X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)Composer: John Ottman
Number of tracks: 22
Total time: 76:34
Overview:
The X-Men film series began in 2000 with Brian Singer's X-Men which was followed by X2: X-Men United (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011) and The Wolverine (2013). In short, a whole lotta X-Men in the 2000's. Singer directed the first two installments, followed by an ever-rotating lineup of directors taking a shot at the series... with mixed results. For the seventh film and the first to use the original cast from the X-Men trilogy that started it all, Singer returned as director.
Days of Future Past is based on the Marvel comic of the same name and chronicles Wolverine's (Hugh Jackman) attempt to go back in time to stop a race of evil robots, dubbed Sentinels, from taking over the world. In the process, both the old and the new generations of X-Men cross paths and this is where the cast from First Class and the Singer films intersect.
The film was a hit, appealing to both the ardent Marvel fanboys as well as the casual moviegoers. The star power on display also didn't hurt with megastars Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence featuring prominently in the film.
For scoring duties Singer turned to his long time friend and colleague, John Ottman. This marks the first time a composer has scored more than one installment in the series, so hopes were understandably high for Ottman's return. Unfortunately the end result is not as satisfactory as might have been expected.
Review of the music:
Ottman does instill some much needed musical continuity to the series, which is welcomed, though this happens only a few times throughout the score. Most prominent is the return of the Main theme from X2 during the opening and closing cues. While still heavily influenced by the chord progressions of Henry Mancini's Lifeforce (1985) theme, the X2 theme is still one of the more easily recognizable themes in the X-Men canon and is fun to hear again in full. A fragmented performance of the theme appears fleetingly in "Do What You Were Made For", but never appears again during the bulk of Ottman's score. Another returning theme is Hanry Jackman's identity for Magneto from First Class with its descending four-notes and electric guitar accompaniment. Sadly only appearing during the last half of "Times Up (Film Version)", it's a shame Ottman couldn't use Magneto's theme elsewhere.
The only other themes of note are for Professor X and the evil Sentinel machines. Xavier receives his own theme in "Hope (Xavier's Theme)", a long lined string theme that builds to a rousing finish. The only drawback to this theme is the fact it's a direct reworking of Hans Zimmer's oh-so-popular "Time" cue from Inception (2010). Clearly the temp tracking was strong with this one. A choral and slurred brass motif is present for the Sentinels which appear sporadically throughout the album, though gets its best performance during the horror score inspired piece "Paris Pandemonium".
Regrettably, outside of the afore mentioned thematic material, the rest of Days of Future Past is a muddled mess. Each track seems to be its own self contained piece, rarely sharing anything in common with surrounding material. Occasionally this approach pays off, as in the funky spy/thriller vibe in "Springing Erick" or the softer, meandering cues of introspection ("I Found Them", "How Was She?", "All Those Voices"). Still, the lack of a feeling that all of this is of a cohesive whole is frustrating to say the least.
Fortunately, there is some good in Days... which namely start with "Times Up (Film Version)" and continues through "Welcome Back/End Titles". Here is were Ottman really shines with his action material and allows the music to really feel like it is part of an organic whole. If the rest of the score had been in a similar vein to this finale, then this review would be much different.
Special note should be made of the two source songs attached to the end of the album. First is Jim Croce's classic "Time In a Bottle" followed by "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack. Both songs are featured in the film and make a nice, if unnecessary, addition to the album.
Closing thoughts:
It's always frustrating when a composer returns to a franchise and fails to deliver a score up to his previous set standards, both from a critical standpoint and also from a general film score fan perspective. I'm not really sure what went wrong with Ottman and Days of Future Past, though it's obvious a great deal of temp track loyalty went into the final score.
That being said, there is still some stuff to enjoy in here with the highlights pointed out above deserving of a separate presentation from the rest of the album. Still, as a whole, Ottman's work for the seventh X-Men film fall short especially when compared to the composers prior work for the franchise. While I'm sure the music does its job well in-film, on album it fails to add anything truly new to the series and instead feels like another missed opportunity to do something truly great for this franchise.
Score:
2 out of 5
0 Comments