X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Harry Gregson-Williams
" This kind of music makes Adamantium breakable "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
From all the spin offs that The X-Men franchise would produce, none other would be as anticipated as X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Acceptable considering Wolverine was always one of the most important characters of the franchise, one of the coolest, and one of the baddest. Director Gavin Woods may be a somewhat odd choice after his acclaimed Tsotsi and his strong Rendition, but today any director can shoot action, so why not him as well?
Composer of choice was a different matter. All the 3 X-Men movies did receive a different composer and thereby a different musical voice. And of course most would have liked to see John Powell return for his second round-a-bout X-Men confrontation. But perhaps the name John Powell stood for too much energy, and perhaps they went instead for the contra of energy, namely lazy. I'm sorry to tell you this but Harry Gregson-Williams is not at his best run here.
I had my problems with Prince Caspian, but at least that score was fun. Here Wolverine isn't even that at all. "Logan Through Time" may start with average yet cool choral moments and some effective if already heard before suspense moments, but the thing is, that's the best you will get. Okay the RC stamp is all over the place but for now it works.
And there are other amusing moments as well. The boring (Bourne) opening of "Special Privileges" aside, the main theme never sounds more heroic and cool here than anywhere else in the score. And there's an utterly simplistic and yet lovely piano theme working as a love theme, finding its way in "Kayla", "Victor Visits" and "The Towers Collapse".
But this is not enough. And quite frankly, most of this stuff is boring or average anyway. "Laos, Nigeria" is one mood festivity that you must crawl through, "Wade Goes to Work" is for whatever reason techno stuff and "Adamantium" grows from a possible heroic piece with the main theme to a suspenseful RC cue.
And quite frankly, the action music isn't any better. It is chockfull of suspense and Bourne like behavior. It never really shows the potential a Harry Gregson-Williams could put into it. Examples are "Agent Zero Comes for Logan" or the second part of "Logan Meets Gambit". And if we want to stay positive, then I have to tell you about the nice choral moments in "To the Island" and "Deadpool" (even if it sounds like Black Hawk Down with choir).
"Memories Lost" is average and it bugs me there isn't even a send off with "I'll Find my Own Way". We have the main theme but not big nor exciting. And it doesn't even end powerful at all.
To be frank, X-Men Origins: Wolverine isn't really bad. It is just so fracking average. There is basically no reason whatsoever to buy an album as this, because it doesn't hold anything we haven't heard before. The brief main theme, love theme or choral statements are available in a lot of other scores, even by Harry Gregson-Williams. And the action music will suffice for most, but is unremarkable and even forgettable at times. I forgot I was listening to the music most of the times and just picked up the moments that interested me. But if you must wander through an album, the experience isn't really worth it I guess. Because music is still about emotion. For rookies X-Men Origins: Wolverine will suffice, for die hard listeners it will not.
Tracklisting
1. Logan Through Time (4.16)
2. Special Privileges (1.58)
3. Laos, Nigeria (5.10)
4. Wade Goes to Work (1.29)
5. Kayla (2.50)
6. Victor Visits (2.05)
7. Adamantium (4.17)
8. Agent Zero Comes for Logan (3.06)
9. Logan Meets Gambit (4.36)
10. To the Island (3.43)
11. Deadpool (4.09)
12. The Towers Collapse (3.23)
13. Memories Lost (2.57)
14. I'll Find my Own Way (1.24)
Total Length: 45.34
Composer of choice was a different matter. All the 3 X-Men movies did receive a different composer and thereby a different musical voice. And of course most would have liked to see John Powell return for his second round-a-bout X-Men confrontation. But perhaps the name John Powell stood for too much energy, and perhaps they went instead for the contra of energy, namely lazy. I'm sorry to tell you this but Harry Gregson-Williams is not at his best run here.
I had my problems with Prince Caspian, but at least that score was fun. Here Wolverine isn't even that at all. "Logan Through Time" may start with average yet cool choral moments and some effective if already heard before suspense moments, but the thing is, that's the best you will get. Okay the RC stamp is all over the place but for now it works.
And there are other amusing moments as well. The boring (Bourne) opening of "Special Privileges" aside, the main theme never sounds more heroic and cool here than anywhere else in the score. And there's an utterly simplistic and yet lovely piano theme working as a love theme, finding its way in "Kayla", "Victor Visits" and "The Towers Collapse".
But this is not enough. And quite frankly, most of this stuff is boring or average anyway. "Laos, Nigeria" is one mood festivity that you must crawl through, "Wade Goes to Work" is for whatever reason techno stuff and "Adamantium" grows from a possible heroic piece with the main theme to a suspenseful RC cue.
And quite frankly, the action music isn't any better. It is chockfull of suspense and Bourne like behavior. It never really shows the potential a Harry Gregson-Williams could put into it. Examples are "Agent Zero Comes for Logan" or the second part of "Logan Meets Gambit". And if we want to stay positive, then I have to tell you about the nice choral moments in "To the Island" and "Deadpool" (even if it sounds like Black Hawk Down with choir).
"Memories Lost" is average and it bugs me there isn't even a send off with "I'll Find my Own Way". We have the main theme but not big nor exciting. And it doesn't even end powerful at all.
To be frank, X-Men Origins: Wolverine isn't really bad. It is just so fracking average. There is basically no reason whatsoever to buy an album as this, because it doesn't hold anything we haven't heard before. The brief main theme, love theme or choral statements are available in a lot of other scores, even by Harry Gregson-Williams. And the action music will suffice for most, but is unremarkable and even forgettable at times. I forgot I was listening to the music most of the times and just picked up the moments that interested me. But if you must wander through an album, the experience isn't really worth it I guess. Because music is still about emotion. For rookies X-Men Origins: Wolverine will suffice, for die hard listeners it will not.
Tracklisting
1. Logan Through Time (4.16)
2. Special Privileges (1.58)
3. Laos, Nigeria (5.10)
4. Wade Goes to Work (1.29)
5. Kayla (2.50)
6. Victor Visits (2.05)
7. Adamantium (4.17)
8. Agent Zero Comes for Logan (3.06)
9. Logan Meets Gambit (4.36)
10. To the Island (3.43)
11. Deadpool (4.09)
12. The Towers Collapse (3.23)
13. Memories Lost (2.57)
14. I'll Find my Own Way (1.24)
Total Length: 45.34