Buy it... if you enjoy large, orchestral representations of the apocalypse with Brian Tyler's subtle thematic sensibilities working both sides of good/evil coin.

Avoid it... if you could be irritated by the Klaus Badelt insertions of electronic pop style in what otherwise could have been a very consistent score.

Tyler
Badelt

Constantine: (Brian Tyler/Klaus Badelt) With the same restlessness and murky surroundings as in the Matrix films, newly crowned future fantasy star and former devil's advocate Keanu Reeves leaves behind his theoretical battle with the machines for an immediate wrestling match at the border between reality and the various layers of Hell in Constantine. Based on the DC/Vertigo comic book "Hellblazer" by Jamie Delano & Garth Ennis, the film raises all the grandeur of Hell in an attempt to blow you away with visual style and pulp dialogue which, of course, is not adverse to a whole lot of biblical verse. Throw in a female cop, a Catholic or two, and a recently discovered archeological spear that could have serious implications for mankind, and you get Constantine. The film debuted to a wild variety of response, with fans of the morose qualities of Blade and Hellraiser treated to a product with the flash of Van Helsing and the strangely optimistic humor of Hellboy. Some may call the biblical mysteries at the heart of the story preposterous, and many critics stood on that argument alone to blast the film, but people who dig projects like End of Days can, at least, revel in the the film's ambience. One of the more troubled elements of the audio/visual appeal of Constantine has been the score by composer Brian Tyler who, by no coincidence, has spent much of his young career toiling in the horror/action genre of films. After less than perfect test screenings of Constantine, the studio decided that Tyler's large-scale orchestral score lacked the pop and style that may have been underplayed in the film. Thus, the studio hired Media Ventures offspring Klaus Badelt, who, along with the usual team of assistants and ghostwriters (this is, of course, the man who caused Pirates of the Caribbean to be written by... seven... eight... nine people?), was responsible for 'enhancing' Tyler's music rather than replace it. While the replacement of entire scores does happen, time was short by the late hour that Badelt entered the scene, so you end up with a rare circumstance in which the new composer simply overlays his music over the first composer's cues, with Tyler even conducting the whole of the finished score.

The resulting score in Constantine is, as you'd expect, rather unbalanced. Tyler's effort could conceivably be considered too conservative and predictable in its similarity to John Debney's End of Days. Both works explore the demon worlds with bass-heavy orchestral and choral moodiness with rare interludes of thematic beauty on a small scale to represent the one's battle against the evil masses. Roughly half of Tyler's material does dwell on the eerie atmosphere of the film, with extended cues of disjointed thematic and key-defying contemplation. If you accept the film as existing in either the horrific action or biblical conversation modes, then you can expect Tyler's score to kick it into gear at any time and explode from atmosphere into ruckus with no warning. And that he does, with several cues of heart-pounding, thunderous orchestral bombast. On album, the first third of the cues largely rumble and tease, with Tyler's truly interesting work finally revealing itself in "I Left Her Alone" and the several cues that follow in the middle portions of that album. A simple title theme is heard in "Destiny," "Counterweight," and "Circle of Hell," offering the bass strings a simple progression with which to stew. A more intriguing element of thematic development occurs in the aforementioned "I Left Her Alone" and "Humanity," with Tyler giving some hope of redemption to the title character in his eloquent and yearning piano and string piece, "John." While these restrained, but beautiful interludes into sensitivity seem unlikely based on the first portions of the score, it is their heartening presence that will either create more interest for you in the score, or perhaps more greatly exaggerate the difference between the best of Tyler's work and Badelt's less pleasantly-influenced cues. On the action front, however, Tyler really does impress with two lofty cues in particular; in "Circle of Hell" and "Flight to Ravenscar," Tyler pulls out the technique of Debney's End of Days, in which a pounding bass drum or timpani blasts a rhythm at a slowly increasing pace with the weight of the full ensemble above it... it's certainly an effective method of building to a crescendo in this, the ultimate of Hell-fearing expectations.

When it came time to rework some of Brian Tyler's music for Constantine, the mass of this good material was luckily retained. Some fans may raise flippant remarks about the tables being turned on Tyler after he replaced Jerry Goldsmith on what may have been the late composer's final score, but the situation is significantly different here. When Badelt arrived with the "license to electrify," he largely instructed his team to maintain the thematic and rhythmic structure of Tyler's work. Thus, you hear Badelt's music typically placed directly over background orchestral material that sounds --if you attempt to ignore the electronics-- as though it was originally very consistent in instrumentation (logically) with the rest of Tyler's work. The only highlight of Badelt's contribution to Constantine is arguably some of the placement of the electric cello, an instrument that raises memories of The Replacement Killers in the way that it sort of meanders at its higher ranges in the background, but also one that strangely suits the film's topic well. After all, if the movie depicts a battle between God and Satan, then why not have an orchestral score lead by a gorgeous piano for the title character fight the evil forces of synthesized distortion in the music as well? In the final third of the album, Badelt's influence does, however, cross over into the realm of the obnoxious. After serving in an auxiliary role in "Meet John Constantine," "Last Rites," and "Hell Freeway," the music from Badelt's team does become outrageously unnecessary. The screeching "Ether Surfing" cue is only surpassed in annoyance by the "End Titles," in which Badelt seemingly hands over the scoring duties to a high school garage band. On that note, the album begins slowly, mesmerizes you in its middle sections, and then ends horribly. While Badelt's involvement may very well improve the pop appeal within the stylistic context of the film, it causes significant detriment to the album experience. Tyler's work alone --which included a very impressive opening title sequence before being cut in entirety from the film-- would likely be a very impressive listening experience. But along with the Badelt infiltration of juxtaposed style comes an inconsistency on album of gain control (volume) that causes a cue such as "John" to potentially be lost in the whole. Overall, the Tyler music is satisfying and perhaps nothing earth-shattering, but it could have been an easier listen without the Badelt additions. ***

Bias Check:

For Brian Tyler reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33 (in 10 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.29 (in 8,455 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.