Review by Timothy Austin
In a summer littered with blockbusters, including the 3rd highest grossing film of all time, 'The Avengers', Marvel Studio's newest super-hero outing, "The Amazing Spiderman" is under a lot of pressure. Many are already stating that 'The Amazing Spiderman' is a needless reboot that simply rehashes the original story of Spiderman which most fans would have seen just 10 years ago in "Spiderman" starring Tobey McGuire.
Critics have already crowned the reboot a winning entry in Marvel's long line of highly successful superhero films and those who share the opinion that 'Amazing Spiderman' is unnecessary need only refresh their memory by watching the last installment of the previous series to see why the franchise desperately needed a reboot.
"Spiderman 3" was the most disappointing superhero film in recent memory despite the lavish 'Sandman' special effects and two villain story arch. Many fans deemed the ridiculous dancing scene with Tobey McGuire a colossal waste of time and let's not forget the now infamous "egg-frying" scene with Kirsten Dunst. Indeed, the last Spiderman film has left a bitter taste with fans and I painfully recall wanting to walk out of the theater during the overblown finale in which the sandman becomes giant-sized.
Fans can now breathe a sigh of relief as new Director Mark Webb comes to the rescue with a fresh take on the Spiderman mythos. Webb is not the first director you would think about for Spiderman since he has mostly handled dramatic, emotional films including the popular and critically acclaimed 500 Days of Summer. However, it is obvious that Marvel has decided to ground the Spiderman franchise in more emotion as evidenced by the selection of veteran Hollywood actors Martin Sheen and Sally Field in key roles as Uncle Ben and Aunt May respectively.
Also bringing more emotion to the reboot is highly popular film composer James Horner. Horner remains the most prolific film composer with his 'Titanic' soundtrack at the top of the Best Selling Orchestral Score albums; he continues to gain notoriety having composed music for the current top two grossing films of all time, 'Titanic' and 'Avatar', However, fans of the composer were surprised when his name became associated with this potential blockbuster since outside of his landmark score for 'Avatar', recently Horner has mostly composed music for small, dramatic films. However, his music for 'Amazing Spiderman' is one of the most anticipated scores of the year, especially since fans have heard little from Horner since Avatar. While the veteran remains at the top tier of film composers, a position he only shares with fellow veteran John Williams, many have been wondering if Horner's usual broad romantic, over powering style would suit a modern blockbuster; especially since film music has dramatically changed with the rise of Hans Zimmer and the many composers who frequently imitate his electronic, bombastic style. So does Horner live up to expectations? Having listened to the score three times prior to this review, it is still hard to tell what effect Horner's new music will have on moviegoers and long time fans.
Horner begins much like Danny Elfman's opening titles for the original 'Spiderman' film with horn solos of the films main theme; but what sets Horner's music apart from Elfman's is his dramatic use of an easily recognizable theme for Spiderman. While one needed about four listens of Elfman's Spiderman score to decipher the main theme, Horner makes no qualms about his broad, horn based main theme. In fact, given the edgier super hero music we have heard recently in the X-Men films and the new Batman Franchise, Horner's upbeat and heroic 'Spiderman' theme may be jarring. In typical Horner style the theme blasts forth with unapologetic bravado, pomp and ceremony in "Main Titles - Young Peter". Here Horner's theme is in the line of his American bravado music for the 'Rocketeer' which will make many long time fans of the composer salivate. The theme is stunning, if not slightly too upbeat for Spiderman, however Horner's use of pulsating electronic percussion gives the theme modern flare that downplays the overly heroic sound.
The opening track also presents one of the most puzzling aspects of Horner's score: the use of ethnic sounding voices. Many score fans would remember the not-so-well received female Asian wailing voice in Danny Elfman's 'Hulk' score, but while Horner's ethnic voices are not as loud or jarring, one has to wonder why such an exotic voice is needed for a superhero film set in a bustling, urban city. The tribal sounding voices appear in many segments of the score, including a pivotal action scene, but they are often over powered by Horner's constant use of heroic brass music and gushing strings. Yet the use of the voices is indeed a curious inclusion by Horner who has utilized ethnic vocals to greater effect in 'Avatar' and the 1992 film 'Thunderheart'. It is also hard to establish whether the foreign sounding voices are meant to be African or Asian in nature, which may have been Horner's intention since he never allows us to clearly hear the voices as they are accented by heavy brass and "clanging" percussion which create an other-worldly sound that is not common in most Horner scores.
