive force of an earthquake. But in the end the songs aren't what disappoint me the most. It's the fact we get effective, unsurprising action / suspense music, which we've all heard before in The Day after Tomorrow (with a better theme I might add).
Some composers might find this a gig like any other, but if this is the best that they can give us, then film music is truly going down the toilet for sure. The moody The Day after Tomorrow opening in "Constellation", the typical Harald Kloser music in "U.S. Army" and the brassy suspense in "Spirit of Santa Monica" are just a part of what's uninspiring about the album.
Because after the jazzy song, it just continues the same EFFECTIVE yet EXPECTED road. Sure, there's some soft drama in "Great Kid" and there's a bunch of action suspense in "Finding Charlie" and "Run Daddy Run" that surely works inside the context. But ask yourself if you could write something better in the end?
Because straight from the Americana that goes nowhere in "Stepping into the Darkness" to the basically exact same sounding action suspense in "Leaving Las Vegas", "We Are Taking the Bentley" and "Saving Caesar", 2012 shows you how effectiveness is taking over from actual creative inspiration.
Sure the somber music and choral dramatic fanfare works in "Ashes in D.C.", but don't be surprised if this leaves you completely numb. Don't think "Adrian's Speech" will give you any satisfaction whatsoever, because after hearing this I'm even surprised they opened the bloody doors! And sure, the choral hope in "Open the Gates" surely sounds hopeful, but the way it dies into eerie nothingness simply gives me shivers from disappointment.
The surprising thing is, from then on, it actually improves. There's the exact same standard music in "The Impact" and "Collision with Mount Everest", but at least it's interesting. And the dramatic impact of "Suicide Mission" and "2012 The End of the World" finally gives me some satisfaction. "The End is Only the Beginning" is actually pretty good as well, covering even a nice moment for a theme to arise, but I've heard it being done better, in The Day after Tomorrow.
When you hear 2012, you hear music that will work without a doubt in a movie, and it will be sufficient for the common populas. But we are not common, we are looking for something uncommon, something inspirational. We can't help but wonder what a Jerry Goldsmith, a Basil Poledouris or even a David Arnold could have given us, because anything from them would have been better in the end. While Roland Emmerich was giving it all his best in production design and special effects, the last thing we wanted was average effective music. Alas ... it is what we got!
Ps, if you would be able to take 3 scores from Roland Emmerich movies with you once the end of the world is near, which ones would you take? Hurts we're all going for another composer instead of these 2, doesn't it?
Track Listing
1. Time for Miracles: Adam Lambert (4.43)
2. Constellation (1.30)
3. Wisconsin (1.14)
4. U.S. Army (2.20)
5. Ready to Rumble (1.42)
6. Spirit of Santa Monica (1.21)
7. It Ain't the End of the World: George Segal & Blu Mankuma (2.52)
8. Great Kid (2.17)
9. Finding Charlie (1.45)
10. Run Daddy Run (1.14)
11. Stepping into the Darkness (1.35)
12. Leaving Las Vegas (1.44)
13. Ashes in D.C. (4.19)
14. We Are Taking the Bentley (3.43)
15. Nampan Plateau (2.51)
16. Saving Caesar (2.09)
17. Adrian's Speech (1.42)
18. Open the Gates (2.16)
19. The Impact (1.49)
20. Suicide Mission (2.06)
21. 2012 The End of the World (1.24)
22. Collision with Mount Everest (1.09)
23. The End is Only the Beginning (5.44)
24. Fades like a Photograph: Filter (4.19)
Total Length: 57.48
Sadly, how brilliant 2012 may be in production design, how poor it actually sounds like if we're talking about the musical score of the film. We all know what made David Arnold big, and it were his amazing fun / bombastic scores he did for Emmerich back in the days film music had a future to talk about. But after The Patriot, we were invited to taste Harald Kloser's The Day after Tomorrow and Kloser / Wander's 10,000 BC. It is then also a damn shame we had to hear them together again on 2012, because it's better to take one good composer instead of 2 average ones.