Still on the subject of vocals within the score, Horner also utilizes a solo boy's voice to represent scenes of Peter Parker/Spiderman's childhood also heard in 'Main Title - Young Peter'. The sound is effective as the boy's voice creates a haunting, eerie effect and emotionally captures the untold story behind the disappearance of the hero's parents. Spiderman's untold past is a major selling point of the reboot and Horner delivers pure gold with his ghostly, almost unsettling solo boy vocals for this aspect of the film, especially when the ghost-like voice appears again in "Saving New York" during a climatic, emotional scene.
Critics have noted the playful charm that new Spiderman actor Andrew Garfield brings to the reboot and Horner effectively aids the actor's comical scenes with upbeat, animated music as heard in "Becoming Spiderman" and "Playing Basketball". Initially we hear what is a staple of the score: ethereal synthesizer strings playing Spiderman's transformation theme which is a soothing, almost heavenly passage; but this is soon interrupted by urgent staccato strings and horns signalling Spiderman's full transformation. The heavenly synthesizer strings with hints of an electronic choir appear in large portions of the score and one can't help but notice Horner's preference for this electronic sound which seems right on target with a modern super hero film. In fact, unlike previous scores of this large scope, Horner never utilizes an actual choir with real human voices; instead this is replaced by thick, soothing synthesizer strings and electronic voices.
His music for Garfield's clumsy and awkward scenes as he becomes accustomed to his new powers is feisty with playful French Horn, staccato piano and "swishing" strings - a combination very similar to Elfman's Spiderman score. The more serious action scenes find the composer at his best with tracks like 'The Spider Room - Rumble in the Subway' hinting at ominous undertones with brooding orchestral majesty created by lush strings in the vein of Bernard Herman's most dark scores. The action begins with "stabbing" modern electronic percussion and one has to listen carefully to hear how innovative Horner has become with his orchestrations as we hear the horns "bend" and "twist" imitating Spiderman's staccato movements. These passages are accentuated nicely with "snapping" percussion.
Tracks like "Secrets, "the Equation" and the "The Ganali Device" present another curious aspect of Horner's music. In many portions of these tracks, the composer becomes very conservative which is in stark contrast to his bombastic main theme for 'Spidey'. He creates lush string passages accentuated by mysterious synthesizer strings and electronic choral voices. One gets the impression that Horner is deliberately trying to understate the dramatic revelations happening on screen until the final moments of track 9 "The Ganali device" where he allows a variation of the main theme to soar with gushing strings.
The more emotionally charged scenes, exemplified by track 10 'Ben's Death', present more striking contrasts between Horner's loud modern action music (complete with pounding electronic drum pad) and ghostly ethnic wailing followed by a heartbreaking, but heavily subdued performance by strings. The inevitable death of Peter's beloved uncle receives Horner's most dramatic string and piano combinations in years. Listeners will be surprised at how quickly Horner can change the pace of his score from heavy, metallic percussion and strings to almost funereal passages with a holocaust-like atmosphere. The action picks up again with Horner's trademark staccato horn and yet another surprise: Horner infuses the scene in which Peter seeks revenge for his Uncle's death with a "shouting" male choir similar to the use of male choir in Hans Zimmer's "The Last Samarai". The sound is heroic but the use of the tribal voices may be puzzling to most since the plot is based in a New York inspired setting.
The puzzling aspects of Horner's "Spidey" score continue with his beautiful piano-led passages for the relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey. Horner creates an elegant romantic theme first heard in track 12 "Roof-Top kiss" by clarinet and then a slow, mellow piano. What is puzzling about his music here is that while the love theme is certainly one of Horner's best in years, it is performed at deliberately low volumes and Horner never really develops the theme much further than track 12. Again, the listener gets the impression that the composer was adamant about being conservative and never overstating the music outside of the bravado main theme. Fans will admire Horner for this brave move but will long for a lush, loud performance of the stunning love theme by the full ensemble. Perhaps there may be a full performance in the actual film which was not included on the soundtrack. One can only hope, since the theme truly represents one of Horner's most melodic statements in years and provides the much needed emotional heft for the real-life couple of Garfield and Emma Stone who plays Gwen Stacey.
The finale climatic battle between Spiderman and The Lizard has some Elfman-sounding brass movements as the music imitates the reptile-like movements of the film's villain in track 15: 'Making a Silk Trap'. Here Horner lets the violent action music rip with pulsating percussion and loud, giant brass crescendos in the style of 'Avatar'. His use of percussion in track 17 'Saving New York' is nothing short of genius as the music follows closely the "swirling" movements of Spiderman with "swooshing" strings and loud drum hits for the "clawing" actions of The Lizard. Long time Horner fans will truly enjoy these giant action cues as Horner displays a more modern action style that closely resembles his bombastic finale for 'Avatar' including the haunting use of ethic voices.
What is particularly enjoyable about Horner's Spiderman action music is that the heroic main theme is never far behind. While in recent scores such as 'The Avengers' composers are reluctant to blast themes during key action scenes, Horner ignores this trend as Spiderman's main theme consumes the final battle of the film with stunning horn statements presenting major key lifts for stunning harmonic effects that will certainly be a hit with Horner fans. Here, the composer delivers with loud, heroic action music befitting the web crawler and safely grounding the score with satiating statements of the catchy main theme.
The final cues, "I Can't See You Anymore" and "Promises - Spiderman End Titles" adequately conclude the score with a mixture of emotional heft and heroic bravado. The stunning love theme returns in the latter track and Horner fans will be surprised that he did not include a full string statement of the theme; instead we hear a simplistic, extremely subtle statement by piano and strings. What is clear, however, is the superiority of the theme as it moves in soft, beautiful statements creating moments of enjoyable harmonic splendor played first by strings and then a tear-jerking clarinet.
The final cue covers a stunning rendition of the main theme on piano, followed by a major key lift into a full blast of the theme by full orchestra. However, Horner leaves the listener wanting more, especially when it comes to renditions of the love theme. However, given the tremendous success of the film, Horner fans have some time to petition for a full statement of the Peter/Gwen love theme in 'The Amazing Spiderman' sequel.
Overall, this is James Horner's most curious score in years, even the "End Titles" music does not fully reveal what was his intention for the score as we hear another stark contrast of loud action music and subtle emotional strings. Many aspects of the score are highly sophisticated especially the combination of strings and synthesizer in tracks like "Metamorphosis". The composer also exudes a truly matured style with his conservative, subtle use of the love theme and the soothing string passages for the other emotional aspects of the film. However, as stated before his use of ethnic sounding voices seems out of place for a Spiderman film; the solo boy's voice is certainly a highlight but the tribal coldness of the ethic voices may be jarring for many listeners.
Horner also offers no real musical identity for the film's villain. Apart from the "lumbering" horns used in the action scenes to imitate The Lizard's movements, we hear no defining texture or theme for the character. Danny Elfman created effective themes for The Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus for the first two Spiderman films; Horner's lack of a recognizable theme for The Lizard is indeed curious. Many fans debated that Horner may have used his universally known four-note danger motif to identify The Lizard, however the motif never appears in the score - another puzzling aspect of the film since few Horner scores are completed without at least one statement of his infamous four-note motif which is even noticed by film critics.
The composer does however succeed at creating a truly memorable main theme for the title hero and this will perhaps be the legacy of this score should the film reach the heights of 'The Avengers'. Without a doubt moviegoers thoroughly enjoy a soundtrack with an easily recognizable theme that they can recall even after leaving the theater and it seems Horner is fully aware of this since he infuses the theme in almost every track. The theme may be slightly too upbeat for a modern day take on Spiderman and lacks the edge of similar themes such as John Ottman's "X2" main theme. However, given the success of the bombastic scores for 'Captain America' and 'The Avengers' - both by Alan Silvestri - Horner may be satisfying modern day audiences longing for film music which recall John Williams' American bravado music from the 80's and early 90's. Horner's 'Amazing Spiderman' is an enjoyable score but not an entirely satisfying one since many questions remain about his use of voices, overly conservative love theme and lack of an identity for the villain. Horner's style within the score is also significantly different and long time fans will notice his new use of electronic percussion and Elfman-sounding action music, as well as his return to synthesizer strings and voices. While the composer does present a palpable super hero score with a remarkable main theme and stunning romantic motif, listeners will be left longing for more long after the end credits track. One can only hope "The Amazing Spiderman 2" also makes use of Horner's catchy music and we can finally bask in a full orchestral statement of the maestro's majestic love theme.
Review by Timothy Austin Don't agree? Liked the review? Sound off below.
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