Because 2012 is basically put average. It is effective and it works without question in the film. But if you're so blown away by the movie, and can't remember one bloody thing of the music, then there's really something wrong in the end for sure. 2012 is basically Harald Kloser in a nutshell, reprising everything the way he did it in The Day after Tomorrow, with the one possible exception: The Day after Tomorrow did it better.
The original soundtrack has a few songs as well, and they aren't exactly properly placed in the track listing to begin with. The one that closes the film will open the soundtrack, and there's such a thing like don't place jazz music right after the destructive force of an earthquake. But in the end the songs aren't what disappoint me the most. It's the fact we get effective, unsurprising action / suspense music, which we've all heard before in The Day after Tomorrow (with a better theme I might add).
Some composers might find this a gig like any other, but if this is the best that they can give us, then film music is truly going down the toilet for sure. The moody The Day after Tomorrow opening in "Constellation", the typical Harald Kloser music in "U.S. Army" and the brassy suspense in "Spirit of Santa Monica" are just a part of what's uninspiring about the album.
Because after the jazzy song, it just continues the same EFFECTIVE yet EXPECTED road. Sure, there's some soft drama in "Great Kid" and there's a bunch of action suspense in "Finding Charlie" and "Run Daddy Run" that surely works inside the context. But ask yourself if you could write something better in the end?
Because straight from the Americana that goes nowhere in "Stepping into the Darkness" to the basically exact same sounding action suspense in "Leaving Las Vegas", "We Are Taking the Bentley" and "Saving Caesar", 2012 shows you how effectiveness is taking over from actual creative inspiration.
Sure the somber music and choral dramatic fanfare works in "Ashes in D.C.", but don't be surprised if this leaves you completely numb. Don't think "Adrian's Speech" will give you any satisfaction whatsoever, because after hearing this I'm even surprised they opened the bloody doors! And sure, the choral hope in "Open the Gates" surely sounds hopeful, but the way it dies into eerie nothingness simply gives me shivers from disappointment.
The surprising thing is, from then on, it actually improves. There's the exact same standard music in "The Impact" and "Collision with Mount Everest", but at least it's interesting. And the dramatic impact of "Suicide Mission" and "2012 The End of the World" finally gives me some satisfaction. "The End is Only the Beginning" is actually pretty good as well, covering even a nice moment for a theme to arise, but I've heard it being done better, in The Day after Tomorrow.
When you hear 2012, you hear music that will work without a doubt in a movie, and it will be sufficient for the common populas. But we are not common, we are looking for something uncommon, something inspirational. We can't help but wonder what a Jerry Goldsmith, a Basil Poledouris or even a David Arnold could have given us, because anything from them would have been better in the end. While Roland Emmerich was giving it all his best in production design and special effects, the last thing we wanted was average effective music. Alas ... it is what we got!
Ps, if you would be able to take 3 scores from Roland Emmerich movies with you once the end of the world is near, which ones would you take? Hurts we're all going for another composer instead of these 2, doesn't it?
Track Listing
1. Time for Miracles: Adam Lambert (4.43)
2. Constellation (1.30)
3. Wisconsin (1.14)
4. U.S. Army (2.20)
5. Ready to Rumble (1.42)
6. Spirit of Santa Monica (1.21)
7. It Ain't the End of the World: George Segal & Blu Mankuma (2.52)
8. Great Kid (2.17)
9. Finding Charlie (1.45)
10. Run Daddy Run (1.14)
11. Stepping into the Darkness (1.35)
12. Leaving Las Vegas (1.44)
13. Ashes in D.C. (4.19)
14. We Are Taking the Bentley (3.43)
15. Nampan Plateau (2.51)
16. Saving Caesar (2.09)
17. Adrian's Speech (1.42)
18. Open the Gates (2.16)
19. The Impact (1.49)
20. Suicide Mission (2.06)
21. 2012 The End of the World (1.24)
22. Collision with Mount Everest (1.09)
23. The End is Only the Beginning (5.44)
24. Fades like a Photograph: Filter (4.19)
Total Length: 57.48